Start treating more than the mouth with Devdent's Sleep system

Dr. Todd Fincher, DDS

While a dentist’s job has traditionally been to treat oral health, Dr. Todd Fincher believes dental practitioners should consider more than just a patient’s mouth-they should also be dedicated to improving sleep, and therefore a patient’s overall health.

“It all depends on how you want to treat your patients,” he says. “Do you want to treat your patients just being a dentist that just handles their oral conditions or do you want to be known as their dental healthcare professional that looks at more than just their mouth, looks at their whole-body health and not just their oral health?”

Practicing in Greenwood and Columbus, Miss., for more than 30 years, Dr. Fincher decided five years ago that he didn’t want to overlook whole-body health in his practices. He noticed there was a great need for extended care like this in his area, but no one in the region was providing it. So, he began offering sleep-apnea treatment and was shocked to discover that 60 to 70 percent of the patients he sees had some form of sleep apnea.

“Nobody in our area was offering this. Overall it’s just a huge resource that needs to be brought to patients’ attention,” Dr. Fincher says.

Trial and error

But adding these services to his practice took more than just a medical understanding of sleep apnea-he needed a way to integrate it into his practice workflow. After trying a few different software options, his team discovered Devdent.

“We were really unsuccessful getting the results that we needed with the software we tried before Devdent,” Dr. Fincher explains. “But we found that Devdent made their Imagn Sleep Software very intuitive-and, out of all the software on the market, it’s the easiest and most user-friendly.

“The Imagn Sleep software gives you great medical history and dental history, a good screening tool, and then ways to track your steps through the progression into the follow-up,” he adds. “It’s a really great all-in-one type program. It’s very comprehensive-almost too comprehensive. I really don’t think they can improve the software, to be honest. It exceeds all my needs. It’s powerful.”

Hands-on training

Before implementing Imagn Sleep in his practice though, he wanted to ensure he could use it effectively. He headed to Salt Lake City for intensive training on the Devdent software and sleep appliances.

“Their training is so comprehensive,” he says. “I trained in-person, and then scheduled on-site training for my team. Our trainer was extremely competent, and she comes back on a yearly basis to check in on us and help us re-up. We’ve also used the remote training and it’s excellent.”

First-hand experience

In addition to the easy-to-use software, Dr. Fincher has been impressed by the effectiveness of Devdent’s home sleep-apnea testing and oral appliances, such as the Zmachine® Synergy sleep testing and the RiPPLE appliance system. And he can speak from experience­­­-a few years ago, he tested himself and was surprised to learn he had moderate sleep apnea.

“I use the RiPPLE and after starting treatment with it for my own sleep apnea, I felt better and better every day,” he says. “We’re at our 100th sleep appliance with Devdent now, and we have only had one unsuccessful treatment. So, we are 99 percent successful with our Imagn appliances. That’s how good it is.  I know firsthand how effective it can be. And if it’s good enough for me, I guarantee it’s good enough for my patients.”

Dr. Fincher is buoyed by his practice’s success with Devdent’s oral appliances and appreciates the benefits it brings to his patients in his community. And he credits much of it to the efficacy of Devdent’s complete system.

“Devdent gives us exactly what we need in software, as well as the screening, sleep appliances and training that goes along with it,” he says. “For people that are looking to get into sleep-apnea treatment, this is a great system that you’re going to get great results from if you take your training seriously and do it like you are trained to do.”

Complete Sleep System

The Devdent Complete Sleep System is a six-step system that includes the Imagn Sleep Software, which can be implemented into the digital workflow. The home sleep testing machine, Zmachine Synergy, allows for scoring and interpreting of data by yourself or a team of board-certified sleep technicians. The RiPPLE oral appliance features a slim design to suit every patient. Imagn Medical Billing, education, and team training complete the system.

Devdent
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