17/02/2022
Check out this article by Glidewell's Randy Clare:
Screening Patients Who Struggle with Snoring or Migraines
The GEMPro Wellness Monitor detects nighttime bruxism and airway issues in patients.
by Randy Clare, Glidewell
February 16th, 2022
Screening Patients Who Struggle with Snoring or Migraines hero image
Dental clinicians who screen for nighttime bruxism and airway issues in their patients are more likely to detect these complications before the medical community does. That’s why the GEMPro Wellness Monitor was developed. This easy-to-use screening device provides inexpensive, objective information that measures and quantifies parafunctional electromyographic (EMG) signals, heart rate, oxygen saturation, body position and snore sounds in patients overnight. These measurements can be used by a trained dentist to establish a preliminary diagnosis of nighttime bruxism or sleep-related breathing disorders.
Dental teams often miss the subtle indications of untreated bruxism and sleep-related breathing disorders due to the lack of diagnostic tools. The GEMPro is designed specifically to address these conditions in the general dental practice. Cost-per-use is low and the diagnostic yield is high. Early detection can save many patients from the onset of severe comorbidities associated with conditions such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which may go undiagnosed.
The American Dental Association now recommends screening all patients for airway issues. With this recommendation, the GEMPro has become more essential than ever, making it easy to identify the top three reasons why every practice should own one.
1. The GEMPro detects complications in patients before they get worse.
The GEMPro’s ability to identify nighttime bruxism and clenching has a bigger impact on the well-being of a patient than most clinicians may realize. Patients who brux and clench their jaws while asleep may experience cracked or damaged teeth and restorations, jaw soreness, or headaches. If left untreated, these complications could end up burdening the patient with expensive restorative dental repairs and pharmaceutical pain treatments. Instead, the GEMPro is a simple tool that serves as a modern response to these complications, enabling the clinician to stop any further negative progression.
Similarly, when conditions like sleep-related breathing disorders are left untreated, the damage negatively affects the patient’s livelihood. Without an official, trusted diagnosis by a sleep physician, the patient’s symptoms may continue to worsen, or a new problem may arise. Continually disrupted sleep may lead to daytime drowsiness in the patient, which can impair their ability to perform daily tasks like working or driving. The GEMPro can detect these disorders so that clinicians can immediately prescribe a treatment or give a referral to a sleep physician.
2. Treating the effects of bruxism and sleep-related breathing disorders increases practice growth.
Prescribing an appliance for the patient to wear while sleeping benefits both the patient and the clinician. While most patients may be initially reluctant to wear an appliance while asleep, treatment compliance tends to increase substantially when they are shown a trusted report with detailed information of their masseter activity. That’s where the GEMPro comes in. With treatment compliance comes practice growth.
With the information from the GEMPro, a corresponding treatment can be proposed to the patient. For example, should the patient solely experience bruxing during the GEMPro test, the clinician can provide them with a bite splint that will protect the patient’s dentition and restorations from further damage. Should the GEMPro reveal that the patient struggles with labored or disrupted breathing and snoring throughout the night, the clinician can prescribe the patient a mandibular advancement device with the medical diagnosis of a sleep physician. If the GEMPro shows the patient has a tendency for nighttime clenching and experiences frequent migraines, a migraine prevention device like the NTI-tss Plus® or the NTI OmniSplint® can be proposed.
GEMPro Graph
Depending on the results from the GEMPro Wellness Monitor, a patient may be eligible to undergo treatment with a bite splint, mandibular advancement device, or migraine prevention device, enabling the clinician to further grow their practice.
Using innovative technology to help patients also tends to draw the attention of outside patients who may be unable to get the treatment they need with their current dentist. The GEMPro can be presented to these patients as a tool to finally receive the answers they have been looking for regarding their dental health. The more clinical resources dentists can offer to the community, the more patients they can treat.
3. Create strong, trusted relationships with your patients.
When clinicians alleviate a patient’s pain, or prevent them from spending thousands of dollars in dental fees or give them the best night’s sleep they’ve had in years, they create a patient for life. Patients rarely forget such drastic life improvements and are more likely to trust that same clinician with their care in the future. By sending a patient home with the GEMPro screening equipment, dentists demonstrate to their patients that they are willing to go above and beyond to accurately diagnose, and ultimately treat, their symptoms.
To begin the process of adding the GEMPro to your practice, simply include “Snoring or Daytime Sleepiness” and “Migraines” checkboxes to the list of current symptoms on the health history form you give to your patients. You may be surprised by how many patients check these symptoms and require further evaluation. After evaluation, present the GEMPro kit to the patient as an alternative to spending the night in a sleep lab. Then, you or your staff can explain the process to the patient and show them the biofeedback amplifier, screening tablet, and pulse oximeter. After the patient returns the equipment, you can quickly access the results and move forward with the appropriate treatment plan. Purchase the GEMPro Wellness Monitor today to start improving patients’ lives and growing your practice.
More to Know
Blog Post
Randy Clare, Glidewell: “Myths, Migraines and the NTI-tss Plus®”
Magazine Articles
Suzanne Haley, DMD: “Using a Screening Device to Incorporate Sleep Dentistry Into Your Dental Practice”
Suzanne Haley, DMD: “Screening for Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders”
Send blog-related questions and suggestions to [email protected].
NTI-tss Plus is a registered trademark of Boyd Research, Inc. NTI OmniSplint is a registered trademark of James Boyd. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Experts in bruxism, sleep diagnostics, using HST technology, and helping dentists manage their patients with bruxism, snoring, & sleep apnea complaints.
