Good morning. This is More Than Teeth. The newsletter that helps dental sleep professionals get 1% better every week.

In today’s edition:

• Compliance: Efficacy vs. Effectiveness

• Can Music Cure TMD?

• Passive OMT to Cure OSA

• 9 Tactics to Explode Motivation

• Have a Laugh With OSA Comedy🤣

Let’s dive in👇

Clinical Corner

🥼Use the clinical corner as your secret weapon to impress your colleagues and patients!

1/Efficacy vs. Effectiveness: Understanding the Distinction in OSA Treatment

Treating sleep apnea with a mandibular advancement appliance (MAA) but not wearing it is like owning a high-tech, state-of-the-art umbrella but choosing to walk in the rain. You might have the best tool to protect you, but unless you actually use it, you'll still get drenched.

🌍 Real-world Effectiveness: The True Test

The question isn't just how well MAA can reduce AHI but also whether patients will actually use them consistently.

Hello, compliance! 

It's key to achieving our therapeutic goals. Factors like patient comfort, acceptance, and long-term adherence can heavily influence the effectiveness of MAA in the wild.

📚 The Importance of Compliance

Why?

Because treating OSA is a marathon, not a sprint.

The effectiveness of treatments like CPAP or oral appliances is tied to a patient's commitment to consistent usage. Non-compliance might invite poorly managed OSA and a risk of associated health complications. 👎

🎧 Understanding Patients: A Win-Win

A deep understanding of our patients is fundamental for delivering personalized, patient-centered care. By taking into account patients' unique needs, concerns, and preferences, we can tailor our treatment plans to ensure maximum comfort and effectiveness.

Possible issues we can address might include mask discomfort, claustrophobia, or issues with oral appliance fitting. 👓 Understanding a patient’s lifestyle, habits, and individual challenges can also help us in formulating strategies to boost compliance.

🤝 The Path to Better Outcomes

By promoting patient compliance through education, support, and understanding of individual needs, we can optimize treatment outcomes and enhance the patient's quality of life.

Empowering our patients to actively participate in their own care is the ticket to better treatment adherence and overall success in managing OSA.

2/ The Sound of Relief: How Music Helps Manage Awake Bruxism

A fascinating new study looks at how guided music listening (GML) can help manage awake bruxism in patients with chronic painful muscular temporomandibular disorders (mTMD).

Ready to rock and roll?

Let's dive into this research, distilled for you to understand, apply, and impress your patients.

Unpacking the Study 🧪

Here's the deal with mTMD: it's a painful condition often tied to awake bruxism, the stressful behavior of teeth clenching. This study set out to see if GML could help, given music's knack for influencing psychological stress and motor responses.

Researchers tested the masseter muscle activity in two groups: 14 women with chronic mTMD and 15 pain-free women. They measured the muscle activity during a GML session, which included stressful music, relaxing music, the participant's favorite music, and a pink noise control block — all lasting 15 minutes each.

The Results: Crunching the Numbers 📊

Muscle Activity: Stressful music amped up muscle activity for both groups. But here's the kicker: relaxing and favorite music dialed it down. Interestingly, muscle activity was higher in the mTMD group during the favorite music and pink noise segments.

The Bruxism Factor: In the mTMD group, muscle activity linked to bruxism surged under stressful music but dropped notably under relaxing and favorite music. The control group, however, saw no significant changes.

Bruxism Episode Frequency: The mTMD group had more frequent bruxism episodes during the pink noise block, but overall, the music didn't change the duration or frequency of awake bruxism in either group.

The Bottom Line: Decoding the Data 🎶

So, what's the key takeaway? Essentially, relaxing and favorite music reduced the muscle effort during spontaneous awake bruxism episodes by 26% and 44% respectively in patients with chronic mTMD. On the other hand, stressful music upped it by 43%.

The Real Deal: GML could be a promising, non-invasive part of a multimodal approach to managing chronic mTMD. It's an angle to consider for our patients dealing with awake bruxism tied to stress. So, next time a patient with mTMD walks in, why not ask about their favorite tracks?

3/Wake Up to Better Sleep: The Power of Passive OMT Appliances for OSA

TL;DR:

A clinical case report suggests that passive Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (OMT) appliances could be an effective option for treating obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), bringing immediate relief, minimizing adverse effects, and potentially saving costs. Let's break it down.

The Case

A 32-year-old woman with diagnosed OSA presented with significant sleepiness, snoring, and morning fatigue. She declined standard Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) therapy and opted for a passive OMT appliance while waiting for her custom OAT device. The results were astonishing.

The Impact

Using the OMT appliance, her apnea-hypopnea index dropped from 16.5 to 3.7. She reported improved sleep quality, reduced daytime sleepiness, and ceased snoring. Surprisingly, the patient decided to continue with the passive OMT appliance, abandoning the traditional OAT route.

Takeaways for Dental Sleep Professionals

Passive OMT appliances may offer a quicker, more immediate solution for treating OSA, especially for patients unable or unwilling to undergo traditional treatment. Furthermore, they may reduce common side effects linked to traditional protrusion techniques used in OAT, making them a potentially more comfortable option.

While encouraging, this is just one case. Additional research is needed to establish patient selection criteria and further validate the effectiveness of passive OMT appliances.

Bottom Line

The dental sleep field is rapidly evolving, and new technologies like passive OMT appliances are revolutionizing our approach to OSA. Stay informed, remain adaptable, and continue to put patients first.

Help Us Grow

Our mission is to impact 100,000 dental sleep professionals positively. If this newsletter would help someone in your network, please forward it to them.

And if someone forwarded this edition to you, please don't leave without hitting that Subscribe button now.

Business of Sleep

📈Better businesses = more lives saved!

Motivation Mastery for Dental Sleep Pros: 9 Sparking Tactics

Today, we're simplifying the concept of motivation. Imagine it as a little nudge, a dash of energy that shifts us from idleness to activity.

There's no need to climb mountains (like completing 4,000+ pull-ups) to inspire your team like David Goggins.

Instead, it's about igniting that spark and smoothing the path to action.

So, how can you foster motivation in your dental sleep practice? Here's a concise nine-point plan, complete with bonus tips.

1. Express Expectations

Start with clarity. Ensure your team knows exactly what you expect from them, in terms of tasks and their execution.

BONUS: Let your team contribute to setting their own goals. People tend to follow rules they helped to create.

2. Diligently Delegate

If a task doesn't inspire you, it won't inspire your team. Cut unnecessary tasks, delegate the rest, and empower your team to refine their workload.

BONUS: Promote automation. If a machine can handle a task, let it do so.

3. Prioritize Praise

Genuine appreciation isn't toxic. It’s an effective motivator. Many employees feel unrecognized, so give due praise where it's deserved.

BONUS: Share the praise. Tell others about your team member's excellent work, the good news will get back to them.

4. Monitor Mediocrity

Motivation spreads. High performers inspire their peers, while coasters burden them. Tackle underperformance promptly.

BONUS: Involve your team in hiring. Consensus on new hires helps bring the right character to your practice.

5. Iterative Improvements

Ongoing improvements boost job satisfaction and show your commitment to a better workplace.

BONUS: Empower your team to suggest and implement improvements. This enhances their sense of ownership.

6. Regular Rotations

Rotate assignments to avoid monotony and encourage skill mastery. When tasks become repetitive, shift the focus to improvement.

BONUS: Allow team members to undertake off-team assignments. They'll come back refreshed or find a position that suits them better.

7. Dutifully Develop

Invest in your team's growth to stimulate their drive and impact. Provide clear, timely feedback.

BONUS: Collective training experiences create shared language and bonding.

8. Collaborative Communication

Transparent communication empowers your team to work independently and contribute to the practice's mission.

BONUS: Choose written communication, especially for hybrid or remote teams. Storing it publicly enhances transparency.

9. Measured Metrics

Assign clear, trackable metrics to each team member. Aligning these with your practice's mission can create a strong drive.

BONUS: Display these metrics. A team scoreboard motivates everyone not to let the side down.

Remember, understanding the root problem is crucial to choosing the right solution. Use these tactics flexibly, picking the right one for each situation. With these strategies, you're all set to become the motivation champion of your dental sleep practice!

Something Sweet

🍭Stuff so sweet you might get a cavity..

Hands down the best OSA-themed comedy 😂

Miscellaneous

😅P.S. … I forgot something

Want to reach an audience of 1000’s of dentists and sleep professionals?