Mountain View Dental Welcomes Dr. Zachary Reiff to Practice

EASTHAMPTON — Mountain View Dental has hired a third dentist, Dr. Zachary Reiff, a 2015 Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine graduate who brings a focus in treating patients with sleep apnea and other sleep disorders.

On Aug. 12, Reiff joined dentists Dr. Seth Eichenlaub and Dr. Michael Szostak at the practice. Eichenlaub has worked at Mountain View Dental since 2010 and Szostak for 34 years. Reiff brings the total number of staff at the practice to 15.

“We’re very happy to have recruited Zach,” said Eichenlaub. “He’s a very talented dentist and will no doubt complement our practice with his unique skillset that includes his expertise in sleep medicine.”

Reiff takes the work of fitting patients with a dental appliance to treat a sleep disorder to a level he said is uncommon in dentistry; he partners with a sleep physician to ensure that the appliance he created is effective in improving the patient’s sleep pattern and, thus, overall health. He learned this approach from his brother Mark, a sleep physician in North Carolina.

Reiff begins the process of working with a patient on a sleep issue by obtaining the sleep-study prescription from their physician. After a conversation about insurance and cost, he makes impressions, from which the dental appliance is created.

“There are 180 different devices, and based on what the patient is experiencing, we custom select the appropriate appliance,” he explained. “These devices, which look like clear retainers, are typically for people who don’t want to or can’t use a CPAP machine.”

Once a patient is fitted for an appliance, Reiff conducts a sleep study, and when he is satisfied the device is working, he refers the patient back to the physician for a final study and medical evaluation. “We don’t send them off and say, ‘good luck,’” he noted. “We need to make sure it’s doing what it should be doing, which is ensuring that someone is still breathing at night.”

Reiff hopes to learn more about sleep apnea as his career advances. He previously worked at Morrison Dental Group in Williamsburg, Va. for the past two and a half years.