November 2017
Spotlight of the Month
Dave Slobadinsky, DDS
Sleep Well Philadelphia, PA
I have had a general dentistry practice for 28 years, and a separate sleep practice in the same location for 3 years. I have trained extensively with Dr. Jonathan Greenburg and his Zyppah Sleep Certified System.
Favorite success story:
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I am currently making great progress with a patient who suffers with severe sleep apnea, is CPAP intolerant, had unsuccessful surgery, AND a failed oral appliance. His life is miserable. We have recently made him a Zyppah appliance. A treatment challenge for sure, but he is improving all the time and is very grateful.
Here are a couple tips to help you get moving:
- • In order to make sleep treatment work in your office, remember that the most important thing is to identify the patients in your own practice that need treatment. SCREEN EVERYONE.
- • Use the Sleep Certified team as your golden parachute, we have tons of practical experience and are more than willing to help!
- • One thing I have learned from experience is, during the second consult (where you present sleep study results, treatment options and cost), try to get impressions for the oral appliance. This way if they agree to treatment after this consult you won’t have to bring them in again. And if they don’t agree to treatment, no big deal, just dispose of their models.
I have found the hardest thing to do is to get physicians to refer patients to me. So, how am I getting new sleep patients? I have begun a radio ad campaign here in Philly and so far, it has been pretty successful. I am more than covering my advertising costs with new patient income. Plus, it’s fun when people I know say “I heard you on the radio!”.
I’ve been fixing teeth a long time, and it’s been a great career. However, fixing people’s sleep has been a far more emotionally rewarding experience for me. After all, how many of your patients tell you “You’ve changed my life!“. Now, with treating and fixing sleep apnea, I hear it all the time.
Just remember, anything worth having is worth going for–all the way.
Dr. Dave Slobodinsky
Fresh Finds
Featured Course
Integrating Sleep into Your Practice
This course covers how to screen your patients, how the home sleep test works, how to read a sleep study, the diagnosis, the consultation visit, terminology, and signed consent. This course will jumpstart your ability to treat Snoring and Sleep Apnea!
Featured Webinar
Are you Ready to Treat Sleep?
With Dr. Jay Khorsandi
30% of your patient base is at risk for Sleep Apnea.
You can change their lives! Are you ready to treat them?
Bring your questions!
Tuesday, November 7th
at 5 PM PST/ 8 PM EST.
Sleep Apnea Immediately compromises Blood Pressure
A single bout of Sleep Apnea impacts the human body’s ability to regulate blood pressure.
Sleep apnea is a condition where breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. The condition can result in frequent periods of decreased oxygen levels in the body known as intermittent hypoxia.
In a recent study measuring the impact of simulated sleep apnea on humans, researchers at UBC’s Okanagan campus found that just six hours of the fluctuating oxygen levels associated with sleep apnea can begin to deteriorate a person’s circulatory system.
“While it is well established that sleep apnea is linked to high blood pressure, our study shows this condition has an impact on the cardiovascular system that can begin within a single day,” says Glen Foster, an assistant professor of health and exercise science. “After just six hours of fluctuating oxygen levels, similar to what happens with sleep apnea, the body’s ability to regulate blood pressure is impaired.”