Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a complex chronic disorder with consequences extending far beyond disrupted breathing during sleep. Its association with cardiovascular, metabolic, neurocognitive, and other health conditions makes appropriate recognition and management essential—not only for sleep specialists, but for dentists, surgeons, physicians, and other healthcare professionals involved in patient care.

Effective treatment therefore requires more than simply reducing the apnea-hypopnea index. The clinician must consider the individual patient's symptoms, anatomy, disease severity, comorbidities, treatment tolerance, and long-term health risks when developing a therapeutic strategy.

In this lecture, Dr. Cibele Dal Fabbro will examine the important comorbidities associated with OSA and demonstrate why multidisciplinary management is central to contemporary sleep medicine. She will discuss the interaction between OSA and systemic health, the importance of screening and diagnosis, and how different healthcare disciplines can collaborate to identify patients at risk and develop individualized treatment pathways.

The presentation will place particular emphasis on the role of dental sleep medicine and mandibular advancement devices, while positioning oral appliance therapy within the broader spectrum of OSA management, including positive airway pressure, positional and myofunctional approaches, and surgical therapies. Her recent work emphasizes individual variability and phenotyping when selecting treatment, as well as collaboration between dental professionals and sleep physicians.

Participants will gain a practical understanding of how to move from an isolated treatment approach toward integrated, multidisciplinary OSA care, with the ultimate goal of improving sleep, systemic health, quality of life, and long-term outcomes.