Education

• BS, Mathematics, UNC-Chapel Hill, 1974
• DDS, UNC Adams School of Dentistry, 1979
• PhD, Physiology, UNC School of Medicine, 1983
• Postdoctoral Studies, Neurophysiology, Salk Institute, La Jolla, California

Biosketch

Gregory Essick has served full-time on the faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill for the past 29 years.

Essick lectures in both basic science and preclinical prosthodontics courses, he is a laboratory instructor in the preclinical removable prosthodontic courses, and he supervises students in the predoctoral removable prosthodontics clinics. Most recently, he has expanded his lecturing to include dental sleep medicine, the use of oral appliances to treat obstructive sleep apnea, snoring and related disorders. In addition to lecturing to dental students and dental hygiene students, he provides the schools continuing education on dental sleep medicine to practicing dentists in North Carolina. He also teaches in the Neurodiagnostics and Sleep Science Bachelors of Science Program at UNC-Chapel Hill.

He is very active in the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine and chairs the research committee and ethics committee of the Academy. Essick is a faculty provider with Carolina Dentisry, focusing on dental sleep medicine. In consultation with the patient’s physician, therapy for sleep-disordered breathing is tailored to the needs of the individual patient.

Essick is an investigator of research conducted within the School of Dentistry’s Center for Pain Research and Innovation. Through collaboration with faculty in orthodontics, Essick also studies facial sensation in patients who undergo orthognathic surgery for correction of dentofacial anomalies. Essick collaborates with food scientists at North Carolina State University to better understand how food texture affects chewing and food perception. His most current and expanding research involves studies of the association between sleep-disordered breathing and oral disease/disorders, such as periodontal disease and temporomandibular disorder. He authors/co-authors more than 100 published manuscripts and more than 10 book chapters.

Research Interests

Sleep apnea, comorbidities, human, assessment, diagnosis, outcome (health)

Research Summary

Essick is an investigator of research conducted within the School of Dentistry’s Center for Pain Research and Innovation. Through collaboration with faculty in orthodontics, Essick also studies facial sensation in patients who undergo orthognathic surgery for correction of dentofacial anomalies. Essick collaborates with food scientists at North Carolina State University to better understand how food texture affects chewing and food perception. His most current and expanding research involves studies of the association between sleep-disordered breathing and oral disease/disorders, such as periodontal disease and temporomandibular disorder. He authors/co-authors more than 100 published manuscripts and more than 10 book chapters.