The Dawson Academy Blog

Consequences of these conditions explained by a leading expert, physician and researcher in nasal obstruction, snoring and sleep disordered breathing.

Soroush Zaghi, MD, graduated from Harvard Medical School, completed residency in ENT (Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery) at UCLA, and Sleep Surgery Fellowship at Stanford University. He is active in clinical research with over 60+ peer-reviewed research publications in the fields of neuroscience, head and neck surgery, and sleep-disordered breathing. He recently spoke with Kelley Richardson, our Dawson Academy Airway Curriculum Liaison, to discuss how tongue ties, restricted fascia and mouth breathing can negatively affect sleep, breathing, growth and development.

Treating airway disorders is important because it is our primary physiologic function, we can’t go without air for very long! It takes about 3 minutes or so without air to start a cascade of events brought on by our automatic/autonomic nervous system to keep us alive. It’s the sympathetic response commonly known as the “fight or flight response” that kicks in to keep us alive. These responses include an increase in heart rate to get oxygen in the blood to all the organs in the body. The most important organ, being the brain, aka the command center, which will continue to keep us alive. Opening and keeping our airway open should be on the forefront of every Complete Exam.

This article is a continuation from an interview with Dr. Richard Roblee, a featured speaker at the 2020 International Airway Symposium. For Part 1, click here. We continue our conversation with Dr. Roblee on his overall philosophy and how airway now fits into his busy orthodontic practice.

When it comes to treatment options for breathing and airway disorders in adults, I like to divide this up into two components. There are patients that can begin treatment that same day, to help deal with their immediate symptoms. Then there are patients that I must begin planning for more long-term and definitive resolutions.

Dr. Richard Roblee is an airway-focused orthodontist that practices in Fayetteville, AR. Dr. Roblee is one of our featured speakers at the 2020 International Airway Symposium. He is also the author of Interdisciplinary Dentofacial Therapy: A comprehensive Approach to Optimal Patient Care. Kelley Richardson, our Airway Curriculum Liaison, sat down with him to discuss his interdisciplinary approach and how Dr. Peter Dawson helped shape his overall philosophy.

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is America’s leading health threat. None of us look forward to a heart attack, stroke, dementia or organ failure. But CVD affects 1 in 3 and soon to affect 1 in 2 Americans. 

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is now increasing health and financial burdens in the United States and worldwide. DM and its precursor, prediabetes, together affect 103 million people, one-third of the U.S. population. But about 28 percent of patients with diabetes and 93 percent of those with prediabetes don’t know it.

One of the things that Dr. Dawson has taught us over the years is that part of being a complete dentist is really being a physician of the masticatory system.

As our understanding of Dentistry’s role in whole health advances, we have increasingly meaningful conversations with our patients and community. One of my patients is a wonderful physical therapist, who is strongly committed to educating her patients about whole health subjects, including oral health. She has asked me to write several articles for her practice newsletter.

This month we discussed obstructive sleep apnea and systemic inflammation. Below is how we explain a complicated subject as simply as possible, communicating the role of the dental team in whole health.

Perhaps you have opportunities in your community, through your patients and medical colleagues, to get the word out, about Complete Dentistry from TMJ to smile design, and from sleep apnea to systemic inflammation!

You can really get involved in the broader spectrum of dentistry, taking the concepts that we’ve learned at The Dawson Academy and expanding those into the whole body.

Today we have so many great things happening in the medical field. As you look here at the titles of books being written, you’ll notice each one of them are written by an M.D.