What if I told you the smartest way to approach airway isn’t to become the hero in the room — it’s to become the gatekeeper who knows exactly when, where, and how to refer?

In this episode of 5 Minute Friday, I tackle one of the most polarizing conversations in orthodontics: airway and sleep-disordered breathing. There’s so much noise, ego, and misinformation around this topic that a lot of orthodontists either jump in too aggressively or back away completely. My take is simple: neither extreme serves patients well. We don’t need to diagnose everything ourselves — but we do need to know enough to recognize red flags, evaluate the orthodontic pieces we are responsible for, and collaborate with the right interdisciplinary team.

Quotes

“We are part of a bigger puzzle. We’re just one piece and if we work together with the science and our referral base, we’ll be able to treat people really, really well.”
— Dr. Glenn Krieger

“We need to be gatekeepers and we need to work with ENTs and oral surgeons and myofunctional therapists and pediatric dentists.”
— Dr. Glenn Krieger

Key Takeaways

Intro (00:00)
Why the airway conversation has become so overblown in orthodontics (00:25)
Why orthodontists should be gatekeepers — not lone diagnosticians (00:46)
The real problem with extreme pro-airway vs. anti-airway positions (02:17)
How to use symptoms, occlusion, anatomy, and CBCT responsibly (04:55)
When to treat the occlusion and when to refer to the interdisciplinary team (06:11)
Why ENTs, oral surgeons, myofunctional therapists, and radiologists matter (06:32)
What Dr. Krieger’s Scottsdale airway course will teach orthodontists and teams (06:43)
Why collaborative care creates better outcomes than ideology ever will (08:24)
A real example of how orthodontic-ENT collaboration changed a child’s life (10:08)

Additional Resources

I’ve seen firsthand how airway and sleep-disordered breathing can become one of the most rewarding parts of an orthodontic practice — but only when we stay in our lane, know what we’re looking at, and work with the right team.

If you want to learn how to evaluate these cases more thoughtfully, collaborate more effectively, and treat patients with greater confidence, keep an eye out for the upcoming airway and sleep-disordered breathing meeting in Scottsdale. And if you want to learn more about Orthopreneurs RD, message me directly.

Register for the Make More Money Meeting: https://ortho4m.com/home

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