I am at the Seattle Study Club Symposium with Dr. Steve Carstensen. Steve is on the forefront of one of the most exciting things happening in dentistry today. We are going to talk about the importance of the airway in dental and medical health. We talk about how the airway can affect someone’s health, airway health for children, and how a young dentist can get started on this today.

Steve has been treating sleep apnea and snoring since 1998. He specializes in sleep education and airway health. He lectures and directs sleep education at notable institutes and universities. He is a good friend of mine, and it’s really exciting to have him here today to talk about one of the hottest topics in modern dentistry.

You can find Steve here:

Pankey Institute

Spear Aesthetics

Dental Sleep Practice Magazine

Seattle Sleep Education

Show Notes

[01:50] Steve is a restorative dentist. About 20 years ago, he started paying attention to the airways. He started helping people breathe better at night time.

[02:18]  He became an educator about airway and dentistry.

[02:37]  Now I see patients and write and teach about airway health & dentistry.

[02:46] Why is airway such a big topic in dentistry right now?

[03:29] When there is a problem we now start looking back in the patient's history and try to find the cause.

[03:45] It frequently focuses on the airway issue.

[04:51] With airway health we get a chance to improve how everybody feels.

[05:38] When patients have chronic conditions often asking them how they sleep at night is the first step to getting to the root cause.

[09:11] The importance of sleep and breathing and how they are interconnected.

[09:31] Melatonin makes us sleepy. Bluelight interrupts our production of melatonin.

[10:19] Sleep deprived children. Kids should get 12 to 13 hours of sleep during the night. Lack of sleep combined with medications is not good for kids.

[11:46] It's likely that the kids aren't sleeping well at night because they're not breathing well because of a closed airway.

[12:12] Not breastfeeding starts a child off at a bad position. Feeding kids soft foods is another factor that leads to more narrow pallets.

[13:14] Children should be breathing through their nose. If they are breathing through their mouth that is something that needs to be looked at.

[14:05] How would a young dentist incorporate airway health into his practice? How would he monetize this?

[15:36] We don't need a sleep test to know that a kid's jaw isn't developing correctly.

[16:03] Young dentists should start to pay attention to the kids in their practice and be on the lookout for airway issues.

[16:43] Airway appliances are usually covered by medical insurance.

[16:54] The total treatment cost is also less than a couple of crowns in most offices.

[17:17] Sleep courses are a hot topic right now in the world of dentistry.

[18:32] It's exciting for dentists to get a chance to work on the whole body. This is the most exciting time in dentistry.

[19:48] Now dentists have a chance to help children develop better airways.

Links and Resources:

Why We Sleep

Pankey Institute

Spear Aesthetics

Dental Sleep Practice Magazine

Seattle Sleep Education