Dental Sleep Medicine Insider January DSM Insider 2018 | Page 25

BARRY GLASSMAN, DMD
DENTAL SLEEP MEDICINE:
A HILLY MARATHON, NOT A FLAT SPRINT
I
f you are reading this you have
likely considered adding sleep
medicine to your dental prac-
tice. Maybe you are exploring
the concept because, as a result
of increased awareness, pa-
tients are asking about “snoring
appliances.” Perhaps you have
patients who have approached
you about an alternative to
their CPAP, or perhaps some-
one in your family, or even you,
are aware of a sleep disturbed
breathing issue. It is also possi-
ble that you have taken a course
that had you excited about
dental sleep medicine (DSM) and
you found when you went back
to your office implementing the
concepts were not quite as easy
as the course made it seem, and
the hope of helping patients
while at the same time creating
a significant revenue stream has
been diminished.
Imagine training for a mara-
thon in Iowa. You run those
flat courses day after day, and
then you register for The Seattle
Marathon. You were not aware
of the hills you would face, and
you had not prepared for them.
You thought you were ready,
but your trainer never told you
about the challenging moun-
tainous course for which you’ve
signed up. Not a great trainer,
huh? The first real “mountain”
shocks you, and you have no
idea how to negotiate this hilly
terrain.
In much the same way, dental
sleep medicine presents many
challenging “hills” that are not
present in our general dental
practices, and unless we are pre-
pared for them they will “shock”
us and possibly discourage
continued efforts to implement
DSM into your practice. DSM is a
marathon, not a sprint. Not only
that, it’s a hilly marathon.
Implementing DSM in a general
practice has proven to be quite
a challenge, and many who take
introduction courses and at-
tempt to treat their patients in
the framework of their existing
dental practices fail. Anticipat-
ing the many challenges that
face the dentist in this critically
important field will help in the
successful implementation that
can lead to improved health
care for your patients, improved
revenue stream for your prac-
tice, and actually make a positive
change in your general dental
practice making it more suc-
cessful and enjoyable. We must
understand this model change
and not fall prey to the industry
claims that if we pay them they
can provide this model change
for us. Know what lies ahead and
train appropriately.
INTERESTED?
JOIN ME AT THE
NADSM SYMPOSIUM.
REGISTER NOW
BARRY GLASSMAN, DMD
Barry Glassman maintains a
private practice in Allentown,
PA, which is limited to chronic
pain, temporomandibular joint
dysfunction and dental sleep
medicine. He is a Diplomate of
the Board of the Academy of
Dental Sleep Medicine. He is on
staff at the Lehigh Valley Hos-
pital Sleep Disorder Center.