The British Society of Dental Sleep Medicine is organising the 3rd International scientific symposium in Oxford, to be held on Saturday December 5th with a hands-on course the day before, on Friday 4th December.

Selected industry workshops will also be available for delegates to understand more about product and service offerings.

The Pre-Treatment Protocol has just been published in the BDJ (Vol 206 No 6 Page 307) and a full page advert for the Oxford symposium is on the opposite page, so we are delighted with this huge exposure for the dental profession.

You can see the article on the BDJ site here.

International Scientific Meeting of the BSocDSM
Friday, 20th June 2008
The Paramount Oxford Hotel, Oxford

Speakers:

• Professor John Stradling, Consultant Director, Osler Sleep Unit, Churchill Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford
• Mr Timothy Hoare, Consultant Otolaryngologist, Bedford Hospital
• Dr Olivier Vanderveken, Consultant in Otorhinolaryngology, University of Antwerp, Belgium
• Dr Roy Dookun, President of the British Society of Dental Sleep Medicine
• Dr Ama Johal, Senior Lecturer and Consultant at Barts and The London Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry

BSocDSM Scientific Meeting
2nd February 2007
Harris Manchester College, Oxford

Some excellent speakers have been arranged and more information will be forthcoming soon.

The second board meeting of the British Society of Dental Sleep Medicine was held today in Oxford after the ZSA Sleep Seminar. The meeting focused on the proposed Society Scientific meeting 22nd September 2006 (and will now take place in spring 2007) and the Society's newsletter.

The inaugural board meeting of the British Society of Dental Sleep Medicine took place on the 17th November 2005 at the Manchester Harris College, Oxford.

The meeting was enthusiastically supported and the following roles were assigned on a temporary basis until society elections can take place.

• Chairman - Dr Roy Dookun
• Treasurer - Dr Mark Terberg
• Constitution - Dr Jill Adam
• Web site development - Mr Adrian Zacher
• Sponsorship - Dr Jill Nightingale
• Public relations - Dr Robert Miller
• Newsletter - Dr Stuart Burgher
• EdeSA liason and Scientific meeting organiser - Dr Quentin Jones

Pre treatment screening protocol

The demand for treatment from snoring patients is growing, these patients will need expert treatment and advice. This gives the practitioner two responsibilities. Firstly, this snoring group will have a higher prevalence of significant OSA which may be worthy of treatment with CPAP. The GDP could identify these patients and refer them to the appropriate service. The GDP must be as sure as he or she can be that significant OSA is not missed thus denying the patient more appropriate treatment. Secondly, the GDP can provide an effective device to reduce snoring which can be of immense help to the patient and his/her sleep partner.

The protocol is near completion and an update will be given at the forthcoming ZSA Oxford Sleep Seminar, Monday 24th April 2006. The protocol was debated at the January 2006 meeting of the British Thoracic Society. With some suggested modifications the BTS would be keen to promote the screening protocol for use by anyone seeing snoring patients - GDP's, GMP's and hospital clinics. The BTS recognise that whilst not being perfect in terms of specificity and sensitivity the protocol is 'probably the best compromise that anyone has come up with'.

Society Scientific Meeting

A Scientific Meeting of the Society will be held in the Spring of 2007. Proposed venue will be Stratford upon Avon. Some excellent speakers have been arranged and more information will be forthcoming soon.

The first meeting of the British Society of Dental Sleep Medicine was held in Oxford, England on April 29 and 30, 2005.

The meeting served two purposes. First, as an educational seminar designed to inform attendees of the basic principles of sleep medicine, oral appliance therapy and the role that oral appliance therapy has to play within the discipline of sleep medicine. And second, as the inaugural meeting of the newly formed British Society of Dental Sleep Medicine.