November 19, 2018

How to Expand Your Dental Practice with Dental Sleep Treatments

A dentist shares his tried-and-true internal and external marketing techniques. Use these when adding sleep apnea services.

By Payam Ataii, DMD, MBA

As a dentist for over 20 years, I often think about how to expand my practice. Many of my patients have been with me for more than a decade, so I have already taken care of virtually all their restoration needs and gotten them on a good hygiene path. Without additional expansion of services, many of my patients would just be in maintenance mode and my practice would not grow.

At the same time, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and the word “airway” are becoming very hot topics in the dental field. So much so that the American Dental Association recently adopted a policy statement outlining the role of dentists in the treatment of OSA and other sleep-breathing disorders. . .

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October 10, 2011

Really? The Claim: Sleep Apnea Causes Sexual Problems

By Anahad O’Connor

THE FACTS
Sleep apnea causes disrupted breathing in the middle of the night for more than 12 million Americans. Fatigue, high blood pressure and weight gain are some of its more familiar symptoms.

But a growing body of research has also found that sleep apnea can be a drain on intimacy, causing erectile dysfunction in men and loss of libido in women. . .

Click here to read full article. . . 

5 Ways to Wipe Out Winter Tiredness

Do you find it harder to roll out of bed in winter when the temperature drops and the mornings are darker? If so, you’re not alone. Many people feel tired and sluggish during winter.

Here are 5 energy-giving solutions that may help – and some conditions that can sometimes be the cause.

1. Let in some sunlight

As the days become shorter, your sleep and waking cycles may become disrupted. The lack of sunlight means your brain produces more of a hormone called melatonin, which makes you sleepy. . .

Click here to read full article. . . 

 

 

November 20, 2018

Conference Tackles the Value of Sleep Dentistry

With the one-year anniversary of the ADA policy on treating sleep-related breathing disorders upon us, many educational conferences are now being organized around the topic of dental sleep. However, in October, the Sleep Education Consortium (SEC) held its 14^th annual conference in Houston, Texas on this topic.

Triple board-certified neurologist Jerald Simmons, MD, has been bringing together dentists and medical doctors in a unique conference setting at the annual SEC conference for years. We had the opportunity to interview Simmons and one of this year’s conference’s attendees, Maria Linden, DDS, of Naples, Fla, to share their insights about the event.

DT: Dr. Simmons, what motivated you to establish the SEC, and why did you decide to bring dentists and medical doctors together into one conference?. . . 

Click here to read full article. . .

 

December, 2018

8 New Year’s Resolutions For Better Sleep In 2019, Because Quality Rest Is Underrated

By Julia Guerra

The holidays are full of lists — wishlists, to-do lists, shopping lists. If I had to narrow it down to only one that I felt was absolutely necessary to write out and check twice, though, it would have to be my New Year’s resolutions. Hear me out: How much of 2018 did you spend fine-tuning your self-care? Because, listen, I get it: The past 365 days were a lot, and time somehow always feels limited. But 2019 should be about making positive changes, and setting wellness goals — like New Year’s resolutions for better sleep . . .

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December, 2018

How to Beat Holiday Sleep Challenges

Between holiday parties, extended family get-togethers, and endless shopping and chores to complete, you may barely have a moment to catch your breath. So it’s hardly surprising that you may not be getting your best sleep at this time of year.

For one thing, holiday events can throw your family’s sleep routines off course. For another, the excitement can ratchet up your kids’ energy, and your heightened level of busyness can leave you feeling frayed at the seams. It’s up to you, as a parent, to decide how flexible to be about your kids’ bedtimes but a modicum of consistency goes a long way toward sound sleep for everyone. Here are four good ways to beat holiday sleep challenges. . .

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July/August 2018

Dreaming About Dollars: The Economics of Dental Sleep

By Payam Ataii, DMD, MBA

Since October 2017, when the American Dental Association (ADA) adopted a policy that calls for every dentist to screen and treat appropriately for sleep-related breathing disorders,^(a) many of us have been considering how to get involved.

With a prevalence of nearly 30 million people in the United States with obstructive sleep apnea (80% of them still undiagnosed)^(b), many of us are compelled by the good we can do in our communities to help patients in need. However, one of the first questions we must evaluate is: . . .

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August 23, 2018

How Dentists Can Help Patients Breathe Easily

Most dentists know about the dangers of sleep apnea, but how many are actually doing something about it?

For those of you who were around in the late ‘90s and tinkering with computers, you can probably remember the rush you felt when Intel or AMD came out with a new processor.

Suddenly the sound of the platters on your hard drive spinning away vanished as the processor used its billions of on-board transistors to calculate and render processes that used to require RAM and ROM processes of limited quantity.

Things happened faster — sometimes blazingly faster. Then the folks who wrote the programs quickly figured out how to take advantage of all of that extra computing power and created better, more detailed graphics and better programs. Your computer hummed along like never before, and then the programs evolved to take advantage of all that new powerful processing power. The system began to slow down until your machine began to grind along again and then the process repeated itself over and over and over.

Dentistry is evolving at the same rapid pace as practically everything else in our society…

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September, 2018

Treating Sleep Disorders: More Than Moving the Mandibles Forward

Attention to sleep-related breathing disorders has increased due to growing public awareness, a better understanding by the medical and dental communities on the role dentists may play in identifying and treating these disorders, and the recent statement by the ADA urging doctors to actively screen and appropriately treat or refer patients who suffer from them…

However, these developments are less than two years old.

For doctors like myself who have been treating patients for a decade or more, the path to helping them has not been easy. From having to educate our physician peers to educating the patient, and to battling with medical insurance companies, delivering treatment for these patients has been an uphill battle…

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