This yearlong study program offers a comprehensive course in sleep medicine and the role of dentistry in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disturbed breathing.  The program has twelve teaching modules; each one presented monthly beginning February of 2023.  There will be four, two-day long (Friday and Saturday,) in-person modules that will be held at the beachside DoubleTree Hilton Hotel in Melbourne, Florida.  There will be six, one-day (Friday) on-line modules, two lit review presentation sessions, and a case presentation session.

Each teaching module will include a pretest and a post-test designed to allow the attendee to evaluate personal progress. These are not “graded” exams; simply learning tools for the attendee’s own purposes. In advance of each module presentation date candidates will receive relevant articles to be reviewed.  Additional literature reviews will be conducted with each candidate leading at least one of the discussions.   The last live session will be a review, an educational exercise (in the form of an examination) and a full day of review of the course content.  Those interested in a certificate recognizing successful completion of the course will need to pass the examination and submit five cases in accordance with the established format.  The final step in the certification process will be an oral review that will be based on the written exam and the cases presented.  


RATIONALE

Our goal was to create the most comprehensive program available in Dental Sleep Medicine.  The faculty has identified a need for an educational program to improve the potential of the dentist to educate his staff, his patients, and the physicians with which he or she works to create a patient-centered nonbiased, effective, patient-centric sleep program.    

This continuing educational program will provide up-to-date principles and guidelines to help integrate the critical thinking skills into daily practice.   The course emphasizes the use of  Sackett’s concepts in evidenced-based medicine, which combines evidence-based science in with clinical experience and patient preference and emphasizes the need to use the science to guide one’s “art.” 


FAQ

  • The 12 modules will be taught once a month.  It will thus take one year to complete the program. 

  • The program is designed for optimal learning and full attendance is encouraged. The review sessions are summaries of the key sections from those who taught either the live or virtual courses. They are not meant to substitute for live and virtual attendance. For those interested in the certificate of completion, full attendance of the virtual and live courses is required. In the case of an emergency or illness, attendance of the review session may be considered.  

  • You will need the ability to attend a virtual session via Zoom. You will also need the ability to scan documents.

  • There will be a private social media network that will be monitored regularly by the faculty. Questions and comments can be posted here to be shared with the entire group or only with the faculty. This will also serve to communicate on any potential scheduling issues. All the links for the courses will be posted on the network. The literature for each course and the literature reviews will be posted here as well.

    Questions can also be raised and discussed at the clinical support meetings and of course at the beginning of each virtual session.

  • While Drs. Glassman and Malizia will serve as the core faculty.  There will be other invited lecturers.  We are fortunate to have Drs. Micah Sadigh and Dr. John Viviano, Dan Levandowski and Glennine Varga added to the faculty.

  • To receive the Certification of Successful Completion Certificate, attendees will be required to have attended the four live courses and virtual courses, submit the literature reviews and submit five cases following a case format provided. A literature review of a topic mutually chosen will be presented at one of the lit review sessions.

    The examination must be passed, as well as the oral review completed.

  • Five cases must be submitted for review according to established format.  It should be noted that it will NOT be required that each case be reduced to a specific AHI.  In fact, the more the case deviates from being straightforward, the better.

    There will be an established format and protocol distributed for the case presentations.    

  • The examination will have some multiple-choice, short answer, and essay questions.  The examination will not be testing “minutia.”  There will be ample opportunity to write complete answers on several relevant subjects.  

  • Note: All times EASTERN

    The live, in-person modules are two full days (Friday and Saturday) from 8 AM to 5:30 PM. A full breakfast (7 AM) and lunch will be included on both days of the live sessions.

    The virtual courses on Fridays are from 10 AM to 4:30 PM with an hour break for lunch.

    The live course review sessions are on Saturday morning from 8:30 AM to 11 AM, followed by a clinical support session for approximately an hour.

    The virtual review sessions are on Wednesday evenings from 8 PM to 9:30 PM

    The Lit Review presentations are Saturdays, 9 AM to 5 PM.

    There is ONE case presentation on a Friday from 10 AM to 12:30 PM