Correspond with sleep physicians

Q: I know that quite a few board certified sleep physicians send you patients who are CPAP non-compliant or don’t qualify for CPAP. How did you gain their trust? I can’t find any in my area who will send me these patients!

Dr. Smith: I send letters after seeing every sleep patient to the MD who diagnosed the sleep apnea, detailing everything I checked, my findings, treatment attempts, etc.. . If there is one common complaint I heard from the sleep physicians at Sleep 2009 in Seattle, it’s the fact dentists do not follow up with the sleep physician after they receive the patient. That is so sad, after the grief we give them for not involving dentists. If you are a dentist reading this, PLEASE keep the sleep physician in the loop!