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Typical Patient Experience
Initial Appointment
Whether you have had an overnight sleep test or not, and whether or not you
have seen anyone else in this field, the process for management of your problem
begins with a call to our receptionist for an evaluation appointment.
408-374-3633
You will be given an appointment for 90 minutes and mailed a packet of forms
to be filled out and returned prior to that visit. This intake information is
critical for the proper development of your treatment plan. A claim for
reimbursement for this initial visit will be submitted as a courtesy to your
medical insurance carrier. Please discuss this process with the receptionist
when you call for an appointment.
Informed Consent
You will meet with Dr. Rahimi for a complete discussion of your sleep
disorder(s) from both medical and dental perspectives. Any previous sleep
studies will be reviewed with you to assure that you have a thorough
understanding of sleep disordered breathing in general and your status in
particular. All treatment options for you will be explained and any necessary
consultations planned..
You may be referred for an overnight sleep test if you have not had an adequate
recent diagnosis.
You will meet with our medical insurance specialist, whose expertise in medical
insurance claims will assure that you will have a verification of benefits, a
pre-authorization of the claims associated with this therapy and that you will
understand precisely what financial responsibilities, if any, you may have in
the completion of your treatment. A financial agreement will be prepared for
your signature, so that all aspects of the management of your case will be
understood and approved by you.
Appointment 2
If you wish to continue and pursue therapy, a work up appointment will be
made for you. It is about 1 hour in duration and will include: an oral
examination, TMJ work up and documentation, radiographs if your dentist of
record does not have adequate films, dental impressions, and the preparation of
dental casts of your upper and lower teeth and jaws. A home monitoring device
will be dispensed to you to take home and measure the cardio-pulmonary
parameters of your sleep in your own bed. It is a simple device, but will give
us invaluable information as a baseline for assuring proper outcome as the
therapy progresses.
All necessary consultations will be assembled and considered, and your dentist
of record will be involved in your long-term management.
Appointment 3
Approximately two weeks later, the custom appliance will be fitted
comfortably on your teeth, and the appropriate method of accommodation and use
will be taught. The protocol for advancing your jaw to the best treatment
position over a period of 1-3 weeks will be described to you and you will be
prepared properly for that process. Consultation by phone or appointments during
the accommodation phase will be available to you.
Home monitoring of your progress
| A home monitor will be dispensed for you to use when we agree that
the optimum treatment position of your jaw has been achieved. We also
highly recommend that you be seen in our office annually to use this
screening device to assure that the appliance is working optimally. You
will also be given a series of follow up visits to make sure that your
jaws, muscles, and bite are unaffected by this therapy, and patients
need to make a commitment to biannual visits with Dr. Rahimi to assure
that if any side-effects are detected, they are identified and managed
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