ABDSM: Diplomate Status
For more than 40 years, Dr. Andrew Cobb has dedicated his career to comprehensive dentistry, serving the needs of patients seeking to improve oral and overall health and wellness.
What Is the ABDSM?
The American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine (ABDSM) is the certifying body for dental sleep medicine in the United States and Canada. Its mission is to elevate the standards of care by credentialing dentists who have rigorously demonstrated their competency in treating sleep-related breathing disorders. The ABDSM credential is widely recognized as the gold standard for excellence in dental sleep medicine — a mark of quality recognized not just by patients, but by physicians, insurers, and healthcare systems.
The board recognizes two categories of certified providers:
Diplomates, for dentists licensed in the U.S. or Canada, and International Certificants, for practitioners licensed outside those countries.
Earning Diplomate Status: The Requirements
Becoming an ABDSM Diplomate is a rigorous, multi-step process that demands sustained commitment, clinical experience, and demonstrated mastery of a complex body of knowledge.
- Accredited Training:
Candidates must complete the AADSM (American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine) Mastery Program, or an equivalent dental sleep medicine education program accredited by the AADSM as a Mastery Program. This standardized, evidence-based curriculum covers patient screening, oral appliance selection and titration, collaboration with sleep physicians, and the ongoing management of patients to maximize outcomes. - The Board Examination:
The centerpiece of the credentialing process is a comprehensive written examination, administered as a computer-based test through a third-party vendor. The exam tests both broad knowledge of sleep disorders and the specific clinical decision-making skills required to treat sleep-related breathing disorders with oral appliance therapy, surgical intervention, and interceptive orthopedics. Candidates who achieve a passing score, as validated by the ABDSM Board of Directors, are formally recognized as Diplomates.
Dr. Andrew Cobb is one of an elite group of dentists to achieve Diplomate Status in the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine. Dr. Cobb remains committed to helping patients breathe, sleep, and live better through dental sleep medicine.
As a Diplomate of the ABDSM, Dr. Cobb has developed a broad knowledge of sleep disorders and the specific clinical decision-making skills required to treat sleep-related breathing disorders with oral appliance therapy.
Key elements of his expertise include:
- Sleep physiology and pathology — understanding the architecture of sleep, how it is disrupted in disorders like OSA, upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS), and snoring, and how those disruptions affect systemic health.
- Oral appliance therapy — knowledge of device types, selection criteria, fitting protocols, titration techniques, and monitoring for side effects such as occlusal changes.
- Collaborative care — understanding how to work effectively within a multidisciplinary team alongside sleep physicians, pulmonologists, cardiologists, and ENTs.
- Patient evaluation — screening for sleep-disordered breathing during dental visits, identifying anatomical risk factors (such as retrognathia, high-arched palate, or enlarged tongue), and facilitating appropriate medical referrals.