Appliance Therapy for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea is one of the most common forms of sleep disordered breathing. It’s caused by a collapse of the soft tissues at the back of the throat, blocking off air flow when a person is sleeping.

Symptoms often include things like:

• Snoring
• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Memory loss
• Weight gain
• High blood pressure
• Bruxism

As a dentist, you might be your patients’ best asset when it comes to life saving screenings, especially if they don’t know that they have sleep apnea. If their diagnosis is a positive one, it may be that an oral appliance is the best type of treatment.

Increasing Referrals to and from Sleep Physicians 

Because sleeping disorders can only be made by a physician, dentists must work closely with sleep specialists to make patients aware of what types of treatments are available. It’s vital to network with specialists in your area to communicate with them regarding your training, services, and ability to collaborate on patient cases…possibly even screening them and making the referral to their office for the formal diagnosis. Some states even allow dentists to send home screening tools for the patient to use in their own home, which can be interpreted by their sleep physician.

Utilizing Medical Insurance Benefits in Your Practice

With the right training, dental practices can ease the financial burden on their patients by offer to file private medical insurance or Medicaid benefits for oral sleep appliances. It is one of the only such services that dentists can file medical benefits toward.

Navigating this new process is one that can be done, but takes proper training and knowledge on the behalf of the financial coordinators that are filing the medical claims.

Online forums and chats, such as the ones through the mobile DentiChat app allow dentists to gain knowledge and tips from other sleep dentists in their state and around the country.

Get Guidance from Other Sleep Dentistry Providers

Early on, there are a lot of questions that you’re going to have before, and early in the process, of you providing sleep dentistry in your practice. Private and public DentiChat messaging allows you to get support in real-time, anywhere.

Whether you’re mapping out the initial referral process, learning how to file claims, are adjusting your patients’ oral appliances for the second time, or just want to know if something can be done better, there’s always someone out there who can help. DentiChat’s easy search tool allows you to browse existing forum discussions to learn from others who have already been in your current position.

Let Your Patients Know What’s Available

Too many people with obstructive sleep apnea never know that there’s another option out there instead of bulky CPAP equipment. If you’re beginning to implement sleep dentistry appliances, you can share it with your patients through the SmilesConnect app, which offers private and secure messaging between dentists and their patents. Start by offering free sleep dentistry screenings as part of their next exam and encourage them to schedule!

Download the DentiChat and SmilesConnect apps today to start reading more about sleep apnea appliances in dentistry, unique ways to communicate with your patients, and access input from your peers.