Dr. Shapira became interested in sleep apnea treatment because his 3-year-old son, Billy, had severe snoring and suffered from night sweats. When he mentioned his concerns to his son's pediatricians, the concerns were brushed off. When his son was held back from starting kindergarten at age five, Dr. Shapira took matters into his own hands. He took Billy to Rush Medical School's sleep center, where it was determined that the boy had severe sleep apnea. Billy's apnea was treated, and he became a straight "A" student and graduated college with a double major Magna Cum Laude. This experience instilled in him a lifetime interest in sleep disorders. He became a Visiting Assistant Professor at Rush in the sleep service in the 1980's and returned as an Assistant Professor in the 1990's until early this century where he treated sleep apnea and snoring with oral appliances.
Partly as a result of Dr. Shapira's long campaign, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine now recognizes oral appliances as a first-line treatment of mild to moderate sleep apnea and an alternative treatment for severe apnea in patients who do not tolerate CPAP, and in winter 2008, The National Sleep Foundation declared oral appliances "A Therapy Whose Time Has Come."
To learn more about oral appliance therapy, and its ability to correct the major detriment of sleep apnea, please contact the Snoring and Sleep Apnea Treatment Center today for a free consultation.