Dental Sleep Medicine Insider September 2017 | Page 8

THE NEW STANDARD OF HERBST DESIGN M y first meeting with the AADSM was in San Anto- nio, Texas back in 2010. At that time, there were only a handful of oral appliance manufacturers. Jump to this year’s meeting in Boston where it seemed like ev- ery other booth was selling their own versions of the newest ap- pliance design. Times have cer- tainly changed! Doctors who were treating Medi- care patients in 2010 will remem- ber: if a device had an FDA 510k clearance and the manufactur- ing lab was listed with the FDA, then the process to be added to the Medicare-approved list of devices was straightforward. Since then, as you probably are aware, the regulations have be- come more stringent. For device manufacturers to grow, it is im- perative that appliance designs continue to improve and evolve, especially when considering the increasing demand of Medicare patients. Our Team At Whole You always seeks ways to improve our devices. In 2015, we launched our Respire EF (Endurance Framework) line of products. These devices cre- ate maximized tongue space for the patient by employing a cast framework design. In June 2017, we launched the Respire Blue+. This change is a simple (yet sig- nificant) improvement to our dorsal design, which increases device strength by over 250%. Herbst designs continue to be popular due to their freedom of movement and durability, but the current design used by most labs has its limitations in the amount of advancement available. Our partnership with Whole You™ has enabled us to design an in- novative Herbst arm, which we feel will be the new standard of Herbst design. “What is so different about our Herbst?” DAVID WALTON David Walton Co-Founder & CEO of Respire Medical [email protected] 718-395-3061 The new design simplifies the adjustment on the telescopic arm. To adjust, simply place the key in from the posterior, and turn counter-clockwise. 4 full ro- tations (360 degrees) = 1mm. As we grow, our partnership with Whole You™ -- as well as collaborations within the indus- try -- will allow us to bring you industry-leading products and services. I look forward to taking that journey with you. The design now includes an adjustment scale so the doctor or patient can easily track how far the device has been adjusted. The new design allows up to 7mm (our previous design only allowed up to 5mm advancement), a much-needed feature in finding the optimal pro- trusion for opening the airway. We recently received our FDA 510k on Braebon’s Dentitrac™ compliance monitoring chip. This is available in all of our Respire Pink Herbst line of products.