Subscribe 

Good morning.

This is More Than Teeth—your weekly breath of fresh air in the world of dental sleep medicine. Every edition is crafted to help you not just practice better, but heal deeper. Today, we explore how something as overlooked as a tongue-tie can obstruct so much more than speech... and how your hygienists may hold the key to changing lives in the hygiene chair.

In Today’s Edition:

1. Can Treating Tongue-Tie Really Improve Sleep Apnea?

2. Why Hygienists are More than Cleaners—they’re Connectors

3. Clinical Tools and Case Tips

4. Mission-aligned: It's all connected—tongue to breath, mouth to body, patient to purpose

5. CE Opportunity/Events

5-minute read👇

Clinical Corner

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

Key Takeaways🔑

Breathing Begins in the Mouth by Dr Bennett

As part of my standard protocol, I instruct all OSA patients using a mandibular advancement device (MAD) to practice the tongue suction hold—firmly suctioning the tongue to the roof of the mouth while gently opening the mouth as wide as possible to stretch the attachment—for two minutes, six times daily. This consistent neuromuscular exercise promotes tongue tone, endurance, and optimal resting posture. Most importantly, I have patients repeat the suction hold just before falling asleep with their MAD in place. Clinically, I’ve found that reinforcing proper tongue posture and tone in this way can reduce tongue-based airway collapse and significantly enhance the overall effectiveness of oral appliance therapy

Can Treating Tongue-Tie Improve OSA?

Many still see tongue-ties (ankyloglossia) as only a pediatric issue. But what if we told you that a restricted tongue could compromise the airway, diminish deep sleep, and derail the body's healing ability, even into adulthood?

Recent evidence shows promise: [Click on highlight to see study]

• In adults with both tongue-tie and moderate to severe OSA, a simple frenectomy, combined with targeted myofunctional therapy (MFT), improved airway collapse during sleep in 2 of 3 participants.

• Drug-Induced Sleep Endoscopy (DISE) confirmed the mechanical change in airway behavior post-treatment.

But here’s the insight that resonates with our More Than Teeth mission:

What We Recommend:

• Check all patients with OSA for tongue-tie by evaluating how their tongue works, not just how it looks.

• Use Myofunctional Therapy (MFT) before and after a frenectomy to improve function, muscle tone, and tongue position..

• Create collaborative connections with speech-language pathologists (SLPs), ear, nose, and throat doctors (ENTs), and professionals who focus on airway health.

The Business of Sleep: Empower Your Hygienists

If you think your hygienist's main job is scaling and polishing, it's time to rethink. In the healing-centered model we teach, hygienists are health storytellers, early airway detectors, and case acceptance amplifiers.

Why Hygienists Matter More Than Ever:

• They have time with the patient.

• They have trust with the patient.

• They often notice airway red flags before anyone else.

What Works:

Use intraoral photos and scanning to show, not tell
Frame sleep-breathing issues as whole-health concerns
Train them to ask: “Is your sleep working for you?”
Equip them with scripts that reflect shared decision-making and health coaching, not sales

Language Upgrade Tip:

Say “Let’s explore how this might be affecting your sleep and energy” instead of “You have a sleep issue.” It opens curiosity without pressure.

Something Sweet

🍭Stuff so sweet you might get a cavity..

CE Opportunities / Events

Have an event you would like to post? (free) [ click here ]

Miscellaneous…But Meaningful

There’s a quiet revolution happening in healthcare—a shift from reactive treatment to proactive, patient-empowered wellness. And guess who’s helping lead the way? Dentists.

The future of healthcare is interdisciplinary, airway-aware, and deeply holistic, and dentistry is at the heart of it.

Welcome to the movement.