Journal of the American Dental Association recently published a review that suggests that dentists can play a crucial role in preventing or treating dangerous sleep disorders.
Considering that dentists examine a particular physiological area – the mouth cavity – they can detect such diseases much earlier than other specialists.
Thus, they can find early signs of obstructive sleep apnea, such as scalloped tongue edges, white lines on the cheeks, enlarged jaw muscles, restricted visibility of the throat, etc. According to the report, all these indicators and patient clinic history may help identify a patient with a high risk of sleep apnea with an 80% accuracy.
Another crucial factor that a dentist may notice during a medical examination is bruxism – also known as teeth grinding – a common symptom of sleep disorders that may lead to hypertension and heart disease.
New Practice Trends
Researchers in the study said that this paper should become a starting point of the discussion about how we can optimize common dentist visits to provide patients with the best healthcare outcomes.
Thus, Davis Thomas – a professor at the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine – thinks that a dentist should not only look at a patient's teeth but observe the whole patient, including their general health, current well-being, etc. But as a beginning, it would be good to include a simple patient quiz with sleep-related questions in your practice to ensure your client is not in the risk group of the mentioned disorders. If you manage a dental clinic, train your staff to indicate the basic signs of sleep-related issues in patients and provide them with additional screening tools to measure blood pressure, body mass index, and other human body features.
"We're not asking dentists to diagnose sleep disorders [...] We're asking them to recognize the signs and make appropriate referrals. This simple act can be lifesaving." – Davis Thomas.
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