CDA 2012: Video interview with Airway Management about the TAP oral appliance used to treat sleep apnea

In this live video interview from CDA 2012, Executive Editor Stan Goff talks with Dr. Gary Bailey about the TAP oral appliance used to treat sleep apnea from Airway Management.

"The TAP is an oral appliance that is on the market to treat snoring and sleep apnea," explains Dr. Bailey. "What we call sleep dentistry is a tidal wave coming into dentistry and it has been for about a year and a half ago or so. There are an estimated 70 million patients in the United States who suffer from SDB, Sleep Disordered Breathing, which includes snoring, moderate to mild sleep apnea."

The recent surge of sleep dentistry was brought on by rulings put down by Medicare, which state that oral appliances work and they will pay for them, but will only pay dentists to do them.

The TAP appliance is a custom made upper and lower tray that fits very retentively on a patient's teeth in order to stabilize the patient's jaw.

The CDA Presents The Art and Science of Dentistry is ongoing through Saturday, May 5, and features 600 exhibiting companies and more than 140 new products.

The bi-annual CDA convention is expected to draw more than 27,000 dentists, dental professionals and students from across the U.S. The three-day convention will feature educational courses and 135,000 square feet of exhibit space where 568 exhibitors will demonstrate new techniques as well as innovative products and services for dentists.

Throughout the show, and after, visit CDA 2012 live coverage for video, audio and written reports about the show.