Airway Course Description for Sept 23,2023 - Kansas

-  Airway disorders and sleep disordered breathing – introduction, health concerns from a Public Health perspective
-  Anatomy and physiology of the airway - Genetic and epigenetic factors in airway and craniofacial development
-  Introduction of a system for managing airway patients in everyday practice - Structure, function, and behavior as root causes of airway dysfunction
-  Patient screening introduced
-  Data collection: medical metrics, clinical exam, clinical photography, cone beam CT scan and digital intraoral scanning
-  Interpretation of data collection
- Training of high-resolution pulse oximeter
- Application of digital scanning in airway management
- Introduction to diagnosis of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome
-  Diagnosis and Treatment Planning
- Interventions and Treatment
- Digital scanning for diagnostics and oral appliance therapy.
-  Review of myofunctional therapy, functional appliances, biomimetic appliances and orthopedic expansion appliances.
-  Review of available definitive correction strategies
-  Medical billing model and implementation
-  Building a network of providers for airway patients.
-  Review of sleep and health
-  Case presentations
-  Adjunctive therapies.

Dr. Steven Acker, founded Elite Dental of Staten Island in 1989. Elite Dental is a Health and Wellness based practice that is focused on Airway Health and Total Body Wellness.  He has also lectured extensively and serves as an Attending Doctor at The Brookdale Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY since 1982.

Dr. Acker is a Clinical Instructor and Advisory Board member at the prestigious Kois Center for Clinical Excellence in Seattle, Washington.  He has studied under Dr. John Kois, one of the foremost  dental educators in the world .He is also a Graduate of the Misch Dental Implant Institute. He has been a Fellow of the International Congress of Oral Implantology.

Dr. Acker is a member of the American Academy of Physiological Medicine and Dentistry and is a member of the Wellness Dentistry Network and the American Dental Association.

His passion for the science and art of dentistry and his belief that Dentistry has a major role in the overall wellness and health of our patients. His commitment to the Health and Wellness of his patients is what keeps him committed to staying at the forefront of professional developments.

Dr. Acker believes that the Airway focused dentists should be the quarterback of an interdisciplinary group of physicians, dentists and other allied health professionals that understand the structure, function and behavior of the airway and breathing of our patients. Dr. Acker lectures in the United States and internationally on Airway related care for dentists and allied health professionals.

EDUCATION
B.S. – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 1976 – Biology
M.S. – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 1977 – Biomedical engineering
D.D.S. – N. Y. U. College of Dentistry 1980

POST DOCTORAL – Chief Resident and General Practice Resident – Brookdale Hospital and Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 1980-1982

ACADEMIC POSTIONS

ATTENDING MEDICAL STAFF – Dept of Dental and Oral Surgery – Brookdale Hospital and Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY  1982-Present