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TAPD Winter 2021 CE Course
The Pediatric Dentist’s Role in Sleep, Breathing, and Myofunctional Disorders: A Functional Approach for Providers on the Front-Line
Schedule
Saturday, February 27, 2021
10:00 am – 5:00 pm (Central Time)
Lunch 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM with intermittent breaks
Virtual Zoom
Rates
Member Rate: $200
Non Member Rate: $300
Registration is now closed.
About Dr. Soroush Zaghi
Dr. Zaghi graduated from Harvard Medical School, completed residency in ENT (Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery) at UCLA, and Sleep Surgery Fellowship at Stanford University. He now serves as medical director of The Breathe Institute where the focus of his sub-specialty training is on the comprehensive treatment of nasal obstruction, snoring, and obstructive sleep apnea in children and adults. He is very active in clinical research with over 80+ peer-reviewed research publications in the fields of neuroscience, head and neck surgery, myofunctional therapy, and sleep-disordered breathing. Dr. Zaghi is particularly interested in studying the impact of tethered-oral tissues (such as tongue-tie) and oral myofascial dysfunction on maxillofacial development, upper airway resistance syndrome, and obstructive sleep apnea, especially as it relates to pediatric populations. He is an invited lecturer, author, and journal reviewer for topics relating to the diagnosis and management of sleep-disordered breathing and tongue-tie disorders in children and adults.
Course Overview
Pediatric dentists are in a unique position to screen and monitor for myofunctional and upper airway function disorders that may impact long-term craniofacial and airway development in children. Indeed, chronic mouth breathing and low tongue posture in actively growing children is associated with palatal growth restriction, alterations of craniofacial development, altered head posture, attention issues, poor school performance, and increased risk for obstructive-sleep apnea later in life. This presentation will provide an overview of the spectrum of sleep-related breathing disorders ranging from mouth breathing to snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. The emphasis of the presentation will be on the importance of establishing exclusive nasal breathing as the single most important objective with take-home tips and advice on how to implement these recommendations to the children and families in your practice. Six credit hours will be earned.
Learning Outcomes
- To appreciate the impact of sleep-related breathing disorders on pediatric populations.
- Be able to screen for and identify the clinical signs of mouth breathing and sleep-disordered breathing among patients in your practice.
- Understand that comfortable nasal breathing requires the following conditions: lips pressed together, tongue resting high on the roof of the mouth, and a patent nasal passage.
- Learn to manage the common causes of nose blockage: inflammation of the lining of the nose due to environmental allergies, food allergies, weather conditions, air pollution, smoking, nutritional factors, or exposure to certain chemicals. Other causes of nose blockage may include deviated septum, large turbinates, nasal polyps, or large tonsils and adenoids.
- Appreciate that sometimes there are no physical blockage in the nose that contribute to the sensation of nasal obstruction or mouth breathing. For these cases, providers with advanced training may be able to identify the presence of a “high arched narrow palate”, or “restrictive lingual frenulum,” among other causes of the difficulty breathing through the nose.
- Understand the role of saline rinses, nasal sprays, allergy medicines, mouth taping, myofunctional therapy, and surgery in the treatment of these issues.
- Discuss a differential diagnosis for clenching and grinding among patients who present with signs of moderate to severe dental wear and learn how to optimize your treatment by addressing the underlying causes.
- Recognize the role of tongue-tie and lip-tie surgery and learn how to improve the surgical outcomes of your cases.
- Learn about the long-term impact you can have on craniofacial growth and development by introducing early interceptive orthodontics into your clinical practice.
- Be able to discuss the peer-reviewed research literature supporting the role of myofunctional therapy, tongue-tie, and lip-tie surgery in the treatment of patients with mouth breathing, snoring, and/or obstructive sleep apnea.