Sleep Medicine for Dentists (eBook)

Dentists are often the first medical practitioners to encounter patient reports or clinical evidence of disorders such as sleep apnea, sleep bruxism, and sleep-disrupting orofacial pain, providing them a unique opportunity to prevent the development or persistence of conditions that strongly impact their patients' lives. Since the first publication of this seminal book, significant advances have been made in the field of sleep medicine, and this updated edition gathers all of this new evidence-based knowledge and presents it in focused, concise chapters. Leading experts in medicine and dentistry explain the neurobiologic mechanisms of sleep and how they can be affected by breathing disorders, bruxism, and pain, along the way guiding dental practitioners in performing their specific responsibilities for screening, treating, and often referring patients as part of a multidisciplinary team of physicians. An emphasis is placed on research findings regarding newly emerging cognitive behavioral approaches to treatment that mitigate some of the risks associated with pharmacologic and oral appliance therapies. Readers will find this book both fascinating and clinically important as they strive to provide the best possible treatment to patients with these complex and often life-threatening disorders.

Gilles J. Lavigne, DMD, MSc, PhD, FRCD(C) (Oral medicine), is a Canada Research Chair in Pain, Sleep, and Trauma; dean and professor of dentistry at the University of Montreal; and director of the Trauma Research Axis at Montreal Sacré Coeur Hospital. Dr Lavigne completed postdoctoral training in neurobiology of pain at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and is internationally recognized for his experimental and clinical research on sleep bruxism and the interaction of sleep, pain, and breathing disorders. He is co-editor of two textbooks, Sleep and Pain (IASP, 2007) and Orofacial Pain, second edition (Quintessence, 2008).