Dental Sleep Medicine Insider January 2015 | Page 17

breakfast or lunch from wherever they’d want. I went
into a 4 physician group practice after having this discussion with them. I brought bagels and coffee for a
‘breakfast and learn.’ One doctor immediately recognized in their patient base that people needed this &
within 24 hours he began referring patients. Then another MD in that same office began referring shortly
after.
Secondly, I regularly send reports to MD’s
regarding pre/post treatment stats to show improvement. I use the DS3 system because it keeps them informed about our shared patients. This is one more
way to stay at the front of their mind. Lastly, I meet
with them to continue building rapport. I visit with
them for 5-10 minutes to discuss patient outcomes via
conference call, text, whatever. One MD I visited
over holidays told me ‘you almost killed 1 of my pts.’
I was taken aback & asked why. He said, “Your device helped him so much that he decided on his own
to stop taking his insomnia
meds so even though he was
breathing well, he still had insomnia. He fell asleep at the
wheel & his wife had to grab
the steering wheel. You
stopped his snoring &
treated his OSA but
his insomnia persists.”
To me, this highlights importance of multidisciplinary
approach & ongoing communication. As dentists, we
tend to focus so much on OSA and forget that it is
merely one of dozens of SDB classifications.

What tools can you not practice Dental
Sleep Medicine without?
A diagnosis of OSA Clinical dental & TMJ
screening which I use DS3 for George Gauge & impressions Good software. DS3 is the best to do it. I’ve
used others but it is far and above superior. It addresses the biggest hurdle which is dealing with referring
MD’s with the well-written letters. Without that, you
are dead in the water. No SIGNIFICANT businessperson can live without their relationship with the
bank. The bank doesn’t care if you make or lose money as long as you communicate with them. If you
keep them apprised of what is going on, good or bad,
they will work with you. It is frequently the same
with referring physicians. DS3 allows me to do this
by mailing or digitally faxing correspondence directly
from my software.

your stature within the medico-dental
community? Speaking opportunities?
Over past 4 years, I’ve gone from just beginni