Sleep Medicine in the Dental Practice

Sleep Medicine in the Dental Practice provides knowledge and understanding of sleep physiology and the life-threatening consequences of sleep-disordered breathing. It also addresses strategies for screening and treating sleep disorder patients within your dental practice. Many at-risk patients are candidates for therapy that can be applied by the dentist, and many patients who are suffering with a sleep disorder can be treated in the dental practice working in an interdisciplinary relationship with a sleep physician. Screening for at-risk patients and application of oral appliance therapy is an easy and natural addition for almost every dental practice. What is not so natural or easy is incorporating a therapeutic service that is delivered using the medical model into a dental practice. The medical model is a different design with a different paradigm and it can be a challenging undertaking without proper coaching and assistance.