For successful implant treatments, clinicians must navigate a multi-faceted decision-making process to ensure a safe and predictable outcome.
Clinicians with some experience in implant treatments have asked me, if you take a tooth out, how will you do that? Will you preserve the socket or not? Will you augment the bone, and if so, how? Do you use a temporary or not, and which materials do you choose to restore your implants with?
Additional training could benefit beginner and intermediate clinicians, allowing them to treat more complex cases.
Refining Implant Strategies is a three-day course of face-to-face workshops for practitioners with some experience who are considering tackling more complex cases. It aims to refine their approach, consolidate their knowledge, and provide evidence-based techniques to help them make the right treatment decisions.
The techniques and methods we teach are backed by good-quality research. This helps to ensure predictable outcomes for patients, boosting a clinician’s reputation. It can also help to create more interest from patients in implant work. It’s very much about learning which procedure to use and knowing when to do it, and also about getting into the habit of being self-critical about what you’re doing… I don’t think there’s any other course which offers this focus on these critical decisions.
Prior to the workshop, delegates are provided with a reading list of papers to be discussed during the three days. There are approximately five hours of on-demand webinars providing content focussing on assessment, consent and hard and soft tissue grafting.
The first two days of the workshop focus on technique and case discussions, followed by practicals on models on day one and pigs’ heads on day two. The practicals help people learn socket preservation, immediate implant placement and guided bone regeneration. The pigs’ heads offer enough of a simulation for delegates to perfect straightforward techniques and then apply them to their patients. It’s about knowing the steps and not getting those mixed up, which is easy to do and one of the main issues dentists face when they begin to provide dental implant treatment.
Navigating the complexities
I am also keen for delegates to understand the importance of the consent process to ensure clinicians are protected against legal issues. It’s an important aspect of the course. As a consultant, I’m expected to have a certain level of medico-legal understanding and have undergone expert witness training. I like to focus on the reality of day-to-day dentistry for clinicians not working in a hospital environment - they’re in practice and need to protect themselves medically and legally.
Typical pitfalls might centre on not understanding all of the treatment options for each patient or not being able to deliver alternative treatment options to a high standard. And this feeds back into the consent issue. For example, in some cases, dentists might think about removing teeth, but if the implants fail, you might be stuck.
The in-depth, practical workshop approach arms clinicians with the knowledge they need to form strategies based on all the questions that come up around implant work and encourages them to consider multiple options before embarking on complex treatments.
For more information visit https://www.amardipkalsi.co.uk/refiningimplantstrategies