This episode explores the journey of a dedicated military dentist who focused on the challenges soldiers face with sleep during deployment. Through personal experiences and professional contributions, the discussion will highlight the evolution of a comprehensive educational program aimed at providing treatment for sleep related breathing disorders while improving overall sleep health among military personnel. The episode will provide insights into positional therapy, practical sleep maintenance solutions, and strategies for integrating these concepts into clinical practice.
Colonel Phillip Neal is an Army Dentist with 35 years of federal service. He created a DSM Short Course that brought military and civilian sleep medicine experts together (including AADSM members) to educate and inspire military providers between 2016 and 2023 to provide OAT. The course ensured every Army installation and GDE program had trained DSM providers, and increased deliveries of MADs from less than 12 per year in 2015 to over 3,500 a year by 2022. He co-authored the 2019 VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline on OSA and Insomnia Management and the 2025 CPG update. He serves as a deputy Sleep Medicine Consultant to the Surgeon General and the primary investigator on a MOMRP funded RCT focused on accelerating worldwide deployment and ideal management of service members and veterans with OSA. He has pioneered methods to incorporate mindfulness and novel positional therapy concepts to improve sleep and OSA therapy outcomes.
Tanya DeSanto, DDS is a graduate from Northwestern University Dental School. She has been practicing dentistry in Springfield, IL for 30 years and dental sleep medicine for the last several years. Dr. DeSanto is a Diplomate of the ABDSM and member of the AADSM, AASM, and SRS. She has lectured at the AADSM Annual Meeting and co-chaired the AADSM Breaking Down Barriers for a Successful Practice Course. She is an adjunct faculty member at the SIU School of Medicine where she enjoys teaching medical residents the importance of dental sleep medicine. She currently serves as chair of the AADSM Education Committee.
Expiration date: None*
*Course content is reviewed every 3 years to ensure it is current and accurate. Should it be determined that course content is no longer current or accurate, content will expire. The AADSM will communicate that information to all registered attendees and course access will be removed.
This educational offering was funded exclusively by the AADSM. For questions regarding the content of this program or for technical assistance, contact the AADSM at info@aadsm.org or 630-686-9875.