Each June, the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (AADSM) Research Committee recognizes outstanding research in dental sleep medicine. This year, Shouresh Charkhandeh, DDS, who is Zephyr Sleep Technologies’ chief dental officer, has been selected as the recipient of the AADSM Clinical Research Award based on the scientific merit of the abstract “An Auto-Titrating Mandibular Positioner: Accuracy in Predicting Oral Appliance Therapy Outcome and Efficacious Mandibular Protrusion.”

In addition, due to the research excellence demonstrated in this abstract, Charkhandeh has also been selected as the recipient of the AADSM Clinical Excellence Award. Both of these awards will be presented to Charkhandeh at this year’s AADSM meeting in Seattle. In 2012, Charkhandeh was the recipient of the AADSM Clinical Research Award for his participation as lead investigator in the clinical trial validating the MATRx technology, which was published the following year in the journal SLEEP.

Zephyr will be presenting the following abstracts at upcoming meetings:

American Thoracic Society (ATS) – May 16-19, Denver
“Predicting Oral Appliance Therapy Outcome Using an Auto-Adjusting Mandibular Positioner in the Home.” These research findings will be presented by Zephyr’s chief medical officer, John Remmers, MD, in a mini-symposium entitled: “Picking Winners. Predicting Response to Treatment of Sleep Disordered Breathing in an Era of Personalized Medicine.”

American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (AADSM) – June 4-6, Seattle
“An Auto-Titrating Mandibular Positioner: Accuracy in Predicting Oral Appliance Therapy Outcome and Efficacious Mandibular Protrusion.” These research findings will be reviewed in an oral presentation by Charkhandeh.

Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) – June 6-10, Seattle
“Selection of Patients for Oral Appliance Therapy Using an Auto-Adjusting Mandibular Positioner in the Home.” These research findings will be presented by Remmers.

In 2012, Remmers and his team at Zephyr Sleep Technologies developed the MATRx titration system using remote-controlled mandibular positioner (RCMP) technology. The MATRx system has established a new channel for attended studies in the polysomnographic setting. The single-night test allows for real-time adjustments in mandibular position without disrupting the patient’s sleep and is clinically proven to deliver time to treatment comparable to CPAP. “Understanding a patient’s airway response to mandibular protrusion is a critical component of confidently prescribing and delivering efficacious OAT. MATRx is the only clinically validated method to prospectively determine responders to OAT as well as the efficacious target protrusive position” Remmers says in a release. Charkhandeh says, “The test’s high predictive accuracy enables dentists to achieve an unprecedented success rate with OAT and fosters strong relationships with treatment providers interested in improving therapeutic outcomes.”

The MATRx system is FDA cleared to predict therapeutic outcome with a custom-fitted mandibular repositioning appliance (MRA). Today, over 140 Sleep Centers across North America have adopted the MATRx technology and have built strong relationships with their dental sleep medicine colleagues. Patrick Strollo, MD, comments, “Remmers and colleagues provide evidence that a single-night titration using a remote controlled mandibular positioner can predict success of oral appliance therapy”. A recent review of oral appliance treatment by the ORANGE-Registry, published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, states “Identification of therapeutic protrusion level by this method may help reduce side effects produced by further unnecessary titration.”

In related news, Zephyr has completed its most recent clinical trial with a next generation device that uses the RCMP technology in the patient’s home. The trial included over 150 patients, and demonstrates the feasibility of carrying out a computer-controlled mandibular titration (CCMP) test safely in an unattended setting, with an accuracy comparable to MATRx. This clinical trial data will be presented at the aforementioned meetings in Denver and Seattle. “Now that the clinical trial is complete, we are moving this exciting and new technology into product development. Our next objective is to determine the right clinical setting and industrial design for this truly groundbreaking platform” says Paul Cataford, CEO and co-founder of Zephyr.