TEAMWORK
BRETT BROCKI
TOTAL WELLNESS
It takes a team
to succeed in Dental Sleep Med-
icine. The path to treatment re-
quires each member of the team
to play their part. Think about it
- for every patient you see each
day, your team will have 3 inter-
actions with them: at check in,
during cleaning and at billing.
Each of these team members has
a vital part to play in providing
sleep medicine treatment. With a
coordinated effort, every qualify-
ing patient can be screened, test-
ed and treated.
You’ve heard this before, but
what does it mean? Do you really
want your team pestering each
patient about sleep in every in-
teraction? Done incorrectly, that
is exactly what will happen. Di-
rectly asking every patient about
sleep may produce a few patients
in the short run, but will end up
annoying people and worst of
all – risk feeling insincere. But
I’m going to let you in on a se-
cret here: the key to a successful
sleep practice is total wellness
- specifically the connection be-
tween sleep and total wellness.
And it begins with your team.
It begins with educating your
team about sleep and total well-
ness. Talk to your team about the
role of sleep in wellness so they
can engage patients. If your of-
fice reorients around wellness,
you will screen more patients,
treat more patients and positive-
ly affect more lives. When your
team is focused on total wellness,
the opportunities to help your
patients will present themselves
naturally. The focus on well-
ness needs to be sincere. Start
by getting your team healthy.
Help them understand how diet,
exercise and sleep affect their
own performance and how they
feel every day. A happy, healthy
team will be in a better position
to counsel your patients about
wellness. They will have personal
stories to relate to patients, mak-
ing the advice and the connec-
tion with patients both personal
and sincere.
Sleep plays a key role in total
wellness. Good sleep heals and
rejuvenates your body, leaving
your immune system ready to
handle everything from seasonal
allergies to more serious illness.
Sleep helps your body repair it-
self. Good sleep prepares you for
the day, improving energy and
mood. Nutrition and exercise,
key pillars of wellness, also play
a role in sleep health. You prob-
ably already talk to your patients
about making good food choic-
es to protect their teeth, add-
ing wellness to the conversation
strengthens this plea.
So the secret is really no secret
at all. Get your team healthy. Talk
to them about the importance of
sleep to overall wellness. A happy,
healthy team will be the best am-
bassadors of sleep health. They
can engage patients sincerely
with confidence from a place of
knowledge and experience.
BRETT BROCKI
Brett Brocki is CEO of N3Sleep,
a national sleep consulting
and training firm. If you need
help getting your whole team
on board screening for OSA,
contact N3Sleep for in-office
training for your entire staff.