Practitioner Spotlight: Dr. Shahnaz

How did you get involved in the field of airway health?

After my eldest started relapsing from her fixed orthodontics the same day she had her braces removed, I started researching the causes of relapse and in so doing, found the missing link to her sleep, health, and cognitive issues over the years. Realizing that it all came down to mouth breathing, something so simple yet so damaging,  I made it my mission to learn as much as I could in this field and vowed never to let a patient cross my path without doing an airway assessment

I envision a future where no child will be denied the opportunity to reach his or her potential because of an unrecognized airway/sleep problem. For everyone, of any age, I envision a future where the incidence of inflammatory and chronic illnesses falls

What is your area of expertise and what kind of services do you provide for your patients?

I have been a dentist for over 26 years and I am passionate about holistic and integrative aspects. I have seen many patients who mouth breathe, have crooked teeth, tongue thrusts, tongue and lip ties, and overactive facial muscles. It wasn’t until I was introduced to Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy that I learned that these weren’t due to “just genetics,” but that it was improper, unconscious habits that were creating these unfavorable traits. This led me to the field of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy. I pursued many courses related to this topic in the quest to find answers to my own kids’ dental and orthodontic issues. Since then,  I  have been helping patients through proactive techniques that help develop and maintain correct resting tongue posture, nasal breathing, lip seal, and a correct swallowing pattern.

Looking beyond the teeth, to the nose, throat, muscles of the tongue, face, neck, and beyond to the rest of the body. Left untreated, sleep disorders can cause or aggravate many serious health issues. I  provide Airway centered services that can help treat snoring issues, sleep apnea, breathing problems that result from crowded teeth, tethered oral tissues (lip and tongue ties), difficulty sleeping, and more using a multi-disciplinary collaborative approach to patient care.”

What age are your patients and who do you cater to?

No age group is immune from poor airway health. Often associated with older, obese men, Airway-Centred Disorder or other manifestations of poor airway health can be present in infants, children, teens, young adults, and slender women!

Why did you choose to start/join the Airway Health network?

After the struggles with my own children, I found it hard to find providers who understood the airway-centric approach to treatment. This is not in any medical or dental curriculum and those providers who know about this were few and far between. I made it my mission to educate myself, my patients, the public, and other health practitioners on the importance of the airway, why nasal breathing is so important by promoting interceptive orthodontics with intervention from as early as birth. The Airway Health Network was created to bring dentists of differing philosophies and practitioners of different modalities together to create methods and protocols for better care solutions for their patients. Opening one’s airway can have a dramatic effect on the ability to function in everyday life, on one’s physical appearance, and on overall long-term health. Airway-centered Disorder, in its various forms, is the missing link in medicine today.