Episode 257: Dr. Dar Radfar - Lasers, Sleep Apnea, & Growing Your Practice

In this episode of the Stress-Free Dentist Podcast, Dr. Eric Block sits down with Dr. Dar Radfar, known as Dr. Rad, a dentist, sleep apnea speaker and trainer, and author of How to Add Six Figures and Save Lives, about how dental teams can screen for sleep apnea, work with patients who already use a CPAP, and add low level laser therapy to their practices. Dr. Radfar is a returning guest and a friend of the show. He says he now works four or five days a month in his two practices, speaks at dental conferences, and has trained a few thousand dentists and their teams since 2014. Dr. Block was his own first sleep apnea patient at 44, going from 10 apnea events an hour to below two, and says he learned zero about sleep in dental school.

The conversation starts with the team. Dr. Radfar describes a 25 minute training for hygienists and assistants built around red flags they can spot in the mouth and in the medical history, from bruxism and a retruded jaw to high blood pressure, AFib and anxiety and depression medications. His advice for the chair is to ask how well the patient sleeps, and when a patient who is snoring says they sleep great, "Plant the seed. Move on." From there the two compare notes on patients who hate their CPAP, patients who love it, and why a mild or moderate case may be a fit for an appliance. They then turn to technology: a green diode laser that Dr. Radfar says now has FDA clearance for reducing chin and neck fat, and his plan to run sleep studies before and after treatment on five patients.

The episode closes with the practical side: GLP-1 medicines, peptides and healing for implant patients, Dr. Radfar's book and coaching, and his advice for young dentists, which is to learn non-invasive skills early, build business skills, find mentors and work on your mindset. As he puts it, "it is because of the fact of how we make them feel." For dentists who feel overwhelmed adding something they were never taught, this is a plain-spoken place to start.