Mastery 1 is the first course of a two-part program designed for dentists with an interest in, but little or no background, in treating snoring and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with oral appliance therapy (OAT). This initial course examines fundamental concepts and practical techniques necessary to incorporate OAT into a general or specialty dental practice. Participants will be taught the AADSM practice protocols and clinical guidelines necessary to perform the proper patient screening, examination and record acquisition to begin treatment with competence and confidence.

Following this course, there will be a short quiz that will assess competence. After successful completion of this quiz, eligible dentists earn the AADSM Qualified Dentist designation. To learn more about the Qualified Dentist designation, click here.

Course Overview

Prerequisites

A copy of a valid dental license is required to be submitted by all attendees. Attendees licensed to practice in the U.S. or Canada must provide proof of professional liability insurance in order to be eligible for the Qualified Dentist designation.

Recorded Lectures

Mastery 1 consists of pre-recorded lectures that are available on-demand in the AADSM Online Learning Center, so you can access the lectures when it works best for you.

Dates and Deadlines

While the Mastery Program has many virtual components that you can complete on your own schedule, it is not a self-paced program. The deadline for each course is determined by the year in which you registered as listed below:

Course Outline

Click the button below to view an outline of the content covered in Mastery 1, including the length of time for each recorded lecture/activity.

Clinical Competencies

Mastery 1 includes clinical competency assignments. These assignments are required to successfully complete Mastery 1. For an overview of the clinical competency assignments, click the button below.

Clinical Competency Overview

Live Question and Answer Sessions

There will be two, live question and answer sessions where faculty will be available to answer questions. Recordings will also be made available for attendees who are unable to join the live sessions.

Each session will begin at 7:00pm ET (6:00pm CT, 5:00pm MT, 4:00pm PT) and will be 1.5 hours in length. An email will be sent one week in advance of each Q&A session with connection details. 

Attendees can ask questions of Mastery faculty at any time outside of the Q&A sessions via the private Mastery Program Discussion Board. 

Registration

The 2025 AADSM Mastery Program is available for registration now and launches on February 3. Registrations received prior to February 3 will receive an email from mastery@aadsm.org on February 3 with information on how to access Mastery 1 in the AADSM Online Learning Center.

Register for Mastery 1

Course Objectives

Upon completion of the course, attendees will be able to:

• Develop a critical understanding of the physiology of healthy sleep and the pathophysiology of multiple sleep disorders.
• Explain the complexity of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and a dentist’s role in managing sleep-disordered breathing.
• Describe demographics, pre-deposing factors, signs and symptoms, and co-morbidities of SDB and various techniques to identify patients at risk.
• Immediately establish an effective screening protocol and physician referral network supported by inner office systems to streamline and document referrals.
• Treat OSA with confidence by identifying patients at risk for SDB, performing a comprehensive sleep interview and DSM examination, discussing informed consent, determining a protrusive bite position, acquiring adequate impressions and designing and fitting a mandibular advancement device compatible with the patient’s needs.
• Using standardized nomenclature, describe attributes and limitations of various device features to aid in selection and design.
• Incorporate accepted standards of dental sleep medicine practice into a general practice or specialty practice setting with appropriate patient flow algorithms, practice standard requirements, documentation and records.
• Critically analyze research articles to support clinical decision-making.

Continuing Education

2024 Mastery 1

The AADSM designates the 2024 Mastery 1 for a total of 49.25 self-instructional, electronically mediated continuing education credits.

2025 Mastery 1

The number of continuing education credits for the 2025 Mastery 1 will be available in late January 2025.

Go to Mastery 2 Information

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