The 53rd Annual Scientific Congress of the Korean Association of Orthodontists PASSION FOR A LONG JOURNEY :
Nature vs Nurture

Online
November 5(Thu) - 6(Fri), 2020
Precongress: November 1(Sun) / VOD: November 7(Sat) - 8(Sun)

Airway issues

Optimizing bite and breathing for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea
Dr. Stanley Yung-Chuan Liu
  • Dr. Liu is as an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is co-director of the Stanford Sleep Surgery Fellowship. He is a consultant member of sleep medicine in the American Academy of Otolaryngology. He is a Stanford Biodesign Faculty Fellow.

    He received medical and dental degrees from the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF). He was a former Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Research Scholar. After maxillofacial surgery residency at UCSF, Dr. Liu completed his sleep surgery fellowship in 2014 with the Department of Otolaryngology at Stanford, and sleep surgery pioneer Dr. Robert Riley.

    Dr. Liu practices the full scope of sleep apnea surgery including nasal, palate, tongue base, hypoglossal nerve stimulation (Inspire), genioglossus advancement, and maxillomandibular advancement (MMA). He introduced distraction osteogenesis maxillary expansion (DOME) with Dr. Christian Guilleminault in 2015.

    Dr. Liu is also routinely referred patients for complex orthognathic surgery facial trauma. He serves as a preceptor to the Stanford Oculoplastic Surgery Fellowship.

    Dr. Liu's active areas of research include dynamic airway examination to optimize sleep surgery outcome, virtual surgical planning for facial skeletal surgery, and neuromodulation of the upper airway. He has given keynote talks at preeminent sleep conferences across specialties. He has published over 70 scientific articles and medical texts, with original scientific work on sleep surgery.

While the world is in a hard-fought battle against a pandemic of viral origin, no less insidious is the pandemic of poor sleep. From medical and mental health co-morbidity to accidents and loss productivity, the silent (or sometimes noisy) condition of obstructive sleep apnea affects a large population across all age groups. All specialists taking care of patients with OSA eventually come to the realization that they need to integrate into a broader framework. My talk will be focused on: 1) advancement in the field of sleep surgery, 2) why as a surgeon I believe that orthodontists the key drivers in this framework. I will share with you why as I perform tonsillectomy, I have already asked the question, "Does the patient have maxillary constriction?" When I perform maxillomandibular advancement, I have already asked the question, "How long has the patient struggled with nasal obstruction and mouth breathing?" One of the most frequent questions I have encountered in my lectures around the world is "How much to expand? How much to advance?" The answer is in the balance of bite, breathing, and beauty of the face and airway. The unique surgeon-orthodontist partnership is pivotal to achieving this lofty goal, aimed to allow our patients to sleep and dream again.