What’s New in Continuing Education? by Howard M. Goldstein, DMD, Director of Continuing Education

Welcome to 2013! We just finished the first year of the new Dentaltown CE programs and I am excited for what's on deck for year two. Just a reminder, every course released since December of 2011 is viewable on your iPad and Android tablets! Here are a few new CE courses I'd like to highlight.

Picture Perfect: Clinical Photography Made Easy! by Jason Olitsky, DMD, AAACD

The ultimate dental experience begins and ends with digital photography. Digital photography in dentistry provides practitioners with enormous possibilities to support everything from documentation and lab communication to testimonials and marketing. This course will help the dental practitioner maximize the benefits of clinical digital photography. Once basic knowledge of how to obtain proper exposure is understood, proper camera settings and equipment will be reviewed with tips to achieve perfect images. Learn how to take standardized clinical images by watching Dr. Jason Olitsky complete a clinical series on a patient in his own treatment room. The course will also introduce ways to create images that are not only technically correct, but artistically superior.

An Introduction to Dental Sleep Medicine by Barry Glassman, DMD, DAAPM, DAACP, FICCMO, Diplomate ABDSM, FADI

We are being bombarded with the potential role of dentistry in sleep medicine; and yet only a fraction of those who learn about sleep medicine have successfully added these concepts to their general practices. This course will not only teach the concepts of sleep medicine, but emphasize the challenges for the general dentist that need to be addressed to successfully help patients with sleep-disturbed breathing conditions.

Dentistry should be the number-one portal of patients to sleep medicine. Once the condition is understood and the dentist understands the potential role that can be played in screening patients, we can provide a very necessary service to our patient base. The decision to proceed with learning how to treat with oral-appliance therapy requires a change in our practice model that must be appreciated before that decision is made intelligently. That process will be reviewed in detail in this introduction to dental sleep medicine.

The Pankey Institute Series

Last month Dentaltown teamed up with the famed Pankey Institute to present a series of CE courses on various subjects by esteemed members of its faculty. These courses can be viewed individually or by the whole series. The Pankey Series includes:

Solving Technician/Dentist Problems Through Mutual Understanding of Occlusion by Irwin M. Becker, DDS

This course focuses on critically important issues that will make our dentistry more predictable and longer lasting. Many times the dentist misplaces the blame of the need for excessive adjustment when inserting new crown and bridge restorations. Both dentist and dental technician must be fully schooled in the various possibilities relative to occlusal planning and occlusal conditions that can lead to much greater value of these restorations for our patients.

Techniques and Material Selection for Optimum Aesthetics by James C. Kessler, BS, DDS

The challenge of keeping up with the rapidly evolving array of options in aesthetic restorative dentistry can be daunting and it's critical that both the dentist and the dental laboratory technician maintain an understanding of the indications and limitations of the various indirect restorative materials available, and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Subjects presented include, determining when the metal-ceramic restoration is still considered the restoration of choice, what situations are best satisfied by bonded porcelain restorations, which all-ceramic restorative systems can dependably mask discolorations and metallic build-ups, and how some systems match particular shade and translucency situations better than others.

Improved Predictability with Advanced Aesthetics by Michael C. Fling, DDS

Clinical success can be defined by achieving a result that is aesthetic, functional and predictable. Today's demand for such a high level of aesthetics and predictability require a collaborative effort between the dentist and technician. This seminar investigates the factors that allow a relationship between the dentist and technician to result in extraordinary and predictable results. How destruction occurs because of parafunction, not function, is discussed. If we can create restorations that exist within this envelope of parafunction, we have better opportunity for success.

Enjoy learning from the comfort of your home!