Sunday, December 26, 2010

dental sleep medicine

As I dedicate myself to learning as much as possible about obstructive sleep apnea and its treatments both medical and dental, I decided to put the process in print and share it.  Here is the first entry on this topic and it welcomes readers to reply with questions or comments,  or to visit our websites www.gentledentalcare.com or www.dentalsleepapnea.org for more details.

Our quest to help people with this disease has taken us to the limits of what is understood to the brink of discovery with two pertinent research projects; one currently under way and another under development.   Years of travel around the country seeking the latest understanding of the process has been both satisfying and inspiring.

Recently invited to join with the leaders in this field from across the United States to help the prestigious Pankey Institute design their "mini residency' on the topic I have also been offered the opportunity to help form a new research consortium on the topic.  This should prove to be an important meeting of the minds. Although the dental application of treating OSA is a comparatively new subject, and with only a relatively few years under my own belt studying and treating this disorder I hardly feel worthy of a spot among these doctors and researchers.  Having the most experienced and dedicated minds on the subject all in one place for this unified purpose should prove to be a very productive and fulfilling experience.

As I have travelled to educate myself on this topic I have been struck by how selfless, generous and dedicated the leaders in this field are.  I look forward to meeting with them all; many for the first time. My mind brims with pressing questions; many of which I imagine have no tried true answer yet but our meeting, for the purpose of these discussions may present the occasion to form some collaborative fact finding.

It is truly thrilling to be involved in this process of discovery.  I remember as a freshman in dental school as my Biochemistry teacher Dr. Freund was lecturing, he paused and then simply stated  "...and that's all we currently know about it"  Whatever the topic was, my ears picked up and everything suddenly became very sharply interesting.  This was cool.  I had finally made it, if anyone was going to learn any more about that particular topic, it was someone who knew no more about it than myself.  I had reached the end.  I remember clearly how satisfying that feeling was; having studied so long and laboriously to catch up, here I was with the leaders of the pack.  Already taking 30 credits that semester, I signed up for more, I took night classes and decided to try my hand at some research as well.  I later won an award for that effort.  I took the next few years for my residency and to start my own practice here in New Hampshire.  I became associated with the Dartmouth Medical School as an adjunctive assistant faculty as I joined staff at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.  My own diagnosis of Apnea stirred personal interest in some budding dental treatment options and although not a good candidate for that therapy myself,  as I learn more and more in the attempt to save people from this life-robbing condition I feel that thrill from so many years ago again.

Our first research project begins in a another week and an additional one, a more serious and powerful effort to help a very large number of OSA sufferers with particular complications has energized me to help move this field forward.  In this fresh yet very important field, with strong cooperative leaders who care more about people than business,  I look forward to standing side by side with they who have devoted themselves to understanding this problem thoroughly; and then to venture off to find out more.