Almost twenty years ago, Dr. Glassman gave his first dental sleep medicine course…

Dr Glassman quickly became a leader in the field, with these two days being the springboard for many of the key opinion leaders in dental sleep medicine today.  Dr. Glassman’s two-day course was the first course sponsored and recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.  Dr. Glassman was chosen by SomnoMED to help introduce the SomnoDent oral appliance to the United States after the successful start in Australia. Dr. Glassman toured the US in 2008-2009 in 25 cities with a two-day introduction to dental sleep medicine course.

The two-day course has, of course, continued to be updated and taught.  Dr. Glassman joined with Dental Sleep Masters to become their Clinical Director, and then began teaching a Mini Residency program with his colleague and good friend in Toronto, Canada, Dr. John Viviano.  Dr. Glassman then took on a position of the Director of Education for the Academy of Dental Sleep Masters and taught a full year program to approximately twenty five excellent practitioners.  

In 2024 Dr. Glassman was named Director of Education of Dedicated Sleep. In 2010, Dr. Glassman wrote a paper entitled “The Hidden Challenges of Dental Sleep Medicine.” This paper highlighted the obstacles faced by the dental profession working a a “broken system” attempting to provide medical treatment in a dental setting. This course provides the evidence based science and practical approaches for success in dental sleep medicine, and introduces the attendees to Dedicated Sleep, demonstrating how having the strength of a powerful, well versed medical specialty company working as our “back office” can help lead to more success with more patients providing high quality care. Dr. Glassman teaches patient centric concepts - and the leadership at Dedicated Sleep founded the company with the same ideals.

So, therefore, NOW the two-day course has returned – more practical and yet evidence based than ever before.  

WHY NOW? HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT THERE. HAVE NOT BEEN ANY DATES AVAILABLE RECENTLY?

DR. GLASSMAN realized that the course and post course support was excellent in terms of teaching the science. There is a great concern among those who think that all that is required is that you find a patient with sleep disturbed breathing and give them an appliance that is “easy” to insert. Of course there is more. There is more to understanding who should be treated — and that decision is not simply based on a single metric. It is important to understand how patients can be treated, how to avoid and deal with untoward side effects — how to relate to our medical colleagues, and how to relate to patients in ways that are different than we tend to relate to them in dentistry — and so much more. But even with a high level course and even post course support — something was missing, and the decision was made to hold off additional courses until that missing piece was resolved.

The fact is that when Barry started treating patients with sleep disordered breathing twenty some years go, the medical/dental environment was different. In some ways is was even more challenging; and in some ways it was much easier. It was obvious to Barry that the practice model that had been developed for dentistry needed to be changed to treat pain and dysfunction, and that altered model was in existence when he took his two year sleep residency program in an Allentown hospital system. He recognized he needed to teach that altered model. But even when he did, he realized that now implementation has been problematic for some in dental sleep medicine.

The good news is that the resolution has been found.

There was no doubt that understanding medical billing and being potentially in network with insurance companies became a critical step in providing adequate care for many patients. Dr. Glassman has teamed up with a model that supports a software program and billing system that insures smooth transition to dental sleep medicine, and now is prepared to include this critical portion of the BUSINESS PLAN in his course series.

In addition, Drs. Glassman and Malizia have created a Dedicated Sleep Forum that provides inexpensive full support for all of your cases in both sleep and pain.

All registrations include:

1. Pre-Course suggested reading 

2. Access to all literature referenced in the course – and more

3. Hands on experience with exams, bite registrations.

4. Demonstration of History taking, examinations, and appliance insertions

5. Follow up clinical support option (See Study Forum details).

Cancellation Policy: Refunds minus a three hundred dollar fee, can be requested up until four weeks before the first day of the course. (Note: This increased time frame is due to the construction of a custom sleep appliances being made for each participant.) Cancellations after that date will result in a credit of the full fee for a future sleep course.

COURSE DESCRIPTION 

This course has been specifically designed to introduce dental sleep medicine concepts in an entertaining, honest, and straightforward fashion using evidenced based concepts and emphasizing the model change required to successfully implement these concepts into a general dental practice.    

 Many commercial organizations are bombarding dentists with information about the potential role of dentistry is sleep medicine; unfortunately, only a fraction of those who take the courses that are consequently to learn sleep medicine have ever successfully added these concepts to their general practice.  This course will teach not only the concepts of sleep medicine but emphasize the challenges for the general dentist that need to be addressed successfully to benefit help your patients with sleep disturbed breathing conditions. 

 This evidenced based course will review the current lit from physiology of oral appliances to the role of oral appliance therapy and CPAP in sleep medicine.  All literature references will be made available to all attendees!  While the emphasis of the course is a deep dive into the science of sleep medicine, Dr. Glassman will weave the traditional methods of the business of dental sleep medicine with the IAOS approach. 

Subjects covered in depth include:

• The Model Change Required to move from dentistry to dental sleep medicine

• The Challenges of Dental Sleep Medicine – Dental Myth Busting

• History and Epidemiology of sleep medicine and dental sleep medicine

• Consequences of Sleep Disturbed Breathing

• Sleep Medicine principles including normal sleep staging 

• The continuum of Sleep Disturbed Breathing

• Non-obstructive sleep disorders 

• Pathophysiology of obstructive sleep apnea 

• Screening Tools/ Diagnostic Testing for OSA – Review of Pediatric OS

• The use of Home Sleep Testing and polysomnograms 

• The changing role of AHI in diagnosis

• History Taking, the clinical exam, and patient consultation

• Oral appliance Therapy including physiology and appliance choices, Documentation/Patient Flow/Physician contact with each visit

• Supportive therapy options:  The role of nasal breathing, positional therapy, treatment of restless leg syndrome, myofunctional therapy, etc.

• Non-OAT treatment options (Positive pressure, surgery,)

• Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Appliance Complications

• Defining, preventing, and treating Occlusal Dysesthesia

• Parasomnias and Movement Disorders with special emphasis on bruxism

• TMD for the general dentist including parafunctional control 

• Patient Communication Skills as well as Keys to communicating with physicians.   Practice management:  The Four Agreements

Basic Sleep principles, including both the physiology of sleep and the pathophysiology of obstructive sleep apnea, will be taught in detail.  A short history of the disorder and a section on epidemiology is included.  Treatment alternatives will be reviewed, and of course oral appliance therapy will be taught in detail.  A critically important section on bruxism, a movement disorder of sleep, as well as a section on dealing with the temporomandibular joint issues and other comorbidities of oral appliance therapy including the “dreaded” occlusal changes, will emphasize the difference between fact and fiction.   

The “soft skills” taught at this course are, frankly, as valuable as the evidenced based education into the science of sleep.  An honest look at appliance therapy results allows the practitioner to appropriately set patient and physician expectations, a key to the success of any DSM practice

SYLLABUS

Two Day Evidenced Based Course