Dental Tribune U.S. Edition

Dental Tribune U.S. Edition | October 2012 A25INDUSTRY NEWS If asked “What’s your key lesson learned after teaching and practicing implant and restorative dentistry these past 25 years?” my answer is: “Find the sweet spot in course content and deliv- ery that gives dentists the confidence to go back to their offices and immediately implement what they learned.” All the training in the world does dentists no good if they can’t go back to their prac- tice and immediately apply what they’ve learned to improve patient care and grow their practice. The obstacles to ef- fective application are usually: • A lack of confidence in their ability to apply what they were taught, caused by too much confusion about what they learned. • The inability to recall what they were taught because of how the informa- tion was delivered to them. • Or, the information was more theo- retical than clinical. At Hands On Training Institute, we knew we hit the sweet spot when more than 95 percent of our graduates were implementing implant dentistry into their practice almost as soon as they got their suitcases unpacked. Some faster than that. How did we build this kind of confidence and ability? Simply put, Reena Gajjar, DDS, and I continuously evolved our training from old-school techniques to embrace what we’ve dis- tilled as five key observations based on teaching fundamentals. Five key ovbservations 1) Hands-on training. Dentists wanting to learn implant training are clinicians. Teach them from a clinician’s viewpoint using good, quality information that’s relevant to their everyday practice. Implement hands-on modules to build practical skills and confidence. 2) Content structure. Course content must be structured in a well-organized format that is easy to understand. Mak- ing it easy is the hard part. 3) Content delivery. The way the infor- mation is delivered is critical to how the participant learns. 4) Take-home resources. Long-term content retention in a course is relatively low. Provide comprehensive materials that the dentist can take back to his/her practice as a valuable reference and a continued learning experience. 5) One Instructor. Having one instruc- tor, rather than multiple instructors, al- lows for consistency in instruction and philosophy and provides a solid foundation that dentists can later build on. To clarify, courses, even if taught by multiple instructors, must carry the same concept and ideas throughout in or- der to be clearly understood. Each lesson must build upon the prior lesson for dentists to understand the message and see a clear path to the goal. If a student receives a disjointed sequence of lessons or modules, confusion results. Using our key observations, we evolved past Power- Point decks to high- quality graphics. We wanted to put the best graphics out there because people learn better with relevant images. We produced high-quality, live surgical videos with narration and animations. We used advanced software and created custom animations, thus using a combi- nation of methods to deliver the infor- mation in a more understandable way. The power of video At a major meeting in Liverpool, England, I was invited to lecture about patient edu- cation marketing. I introduced the prem- ise that if a patient isn’t educated about a procedure and doesn’t know what’s going on, how can a dentist expect that patient to buy into a procedure? To showcase my point, I covered the video portion of my presentation so that only the narration could be heard. Later, I unmasked the video animation. The difference between the low-value learning (narration only) and the high-value learning (adding vid- eo) had tremendous impact on the audi- ence. Dentists sitting in a classroom sub- jected to little visual stimulation have the same low-value learning experience, which is why we keep stepping up our content delivery. And we noticed some- thing. Scribble less; learn more What we noticed, after increasing multi- media content delivery to include a four- volume manual set with color images and captions to give the complete flow of information for the course, was that al- most all the students were scribbling less and paying attention more! We received feedback that students could actually lis- ten and not take notes. Taking notes had distracted them from the content, and now they were confident they could ref- erence the manuals later if needed. And so we observed and evolved once more: Our newest innovation, MyDentalPad, which we introduced at the Midwinter Meeting in Chicago earlier this year, was also featured in our exhibit hall booth for the Ontario Dental Association Annual Spring Meeting. MyDentalPad is a fully loaded digital tablet that enables dentists and their staff to easily carry 11 days of implant training material, to have available when they need it. Containing all the images, text and fully narrated animations and live video, this tablet is a paradigm shift from traditional delivery methods of ed- ucational content. At the end of the day, it’s our passion to deliver high quality, ethical training that hits the sweet spot — dentists returning home to grow their practice with con- fidence. We’re looking at MyDentalPad as the newest technology that will push the confidence level of implant dentists through the roof or, even better, reach for what one of our California graduates referred to our program as, “… one of the best ways to implant dentistry heaven.” As a (slightly) younger dentist might say, “Sweet.” Lessons learned Hands On Training Institute finds learning's ‘sweet spot’ KEn HEBEL, BSC, DDS, MS, CERtIFIED PRoStH- oDontISt, earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Western Ontario in 1979 and then completed a surgical internship pro- gram. He completed the prosthodontic gradu- ate program at the Eastman Dental Center in 1983, along with his master’s degree in anato- my. His career in implant dentistry started early, both in the surgical and prosthetic phas- es of implant therapy. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Oral Implantolgoy/Implant Dentistry, a diplomat of the International Congress of Oral Im- plantology and a fellow of the American Academy of Implant Dentistry. He is an assistant clinical professor in the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario and consultant to Nobel Biocare. He has provided hundreds of lectures worldwide and is one of the founders of the Hands On Training Institute, started in 1991, where he provides hands-on mini-residency train- ing programs. He continues to maintain a private practice in Lon- don, Ontario, where he provides both advanced surgical and pros- thetic phases of implant dentistry. Hebel can be reached via the training institute at www.handsontraining.com, or by email at info@handsontraining.com, or by calling (888) 806-4442. By Ken Hebel, BSc, DDS, MS, Certified Prosthodontist MyDentalPad, a compre- hensive training resource for implant dentists, is digital-tablet based, with four glossy, manuals so you need not be distracted by note taking. Photos/Provided by Hands On Training Institute ADA BOOTH NO. 5369 Excel Studios is a full-service dental lab- oratory specializing in full-mouth and im- plant reconstructions. The state-of-the-art facility is equipped with the latest in CAD/ CAM technology. Through its unique part- nerships with leading implant manufac- turers it is able to offer name-brand prod- ucts with full manufacturer warranties for your peace of mind. Visit Excel Studios on the Web at www.weknowsmiles.com or High-tech laboratory uses latest CAD/CAM The MyDentalPad training tablet is packed with narrated animation and video. contact a representative directly at (800) 981-9008, and let Excel Studios help you reach your ceramic goals. (Source: Excel Studios)