Dentists should take their patients' preferences into account in prescribing sleep apnea devices, a California researcher said at the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine in Seattle this month, according to Snoring Isn't Sexy.
Michael Simmons, D.M.D., a Tarzana, CA general practitioner and lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles, said his research showed that approximately 50% of subjects had a preference of one device over another, but overall satisfaction with the home testing devices was almost the same.
Because of this, Dr. Simmons recommends that clinicians utilize more than one type of ambulatory device to accommodate individual patient preference.
Dr. Simmons encouraged dentists to become involved in screening for sleep apnea and to increase their sleep medicine education so that they can treat these patients collaboratively with their physicians.
"Research shows physicians most often have only about two hours of training in all sleep disorders during medical school," Dr. Simmons said in a press release. "Population studies reveal that these conditions are missed more than 85% of the time by the current medical system."
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