Impact of Medicare Ruling

 

There is a new Medicare ruling coming down the pipe that may put dentistry at the forefront of sleep medicine.  There is no other profession in existence that is better equipped to deal with the airway as a Dentist.  The training and education of the Dentist has been on the head and neck so this is just a natural extension of dentistry.  We are able to manipulate the jaw, the tongue, and all the major contributors to the sleep disorder breathing.  It is something that is we have been trained for to start and now we are able to bring it to bear on this concern.  Medicare is starting to see this and understand the role of Dentist and thereby the new ruling validates the Dentist’s role in this sleeping disorder.  If this ruling turns out to be the final ruling it will have profound impacts and ripples through this entire sleep medicine community both in the dentistry and medical side of things.  With this ruling, home unattended sleep study will be an accepted diagnostic modality thereby enabling Dentist to diagnose sleep disorder breathing without using a sleep lab.  This will have profound the effect on medical doctors who have started all the sleep labs around the country and who have decided to avoid utilizing Dentist in their treatment plan.  However, the medical doctors who have been wise enough to seek out a Dentist to work with their team may be able to survive. The future is just starting and it will be interesting to follow the progress of these aspects of dental sleep medicine in the future.

 

God Bless,

Dr. Ron Prehn