Renew in ’22

It is an honor and privilege to be the first medical editor in chief of Dental Sleep Practice. When the opportunity was presented to me, it was not a difficult decision to make given my strong interest in continuing to promote and cultivate an interdisciplinary approach to managing Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Without hesitation, my answer was a resounding “YES, of course.”

I quickly came to realize the team’s incredible skill and competency to produce an outstanding edition every quarter. Their drive to achieve excellence is indicative of a dedicated and passionate pursuit to deliver valuable resources to the dental sleep community. This drive even persisted through the incredibly challenging dark days of the 2020 Covid shutdown when DSP adapted and continued “business as usual” while adhering to all of the required health and safety measures without any lapses in quality or content.

This year’s mantra is “Renew in ‘22,” which may seem like a simple objective but is really quite complex and bold.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines the word renew as, “to begin something again or with increased strength.”

We are embarking on a new, interdisciplinary approach to reporting high-impact news and information relating to the sleep industry as a whole.

In 2022, my editorial partnership with Dr. Steve Carstensen grants DSP the opportunity to renew by expanding our perspectives as a community while continuing our focus on dental sleep medicine. We are embarking on a new, interdisciplinary approach to reporting high-impact news and information relating to the sleep industry as a whole. Through these changes, DSP will reach more providers and become an even more meaningful resource thereby increasing its strength.

DSP will feature articles written by the new medical editorial board, comprised of leaders in sleep medicine from varied subspecialties. Contributions will provide a fresh perspective for readers that are educational, informative and cutting edge.

So one might ask why DSP is doing this? Well, we all know that there are increasing challenges to patient care, changing landscapes in reimbursement models, and ever increasing competition. It is incumbent on sleep dentists and sleep physicians to lock arms to deliver the best possible care to our patients. The only way to do this is to collaborate, evolve, and stay current with skills and education to tap into as many resources as are feasible to make it all work.

I am looking forward to working with the DSP team to build on its solid foundation and provide an even more comprehensive platform from which the sleep dentist and sleep physician can forge a stronger partnership to benefit and enhance patient care.

My father-in-law commonly referred to a fairly well known quote by Confucius, “The green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm.” Needless to say, we are all experiencing quite a storm during these unprecedented times and must stay laser focused being green reeds for both patient care and self-care.