Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Looking beyond the teeth and saving lives!
Dentists are uniquely positioned among healthcare providers to easily evaluate for signs of obstructive sleep apnea. Oral appliance therapy performed by a qualified dentist can also be an effective treatment, literally saving lives. In this lecture Dr. Spencer will review the basics of normal sleep, snoring and obstructive sleep apnea in adults and children. You will most likely be thinking that YOU and everyone you know must have sleep apnea before he is through! Don’t worry though, he will also cover diagnosis and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea, including the dentist’s role. If you or someone close to you may have sleep apnea (like your patients) you owe it to yourself and them to take this course and potentially change, or literally save, their lives.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand normal sleep and how to improve sleep
- Understand how obstructive sleep apnea affects adults and children
- Become familiar with the dental aspects of screening for OSA
- Understand possible problems and side effects of oral appliance therapy
CE Units: 3
Jamison Spencer, DMD, MS
Dr. Jamison Spencer is the director of Dental Sleep Medicine for the Center for Sleep Apnea and TMJ, in Boise Idaho and Salt Lake City Utah. Dr. Spencer has personally treated thousands of patients with sleep apnea and TMJ problems, and now focuses on helping dentists help their patients with such problems. Dr. Spencer is the Past-President of the American Academy of Craniofacial Pain (AACP), a Diplomate of the American Board of Craniofacial Pain, a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine, a Diplomate of the American Board of Craniofacial Dental Sleep Medicine and has a Masters in Craniofacial Pain from Tufts University. He taught head and neck anatomy at Boise State University, and is adjunct faculty at the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry. Dr. Spencer has been invited to give lectures on TMD, Dental Sleep Medicine and head and neck anatomy throughout the United States at every major dental meeting, Canada, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Australia, Europe and India. Dr. Spencer created Spencer Study Club, an online education, mentoring and implementation program to help dentists and their teams help more of their patients with sleep apnea and TMJ disorders. Dr. Spencer now lives in Pleasant View, Utah with his wife of 30 years, Jennifer, and their 2 children of 6 who are still at home. Dr. Spencer enjoys outdoor activities including running, skiing, waterskiing and mountain biking, can still out ski all of his children and would have been at the Boston marathon in 2020 had it not been cancelled.