Should You Add Telehealth to Your Dental Sleep Medicine Practice?

Pankaj Singh, DDS, MD, DABDSM, DABOI, DASBA, DICOI, FADSA, FAAID, a dentist specializing in sleep apnea, implants, temporomandibular joint disorders, sedation, and cosmetic and aesthetic dentistry in New York City, says dentists who are considering adding telehealth must figure out “if they can dedicate time in the schedule…to accommodate virtual care.” He says, “Another thing you should consider is what all services you will be offering virtually (ie, new patient consults, follow-up/post-op/post-appliance insertion/oral appliance titration visits, emergency pre-office visit evaluation) so one can appropriately schedule time needed.”

Other considerations, Singh says, are what roles will conduct telehealth visits (dentists, nurse practitioners, dental assistants, and/or dental hygienists) and the fee structure (self-pay, third-party payor with potential balance billing, and no charge are several options).

Kyle Miko, CRT/CSE, founder and chief marketing officer at VirtuOx and the DocViaWeb telehealth platform, says that telehealth will continue to expand and is likely to ultimately incorporate additional digital connected devices to provide better care in the home.

Already, he says, dentists who use DocViaWeb get a “bird’s eye view” of their patients’ journeys. “The dentists can see when the patient is scheduled for their consult and if it has been canceled or completed. They can also see what the outcome of the consult was, and if a home sleep test prescription was written and sent off,” Miko says. 

“Any dentist who wants to collaborate with a medical doctor for sleep testing, diagnosis, and prescription is ideally suited to use telemedicine because sleep medicine is something that can be done completely remotely. It makes the journey seamless for the patients,” says Jagdeep Bijwadia, MD, who is board-certified internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, and sleep medicine, and is the medical director for the sleep telemedicine offering at VirtuOx.

Bijwadia says he can see a future in which dental scanning and even accurate device fittings can occur remotely. 

Since telehealth can save time and resources, he expects to see increased use of the technology in the years to come.

Lindsey Nolen is a Jacksonville, Fla-based journalist who has been writing about healthcare for over 5 years.

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