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?. . . 

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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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July, 2018

TACKLING SLEEP-RELATED BREATHING DISORDERS WITH TECHNOLOGY

Dr. Lou Shuman and Dr. Steve Carstensen discuss dentists’ use of technology in addressing the growing sleep-related breathing disorder epidemic.

Each month, Dr. Lou Shuman consults with a dental industry specialist to discuss the latest industry shifts, developments in dental technology, digital dentistry trends, marketing and more. This month, Dr. Shuman sat down with Dr. Steve Carstensen to discuss technology that dental practitioners can use to address sleep-related breathing disorders. The topic is timely, given the American Dental Association (ADA) adopted a policy on dental treatment of sleep-related breathing disorders a few months ago…

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