Dentaltown September 2022 - 56

by Kelley Quolas
Kelley Quolas is a U.S. Army veteran who has
been working in pediatric dentistry since 1996.
A licensed dental hygienist, she trained with the
International Association of Orofacial Myology and
is a credentialed qualifi ed orofacial myologist.
Quolas owns a two-location practice in the Phoenix metro area in
which dental hygienists and speech language pathologists work together to combat orofacial
myofunctional disorders. The practice offers speech therapy, myofunctional therapy and breathing
reeducation in Spanish and English for patients of all ages. Website: mymyomyhealth.com
W
hen I began my career in pediatric dentistry
in 1996, I had never asked patients
if they snored, and had not heard the
word airway used in relation to a prevention risk
assessment.
Since then, however, dental professionals have
learned about the correlation between poor sleep
and conditions such as hypertension and cardiovascular
concerns, diabetes and stroke. We're also
seeing more evidence related to the relationship
between sleep disorders and mental health; for
example, an estimated 25%-50% of people with
ADHD are not getting restorative sleep.1
Sleep fragmentation-waking up, tossing and
turning, snoring, apnea-can interfere with our
moods, our behavior and our overall quality of life.
Our responsibility as health care providers includes
relaying information about evidence-based
practice and encouraging our patients to take
responsibility for self-care. As more knowledge
and research is released about the correlation between
oral dysfunction and airway and sleep, we
shouldn't ignore warning signs that present in our
dental chairs.
The screening
The dental team is on the front lines of intervention
for sleep- and airway-related problems
because dentists and hygienists can look for signs
and ask about symptoms and risk factors each time
they look in a patient's mouth.
Many dental practices already include questions
like the ones that follow on their patient
health history forms. Alternately, you could extract
questions from the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire
or the Sleep Disorders Questionnaire and add
them to your health history or exam notes.
QUESTIONS FOR ADULT PATIENTS
* Do you wake up tired or refreshed?
* Do you wake up to use the restroom or is
there a history of bedwetting?
* When you wake up ...
*
Is your mouth dry?
* Do you have a headache?
* Does your jaw hurt?
* Do you snore or breathe heavily during sleep?
* Is it diffi cult to fall asleep or stay asleep?
* Do you have frequent acid refl ux?
* Is your nose frequently congested? Do you
suffer from allergies?
QUESTIONS FOR PARENTS
OF PEDIATRIC PATIENTS
* Do you hear the child grind their teeth
at night?
* Do they wake up easily, or is it hard for
them to get going in the morning?
* Is there a history of bedwetting?
* Do they wake up at night and get out of bed?
* Can you hear them breathing or snoring
when they sleep because their mouth is open?
* Is it diffi cult for them to fall asleep or
stay asleep?
* Do they have diffi culty paying attention
in school or at home?
* Is their nose frequently congested? Do they
suffer from allergies?
dentaltown.com \\ SEPTEMBER 2022 57

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Dentaltown September 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown September 2022