The three pillars of health are diet, exercise and sleep — with sleep therapy now becoming one of the fastest growing areas of dentistry. Following in the same path as teeth whitening, veneers and implants, dental sleep medicine is set to become dentistry’s “next big thing.”

Continuing education is key for dentists and staff interested in making the treatment of sleep-related breathing disorders a bigger part of their professional future. With a comprehensive review of the anatomy, physiology and treatment of sleep disorders, the new DSM EDU app will greatly expedite your ability to gain expertise in this important field. Available for free download in the App Store or on Google Play, this app is a quick and easy way to get started in dental sleep medicine. It’s also an exciting route for growing your practice.

Dentists often look to expand their practices by offering more treatment options for patients. Dental sleep medicine is a good fit for general dentists because the tools and techniques for providing a mandibular advancement device are readily available in any dental office. Being educated about dental sleep medicine and providing oral appliance therapy can help improve patients’ lives and increase practice revenue.

Dentists often report that implementing dental sleep medicine into their practice is overly difficult because there is a significant amount of continuing education (CE) required to bring the dental team to a consistent level of comfort with the basic principles, science, terms and definitions of sleep dentistry. This is where the DSM EDU app provides the most value. It helps the entire team accurately communicate dental sleep medicine, in areas such as patient assessment, diagnostics, therapy options, and best practices and procedures.

Glidewell and its partner Arrow Mobile have collaborated on a smartphone app that is designed to teach basic dental sleep medicine methodologies in an accessible and user-friendly format. For the DSM EDU app, Glidewell has provided subject matter expertise and sponsored direct in-app links to free on-demand CE, which is eligible for continuing education credits.

In addition to being an excellent dental sleep information resource, this free app can serve as a mobile study guide for the dental team, bringing a level of understanding that will allow each team member to communicate with patients and physicians — as well as get the most out of more advanced training.

The app is categorized into seven user-friendly and intuitive sections.

1. Anatomy and Physiology Game

Enjoy and learn with the drag-and-drop feature that labels and orients the user with the location of anatomical features of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Joint pain and occlusal changes are known issues for patients under dental care for snoring and sleep apnea. Any area of dental sleep medicine study will include discussion of the TMJ. This section of the app is useful for any team member needing a refresher in this area.

2. Flash Cards

Everybody in a dental team is familiar with flash cards. They serve as a very quick and effective way to get the facts. The flash cards section is a versatile educational tool to teach simple facts or more complex terms across the many disciplines of dental sleep medicine. There are flash card sections that describe disease function; diagnostic equipment and their uses; and medical, surgical, and dental therapies for snoring and sleep apnea. This section is the core of the app, and all quiz practice tests are based on the material in the flash cards.

3. Quizzes

Have fun with multiple quiz sections, which allow users to test knowledge acquired from using the app. Every quiz section gives the user an accurate score. But don’t worry: All answers are revealed so that quiz sections can be fully retaken and completed if more study is necessary. For example, if the user answers a question incorrectly, the correct answer will be shown in green. This instant feedback is a best practice in student-guided education.

4. Practice Exam

Remember: It’s just practice! The practice exam questions are provided for users who wish to further test their proficiency with the subject matter. Serving as a board exam simulation, the questions cover the entire field of sleep diagnostics and therapy. The content of the practice exam is randomly drawn from the sections of quiz questions. Participants who do well on the practice exam may receive a certificate in their email inbox.

5. Access to Free, On-Demand CEUs

The DSM EDU app offers free CEUs provided by Glidewell Clinical Education, which has an extensive collection of online courses that qualify for ADA CERP and AGD PACE continuing education credits. The “Get Your Free CEUs” button on the app will allow users to access Glidewell education with their My Account login to launch courses and take online CE covering dental sleep medicine along with all other areas of general dentistry.

6. Resources

The resources section provides links to important practice documents and additional learning opportunities. App users will receive access to the following:

• Dental Sleep Medicine Rx — With this Rx form, dentists can quickly communicate with Glidewell when fabricating a mandibular advancement device.
• PMAD Informed Consent — This medicolegal document assists dentists in providing provisional mandibular advancement device (PMAD) therapy while patients work with their physician to obtain a definitive diagnosis.
• Glidewell Online Study Club — With weekly live and interactive webinars, attendees can learn from clinical experts and connect with 40,000 other dentists.
• Chairside^® Magazine — Articles in Chairside magazine cover all of the dental profession’s latest challenges and advancements, while sharing knowledge that makes practicing dentistry easier, faster and more efficient.
• Smile Bulletin — The Glidewell blog keeps dentists informed on dental sleep medicine and other areas of general dentistry with clinical tips, case reports, exciting announcements, and more.

7. Glidewell Online Study Club

The Glidewell Online Study Club is a weekly live webinar series where dentists can learn from clinical experts and connect with 40,000 other dentists. Participants are eligible for free CEUs, and each webinar begins with an update from the Glidewell Business Advisory Panel. This group of legal, accounting and practice management experts is dedicated to providing attendees with management advice to keep practices growing profitably. Webinars also include instruction intended to enhance clinical practice.

Education for the team is critical to success in dental sleep medicine. Although dental staff members participate in online courses and in-person education programs to sharpen their skills, the principles, vocabulary, and disease functions of sleep-disordered breathing may be new and difficult to master in a two-day course.

The new DSM EDU app is a vital bridge for an enhanced educational experience, and it’s conveniently accessible from any mobile device. Simply download the app and review the many intuitive, user-friendly learning categories aimed at helping teams get the most out of their educational experience.

To get the free DSM EDU app, download it at the App Store or on Google Play.