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I was invited by the CEO of the American Sleep and Breathing Academy (ASBA), David Gergen, to attend the academy’s annual study club which was held in Phoenix, Arizona on October 4th and 5th 2024. I accepted this gracious invitation to attend, and I have to say that this was 2 days packed full of great instruction and was 2 days well spent. I must admit that this academy goes above and beyond because it understands the future of dental medicine. The caliber of the presentations was top notch, and I walked away from the study club that weekend with more knowledge and a better understanding of how to identify patients who are likely to suffer from sleep breathing disorders. I learned about more efficient ways to treat patients who walk into both my dental practice and into my dental sleep medicine practice.
David Gergen started off with his presentation about pediatric sleep appliances from Bionators , Occlusal Corrector’s to Crickets.. He had been doing them for almost 40 years and the results he showed were simply amazing. David has definitely come back and made the ASBA unbelievably impressive. He surprised us all when he brought the head of the VA, Dr. Patricio Reyes MD, to be at the meeting. David Gergen even gave me a referrals from the VA, I saw him at the meeting and got him taken care of right away. This has been such an unforgettable and unexpected added bonus, the connections David set me up with were all so remarkable. Not only I was able to even able to make a life saving Herbst appliance for a VA member who was there. He has sent me two new Sleep referrals.
David reviewed the Ricketts Silibant Phonetics bite with all of us in person. He showed us all how he directly learned from Dr. Ricketts himself, and the appliance was simply life changing for this VA patient.
Next, Dr. Diana Batoon spoke about communication and setting up cases with Pediatric treatment options and myofunctional therapy. Next, Dr. Jerry Hu spoke about expansion cases, treatment protocols and the Herbst appliance and comparing different bite methods. His deprh of knowledge and passion on dental sleep medicine treatment options were outstanding.
Finally, the main lecturer Tim Adams DDS spoke about correcting cranial strains, distortions and fixing torsions and side bends. Tim spoke for 13 hours of the meeting and I will only say ( He’s Unbelievable ) Tim Adams is a must see.
I learned so much, and I can’t stress enough how incredible ASBA is now and what great value. All in all, there is no Academy and no study club who teach on the level and caliber like this. This study club is for sure an important aspect for any dentist to gain further knowledge and understanding for the choices and future of dental sleep medicine. The study club is a small group of like-minded practitioners, and the small group provided an opportunity to ask a lot of questions and to have discussions about the material presented and how to apply the knowledge in our day-to-day interactions with our patients. I would highly recommend that members of the ASBA take advantage of future study club events and make this investment in your education and journey to become a more educated practitioner so that you can make a difference in the lives of our patients that suffer from poor sleep!
Warmest regards, Ram On, Bruce L Herr, Jr., DDS