Dental Sleep Medicine Insider November 2016 | Page 3
Jason Tierney
Editor-in-chief
SLEEPING WITH THE EDITOR
O ver the past decade, I’ve had
The Dental Sleep Medicine Insider
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the good fortune to work with
thousands of dentists with a
desire to save lives with oral
appliance therapy. Too often,
those passionate intentions
are extinguished prematurely.
Why? Why do dentists abandon this life saving, practice
growing treatment modality? Let me ask you.
Is it a lack of desire?
No, I don’t think so. All the
dentists I know have a primary emphasis on providing
needed treatment to their patients with a secondary focus
of adding more production.
You want to help patients. You
care about them. You also like
the additional revenue. You
just care more about other
things like putting out fires in
the practice.
Is it a lack of time?
WHY DO DENTISTS ABANDON
DENTAL SLEEP MEDICINE
PREMATURELY, RESULTING IN
A DISSERVICE TO THEIR PATIENTS
AND THEIR PRACTICES?
THE ANSWER IS YOU.
Dental practices are a fastpaced, dynamic environment.
You know this. Who has time
to identify worn dentition,
scalloped tongues, or look at
health history? Who has time
to discuss Invisalign, whitening, or periodontal disease?
Who has time to have the patient complete a health history? Oh, you ALREADY identify
signs and symptoms of disease,
document it in a chart, and
discuss treatment plans with
the patient? You just haven’t
gotten your team educated
and clearly defined the goals
and the steps to get there.
Is it an inability to work
with other health care
practitioners?
Dentists can’t diagnose sleep
apnea so you must consort
with physicians. Is that outside
your comfort zone? You refer to other specialists such as
periodontists and orthodontists. How is this any different?
It isn’t, but you must decide to
do it.
Is it possible that you
don’t
have
enough
patients?
Nope, myth debunked. 1 in 5
adults suffer from OSA in the
United States. You just haven’t
implemented and mandated a
screening protocol.
Is it because of the
difficulties getting paid
by medical insurance?
There are many reputable,
successful companies that
manage this process for you. I
know hundreds of dentists that
can attest to how profitable
dental sleep medicine can be.
You just have to find a company and employ their services.
So back to the original question. Why do dentists abandon
dental sleep medicine prematurely, resulting in a disservice to their patients and their
practices? The answer is you.