Dental Sleep Medicine Insider May 2016 | Page 12

FRANCES ROMERO YOU’RE CROWN PREPPING OSA PATIENT YOUR NEXT and you don’t even know it! O ne of the most common questions I field from DSM practitioners is “How can I get new sleep patients?” This is typically followed by a slew of questions about billboards, radio ads, PPC ads, paying someone hundreds of dollars to be featured on websites that supposedly generate new patients & many more. Some of these methods are successful (and others are WILDLY unsuccessful) but each of them should be reserved for a time when you have: • Implemented systems into your practice for the efficient management of patients • Mined your existing patient base for OSA candidates (which reinforces the first bullet point) You’re screening for oral cancer although it is rare. You’re probably doing this because it is the standard of care, you care about your patients’ health, and because the tongue lives within your realm, the oral cavity. “Have you been screening your patients of record?” The answer is almost always ‘No.’ In a practice with 2,000 active adult patients of record, prevalence stats forecast that 400 of those patients will likely have some form of Sleep Disordered Breathing. If you have 400 OAT candidates already coming for a prophy, why would you commit your dollars to a pricey marketing campaign when there are patients in the chair that need your help and trust you? If you’re not screening your patients, it’s unlikely that they will broach the topic of their decibel-defying snoring, CPAP intolerance, or excessive daytime sleepiness with you. By screening all of these patients with the DS3 Screener, you are opening the door to a discussion that needs to occur. This can serve as the first step towards dramatically improving their quality of life while adding additional revenue to your practice. We suggest placing a couple inexpensive tablets (here’s an Amazon link to some for about $100) in your waiting room with the DS3 Screener pre-loaded onto them. This easy to use tool can be the gateway to saving lives and boosting your productivity. For a demo of how the DS3 screener can work in your office, contact me today. FRANCES ROMERO Member Support Expert Certified Dental Assistant Former Treatement Coordinator [email protected]