The 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Surgery (AAO-HNS) was held earlier this week in Atlanta, Georgia.  It was a wonderful opportunity to share experiences with long-time colleagues and some that I had not met previously.  In addition to my presentations related to drug-induced sleep endoscopy, Tongue Region Surgery,… Read more »

  Inspire Medical’s Upper Airway Stimulation technology is a powerful (no pun intended) addition to the array of options for individuals suffering from obstructive sleep apnea.  As a surgeon who implants this therapy, I see patients (whether my own or those coming for a second opinion) where Upper Airway Stimulation is not working well.  While… Read more »

Two months ago, I developed two videos related to drug-induced sleep endoscopy that I posted on my YouTube page.  One video discussed drug-induced sleep endoscopy and provided some example videos, and the other discussed how drug-induced sleep endoscopy can be used to improve the selection of treatments (surgery and oral appliances) and enhance results.  Just… Read more »

Snoring is common, with estimates suggesting that it affects 100 million adults (and anyone bothered by that snoring) in the United States alone.  Whenever I share what I do at work, there is a pause before that person either volunteers that they have been told they snore or mention that they want me to meet… Read more »

Drug-induced sleep endoscopy is a surgical evaluation technique that can be used to evaluate patients considering surgery or oral appliances for treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.  The approach was developed in a number of center in Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but the techniques have been refined over time. Drug-induced sleep endoscopy has… Read more »

Drug-induced sleep endoscopy is one of the most common topics on which I give lectures to other physicians around the world.  Although I like to think that my words are so thoughtful and insightful, I know that the real highlights of these talks are the drug-induced sleep endoscopy videos I show as part of the… Read more »

Earlier this month, I attended the 9th meeting of the International Surgical Sleep Society in Munich (ISSS).  The ISSS is the world’s premiere organization dedicated to sleep apnea surgery and snoring surgery.  I am proud of having been the ISSS President from 2014-2017 and for organizing or co-organizing the 7th and 8th meetings in Sao Paulo,… Read more »

Obstructive sleep apnea is a potentially-serious medical disorder.  Patients with obstructive sleep apnea need treatments that are based on science.  I am writing this post because over the last several months, I have seen a disturbing number of patients with obstructive sleep apnea who have tried and failed myofunctional therapy and/or frenuloplasty/frenectomy or who have… Read more »

Our 2018 Advanced in Diagnosis and Treatment of Sleep Apnea and Snoring course was just held in San Francisco, and I wanted to share some of the highlights.  I truly enjoy being a co-director of this course, as we have an outstanding faculty from whom I always learn a temendous amount.  They deliver updated lectures on… Read more »

I have written previously on the role of the epiglottis in obstructive sleep apnea.  My colleagues around the world largely agree that the epiglottis plays an important role in about 10% of patients with obstructive sleep apnea.  However, there is much that we do not know, including why epiglottis-related obstruction occurs in some patients but… Read more »