Chicago Snoring and Sleep Apnea Treatment: I Hate CPAP Founder Dr Ira Shapira Announces The Opening Of Chicagoland Dental Sleep Medicine at 22 N Morgan in Chicago. Comfortable Alternatives To CPAP With No Hose or Mask or Surgery

    GURNEE, IL, March 03, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- CPAP is the Gold Standard for treatment of obstructive sleep apnea however numerous controlled studies spanning several years show the majority of patients do not use their CPAP on a regular basis. Numerous studies have shown that only 23-45% of patients actually use their CPAP. Other studies have shown that even patients who use their CPAP average only 4-5 hours a night not the recommended 7 1/2 -8 hours a night. Studies with BiPAP, APAP, Ramping and the multitude of masks show that these improvements have minimal affect on patient compliance. The one factor that predicts success with CPAP is initial acceptance. Patients who like CPAP treatment immediately after diagnosis appear to be compliant in the long term.

Dental Sleep Medicine offers sleep apnea treatment with oral appliances that patients find a more comfortable alternative to CPAP. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has accepted oral appliances as a first line treatment for mild to moderate sleep apnea and as an alternative treatment for severe apnea when patients do not tolerate CPAP. The American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine has endorsed this position. The National Sleep Foundation has declared that oral appliances are a treatment "whose time has come". Information on Dental Sleep Medicine is available at http://www.ihatecpap.com

Dr Ira L Shapira, a Chicago area dentist has a mission to increase the public's awareness of sleep apnea and the absolute need for patients to follow up with treatment or risk possible dire health consequences. His primary office is in Gurnee but Dr Shapira has opened offices where he treats snoring and Sleep Apnea in Skokie, Schaumburg, Bannockburn and now at 22 N Morgan in Chicago only a block away from Oprah Winfrey's Studios. Dr Jeffrey Coe of Occupational Medicine Associates of Chicago believes the devices are effective and is pleased to have Chicagoland Dental Sleep Medicine share his offices. Appointments will still be made a the 1-8-NO-PAP-MASK phone number. Chicagoland Dental Sleep Medicine Associates can be found at: http://www.chicagoland.ihatecpap.com/

He created I HATE CPAP LLC and the companies website www.ihatecpap.com that is a major source of information on sleep apnea treatment. The site covers all forms of treatment but focuses primarily on Dental Sleep Medicine and oral appliances. The poor compliance of patients with CPAP is at crisis levels and results in billions of dollars of avoidable medical expenses. Patients with untreated sleep apnea have a six fold increase in heart attacks and strokes and heavy snoring has been shown to cause a 10 fold increase in Carotid Atherosclerosis leading to a 1000% increased risk of stroke. Patients with untreated sleep apnea have slower reaction times than patients who are legally drunk and a six-fold increase in Motor Vehicle Accidents. One study showed that patients with mild apnea and no symptoms of daytime sleepiness had a 300% increase in motor vehicle accidents involving severe injury to one or more people.

www.ihatecpap.com is specifically designed by Dr Shapira to appeal to patients who have tried CPAP and discontinued using it. This is a large majority of diagnosed patients and many if not most are then lost to follow-up care. Many of these patients were never presented alternatives to CPAP so they see no reason to be reevaluated. Increasing awareness of the dangers of untreated sleep apnea and offering hope for successful treatment is what www.ihatecpap.com does best. That may be due to the passion of the creator of the site.

Dr Ira L Shapira, a Gurnee dentist was an early pioneer of oral appliance treatment. He became involved over concern for his three-year-old son Billy. Billy had large tonsils, poor sleep, night sweats and heavy snoring. When Dr Shapira and his wife Elise expressed their concerns to the pediatrician they were told he would outgrow the problem. When Billy was 5 years old he was held back from kindergarten and it was suggested that he had ADHD and that Ritalin might be appropriate treatment. At this point they decided to override the pediatrician and saw an ENT would not remove the tonsils because he would lose the pediatricians referrals. Dr Shapira arranged for Billy to have a sleep study done at Rush Sleep Center, which showed that Billy ha severe sleep apnea.

Billy had his tonsils out and his mouth widened orthodontically and became a straight "A" student and graduated college double major, double minor Magna cum Laude. Immediately after removal of the tonsils Billy went to a 95% growth curve, did not wake repeatedly, and did not need Ritalin.

Over the Last 25 years since Billy's sleep test research has shown that 80% or more of ADD and ADHD cases are related to sleep apnea. We now know that growth disturbances from disturbed sleep are well documented, as are immune deficiencies. Delayed brain development and even permanent changes in brain development are traced to untreated sleep apnea. The American Academy of Pediatric Medicine says that snoring can never be ignored in young children and that any apnea should be treated even if they only occur once an hour.

Dr Shapira spent the night with his son at the sleep lab and developed a life long interest in sleep apnea and snoring treatment. He became a visiting Assistant Professor at Rush and did research on the relation of jaw position to sleep apnea using neuromuscular dentistry techniques. His research showed that the jaw relations of apneic men were very similar to women with TMJ problems. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) released a report on that very subject.
CARDIOVASCULAR AND SLEEP-RELATED CONSEQUENCES OF TEMPOROMANDIBULAR DISORDERS: NHLBI WORKSHOP. This excellent article can be found at: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/meetings/workshops/tmj_wksp.pdf

This is extremely important information that links TMJ disorders including headache, migraine, earache, sinus pain, facial pain, TM Joint clicking and popping, neck pain, jaw pain and numerous other disorders to sleep and sleep disorders. Morning headaches are a frequent symptom of disturbed sleep and Fibromyalgia is also considered a sleep disorder. The full report can be found at: http://sleepandhealth.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=237&tid=22

Suffer No More is an excellent article published in Sleep and Health Journal on TMD or Temporomandibular Dysfunction. It is available at: http://sleepandhealth.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=237&tid=22

Dr Shapira was a charter and Credentialed member of the Sleep Disorder Dental Society which later became the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, is a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine, a Founding member of DOSA, the Dental Organization for Sleep Apnea and was recently named to be on the Board of Directors of the Illinois Sleep Society.

When the American Academy of Sleep Medicine accepted oral appliance treatment of sleep apnea they recommended that dentists treating apnea should be well versed in treatment of TMJ/TMD disorders. Dr Shapira has has been involved in treating TMJ disorders and chronic pain for almost 30 years and is a Fellow and Regent of ICCMO, the International College of CranioMandibular Orthopedics. It is the premiere group focusing on Neuromuscular Dentistry and it's use in the treatment of chronic head and neck pain. Dr Shapira is a representative from ICCMO to the TMJ Dysfunction and Pain.

He has worked for several years on www.ihatecpap.com to pass on knowledge about sleep apnea and snoring to the general public and to creat a site where patients could find dentists trained in Dental Sleep Medicine. Dr Shapira teaches courses on Dental Sleep Medicine in his Gurnee office and has also lectured at ICCMO and the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) on sleep disorders.

The second project Dr Shapira has been working on is minimally invasive early removal of wisdom teeth with collection of Stem Cells. He holds several patents on methods and devices to collect bone marrow and stem cells from developing third molars in young children. He hopes to change the practice of dentistry so patients no longer have to suffer through wisdom tooth extractions. His techniques will almost eliminate morbidity associated with third molar removal. The young healthy stem cells collected through his procedures will enable more people to benefit from future stem cell developments and possibly a future vaccine against aging.

Morning headaches are a particularly annoying disorder that is particularly common in patients with TMJ disorders, sleep apnea and upper airway resistance syndrome. They can range from mild to moderate allowing the sufferer to still function to severe and excruciating where the patient becomes a victim of the disorder and cannot function or barely functions on a minimal basis. When these headaches occur on a daily basis or even several times a week that can change patients personalities and outlook on life. An excellent resource on Sleep apnea, and its treatment can be found at http://www.ihatecpap.com . It reviews the dangers of sleep apnea and treatment alternatives including CPAP, BiPAP and dental appliances. While CPAP is considered the Gold Standard of treatment for sleep apnea only about one third of patients tolerate the treatment compared to 90-95 % who prefer using oral appliances to treat their apnea.

The Symptoms of Tension Headache, muscle contraction headaches and Morning Headaches are all very similar and are probably different faces of the same disorder. Many patients who have severe headaches that they call migraines actually have severe variations of these same disorders; the most common tension headache symptom is mild to moderate generalized head pain. Tension headache pain is sometimes described as feeling like a tight band is strapped around the head. These are very similar to the headaches suffered by patients with TMJ disorders or either nighttime tooth clenching or bruxism (teeth grinding). The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institute of Health (NIH) recognizes that sleep apnea is a TMJ disorder. They issued a report in 2001 CARDIOVASCULAR AND SLEEP-RELATED CONSEQUENCES OF TEMPOROMANDIBULAR DISORDERS. It can be viewed at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/meetings/workshops/tmj_wksp.pdf . Neuromuscular Dentistry is probably the most effective method of treating TMJ disorders. Information on Neuromuscular dentistry can be found at http://www.ihateheadaches.org and http://www.iccmo.org/ is the best site to find a Neuromuscular dentist.

Sleep apnea is another frequent cause of morning headaches in patients who snore. Women patients and thinner patients are more likely to have a sleep apnea diagnosis missed. These patients often they exhibit Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome where snoring can be minimal and instead of excessive sleepiness their chief symptoms are fatigue, chronic pain, depression muscle soreness and aching or fibromyalgia. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine now recognizes oral appliances as a first line of treatment for mild to moderate sleep apnea. They recommend that dentists treating sleep apnea be well versed in treating TMJ disorders. Dental Sleep Medicine is the science of treating sleep disordered breathing with oral appliances. An excellent site to find a sleep apnea dentist who can treat morning headaches, sleep apnea and TMJ disorders is http://www.ihatecpap.com.

Tension headache pain symptoms are worse in the scalp area, around the temples, and the back of the head. This is exactly the same area where patients with jaw and posture problems have pain. Morning Tension headache symptoms may resolve in as little as thirty minutes, or last as long as a week. Chronic daily headaches are similar in nature but are not primarily associated with waking from sleep. Other causes of morning headache include lack of sleep from insomnia or poor sleep schedule, tension-producing sleeping positions, stress, and even pillow choice. Changing sleeping positions or purchasing a new pillow may be enough to prevent a morning headache for some people. Dental appliances are extremely helpful for morning headaches and may be used to treat clenching and grinding. The NTI appliance has been approved by the FDA to treat and prevent migraines. It works by suppressing the grinding or clenching of the teeth by nociceptive input into the trigeminal system. Neuromuscular dental appliances relieve headaches by balancing inputs into this same system

A lingering tension headache at bedtime is often enough to trigger a morning headache. Tension headache symptoms can disrupt normal sleep patterns and stages due to insomnia or difficulty sleeping. Fatigue produced by these symptoms is enough to trigger a morning headache. Headaches associated with depression are often due to poor sleep and chronic pain. Living with constant pain causes depression and often make patients feel desperate. The difference between these patients and true depressive patients is that when the pain is gone the depression quickly follows.

The International Headache Society now uses the term "tension-type headaches" rather than "tension headaches." because there are so many causes. TMJ disorders and sleep disordered breathing should be investigated as a cause initially. Both of these disorders are very common, are associated with increased muscle tension and are easily and successfully treated for most patients. Other less frequent causes include colds and flu, primary depression, excessive caffeine consumption or caffeine withdrawal, eyestrain, smoking or with smoking cessation. Many of the other causes would worsen Sleep Disordered breathing including apnea or TMJ disorders. These include colds or flue, allergies, nasal congestion, poor posture, sinusitis, alcohol or drug use.

The excessive use of caffeine is frequently related to fatigue or tiredness from sleep disordered breathing and sleep apnea. It hen leads to headaches and insomnia which in turn cause fatigue and depression. These patients frequently have headaches from withdrawal from caffeine and periods of sleep can lead to those early morning symptoms.

The August 15, 2008 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine has an excellent article on Depression and Sleep-related Symptoms in an Adult, Indigenous, North American Population. In the study Sleep-related symptoms of insomnia, apnea and Restless legs were each, independently related to depression.

Migraines are now thought to be a disorder of the trigeminal nervous system. These are the same nerves that go to the teeth, jaws, jaw muscles and jaw joints as well as the lining of the sinuses and controlling blood flow to the brain. The trigeminal or fifth cranial nerves supply the largest input to the brain and are probably responsible for much of the central sensitization that occurs in migraines, chronic pain and fibromyalgia. Treatment of TMJ disorders with neuromuscular dentistry can treat the muscle pain and decrease the chronic pain that leads to central sensitization

Tension or morning headaches more than fifteen days a month for several consecutive months are considered chronic. Chronic tension headache symptoms are present almost constantly. The headache may begin as a dull morning headache and grow in intensity over the course of the day. Chronic tension headache symptoms may indicate clinical depression or anxiety, and should receive medical attention.

Unusual or sudden onset headache symptoms should always be treated as medical emergencies, and are not normal to tension or morning headache symptoms. Immediate medical assistance should be sought if headache symptoms include any of the following:
Onset is sudden and severe (a "thunderclap" headache)
Symptoms include double vision, confusion, seizures, or difficulty speaking
previously absent headache symptoms develop after age forty
headache is accompanied by new symptoms of fever, stiff neck, weakness, or numbness
headache symptoms develop after a head injury.

Morning headache may be a good indicator of depression and insomnia and is not specific to sleep-disordered breathing, according to the results of a telephone survey published in the Jan. 12, 2004 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. This does not determine the underlying cause of depression, which is often chronic pain or related to stress from disturbed sleep.

"The prevalence of morning headache in the general population is not known, although according to a Swedish study, 5% of the population awakens often or very often with headaches," according to Maurice M. Ohayon, MD, DSc, PhD, from Stanford University School of Medicine in California. "Clinical studies have reported a high association between morning headaches and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and snoring." He also stated that "Morning headache affects one individual in 13 in the general population,"

Web MD reported from Headache. 2008;48(1):32-39, "A Swedish cross-sectional study (324 diagnosed obstructive/apneics compared with random sample of the general population classified as snorers [n = 448] and nonsnorers [n = 583])found that heavy snorers were more likely than nonsnorers in the population to have "headache at least once a week" vs. "morning headache" "

About Dr Ira L Shapira

Dr Ira L Shapira is an author and section editor of Sleep and Health, President of I HATE CPAP LLC, President Dato-TECH, and has a Dental Practice with his partner Dr Mark Amidei. He has recently formed Chicagoland Dental Sleep Medicine Associates. He is a Regent of ICCMO and its representative to the TMD Alliance, He was a founding and certified member of the Sleep Disorder Dental Society which became the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, A founding member of DOSA the Dental Organization for Sleep Apnea. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine, A Diplomat of the American Academy of Pain Management, a graduate of LVI. He is a former assistant professor at Rush Medical Schools Sleep Service where he worked with Dr Rosalind Cartwright who is a founder of Sleep Medicine and Dental Sleep Medicine. Dr Shapira is a consultant to numerous sleep centers and teaches courses in Dental Sleep Medicine in his office to doctors from around the U.S. He is the Founder of I HATE CPAP LLC and http://www.ihatecpap.com Dr Shapira also holds several patents on methods and devices for the prophylactic minimally invasive early removal of wisdom teeth and collection of bone marrow and stem cells. Dr Shapira is a licensed general dentist in Illinois and Wisconsin.

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