Choosing a dentist for Oral Appliance Therapy

I know I've talked about this before but as more and more dentists start to provide oral appliance therapy for snoring and sleep apnea, it becomes more important that you, the patient, become more and more aware of the necessity to choose a dentist for this therapy with care and consideration.

Every dentist legally can provide this therapy but this does not mean that every dentist is qualified to do so. Treating snoring and sleep apnea - both problems with serious medical consequences - with a dental device is not dentistry. It is medicine and has to be approached differently than restoring a decayed tooth or replacing a tooth with a dental implant.

Remember that oral appliance therapy is not part of any undergraduate dental school curriculum at this time. Tufts Dental School is the only school (so far) that offers a post doctoral course in dental sleep medicine. This means that most education in this field is provided by continuing education course which, unfortunately, do vary in quality. No organization rates the quality of the courses or the qualifications of the presenters so it is up to you to question the dentist you select to provide this treatment.

I would like to refer you to the web page we have written on this subject as a guideline to choosing a dentist.

Happy Holidays

Dr. Barsh