Airway Health: The Standard Then & Now

We have been treating patients with sleep/breathing disorders since the 1980’s. The modality? Sleep appliances which have managed these disorders with varying levels of success. The not-so-good news is that in pursuit of a better smile and improved facial symmetry and the quick or relatively quick fix, we have at times given little to no consideration to comprehensive overall airway health.

We can’t do that anymore. We now are mandated to improve, restore, or create a patient’s airway…to promote and actuate optimal airway health to the best of our ability. We need to step up. Educate ourselves, advance our skills and fulfill this freshly delineated function.

Our goals:

1. A healthy airway

2. A healthy jaw joint

3. Excellent facial aesthetics

4. A treatment scheme that supports the three goals.

For those of us that have already adapted our treatment to these guidelines, that change has been happening for 30 years, but today, starting with the ADA mandate, our adjusted course is crystal clear. 

With the continuing march of human invention, improved techniques and new technology, the proof of where our path lies has emerged. We are allowed to see the effects of our efforts via Sleep Testing, CBCT, and Conebeam Testing Technology. We are able to evaluate the oral structures and the airway. We can study the airway in 3-dimensional color; discover and diagnose airway blockages; project the results of treatment. This, along with advances in sleep testing, allows us to gauge our success in preventing airway dysfunction.

The American Dental Association (ADA) has conducted two broad-reaching conferences on Pediatric Airway Health (with plans for more) and as part of one of the organization’s presiding advisory committees, I am excited at the promise of what lies ahead.

We are, at last, having the important discussion…the one where we talk about what dentists actually do, what they have done, how the new policy is going to change that, and what we as dentists are going to do now.

We support you in doing the right thing: early examination, early screening, early prevention, early decision making, early interceptive therapy. The key? Don’t wait till it’s a problem. Use what is now available to advance the “Grand Scheme” of Optimal Airway Health.

Click this link for the complete text of The Role of Dentistry in the Treatment of Sleep Related Breathing Disorders.

– or visit ADA.org/sleepapnea for more information. 

SML – Your Source for All Things Airway™