A Time Capsule from the Early Days of Dental Sleep Medicine

Dr L. Wayne Halstrom from Vancouver Canada is a pioneer of dental sleep medicine. Dr Halstrom holds several patents for appliances, bite registration techniques and treatment methodology. His vast experience in the field set the stage for many of today's standards of practice. Recently Dr Halstrom puled the following video reel from the mid 1990"s out of the vault and made it available for viewing.

It struck me that the description of the patients need is really no different today than at the time of these videos. Some of the technologies are comically outdated. We are all very comfortable at the ASBA with the amount of work left to do after 20 years of effort by other organizations in the field. The ASBA is focused on making access to care easier and much more standardized. It is just unacceptable after 20 years to have the care a patient receives to be related to where the patient received their diagnosis. It is widely reported in the literature and the media that there are some 13-18 million Americans suffering with sleep apnea. It is time to develop a standard training program for medical and dental teams to work togather and treat these patients. The American Sleep And Breathing Academy is the place for this training.