1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,800 Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of The 2 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:34,000 Welcome Back to Airway First, the podcast from the Children's Airway First Foundation. 3 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:44,400 I'm your host, Rebecca St. James. My guest today is Dr. Julia Sadov Lopez. Dr. Julia is a biological 4 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:50,840 dentist accredited by the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology. She attended 5 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:57,400 dental school in Indiana, where she first began her dental career. She went on to practice dentistry 6 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:03,960 for several years at a holistic dental practice in Chicago. There she was able to work closely in 7 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:10,120 collaboration with Dr. Kevin Boyd, even serving as a research assistant for his anthropology research 8 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:17,000 at the Penn Museum. Dr. Julia practiced general dentistry while still offering services like 9 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:23,640 infant or nectomies. Her passion for identifying and referring young patients to seek early 10 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:30,440 interception solutions became one of her favorite parts of her profession. She has since created 11 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:36,360 her own consulting business, or a wellness, to offer customized one-on-one support for parents 12 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:43,160 and the topic surrounding airway dentistry. More recently, Dr. Julia relocated her family to Portugal. 13 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:49,240 There she is enjoying learning about how the perspectives and services that are offered in 14 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:55,560 Europe vary from the training she received, formerly in the US. You can find out more about 15 00:01:55,560 --> 00:02:02,280 Dr. Julia at auraswellness.com. And now let's jump into my interview with today's guest, 16 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:12,360 Dr. Julia Sadov Lopez. Awesome. All right. Good morning. Thanks for joining us, Julia. 17 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:17,640 Thank you for having me, Rebecca. I'm really grateful to the Children's Airway First Foundation 18 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:23,240 for offering to be an ally and all of this outreach and support for parents. So... 19 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:28,360 Oh, yeah. Thank you so much. And, you know, we feel the same about you. That's why we wanted to have 20 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:35,800 you on, because you've got a very unique opportunity for parents. We want to make sure that they hear 21 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,800 about it. And if it makes sense for them, that they have the chance to reach out and chat with you. 22 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:41,720 That's great. Thank you so much. 23 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:50,280 Yeah. So let's just go ahead and jump right into it then. So before we really, you know, 24 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,480 get into what you're doing now and how you got there, let's just take a step back and talk a 25 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:59,960 little bit about your own airway journey and how it's... And it is auras, right? Auraswellness. 26 00:02:59,960 --> 00:03:01,480 Auraswellness. Yeah. 27 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:07,480 Auraswellness. The muscle around the lips is the obicularis auras. So that was part of the 28 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:13,800 the origin and naming it. Yes. Very cool. I like that. Yeah. So, you know, just a little bit about 29 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:22,040 your journey and how Auraswellness came to be. Perfect. Thank you. Yes. So I guess I would say 30 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:27,960 a dramatic shift took place in my dental career. I graduated dental school in Indiana and was 31 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:32,200 practicing there and what would be viewed as a conventional practice for a few years. 32 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:40,600 And then I relocated to Chicago. Once in Chicago, I had the good fortune of interviewing in a 33 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:46,360 dental office called Wrigley Valdental. They, on their banner, on their window outside, 34 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:52,280 it said holistic dentistry. And at the time, I kind of was like, I don't really know what 35 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:57,080 that is, but I'm looking for a job. This is a great neighborhood. I'm going to go in and find 36 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:05,080 out a little more. So I went in and I was able to connect with the owner, Bernice Tplitsky, 37 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:11,800 who became one of my most influential mentors. And she took me under her wing and really taught 38 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:18,040 me a lot about how to view dentistry differently than how I had viewed it in previous years. 39 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:26,520 And so one of the things that really happened was she was already well integrated in Chicago 40 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:33,000 in kind of working collaboratively with other providers. So I got to meet various professionals 41 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:37,720 that she was familiar with. Dr. Kevin Boyd, who I know has been on those podcasts numerous times. 42 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:44,840 We love Dr. Boyd. Oh, yeah. Yes, yes, among those professionals. And other kinds of providers, 43 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:50,440 I mean, she was very well connected into more integrative health centers that were offering 44 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:57,160 just medical health or manual therapies and other kind of allied health solutions for 45 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:05,160 patients of our practice. So when I kind of had the good fortune of becoming a part of this amazing 46 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:09,720 network that's in Chicago, I initially kind of took it for granted. It was almost so easy to 47 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:16,840 refer out to other professionals that could help our patients. And it really wasn't until 48 00:05:16,840 --> 00:05:24,760 some time later when kind of two things happened. One is that I started to reflect on, 49 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:30,680 you know, there were certain parents that I would say your child is exhibiting some symptoms 50 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:35,800 of a problem here with how their face is growing or how their teeth are positioned. 51 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:40,440 I would make a referral to one of those very well-esteemed providers that we trusted and relied on. 52 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:47,640 And six months later, the parent would come back in and they hadn't gone yet. And it was one of those 53 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:53,160 things where I didn't really stop to ask myself, what was the resistance? Yeah, what was the 54 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:59,640 standpoint? Had I not explained myself correctly? Was there maybe a trust issue with myself or the 55 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:06,600 other provider? Were they just not ready? Were there financial limitations or other resources? 56 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:12,040 So it was really one of those things that I didn't dive into. It took me a while to realize that 57 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:17,880 that was kind of a pattern. And then the other thing that happened for me is that my niece, 58 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:26,280 my family lives in Florida, and my niece was starting to exhibit some symptoms. She had crowded 59 00:06:26,280 --> 00:06:33,720 teeth, she was four years old, thumb-sucking habits, some hyperactivity, some food allergies, 60 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:38,760 kind of just some things that made me say, hey, I talked to my brother and my sister-in-law, 61 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:45,720 I think we should have her looked at. And all of a sudden I was faced with the fact that I didn't 62 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:53,400 have that easy referral community available for her. And I knew exactly what I was looking for. 63 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:59,240 I was a dentist. I knew what my brother and sister-in-law were open to trying in terms of, 64 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:05,800 you know, there's always different directions that treatment can go. They were open to exploring 65 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:11,080 an expander. And so I knew exactly what I was looking for, but it was really hard for me initially 66 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:16,920 finding a provider for a four-year-old when I didn't necessarily have these systems in place 67 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:23,640 and strategies in place that I now offer for others. So that was kind of a wake-up call for me, 68 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:31,800 was that here I am, a dentist that's knowledgeable in these backgrounds on these topics, and it was 69 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:37,240 quite a challenge. So for me, I was just thinking, how hard is this for the parent who doesn't 70 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:41,400 necessarily have all that connection? I was about to say you were in the position that many of our 71 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:47,480 parent listeners are in. They don't know where to go. Yeah, so that was really my wake-up call 72 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:57,880 into, it was a slow evolution. I knew that I wanted, I'm very passionate about the education and 73 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:04,440 the early prevention approach, you know, I'm all for taking a vitamin if we can treat with the 74 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:11,720 vitamin instead of waiting for needing the pill. So it was something that I wanted to make my 75 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:17,960 perspective available and gradually over time I created my own business to do so. I wasn't 76 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:24,760 necessarily clear at first what kind of help was needed and it was definitely a process for me to 77 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:31,480 figure out what role or as wellness would play in supporting parents. But I'm glad that at this 78 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:36,680 point I can say I do offer one-on-one consulting for parents and we'll talk more about that. 79 00:08:36,680 --> 00:08:45,240 And yeah, happy to have found my own kind of niche. You know, when it's funny, that happens a lot, 80 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:52,680 especially around this particular topic because it's just, there's this such a massive void 81 00:08:53,560 --> 00:09:01,960 in providers and education and just overall parent support. Right. So it's just, 82 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:07,880 I think that's awesome what you've done. Thank you. Yeah, for sure. And it is so funny that you were in 83 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:14,360 Chicago because you've got Lurie Children's and Dr. Darius and Dr. Kev and, you know, you're an 84 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:21,400 amazing network. Dr. Gavillet, Dr. Jenny Hapman, I mean, it was lots of people. And they're all talking 85 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:26,520 and sharing and of course you think that's just this magical world everywhere, but it's, there's 86 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:34,200 something very unique happening in Chicago. I agree. And I didn't recognize it until I started to look 87 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:39,720 outside and see what was going on elsewhere. Yeah, yeah, it's wild. So, and that's part of, you know, 88 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:44,920 we're all on the same boat, thankfully pushing in the same direction or growing. No one's pushing 89 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:50,040 it like that wouldn't work well, right? I think that there's, there is good momentum generally 90 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:57,640 taking place in terms of a broader set of services being offered and a broader awareness and meeting 91 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:02,440 the demand that's there to support parents and finding those treatment solutions and finding those 92 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:08,040 providers. Yeah, and it's, it is amazing because it is a demand. It's funny because the estimate's 93 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:14,200 not funny, but you know, the estimate is 400 million children. And you think, oh, it's such a huge 94 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:19,160 number. It's not real blah, blah, blah. More and more parents are becoming aware of it and they're 95 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:25,160 looking at their child going, oh, he or she snores. Oh, we have late stage bed, what are you, oh, 96 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:31,160 they just told me my child has ADHD. I don't want to give them the medication. Right. Wow, 97 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:37,400 could this be airway? People are starting to wake up to this huge number. It's real. And it's right 98 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:46,520 here in our backyard. Yeah, it's crazy. So one of the things that you mentioned, and we have spoken 99 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:51,880 with another holistic dentist before, but for parents who might not have heard that episode, 100 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:58,520 what is the difference between holistic dentistry and traditional dentistry as we know it? 101 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:05,000 For sure. That's a great question. I think holistic dentistry is kind of a broader umbrella term 102 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:11,800 that promotes treating the whole complex human that's in front of you, right? You don't have 103 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:17,960 this limited frame of just looking at the mouth. You really go into it with kind of having taken 104 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:26,680 a step back to recognize that this is a lot that we're not expected to know everything. We have to 105 00:11:26,680 --> 00:11:33,320 work collaboratively with other providers who can provide their own areas of expertise. And I think 106 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:40,840 airway dentistry is kind of one offshoot of what holistic dentistry can be, where we're looking 107 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:47,800 at sleep and we're looking at allergies and we're looking at school performance. There are other 108 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:54,200 avenues that kind of fall into a holistic perspective, but I've really taken an interest in honing in 109 00:11:54,200 --> 00:12:00,760 on that that airway dentistry portion of it. Yeah. And just to be clear, y'all aren't DOs. 110 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:08,280 I mean, you're still dentist. Correct. But you have a different viewpoint. I mean, if I could put it, 111 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:14,920 don't mind my own words. You correct me if you need to. But I have heard this over and over. 112 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:20,440 Airway, the mouth is the start of everything, everything to do with your body, everything. 113 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:24,840 Absolutely. Digestion. So you guys are in front of the train, basically. 114 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:32,040 Yeah. A lot starts with the mouth and a lot becomes visibly apparent in the mouth. You can see 115 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:36,520 inside the mouth before you can see in other parts of the body. So what you might pick up on 116 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:45,000 on a dental x-ray that could be causing problems elsewhere in the body, some of the first 117 00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:50,280 areas of visibility to the problems, I guess we'll say, can start in the mouth. 118 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:56,760 And that is such a paradigm shift, at least for, I can't be the only one. So I suspect it's a lot 119 00:12:56,760 --> 00:13:03,800 of our listeners because you don't think, oh, this is really critical. You think, okay, twice a year, 120 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:09,000 I'm going to get my cleaning, I get my new toothbrush and toothpaste and off we go. You don't 121 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:19,160 realize how impactful it is. Yeah. I hope that, you know, I think as Dennis stepped up to the plate to 122 00:13:20,440 --> 00:13:25,720 present themselves as more than just the tooth mechanic that we're able to make that differentiation. 123 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:31,320 And I like the way you put it, tooth mechanic. That's great. Because one of the things that 124 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:36,760 I've heard Dr. Moralea, then Moralea say over and over and over, we're not here for the teeth. 125 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:43,320 You're here for the jaw. You're here to grow the face. It is that important. And 126 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:53,480 even Dennis started studying airway in school. Oh, no, absolutely. It's, I'm happy to say, 127 00:13:53,480 --> 00:14:02,200 you know, seeing organizations like the airway revolution and their intentions of creating that 128 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:09,960 change from within the dental institutions. I think that, again, we're seeing momentum moving 129 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:16,840 in the right direction. And I'm optimistic, we'll say that. I'm optimistic that things are moving 130 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:23,640 in a good direction. I agree with that. Yeah, airway revolution. I mean, we love what Victor 131 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:28,440 and those kinds of doing over there. It really is great. And then you have groups like airway circle 132 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:35,400 for sure that are really focusing on myofunctional therapy, airway health solutions. You've got 133 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:41,160 Lauren and Ben over there really trying to train all the other clinicians that are involved so that 134 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:48,360 you know, we're all on the same page and let's all move. And to me, it feels, it feels like, you 135 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:53,080 know, we're actually starting to move because you have groups like the ADA now. Mm hmm. 136 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:59,000 That had an actual challenge. Yes. Mm hmm. Yeah. There's actually a symposium coming up 137 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:04,840 in Chicago of all places, which will put a link to any of the clinicians that are listening that 138 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:14,440 want to join us. It's the end of May. But it's starting to become a conversation that more 139 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:18,280 clinicians are having. And that's, to me, that's phenomenal. That's we've got to get there. 140 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:24,760 Absolutely. Absolutely. I was lucky enough to be at the beginning of my dental career when the 141 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:33,160 the advice of starting orthodontic screenings at age seven came out to that already on its own 142 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:39,160 kind of shifting up. Now, how much of that is is acted upon and implemented is still remains to be 143 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:45,720 seen. But the fact that that already that was before I discovered airway health or a biologic 144 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:50,200 dental perspective, I was like, Oh, that's interesting. You know, I didn't pay attention to 145 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:57,640 the fact like, Oh, interesting. Something different. Yeah. And it's funny. I know it takes time, 146 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:03,880 but you've got groups, like all the ones we've mentioned, you know, in the APMD, I mean, there's 147 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:10,760 there's a big chunk of us. We don't have time. I know the change takes time, but there's 400 148 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:15,320 million kids, we don't have time. You need help now. And that's one of the things when I first 149 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:22,520 started my dental career, I overlooked a lot of things. There were patients in my practice who, 150 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:28,920 of course, the classic clenching or grinding, and I didn't stop to investigate that to the level 151 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:35,240 or depth that I should have. Sometimes things like a gag reflex that I didn't properly understand. 152 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:41,880 You know, whether for me, it was just making the dental appointment trickier, like, Oh, 153 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:45,800 that one hour that they're in the dental chair, it's going to be harder because they had a strong 154 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:52,680 gag reflex. But stopping to kind of look at how that was a affecting everything that led up to 155 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:58,920 the child or adult in either case, arriving to the dental chair and eating treatment, you know, 156 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:04,120 what was going on that caused that gag reflex or that hypersensitivity, and did that contribute to 157 00:17:04,120 --> 00:17:08,200 the problems we were facing. And then moving forward, how is that going to continue to affect 158 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:14,040 them as they carried on into life outside of the dental appointment on the other side? 159 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:23,160 Right, right. And every episode, I swear, I say this, you didn't know. You don't know what you 160 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:28,840 don't know, right? So we have clinicians are carrying guilt and I wish I had known just like 161 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:34,120 these parents, we're all looking around going, I wish we knew. For sure. For sure. Right. So 162 00:17:34,120 --> 00:17:41,560 we're all here now and we're moving from here. Do what we can do. Exactly. Exactly. So to that 163 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:46,920 point, let's just kind of segue into talking a little bit about the services that you offer on 164 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:52,440 your website. So I want to start with the big one that I saw that I was pink to my interest. 165 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:58,600 What is concierge? That's very hard for me to say, consulting and what benefits does that offer parents? 166 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:06,440 Yes. So the concierge consulting is just kind of a generalized kind of one-on-one coaching 167 00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:11,640 consulting offer. So what I have found is that most parents who reach out to me, 168 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:23,240 they're feeling stuck. So it's more so been a situation where these parents, they've piecemealed 169 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:28,520 their education together. Some of them come in, they know all of the dental vocabulary by now, 170 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:33,240 they know about different treatment solutions and paths that exist. They've really done so much 171 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:41,560 hard work, but something doesn't feel right to them or they're feeling fear about making that 172 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:48,840 decision about is this the best treatment solution for my child. And in other cases, it's strictly, 173 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:55,400 I don't know who geographically can help me, can you help me with that? And so I will do offer kind 174 00:18:55,400 --> 00:19:03,160 of after understanding what kind of difficulties and challenges a parent is facing, I can offer 175 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:10,040 advice, I'll do some research and share information about who I think looks qualified to be able to 176 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:15,160 help them. Sometimes that is starting with an airway focused dentist, but other times that might be a 177 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:23,880 myofunctional therapist or an occupational therapist just kind of depends on what the primary area of 178 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:30,680 focus is for that parent seeking care. And that connects back a little bit to what I was talking 179 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:38,040 about before when parents hit that resistance. It's one thing to kind of plant that seed and say 180 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:47,000 there's a problem here, but the parent has to find the right motivation in order to move through 181 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:53,400 kind of the stages of change because when they're first introduced to the idea of there's a problem 182 00:19:53,400 --> 00:20:00,840 here, so often it comes from a perspective of oh, you're the first dentist who have ever mentioned 183 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:05,160 this. And sometimes that's really welcome and parents are like, oh, I've been looking for solutions 184 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:13,000 for so long. Thank you for finally seeing me. But other times it can be kind of 185 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:23,160 jarring, I guess for lack of a better way to phrase that. And I think that kind of working through 186 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:30,360 where parents get stuck meeting them to understand what their specific child situation calls for, 187 00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:36,120 what their experience has been, and understanding that I don't like when there's a rule that someone 188 00:20:36,120 --> 00:20:42,520 says oh, every child has to do myofurst or expansion first. I don't think rules like that work very 189 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:48,040 well because who is your child? What's their experience been? And beyond that, what's your 190 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:54,520 family experience like right now? What kind of time resources, resources so often are money, 191 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:59,480 but we have to look at time and compliance and involvement. There's so much that goes into it. 192 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:04,360 So for some parents, there's a clearly defined pathway where there's only one 193 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:09,960 provider in that area that they may feel like oh, this is the best person, so I'll go to that 194 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:15,000 person and it's fine. But for others that are feeling stuck, we have to kind of unpack why are 195 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:21,560 you feeling stuck? Right. Are you not finding something that aligns with how you feel your child 196 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:30,040 should be treated or what your capabilities are in this moment? And do we know, do you understand 197 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:33,560 at least enough to make an informed decision if now is not the right time for treatment? 198 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:39,480 And do you know what to look for to prepare yourself for how things might change over time? 199 00:21:40,360 --> 00:21:48,120 Yeah. Yeah. And then there's so many things that you touched on there. One thing in particular, 200 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:53,800 we call them airway mama bears. And again, not to exclude the dads, y'all are awesome. 201 00:21:53,800 --> 00:22:00,760 But it's normally the moms driving this train. So most airway mama bears. Happy to make airway 202 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:08,520 daddy bear shirts. We need to. But the research that they do, so many of them when they have come 203 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:15,720 on our podcast just to share their stories, I am blown away with their knowledge. The books they've 204 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:22,680 read, some of them have attended some of the conferences and it's just, it's mind blowing to 205 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:28,600 me. But you have to. But sometimes you don't have the time to do all that. Or like you mentioned, 206 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:35,800 you're just so overwhelmed. And it is scary, especially if you're that parent 207 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:41,800 that's sitting there with a child that the school has just told you, hey, you need to go have your 208 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:49,560 child tested for ADHD. Let's get him on some medication. You don't know what to do. It's 209 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:54,840 overwhelming. You don't want to put your kid on medication. And it's just a lot. It's a lot for 210 00:22:54,840 --> 00:23:01,640 parents to to try to unpack. And the other thing that is interesting is you pointed out right now 211 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:11,240 because the shift with where the beginning of airway centric dentist or airway dental providers. 212 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:18,520 They're not everywhere. They're hard to find for sure. And, you know, even with really great 213 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:24,440 search tools, which I'll put a link for absolutely that we have on our site that's powered by airway 214 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:34,360 health solutions. Even if you can find one, maybe you can't get to Chicago, Dr. Boyd or Alabama, 215 00:23:34,360 --> 00:23:39,880 Dr. Harold, you can't get to one that's close to you or the closest to you because they're so far 216 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:44,840 away. Absolutely. Are you able to connect them or do you have enough resources to connect them 217 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:53,240 with people like Dr. Felix Liao, who will coach a dentist in the area? Maybe the child's going to 218 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:58,440 get a marky, but they don't know what to do. This particular dentist, do you have those kind of 219 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:06,760 resources available? So I do largely start with a lot of the main search tools and that you've 220 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:13,480 referenced airway health solutions, AAPMD, you know, some of the main airway circle, a lot of the main 221 00:24:14,120 --> 00:24:19,560 kind of groups that you talk about that most socks and parents can have access to if they if 222 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:25,560 they follow along to a lot of the other information that's out there. But sometimes it's for me, 223 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:35,640 it's following a trail. So like I would say, and again, it kind of goes two ways. One is that 224 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:45,240 that journey might lead to a certain type of provider. Say a parent's more interested in 225 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:52,440 something like an elf or something, you know, where can we some parents come in knowing that 226 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:58,440 there's certain philosophies that they want or things they want to avoid. And so kind of working 227 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:06,920 through customizing what direction we can take that. So sometimes I'm able to go through some 228 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:12,360 of the main registries, but sometimes it's following a trail. So I just had a family that worked with 229 00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:18,600 me, they're relocating from the US to Germany. So it's not just within the US. She was like, 230 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:24,120 my two older children have already gone through this treatment. My younger one's going to need it. 231 00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:30,840 I need help finding someone. So in that case, it's it's kind of following different threads and 232 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:36,440 getting there. We were able to find two providers within 30 minutes of where she would be living 233 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:41,720 that offered the exact type of solution she's looking for. So it's it's sometimes I'm able to 234 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:47,960 navigate those specific paths. I do think it's a little more of a challenge when a dentist, 235 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:54,120 if someone's looking for the dentist, they can't find the dentist. If it has to start with, there 236 00:25:54,120 --> 00:25:58,520 are a lot of great organizations that will say, have your dentist reach out to us, we'll get them 237 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:04,120 trained, we'll provide a solution, which I think is really amazing and supportive of a lot of these 238 00:26:04,120 --> 00:26:09,960 organizations. It can be a great tool to get more dentists on board if maybe the dentist had never 239 00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:14,680 heard of it, that you've got that Airway Mama that's saying, I trust this person, I like this person, 240 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:20,840 I don't want to go somewhere else. But then you have to consider the facts that, you know, that 241 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:24,920 provider is just going to be kind of starting their journey with that parent. And that's 242 00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:31,000 still a welcome situation. That's what I had to do in some ways with my niece. I had to find an 243 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:37,560 orthodontist who typically she was very well versed in a lot of these tools and different 244 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:42,920 solutions, but she never really treated the sub six population. And I was there saying, 245 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:48,520 will you try? That's definitely not the normal approach that I would take if I have a parent 246 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:55,880 coming to me to ask for help. But in this situation, we were all willing to, yeah, she was, 247 00:26:55,880 --> 00:27:00,280 she was, we were in the fortunate position that since I was helping at Dr. Boyd's office at that 248 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:06,680 time, he offered to directly kind of supervise back here. And yeah, can't say no to an opportunity 249 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:10,920 like that. So all's well that ends well, she got some great expansion, things are good. 250 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:18,360 But sometimes it's finding a way around the care that's available. So whether that's virtual 251 00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:24,600 solutions to get started, whether that's looking at, I mean, I think, I don't know, I keep kind of 252 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:28,280 mentioning other organizations, but Toothpillow is increasing access to care right now. 253 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:34,600 I'll put a link to that because we actually partnered with Toothpillow as well. 254 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:40,040 Yeah. Yeah, I'm saying it's so funny. We're all on the same boat all of a sudden. There is not, 255 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:45,560 yeah, just to be clear for anyone that's listening because in several podcasts, 256 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:51,480 you'll hear us mentioning other foundations, other organizations. This isn't like a, this is our 257 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:56,840 thing. This is all we're doing. One thing that I personally have found that is so unique is two 258 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:06,200 things about this airway movement that's happening to Polavis is, it is an airway revolution, but 259 00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:18,280 we really are all united because we all have these different niches and these expertise. And we 260 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:24,360 send the parents or, because we focus on parents, but some of the others don't. So we're sending 261 00:28:24,360 --> 00:28:28,920 adults to each other and provider, we can't train you, but we can send you somewhere that can be 262 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:36,680 trained. And it really is one giant airway universe that we're all starting to push together. And I 263 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:42,600 think that's why you're feeling this momentum, which to me is so unique. And the other thing is, 264 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:51,720 and Dr. Boyd is an amazing example. Nobody stops. It is 24 seven. These providers, these advocates, 265 00:28:51,720 --> 00:29:00,360 it is a passion that, pardon the pun, we just eat, breathe, sleep. It's just, it's always 266 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:22,360 airway because at least for us specifically, it's children. It is that critical. For sure. 267 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:47,880 You're listening to the airway first podcast with today's guest, Dr. Julia Sada Lopez. 268 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:54,520 You can find out more about the Children's Airway First Foundation and our mission to fix before six 269 00:29:54,520 --> 00:30:01,800 on our website at Children's Airway First.org. The CAF website offers tons of great resources for 270 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:08,520 both parents and medical professionals. Visit our parents portal, clinicians corner, resource center, 271 00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:14,360 and video library to see for yourself. We also encourage parents to join the airway huddle, 272 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:19,480 our Facebook support group, which was created for parents of children with airway and sleep 273 00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:26,360 related issues. You can access the airway huddle support group at facebook.com backslash groups 274 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:32,600 backslash airway huddle. As a reminder, this podcast and the opinions expressed here are not 275 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:38,040 a medical diagnosis. If you suspect your child might have an airway issue, contact your pediatric 276 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:53,960 airway dentist or pediatrician. And now let's jump back into today's episode. 277 00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:17,480 And yeah, I had the good opportunity to connect with Christy at your organization not too long ago 278 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:22,760 to have that same conversation because I'm always looking for, I realized that my services 279 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:27,960 aren't the right thing for everyone. So I need to know, like you said, where to send other parents 280 00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:34,840 if they're looking for a perspective of a sleep coach, if they're looking for a perspective of 281 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:39,560 somebody other than myself. I know I can't possibly be the right person to help all of these parents, 282 00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:47,320 but I think that there is something so wonderful about the nature of the nature of airway dentistry 283 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:51,880 is to work collaboratively. And I think that carries through into all of these providers. And 284 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:57,560 that's one of the things that I really encourage parents to do is sometimes if they're having maybe 285 00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:03,320 there's always skepticism of a dentist. I think anytime, anytime you go into some skepticism 286 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:09,000 there, but I think specifically with airway dentistry, like you open this conversation with us 287 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:15,720 is asking those providers, how did you get here? What's your story? Because I think that provides 288 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:21,720 a very interesting perspective on who they are and why they've chosen to offer the solutions 289 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:30,280 they're offering. I think sometimes on the flip side of that, there's a situation where dentists 290 00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:36,040 are very have very good intentions. They have a tool that they know how to use. Your child has a 291 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:41,240 problem that needs fixing. And so sometimes it comes from a really good placement. Parents can 292 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:45,720 sometimes feel like they're being pressured into one solution or another. And part of the dentist 293 00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:51,160 perspective is to use your professional judgment to offer a solution and not overwhelm. You're 294 00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:57,400 trying to slim down the options, not overwhelm a parent into thinking, whoa, this is too much, 295 00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:04,120 too fast. And you just take a step back. So sometimes I think just kind of empowering parents to have 296 00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:10,440 those dialogues with the providers and really either understanding where they're coming from, 297 00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:15,000 understanding why a certain tool is being recommended, if that's the treatment path that 298 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:20,440 they feel is correct, just making sure that we're understanding, oh, this tool is being chosen for 299 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:27,000 my child specifically because of this reason. And maybe there hasn't been the proper amount of time 300 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:31,640 dedicated to having that conversation because dental offices can sometimes be baffling and 301 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:40,120 you don't always get to have that in-depth dialogue that can be so needed. But encouraging parents to 302 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:48,760 feel confident asking the right questions and understanding kind of where that dental 303 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:53,880 provider is coming from. I think that can move things through in another stage and make taking 304 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:59,080 action easier, whether that does feel like the right solution to the parent or not. Sometimes 305 00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:04,440 they can say, oh, you're telling me this, but you have to listen to that, mama bear instinct. 306 00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:11,320 And then you kind of take that step back and use that to guide you into the next step. I just don't, 307 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:16,360 I don't like that so often parents feel stuck. I understand it. I understand what they're coming 308 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:23,800 from. But that's kind of my goal and my mission is to help understand and see your specific situation 309 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:29,160 and see if I can guide you in another direction. And it is always different, right? One size doesn't 310 00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:36,280 fit all. And one thing I particularly have noticed, and it's just, it's a beautiful thing. If I can 311 00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:46,200 go all woo-woo on it for a moment, it is absolutely beautiful to watch in podcast after podcast and 312 00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:53,960 meeting these, these luminaries and change makers and things in person at different events around 313 00:34:53,960 --> 00:35:03,000 the world. They mean this, right? Their hearts are still in this and they're open at no point. 314 00:35:03,720 --> 00:35:09,720 At no point I've ever heard someone like Kevin Boy say, no, I know it all. No, they're still 315 00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:15,320 learning. They're still growing. They're still evolving. They're still sharing this collaboration 316 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:22,200 between Dennis and myofunctional therapist and occupational therapist and lactation 317 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:30,280 results. It's amazing to watch this synergy and this knowledge that they're sharing. The part that 318 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:37,800 seems, I guess strange to me is there's this beautiful dance going over here of knowledge and 319 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:41,000 sharing and how are we going to save all these kids and we're all going to do this together and 320 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:44,760 let's just keep learning and sharing. And I'm going to send this patient to you. Oh, this person 321 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:50,760 knows this and there's still a group over here. It seems to be a little hesitant to come on board. 322 00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:58,280 And if I can put you on the spot for just a minute, obviously it's an opinion. No, by all 323 00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:02,840 means, go for it. And I get it because, you know, the Dennis, everything starts with the mounts, 324 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:06,120 so great. They are the head of the train, but there's a whole other part of the train that is 325 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:14,360 the ENT, the pediatric specialist. Why is that particular, we'll just continue with the train 326 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:22,040 analogy. Why are those particular carts so hard to connect and get on board with the string? 327 00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:27,960 Where is the resistance coming from? Well, I think we mentioned before, it's the academic 328 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:36,200 institutions in part, you know, there's medical school and there's dental school. Right. And they 329 00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:40,280 don't get airway either, it's my understanding. For most of them, it's what five hours at most, 330 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:47,080 four hours or something like that. Yeah, I guess it's going to vary from institution to institution. 331 00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:52,520 Sure. But at the end of the day, that's a line that was drawn in the sand. And it said, medicine 332 00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:59,400 is this, and then kind of vision is this and dental is this. But again, when you go in with 333 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:05,240 that holistic perspective, and my goodness, I've had my eyes open, you said you didn't want to go 334 00:37:05,240 --> 00:37:12,680 awoo, but I'm like, bring on the woo because for me, there were things that starting this journey, 335 00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:19,480 I would have just been like, I don't think that's real. And then you see things and over time you, 336 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:27,960 you can't pretend it doesn't exist. You can't pretend. Once you see it, you can't go backwards. 337 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:33,480 And I think that's the thing is, like I said, there were times at the beginning of my career 338 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:38,120 where I had an adult patient come in asking me about his nitty pot. And I was like, why is this guy 339 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:50,840 asking me about his nitty pot? I'm working here. And that is the base. It's just one of those things. 340 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:57,960 But until, and I don't know for everyone, it's going to be a different journey to arriving. And 341 00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:03,320 perhaps it was just early in my career. And I was trying to prove that I knew what I was talking 342 00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:07,480 about at that point in time. I was trying to prove that I was the professional they could rely on 343 00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:12,120 just coming out of dental school. So it was harder to say, I don't know. 344 00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:19,720 And for everyone that's going to look different, that was just my personality and what I think I 345 00:38:19,720 --> 00:38:27,400 went through. But when I first arrived at the office in Chicago, or at Gleeville, then she just 346 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:35,240 asked me, like, do you have an open mind? Because that's really, you know, that's what you have to 347 00:38:35,240 --> 00:38:42,680 have to be able to move into this space. And I think that goes for both parents and providers, 348 00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:49,560 because the providers, as you mentioned, you know, that train maybe is moving more slowly than we 349 00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:57,160 want it to in various professions. But it's because we think this is the box that I'm supposed to fit 350 00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:03,960 in. And this is where I'm supposed to help people. And until you take a step back and say, but this, 351 00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:11,800 you know, this body part is connected to that body part. Exactly. We really, there's, there's the 352 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:16,440 invisible strings that we can't, there's some we can follow and some that we can't follow. And 353 00:39:17,240 --> 00:39:23,800 it's just a matter of really, I'm not suggesting that someone needs to try some modality or 354 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:32,200 treatment that they're not interested in or believing or, you know, I think it's always a journey for 355 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:37,480 each parent to find again, the path that feels aligned for them. So by just how a parent, hey, 356 00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:43,960 cranial sacral therapy or some other sort of modality, this is going to make your child, 357 00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:51,240 this is going to make a frenectomy procedure easier on everybody. If your child can go do some sort of 358 00:39:51,240 --> 00:39:56,760 osteopathic manipulation or otherwise, it's going to prepare their nervous system, it's going to 359 00:39:56,760 --> 00:40:04,360 reduce tension in the body. And that is something that comes from an open mind. If you would have 360 00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:09,560 told me that years ago, I would have been like, I've never heard of these other providers, why are 361 00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:15,560 they going to help a dental procedure? So yeah, and for parents that aren't sure, I'll put a link 362 00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:22,280 to Dr. Stephen Hall's podcast. I think it was one of the third or fourth ones that we did, 363 00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:27,960 cranial sacral. And I did the same thing. And granted, I came from the land of Walu, so that 364 00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:34,040 is how I grew up. But so I was like, oh, this is going to be fun. And by the end of it, I didn't 365 00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:39,480 want it to stop because I had so many more questions because I was not expecting Dr. Hall to come in 366 00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:45,720 and go, listen, I can do this. And all of a sudden, this is an alignment or oh, you have TMJ, I'm 367 00:40:45,720 --> 00:40:53,880 going to do a little boom. You've got some relief. Never occurred to me. But we're back to, you know, 368 00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:58,440 the DOs are probably listening going, well, yes, we know everything's connected. But the rest of us 369 00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:04,680 are going, wow, I had no idea. I had no idea before. And so whether that's the provider that's 370 00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:11,400 now going to refer out for those adjunctive allied services, or whether that's the parent that's 371 00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:18,280 going to say, okay, now I think that this is going to be best practice to support my child. And one 372 00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:25,320 of the things I talk to providers about sometimes when I'm just kind of talking to them, there's 373 00:41:25,320 --> 00:41:32,680 so commonly the hesitation to, I think for professionals who are earlier in this journey 374 00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:38,680 of finding the collaborative care, there's such a hesitation because you say, well, parents are already 375 00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:43,880 paying me for the service, and then I'm going to send them to spend money on this other procedure. 376 00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:49,480 And that's just kind of an insight into the psyche of some of the providers. Believe it or not, parents, 377 00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:55,080 I know sometimes parents are like, they just want my money. These parents, because the parents who 378 00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:59,480 listen to this, you are motivated and looking for solutions. I understand that. 379 00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:04,440 But still, right? But there's still some we've had some single parents come on and say, 380 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:13,240 what do I do? This is so expensive. Or my insurance wouldn't pay for it because they said that 381 00:42:13,240 --> 00:42:19,400 this is elective. You're just some insane response like that. So that is a concern. There are people 382 00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:25,480 that think that. Dr. Dave McCarty came on and he opened the podcast sharing a story about a patient 383 00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:31,400 that I don't know why I'm here. I was referred to you. You're here just to get money. By the end of 384 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:40,920 the visit, he's going, oh, oh, wow. Okay. So my heart is good. Oh, I didn't know. So sometimes it is 385 00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:45,640 just back to the let's just be back to that open mind, both parents and providers, parents, when 386 00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:51,640 you're coming in, just have an open mind. Yeah. And again, that doesn't mean for me, there's no rules. 387 00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:58,040 So it's not like if you're doing X, you have to go get Y. Like it's not a set. Every child's different. 388 00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:04,440 Every child's different. Every family's different. You again, the mom knows or the dad, the mom typically 389 00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:11,560 knows the child better than anyone else. And for some parents, they don't even need to stop and 390 00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:16,360 hesitate. They find a provider, they can go, they say, oh, this is right. This is it. Good. We're 391 00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:21,640 getting this taken care of. And they can confidently move forward. But other times there's that voice 392 00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:27,640 in the back of the head, the hesitation, resistance, whatever it is. I think it's just really helpful 393 00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:33,640 to unpack that and see maybe there are treatment avenues that you didn't think about before that 394 00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:39,000 I can help guide you towards now. Yeah. Yeah. And you may not be living in one of those amazing 395 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:46,360 centers like Chicago or Houston or LA or New York, maybe or Seattle. Sorry, didn't mean to leave 396 00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:52,280 y'all out. You could be in one of the outliers and it's just, it's an interesting dance. So 397 00:43:53,160 --> 00:43:59,560 along with the parents, one of the things that you do that I think is so great is you're kind of our 398 00:43:59,560 --> 00:44:09,000 own little mama bear because you're taking on awareness within the community itself, talking to 399 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:16,120 educators and other clinicians and allied providers. What is that like? How did these 400 00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:23,720 outreach programs come in to be? For me, it was really, while I started learning about 401 00:44:23,720 --> 00:44:30,760 all of the topics of airway health and airway dentistry, it was most easy for me to make some 402 00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:37,800 parallels to what I had seen when I was in grade school, thinking about classmates of mine who in 403 00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:44,680 retrospect I was like, oh, that person is acting that way because they probably weren't sleeping and 404 00:44:44,680 --> 00:44:51,880 they probably weren't breathing well. And I don't know, I think that is a quirky, I have a kind of 405 00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:58,600 a lot of memories that I can shuffle back through easily. But for me, that kind of, that the stage 406 00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:07,880 that schools are one of the most important places to be looking for children who are at risk of 407 00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:16,360 improper growth that's affecting their breathing, but it's the cascade of effects. And I've tried to 408 00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:23,640 make several efforts to connect with teachers because I do think that if teachers know what to 409 00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:27,800 look for, they can better understand and maybe they're going to stop before they say your child 410 00:45:27,800 --> 00:45:35,000 needs to go on medication. They might be able to stop and say, we should explore this or we 411 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:40,040 should look into this further to see what's causing these problems or this behavior. Sometimes it's 412 00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:44,920 behavior, but sometimes it's different kinds of behavior. So just a child who's excessively 413 00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:50,600 drooling or, you know, it's not necessarily psychological behavior. There's other factors 414 00:45:50,600 --> 00:46:00,200 that come into play. They could be sleeping. For sure. And so kind of recognizing, giving teachers 415 00:46:00,200 --> 00:46:05,960 the tools to recognize that these can be problems. I think it's still hard to then bridge that gap, 416 00:46:07,080 --> 00:46:11,960 giving the teacher these tools to let them know what's going on or who they can seek help from 417 00:46:11,960 --> 00:46:17,800 in their immediate environment. So those are things that I'm still navigating, but I've been 418 00:46:17,800 --> 00:46:23,320 fortunate to connect with some speech language pathologists who work in school systems, some 419 00:46:23,320 --> 00:46:28,440 Montessori providers who are really interested in kind of thinking about things differently. 420 00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:41,240 And so some of it is just connecting with those parents. I've made intentions to connect directly 421 00:46:41,240 --> 00:46:47,240 with schools and I've had a lot of doors closed. No response, no thanks, not interested, of course. 422 00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:56,280 But for me, it's really important to offer that as part of this momentum that's going to bring us 423 00:46:56,280 --> 00:47:01,640 forward as if we can bring more teachers on board. I think teachers that can feel comfortable 424 00:47:01,640 --> 00:47:08,120 raising awareness to these problems can be a really important step. I would agree with that. And 425 00:47:08,120 --> 00:47:16,280 and I'll just kind of be a Lorax for a moment here because I come from five generations of teachers. 426 00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:20,600 I'm the only one, we're all cruising through and then I kind of go, nope, and then it goes to my 427 00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:29,320 niece. So they're all around me, teachers, special ed, teachers, reading consultants, principals, 428 00:47:29,320 --> 00:47:39,160 professors. It's just in our blood, right? And I will say, I've had a similar conversation with 429 00:47:39,160 --> 00:47:44,600 colleagues before and why are we putting more on teachers? Well, as I hop on my Lorax stump, 430 00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:52,440 I'm going to tell you, teachers go into that world for a reason. They love children. It's not for 431 00:47:52,440 --> 00:47:58,440 the money, it's not for the prestige, they love children. All the bureaucratic stuff that comes 432 00:47:58,440 --> 00:48:06,600 with it, they love. But if you can empower a teacher with a really easy tool to look at a child that 433 00:48:06,600 --> 00:48:13,960 they love and go, hey, I see this, hey, parent, you might want to consider blah, blah, blah, 434 00:48:13,960 --> 00:48:19,560 because here's what I'm seeing. That teacher is going to go home with a heart full of love 435 00:48:20,360 --> 00:48:24,760 and relief because they did what they're there to do. They're there to grow young minds and to 436 00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:31,640 help children and to give them love. And that's what we're empowering teachers to do. Yeah, I think, 437 00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:42,840 that's my goal is to make sure that teachers can have that conversation, but it's really 438 00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:47,400 powerful to hear your perspective on that coming from the family of educators. 439 00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:52,600 Yeah, thanks. There's a few things that I get kind of about and that's kind of one of them. 440 00:48:52,600 --> 00:49:00,840 So another thing that you do that is really cool and study clubs are all over, but I would imagine 441 00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:05,560 your study club because of what you're doing is a little bit different than the traditional study 442 00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:15,880 club. So I would say my study club is one of the ways and branches of the AAPMD. And I am, 443 00:49:15,880 --> 00:49:24,840 yes, I'm rounding up professionals still here in Portugal. So my intention is I moved to Portugal 444 00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:28,280 and I was part of probably going to get my introduction there. Sorry, she was in Chicago. 445 00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:35,560 But yeah, I think that that's one of the things that's really rewarding for me is taking 446 00:49:36,440 --> 00:49:42,440 what I've been presented with in terms of working collaboratively and again, seeing that that's a 447 00:49:42,440 --> 00:49:48,680 strong movement in the US and trying to bring that here to Portugal to start creating a little bit 448 00:49:48,680 --> 00:49:53,400 more collaboration here within Portugal. Portugal itself is a country that's the size of the state 449 00:49:53,400 --> 00:49:58,760 of Illinois. So working collaboratively should be fairly easy when you think about it like that. 450 00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:05,000 But it's not necessarily the way that the mindset has been because I'm not sure that they've had, 451 00:50:05,640 --> 00:50:10,680 I'm fortunate to have joined a really great integrative medicine organization here in Portugal 452 00:50:10,680 --> 00:50:17,080 and gotten a network with some providers through that as well. But again, they're still building 453 00:50:17,080 --> 00:50:23,400 in that stage of working collaboratively. So that's something that right now I'm still building 454 00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:28,520 that list of people who are open-minded and interested to learn because I tell them I kind of 455 00:50:28,520 --> 00:50:35,960 explain what the organization does and what the quarterly calls would be. We're hoping to launch 456 00:50:35,960 --> 00:50:41,160 them in the second half of this year to actually start hosting all of them. But when I just meet 457 00:50:41,160 --> 00:50:47,320 with providers and explain it, they're like, but why? There's that thought process that hasn't 458 00:50:47,320 --> 00:50:53,640 necessarily been presented to them before to just kind of work collaboratively. Yeah, and it's 459 00:50:53,640 --> 00:50:59,880 interesting to not just the collaborator, but just the whole airway movement in general. I've had, 460 00:50:59,880 --> 00:51:09,960 I'm not sure he's the right word, but I've had the opportunity to speak with both Dennis and 461 00:51:09,960 --> 00:51:21,320 Allied professionals in Scotland and the UK and Dubai and Australia and then a parent whose podcast 462 00:51:21,320 --> 00:51:28,040 will be coming out shortly who was originally from Denmark and now she's in Houston. I'm kind of 463 00:51:28,040 --> 00:51:37,080 blown away that, oh, this is going to sound horrible, but the US is actually ahead as far as this 464 00:51:37,080 --> 00:51:43,160 movement. It's not what I thought it was going to be. Because traditionally it's the other way 465 00:51:43,160 --> 00:51:48,520 around on a lot of these things. And, you know, granted, you've got Brazil who's ahead of us as 466 00:51:48,520 --> 00:51:54,920 far as new born screenings and things like that, which you, you know. And a lot of that comes over 467 00:51:54,920 --> 00:51:59,320 to Portugal because there's a lot of, because Portuguese is a common language, there's a lot 468 00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:06,680 of really great Brazilian providers who, the professionals here are stellar, but yes, I agree 469 00:52:07,400 --> 00:52:13,080 in terms of creating that collaborative community. It's interesting to me that there's such a 470 00:52:14,760 --> 00:52:22,040 disconnect, not the right word, but just the lag. Is that because of the just the way the 471 00:52:22,040 --> 00:52:26,440 healthcare systems are set up or is it just movement hasn't spread yet? 472 00:52:27,480 --> 00:52:34,680 The great question. Yeah, I wish I had the answer to provide the insight to the why on that. 473 00:52:35,720 --> 00:52:40,120 But that's definitely something I'm working on is gradually getting to know more providers here 474 00:52:40,120 --> 00:52:45,880 and being able to create that network of support. One thing I will say, kind of what you alluded to 475 00:52:45,880 --> 00:52:50,520 is, and maybe just by virtue of having the connection with some of the Brazilian professionals, 476 00:52:50,520 --> 00:52:57,560 but when I talk to people here, there's a little less of that resistance in terms of thinking about 477 00:52:58,280 --> 00:53:03,800 the health that of course chewing and eating processed food versus eating 478 00:53:04,440 --> 00:53:08,280 foods of various textures. But of course, that's going to make a difference on how the child grows 479 00:53:08,280 --> 00:53:14,520 and evolves. It's a lot easier of a conversation to have here. So that's an interesting insight. 480 00:53:14,520 --> 00:53:21,560 And another thing that I've noticed here is that I guess in Europe in general, there are 481 00:53:21,560 --> 00:53:26,200 different treatment solutions that focus almost a little more on the neurological health of the 482 00:53:26,200 --> 00:53:32,600 child, which is an interesting departure from what I've seen. So I think there are pros and cons 483 00:53:32,600 --> 00:53:39,560 to kind of each area. And I'm just excited to be having the experience to get to understand 484 00:53:39,560 --> 00:53:46,520 kind of these nuances and hopefully be able to make my mark and bring people together and create 485 00:53:46,520 --> 00:53:52,840 a positive change. And I love that. And kind of to that, I know you have some more courses coming. 486 00:53:52,840 --> 00:53:57,000 They're not on your website. Could you give us just a sneak preview of what those are? 487 00:53:57,720 --> 00:54:04,040 Yeah. So my one-on-one consulting I found has been more helpful of a tool for the parents who 488 00:54:04,040 --> 00:54:09,080 already have been going through this journey for a bit and they've gotten to a point where they need 489 00:54:09,080 --> 00:54:14,680 that help or support to get them over the hump. But I do have an online course that's coming up 490 00:54:14,680 --> 00:54:19,960 that is meant more for kind of the setting the foundation for parents. The parent is 491 00:54:20,680 --> 00:54:26,200 maybe new to understand these problems or maybe they're kind of earlier in their journey to 492 00:54:26,200 --> 00:54:32,440 considering what can be done, what different treatment solutions are out there. And this 493 00:54:32,440 --> 00:54:39,240 online course is kind of more of a DIY approach to creating your own action plan. So there's kind 494 00:54:39,240 --> 00:54:44,040 of an educational component that will empower you to know what questions to ask yourself, 495 00:54:44,040 --> 00:54:49,000 what questions then you might want to carry into meeting with providers, but also just kind of 496 00:54:49,640 --> 00:54:56,760 setting the stage so that you feel more confidence as a parent knowing that there are different 497 00:54:56,760 --> 00:55:01,320 treatment directions. And so you're not sitting there with a blank stare in front of the first 498 00:55:01,320 --> 00:55:06,360 provider that you talk to thinking, I have to go home and think about that. You know, you're a 499 00:55:06,360 --> 00:55:12,280 little bit of a kid going into that. So it's condensed, it's not meant to take up too much 500 00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:17,640 time because I know that parents are busy finding a chunk of time to do an online course is not easy, 501 00:55:17,640 --> 00:55:23,000 but most commonly what's happening is you are an active parent, you're spending hours in the 502 00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:28,840 Facebook group looking for answers or whatever pathway you're on. And this is meant to kind of 503 00:55:28,840 --> 00:55:36,600 create a more consolidated program to just give you more confidence in creating an action plan 504 00:55:36,600 --> 00:55:41,640 and knowing where to go. That is awesome. And I will put the link to your website in the show 505 00:55:41,640 --> 00:55:47,560 notes. Perfect. If it's out by the time the podcast comes out, we'll swap it out and put that. 506 00:55:47,560 --> 00:55:52,120 Yes, I just actually- Otherwise they'll show up in our resources area. Great, great. That would 507 00:55:52,120 --> 00:55:56,840 be wonderful. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. And for parents that are actually watching this and not 508 00:55:56,840 --> 00:56:04,520 listening, over here, give me a love shoulder. See how good I am? That was good. Some of the 509 00:56:04,520 --> 00:56:07,960 books that we recommend were right out of the gate. I mean, one's easy to see because it's big 510 00:56:07,960 --> 00:56:14,280 and yellow. It's James Nester's book. If you haven't read Breathman, that's a great place to start. 511 00:56:14,280 --> 00:56:22,120 Absolutely. Then Sleep, what is it? Breathe, sleep, drive, sharing when? Yeah, I've got four 512 00:56:22,120 --> 00:56:28,120 books that I put on my website as starting points. I think there are obviously numerous resources 513 00:56:28,120 --> 00:56:32,600 out there and they're just interested in one topic versus another. There's certainly different 514 00:56:32,600 --> 00:56:36,200 directions and different books that are out there. But those are some of my names. Those are some of the 515 00:56:36,200 --> 00:56:42,600 great places to start, right? To start, to get the over-due. Get your feelings. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. 516 00:56:42,600 --> 00:56:48,680 And then come take your course and then they'll know what to do. Yeah, absolutely. So at the end 517 00:56:48,680 --> 00:56:53,560 of every episode, I always hand it back to the guests because whether you're a provider or a 518 00:56:53,560 --> 00:56:58,840 parent, you're the professional. You're the one everyone's here to listen to. So I'd like to give 519 00:56:58,840 --> 00:57:06,760 you the floor for final thoughts. Yeah, I think just my overall, I guess, mantra when it comes to 520 00:57:06,760 --> 00:57:13,720 this space is just making sure that parents know that no two paths are going to look exactly the 521 00:57:13,720 --> 00:57:21,560 same and that make sure that you can find a treatment pathway for you that feels well aligned for your 522 00:57:21,560 --> 00:57:28,600 individual situation, your unique child, what your family's facing. And if for any reason you're 523 00:57:28,600 --> 00:57:33,160 having a hard time navigating that, I'm here to support you. That's right. Can you hear that, 524 00:57:33,160 --> 00:57:39,640 Mama Bears? Follow the link. Thank you so much. Thank you, Julia. Really appreciate it connecting 525 00:57:39,640 --> 00:57:48,520 with you. Absolutely. Take care. Thanks again to today's guests, Dr. Julia Sadev Lopez for joining 526 00:57:48,520 --> 00:57:55,880 us and to each of you for listening to today's episode. You can stay connected with the Children's 527 00:57:55,880 --> 00:58:02,040 Airway First Foundation by following us on Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and YouTube. 528 00:58:03,320 --> 00:58:08,440 Don't forget to subscribe to the Airway First podcast on your favorite podcasting platform so 529 00:58:08,440 --> 00:58:15,160 you won't miss an upcoming episode. If you'd like to be a guest or have an idea for an upcoming show, 530 00:58:15,160 --> 00:58:21,320 shoot us a note via the contact page on our website or send us an email directly at infoat 531 00:58:21,320 --> 00:58:27,960 childrensairwayfirst.org. Today's episode was written and directed by Rebecca St. James, 532 00:58:27,960 --> 00:58:33,880 video editing and promotion by Ryan Draughan and guest outreach by Christy Bojikin. 533 00:58:33,880 --> 00:58:40,120 And finally, thanks to all the parents and medical professionals out there that are working hard to 534 00:58:40,120 --> 00:58:46,200 help make the lives of kids around the globe just a little bit better. Take care, stay safe, and happy 535 00:58:46,200 --> 00:59:10,680 breathing everyone.