Education Key to Navigating Dental Sleep Medicine

Erin Elliott DDS

Dr Erin Elliot co President of the American Sleep And Breathing Academy recently published an article that captured the essence of what the academy is trying to achieve. That is an ongoing and continuous educational experience for medical and dental teams trying to work together to provide care for their patients.

Dental Sleep Medicine has been an area of dental practice for over 20 years. Dr Elliott reviews, in her article, the questions that each practitioner should ask before signing up for a DSM seminar.

"How can you choose? Some of the questions I would ask are: Who is sponsoring it? What is the curriculum? Who is teaching it? How much is it? Do I need to buy “stuff” before I make my tuition back? Do they teach medical insurance billing? How much time/ CE credits do they offer? Is two days really enough?"

Key to the educational experience is the ongoing connection with practitioners who are learning right alongside you. Of course each practice is different, however the goals and aspirations of the dental team are the same. This is really the key to the ASBA experience

"The American Sleep and Breathing Academy  has an annual conference in Scottsdale that is multi-disciplinary. I think these conferences are a great way to learn from the medical side and learn the dental side in a very unbiased fashion. Learning to work side by side with sleep physicians and seeing how to navigate the medical world is imperative to treating sleep apnea in your practice. I like to say, “It is time to put the handpiece down and put the stethoscope on.” We, as dentists, are providing a dental solution to a medical problem. There is no class available teaching you how

to interact with your medical community but it can begin as a simple lunch-n-learn or an observation at a sleep lab."

For the complete article click: Article