Dr. Mogell Dental Blog

Boca Raton Cosmetic Dentist

Is Your Dentist Trained To Treat Sleep Apnea?

Wednesday, February 05, 2014

More and more dentists are treating obstructive sleep apnea. But do they have the appropriate training?

A 2010 survey of most of the country’s dental schools found students spent an average of 2.9 hours learning about sleep breathing disorders. Many dental schools don't teach this information at all.

Dentists are required by law to attend a certain amount of continuing education each year in order to maintain their licensure. Dentists have a choice of seeking high quality learning that will positively impact their patients or they can choose something quick and cheap to fulfill the obligation.

When it comes to treating obstructive sleep apnea, more knowledge is key! If you are going to a dentist to get an oral appliance to treat your obstructive sleep apnea you should ask several questions.

How many oral appliances have they placed?
What type of continuing education in this field have they completed and how recently was the last course?
Have they become, or are they in the process of becoming board certified by the American Association of Dental Sleep Medicine?
Have they previously worked with patients referred by your sleep physician? What type of contact will they maintain with your medical team?

Your regular dentist may be a terrific person and a great dentist - that doesn't mean that they are trained and experienced in the field of dental sleep medicine.

Receiving my board certification in this field from the AADSM was something that required years of study and proving my experience treating many, many cases effectively.

To date, there are only 3 dentists in the State of Florida to receive this certification. Please contact us today at 1-800-343-SLEEP or visit our sleep disorders website at scrapyourcpap.com.

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