There is growing interest among dental professionals to learn how to treat pediatric and adult patients suffering from masticatory-temporomandibular joint disorders and sleep-related breathing disorders (M-TMJD and SRBD) - obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with orthotics, oral sleep appliances, and orthodontics. 

One of the most critical dilemmas is managing the maxillofacial discrepancies, malocclusion, pain, and especially OSA of these patients during the treatment if they are esthetically conscious and do not want to wear braces or cannot tolerate the CPAP! 

The answer is providing these patients with comprehensive options utilizing hybrid oral sleep-orthodontics -TMJ appliances with aligners to walk them through treatment. This program is unique as the ability to have a continuum of education that will provide this opportunity in a structured fashion is not readily available. 

This unparalleled interdisciplinary Mini-Residency program on occlusion, masticatory-temporomandibular joint disorders, and dental sleep medicine is organized by Comprehensive Treatment Seminars (CTS) - an educational consortium with over twenty years of successful experience in the related subjects. 

The Mini-Residency will be held from May 25, 2023 – November 15, 2023, at CTS headquarter in Bellevue, Washington. 

This program includes 35 CDE Credits in collaboration with our faculty, including sleep physicians, otolaryngologists, neurologists, radiologists, orthodontists, physical - myofunctional therapists, and dental-medical billing specialists.

This program is taking a new approach to providing continuing dental education for interdisciplinary teams of dentists, pedodontists, and orthodontists with their teams across the country. Through the hybrid approach from CTS, clinicians can learn more about growth and development, occlusion, masticatory-temporomandibular joint disorders, and dental sleep medicine in a flexible, convenient, and cost-effective way. The one-session virtual didactic and two-session hands-on/in-person education series begin May 25, 2023, so it’s time to sign up!

The CTS hybrid mini-residency program is designed to offer a comprehensive virtual or hands-on and in-person experience for practicing dentists and specialists that will connect the interdisciplinary medical and dental aspects of these medical and dental disorders. After the program, the clinicians will be competently trained to care safely for these patients without fearing relapse or side effects. 

The mini-residency will start with 6 hours of introductory online sessions and 2 two-day hands-on and in-person sessions. The course will comprise Friday to Saturday morning lectures on occlusion, M-TMJD, and SRBD and a Saturday afternoon hands-on clinical experience that will culminate in the actual bite registration, delivery, adjusting, and modification of orthotics, hybrid oral appliances, orthodontic appliances, including; aligners. 

The participants will learn how to use traditional TMJ appliances and also ApnoDent® as FDA cleared oral sleep device and its verities, ApnoTeen and ApnoTX as hybrid sleep-orthodontic appliances in combination with aligners for the management and treatment of M-TMJD and SRBD – OSA in adults and children.

By the end of session 1, the dental practice should be confidently managing mild to moderate adult obstructive sleep apnea patients, have physician referral networks in place for pediatric and adult SRBD-OSA patients, have medical insurance reimbursement implemented, be ready for various dental sleep medicine accreditation programs, and have their practice set up for dental sleep medicine success.

The second session focus on the interdisciplinary approach for prevention, proper management, and comprehensive treatment of easy to complex pediatric and adult cases suffering from different aspects of M-TMJD and SRBD-OSA. 

Course objectives

1.Impact of epigenetic factors, including poor growth and development and malocclusion, on the development of masticatory-temporomandibular joint and sleep-related breathing disorders -obstructive sleep apnea (M-TMJD and SRBD-OSA).

2.Screening, diagnosis, and early treatment of M-TMJD and SRBD-OSA in pediatrics and adults.

3.Proper management of M-TMJD and SRBD-OSA with orthotics, hybrid oral sleep -orthodontics - TMJ appliances, orthodontics, and aligners.

4. The role of the pedodontist, dentist, and orthodontist in the interdisciplinary management and treatment of M-TMJD and SRBD-OSA.

5.How to implement dental sleep medicine in practice, use medical coding/work with medical billing, and maximize internal-external marketing. 

6.How to use technologies, including CBCT - MRI imaging, and in-lab/home sleep studies.

7.How to work with other clinicians, including sleep medicine physicians, otolaryngologists, and physical - myofunctional therapists. 

8.How to use restorative dentistry to treat bruxism and M-TMJD and SRBD-OSA.

Here is what you will learn

1st Online introductory Session: 6 hours of pre-recorded webinars. 

At the end of this session, participants are encouraged to take digital or analog impressions from themselves to bring the fabricated appliances with them to the next hands-on/in-person session for practice. 

1.Review of head and neck anatomy related explicitly to craniofacial pain, masticatory-TMJ, and upper airway disorders.

2.Review normal growth and development, occlusion, and masticatory function.

3.The etiology of malocclusion, masticatory, and temporomandibular joint disorders. 

4.Normal upper airway function, sleep, and etiology of sleep-related breathing disorders - obstructive sleep apnea.

5.Imaging of the TMJ and use of CBCT and MRI as diagnostic modalities. 

6.Instruction on analog and digital impressions for fabrication of orthotics and hybrid oral sleep -orthodontics - TMJ appliances.