Dentistry Uncensored Highlights: What’s Sleep got to do with it?

Zyppah founder Dr. Jonathan Greenburg has tried, seen or heard about pretty much every dental sleep program on the planet: He's participated in the development and launch of several sleep training programs, and treated thousands of patients. Greenburg has, quite possibly, seen everything that dental sleep dentistry can offer—which made him the perfect guest for a recent Dentistry Uncensored with Howard Farran podcast about working in sleep dentistry.

Their conversation, recorded in March, covered the do's and don'ts of dental sleep, including some pearls of wisdom about thriving in today's competitive sleep dentistry market.

Dr. Howard Farran: Dr. Greenburg, it's my job to ask critical questions on behalf of my listeners and get bottom-line answers. I have a good idea what my members are thinking—I watch them talk on Dentaltown all the time—so my questions will be based on some of the more common threads I've seen discussed.

From all the sleep programs you've experienced or taught, what are the top three lessons you've learned?

Dr. Jonathan Greenburg: For the dentist who's never treated a sleep patient, the lessons are much different than for those who've been to a few courses and treated patients.

So, first, for my colleagues who've never considered sleep dentistry or attended a course, the most valuable lesson I can share is: Don't wait, don't procrastinate. There are going to be patients leaving you for a dentist who treats sleep. That's the lesson. If you aren't able to provide a service, or you don't feel you have the ability to treat them, they'll seek a second opinion, and that could open the door to their sleep dentist becoming their new general dentist, because helping a patient get better sleep, in many instances, is a much better outcome than working on a crown or a cleaning … and a lot more profitable, too.

Second, for dentists who are treating sleep, here's what I've learned as someone who treats nothing but sleep patients: Billing and collecting from medical insurance is a job within itself—the rules change daily, getting new patients is a challenge, and more. You need to be part of a team with shared information so everyone benefits. Zyppah created the Sleep Certified forum to help dentists learn the things that work in their cities by asking others who are there. Yes, I know a lot—but I also learn a lot, too. Sharing of information is one of the most valuable lessons. It is a bit of a culture change, but there is power in sharing and that's why the Study Clubs are so popular.

Third, and most important: Getting new patients is a lot harder than you think. I've done every type of advertising and sales program imaginable. The thing that works best is referrals. This is what we've done with Sleep Certified—create a solid platform to provide referrals of people who need a dentist to evaluate and treat their sleep problems.

HF: You have five treatment locations, and sleep dentistry is all that you do. What do you feel are the greatest barriers to entry—and, more importantly, success—in dental sleep for professionals who are just starting out?

JG: Doing something new without support is the greatest barrier. There are all the "what-ifs." That is the role I designed Sleep Certified to handle, to answer those "what-ifs," and that's why our forum is so key. It's like practicing with the best dentists in sleep right at your side.

HF: What is Sleep Certified, and how does it help dentists?

JG: Sleep Certified is an inexpensive, affordable membership organization designed to fill all areas of treating snoring and sleep apnea. It is inclusive, so you can belong to other groups and organizations. It's not about one appliance or one method of treatment—it's for the dentists, to allow them to treat their patients at the highest level. And it's about getting referrals and growing the sleep part of their practice. Of course, there is much more. The bottom line is, we priced it so every dentist treating sleep can afford to be a member and will want to be a member.

HF: For doctors who are treating sleep and have been to courses or lectures, what have you created to help them?

JG: Some of the processes in sleep are challenging, so Sleep Certified training focuses on those areas. For instance, we teach how to eliminate TMJ issues and changes in the bite that are major concerns when treating sleep apnea.

Sleep is also one of the most profitable areas of dentistry, one of the easiest to treat, and has one of the fastest learning curves and some of the most rewarding feedback from patients. And this isn't just for newer dentists. When you hit 50, you're tired, your back is starting to get sore and your eyes aren't what they used to be. You spend a full day seeing patients, focusing on the crown-and-bridge work that makes money, but you're beat up at the end of the day. With Sleep Certified, you and your staff can learn from home or from the office. It's inexpensive and the referrals easily justify the cost.

HF: What made sleep apnea come to the scene and explode like it did?

JG: It really started to gain traction between 2000 and 2005, but even today, only 10 percent of the 40 million people with sleep apnea are being treated.

Zyppah's model was to go straight to the consumer, selling a $99 mouthpiece online. Some dentists say things like, "You sell a mouthpiece for $99 online—isn't that competing with me selling a custom mouthpiece for $3,000?" No. Here's the reality: Every week, our website has more than 20,000 unique visitors. When you multiply that by 52?weeks, that's more than 1 million people a year, and that number is growing fast. More than 50 percent of visitors who don't buy our mouthpiece need to see a dentist, and we will be referring those patients to our Sleep Certified dentists. If we refer only 10 percent of those visitors to our member dentists, that's more than 100,000 patients. How many do you want?

HF: Where can dentists find Sleep Certified?

JG: At sleepcertified.com. If [Townies] visit the website and enter partner code DTCharter, they can join for $299 a month with a charter membership. It's normally $499 a month, so that's a savings of $200 each month. And we're so confident in the value we provide, we're going to give Dentaltown readers the first month to test for $1. If at the end of the month, they don't feel it's worth it, they can just cancel.

We're in a unique place. The bulk of our revenue comes from the consumer side. We're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars every week on advertising. We have a three-story billboard in Times Square about Zyppah right now. We even sponsored the #7?car in the Indy 500. We're getting the word out. We need to have dentists trained all over the country so they can treat the patients we're reaching. In fact, we are excited that Benco is our national partner, because it shows the confidence they have in our membership program.

If you've never treated sleep before or if you're an expert treating 50 patients a month, the Sleep Certified program has everything you need. The library of educational courses is probably the largest library of sleep-

related courses anywhere. If you get two referrals from us, it covers that entire $299-per-month fee for the whole year, and the referrals are unlimited.

HF: Why should young dentists learn sleep, rather than focusing on other areas such as implants, Invisalign or other procedures?

JG: They should think about what they make on a per-hour basis per procedure. What's the per-hour base for a filling? A crown? An implant? They'll get the highest hourly rate treating sleep apnea. The average case is $3,000 and takes about an hour. Would you rather make $3,000 an hour or $250 an hour?

Hear the entire podcast online!
This article includes just some of the highlights of Dr. Jonathan Greenburg's conversation with Dr. Howard Farran. To download the podcast, watch the video or read a full transcript, go to dentaltown.com/greenburg-on-sleep.