Dentistry's Role

The role of the dentist in the management of sleep-disordered breathing (snoring and obstructive sleep apnea) is expanding and many medical sleep teams are including properly trained dentists.In fact, sleep clinics in hospitals require a dentist on staff in order to receive certification.

As such, it is incumbent on the dentist with an interest in this field to obtain additional education in sleep medicine as well as oral appliance therapy and to work in tandem with sleep physicians and sleep laboratories. Recent research shows that inadequately managed sleep-disordered breathing can lead to increased risk for high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, depression and other adverse sequelae.

Presently, the dentist who treats any level of sleep-disordered breathing (even simple snoring) without the proper education and without initial medical evaluation jeopardizes the patient's well-being and places him or herself at risk medical-legally.

The duties of the dentist include:

• Recognition of the problem
• Referral for medical diagnosis
• Assess whether patient is a candidate for oral appliance (OA) therapy
• Select OA design
• Construction, delivery of OA
• Titration of OA
• Treatment follow-up and monitoring
• Management of side effects / complications
• Collaboration with MD