LESIA CRAWFORD
MANGAGING DENTAL SLEEP MEDICINE
TEAM RESISTANCE
Once upon a time,
long ago, I had a pencil and a
big green book in which all of
our appointments were sched-
uled. One day the doctor told
me he paid $10K for dental
practice management software,
and my job was to put all our
patients in, learn it, and use it
moving forward. My existing
software knowledge consisted
of a DOS version of Word and an
AOL account without any email.
I was given a tall order to fill but
once I mastered the software I
had a new way of managing the
office. With all of these amazing
t ools in hand we doubled our
production within months and
I could never even imagine go-
ing back to that big green book
again!
How is adding sleep apnea
treatment to your practice
any different than all the oth-
er changes you’ve made over
the years?
What if your assistant said,
“no, I don’t want to learn how
bonding agents work” and
refused to put away the
amalgamator?
What if the front office said
“no, I am not comfortable
talking about Invisalign” and
kept referring everyone to the
orthodontist?
I can tell you what would hap-
pen. You’d fire them. Imple-
menting DSM is no different and
there are ways to make it easier
and more successful for every-
one.
The only way to successfully
add a new service is to equip
the office with the training
and tools to make it happen.
DSM is no exception. Imagine if
my doctor told me to create a
charting system, ledger, sched-
ule and reports within the DOS
word program? I can guarantee
the green book would have held
its ground. Invest in software,
training, a sleep testing system
and medical billing. The whole
team needs to be involved just
like every other aspect of den-
tistry. While appointing one
person, as the sleep apnea con-
cierge is the best way to achieve
success, it must NOT give the rest
of the team license to ignore it.
How well would that software
integration have worked if I was
the only one using it and the
hygienist was allowed to say,
“I don’t know anything about
it” and continued to use paper
perio charting and treatment
planning? Wait, that’s right, she
did try that! We had to work as a
team to grow and improve.
I have seen many changes in
dentistry over my 20 years in the
field. Whether it was transition-
Lesia Crawford,
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ing to digital x-rays, Invisalign,
cosmetic dentistry or OSA treat-
ment, all of these changes re-
quired investments in educa-
tion, training and the necessary
tools. We can do this! We have
all done it before, and we will
continue. This train has left the
station, are you on board?