Sleep Education Consortium Conference 2024

The dental sleep conference architects the growing link between dentistry and sleep medicine, making it clear how the dentist can play a larger role in the overall health of patients.

The Sleep Education Consortium presents a unique opportunity to learn about the dentists’ role in sleep medicine beyond just placing an oral appliance in a patient.

Gain the knowledge you need to address your patient’s sleep concerns in a three-day comprehensive course tailored to provide dental professionals with the essentials to build their dental practice in this evolving area of dentistry.

This course establishes the framework for enhancing collaboration between dental and medical professionals, using didactic and clinical educational methods, in the diagnosis and management of patients with sleep disorders. It will become clear how the dentist can play a large role in the overall health of these patients.

During this three-day, comprehensive course, the dentist will gain the knowledge needed to address patients’ sleep concerns. Dentists and staff attending this conference will become educated on the broad spectrum of sleep disorders on a basic level and learn, in a more detailed fashion, about sleep-related breathing disorders. The dentist will gain knowledge that will help when screening for sleep disorders or providing guidance to patients who need proper medical care, by physician colleagues, for sleep disturbances.

The conference will offer hands-on experience to practice taking a bite record, performing an airway exam, and in making a morning repositioner. This course will provide dental professionals with a pathway for building this aspect of their dental practice while functioning within accepted medical standards.

The Course Syllabus will be provided on a USB drive, please bring your electronic device fully charged. You will have access to electrical outlets throughout the day to recharge your device. Tuition includes a George Guage and a USB thumb drive with course materials.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of the course, you will be able to:

• Discuss treatment rationale with patients who have been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea
• Discuss the link between obstructive breathing and temporomandibular joint disorders
• Describe the coordinated-care model between dentists and physicians – “The Team Approach” for managing patients with sleep-disordered breathing
• Identify complications related to oral-appliance therapy
• Describe the dental assessment of the airway, sleep bruxism, TMD, and the challenges facing dentists
• Describe the social issues associated with diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders, and formulate an approach for dealing with such patients that include physicians as outlined in accepted guidelines, thus raising the standard of care
• Describe the process of choosing the correct oral appliance to treat a patient with SDB
• Describe to patients other methods used to treat sleep-related breathing disturbances, such as continuous/bi-level positive airway pressure (CPAP/BiPAP) and surgery