DR. RICHARD DRAKE
ONLY THE NOSE KNOWS
F
ishing is just one of
my many passions.
A couple of the lakes that
I fish are in Mexico, so
the trip back to the house
sometimes requires that I
go through a border checkpoint.
Every time I go
through it’s the same old
questions: How was the
fishing? What were they
biting on? Spinnerbaits?
Crankbaits? Oh yeah, they
also ask, “Are you a US
citizen?”
What made me think about
this was the dog that they
have sniffing around my
truck and my boat while
the border patrol agent
is trying to get some free
fishing info. On a recent
occasion I was fishing
with a college kid who had
just joined our bass club.
So the dog stops at the
back corner of my truck
and starts pawing at the
edge. The agent’s eyes
light up. Sweet. We got us
a smuggler here! The next
thing I know, we are pulled
over and they are taking
my truck apart looking
for drugs. It turns out that
this college kid was a pot
smoker, and he had a stash
stashed away in his tackle
box. Surprise! Surprise!
DR. RICHARD DRAKE
DS3 CO-FOUNDER
your patient, and it’s also
important should you
consider to utilize PAP
therapy.
I just think, wow! What a
nose that dog has! So only
the nose knows, as the
saying goes. What does
that have to do with us and
Dental Sleep Medicine?
Probably
the
most
significant question we
can ask our patients is,
“How well can you breathe
through your nose?” Yet
few of us ever ask that
question. It’s an important
part of which dental device
you plan to fabricate for
How well can you breathe
through your nose?
Bottom line is, the better
your patient can breathe
through her nose, the
better your dental device
will work. So let’s talk
about things that we can
do, as dentists, to increase
nasal patency.
First
and
foremost,
take advantage of the
expertise you have in
your community with
ENT doctors. We all want
referrals, but we have to
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