ADA CE event focuses on dental-medical collaboration in treating children’s airway health

Conference scheduled for May 30-June 1

Showcasing how dental and medical professionals can work together to give children the best chance at lifelong healthy breathing is the focus of an ADA Continuing Education Live workshop May 30-June 1.

An ADA Children’s Airway Event: Putting the Team Together will be held at the Westin O’Hare in Rosemont, Illinois, and is worth 14 CE credits.

Steve Carstensen, D.D.S., a diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine who has treated sleep apnea and snoring in Bellevue, Washington, since 1998, is the consultant to the ADA for sleep-related breathing disorders and one of the presenters.

“Dentists are more and more aware that children who don't breathe well are at risk for lifetime problems,” said Dr. Carstensen. “They want to help but can feel intimidated by everything that needs to be considered. Having other medical professionals to work with, together, on the child's behalf increases confidence of therapy, outcomes and professional pride that the right thing was done.”

Another speaker for this course is Kevin Boyd, D.D.S, a pediatric dentist who teaches in the pediatric dentistry residency training program at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago.

Dr. Boyd recently co-authored a manuscript titled “Comorbid Early Childhood Malocclusion and Sleep Disordered Breathing: A Proposed Screening Pathway as a Foundation for Medical/Dental Collaboration” that has been submitted to Clinical Otolaryngology, a bi-monthly journal devoted to clinical research in the field.

“Health care professionals charged with caring for children afflicted with respiratory compromise are often additionally challenged when these unfortunate kids also suffer with other associated health comorbidities,” Dr. Boyd said. “[These include] inattention, hypertension, enlarged tonsils/adenoids, myofunctional disorders, sleep disordered breathing/obstructive sleep apnea and dental-skeletal malocclusions. Collaborative discussions amongst one another, and subsequently with parents and other adult caregivers regarding adjunctive treatment options, has proved to be an ongoing local winning strategy for all involved — especially the kids.”

Learn more and register for this ADA CE Live workshop at ADA.org/education/continuing-education/ada-ce-live-workshops/childrens-airway.