The Importance of Continuing Education

The Importance of Continuing Education
March 2005
Levin, Roger P. DDS, MBA
Implant Dentistry: Volume 14(1) March 2005 p 10
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Reprint requests and correspondence to:
Roger P. Levin, DDS, MBA; Levin Group; 10 New Plant Court Owings Mills, MD 21117-3514
Continuing education is vital in the field of dental implants. Unfortunately, implant dentistry does not receive extensive attention in many dental schools. As a result, the knowledge base of dentists is limited concerning implant dentistry. However, the Levin Group research indicates that implant dentistry has the potential to expand at a pace of 15 to 20% per year in a healthy economy. It is necessary to identify the importance of continuing education and eliminate obstacles that prevent restorative doctors from participating more fully in dental implants.
Dental Implant Education
Education on dental implants can be obtained quite readily today. Organizations like the ICOI and dental implant companies provide many opportunities for dentists and dental teams to learn more about dental implants. Continuing education in and of itself is not a guarantee that more implants will be placed. For example, dentists have a tendency to attend continuing education only if it is near where they live. By confining attendance to local venues, they are severely limiting the range of topics to which they will be exposed.
Available courses tend to draw audiences with varied experience, expertise, and levels of skill. This frequently results in training that is not necessarily commensurate with the knowledge or level of skill of the individual doctor. For example, many dental implant courses present only the highest level of sophistication and complexity of cases that do not relate to the experience of most of the doctors in attendance. Consequently, many doctors either attend courses without gaining practical knowledge of implant dentistry, or worse, they may harbor a concern that the sophistication of dental implants has gone too far beyond their current knowledge base to be pursued.
Because of these factors, attendance at dental implant programs has dropped in recent years. As a result, two things have happened: 1) doctors have made a decision not to participate in the restoration of dental implant cases, and 2) they do not refer implant cases for diagnosis to implant surgeons.
An Additional Source of Knowledge
Doctors who want to make implants a key part of their practices should keep in mind that seminars are not the only avenue for continuing implant education. Sales representatives and implant company-sponsored training are excellent sources of continuing education. The Levin Group has observed that sales representatives can be a highly effective source of education given their ability to offer one-on-one focused learning. The one-on-one relationship between the sales representative and a dentist raises the comfort level of the dentist with the implant system as well as the procedures. This educational process not only allows dentists to have an expert on site to help work through the implant case but also motivates the practice to present more cases.
Summary
Although the number of implants is projected to grow in the coming years, only continuing education will make this possible. Understanding the obstacles that restorative doctors face when pursuing continuing education is the key to overcoming them. Matching the skill level of the doctor to the seminar material is essential. Clinical training is often provided by experienced implant company sales representatives and sponsored events.