today GNYDM 25 Nov

By Louis Malcmacher, DDS, MAGD n As president of the American Academy of Facial Esthetics (AAFE), I am excited to have the AAFE annual meeting in conjunction with the 2012 Greater New York Dental Meeting. I am pleased to have been asked to offer my thoughts on the facial esthet- icseducationalstandards,sothatden- tal professionals can provide the best esthetic and therapeutic outcomes to their patients when using Botox and dermal fillers within the scope of practice for dentistry. How does a dentist keep up with this expanding role of dentistry? Continuing education is the primary source for becoming proficient in new ways to better treat patients and deliver dentistry. So, how do you go ahead and choose the right course that will comprehensively train you in facial esthetics? Here are some guidelines I have used during my 30 years of taking continuing education to get the best value and practical experience necessary. Who are the faculty members and are they proficient with minimally invasive dental and facial esthetic treatment? When I take courses and when I choose faculty members for the AAFE, I personally look for instruc- tors who have real clinical practices and are treating patients every day. I also like to make sure that faculty members are experienced clinicians in these procedures. Each faculty member treats patients with minimally invasive facial esthetics techniques with Botox and dermal fillers, and they have developed sufficient practice management techniques in their offices in order to motivate patients to accept treatment and have high-case acceptance. They are also all certified trainers for botulinum toxins (Botox, Dysport and Xeomin) and dermal fill- ers (Juvederm, Restylane, Radiesse and others), and this certification is certainly important in what you should look for in course instructors. I and other AAFE faculty members have personally written protocols for Botox and dermal filler treatment for liability insurers as well as worked with many state dental boards estab- lishing acceptable educational train- ing standards. What has been the feedback from peers about a particular course and instructor? Aretheretestimonialsandreferences available? Can you contact people for references? Are the names and cities realordoesitsay,“Dr.T,Texas”?What other clinicians think of a course is extremely important because then you know the course and the instruc- tors are proven in their ability to comprehensively train you. On the www.facialesthetics.org website, you will literally find hun- dreds and hundreds of testimonials from clinicians all over the world with their real names and where they live. That says something about an organization, and it says something about the comprehensiveness of the course and the quality of the AAFE faculty members. Is there post-course support? This is extremely important, espe- cially when you are getting into new areas for your practice. In areas such as TMJ syndrome, myofascial pain and Botox and dermal fillers, continu- ing support is essential because there are so few resources available in these areas for dental professionals. This is exactly why we have a forum and discussion group section on the www.facialesthetics.org web- site. What we wanted to create was a clinicians’ support group, so every time you have a question about treat- ment or about individual patients, all you have to do is go to the forums on the website and either find or ask the question to our expert faculty and other member clinicians who are using these procedures every day in their office. Too many times in the past I have left a training course, come back to my practice, had a question on the first patient I was treating but had nowhere to turn. We wanted to make sure that dental professionals have a place to go where they can get answers fast, share their own experi- ences,uploadtheirowncasestoshare with others and interact with all of our expert faculty. What we are really proud of is there is not another resource group like this in the field of dental and facial esthetics, and in less than two years, this has grown to nearly 4,000 members strong who regularly visit and use our resources. Is the course anatomically based or does it use a ‘cookbook’ approach? Here is what I mean — most Botox and dermal filler medical and dental courses teach clinicians a cookbook approach to performing these pro- cedures. For example, they will tell you to put 10 units of Botox here, five units there, 0.3 ml of dermal fillers in this fold, etc. This cookbook approach in giving the same treatment plan to everypatientwillguaranteepoorout- comes because each patient’s needs and anatomy are markedly different. We teach the most comprehensive anatomy of any course because once you understand the patient’s facial anatomy and how it works, your treat- ment decisions then fall into place, and you will achieve outstanding therapeutic and esthetic outcomes using Botox and dermal fillers for esthetic and myofascial pain treat- ment. How many clinicians has the organization and faculty trained? Duringthepastthreeyears,theAAFE hastrainedandeducatednearly7,000 dental professionals from 49 states and 36 countries. There is a reason for that — the AAFE delivers one of the best educational experiences, is very comprehensive and teaches our attendees outstanding skills to start delivering Botox and dermal filler techniques immediately into their practices with the best post-course support available. I’ve talked to too many dentists during the years who have wasted too much time and money getting facial esthetic training that was inad- equate, useless and too superficial to be acceptable by any standard. Make surethetrainingyoureceiveincludes the integration of these procedures into your dental practice. The AAFE Botox and dermal filler courses are the primary and original courses accepted by the vast majority of dental state boards. The AAFE has trained dozens of dental state board members across the country. Use the same careful due diligence in your choices of education providers as you would in any other important deci- sion for your practice. Your money, time and dental license are much too valuable to lose. speakers14 Greater New York Dental Meeting — Nov. 25, 2012 Choose the best facial esthetics training 5 Fig. 3: Faculty member David Kimmel, DDS, outlines treatment planning options for this patient. Attend today’s session Today from 2 to 3 p.m. in aisle 5000, room 3, Dr. Louis Malcmacher will present “The Top 8 Game Changers in Dentistry Today” as part of the DTSC Symposia. The primary goal of this seminar is to teach dentists and team members how to take a common-sense approachtotheirpracticestointegrate new techniques and concepts. About the author Louis Malcmacher, DDS, MAGD, is a practicing general dentist and an inter- nationally known lecturer, author and dental consultant. He is the president of the American Academy of Facial Es- thetics (www.facialesthetics.org). You can contact him at (800) 952-0521 or by email at drlouis@FacialEsthetics. org. His website is www.commonsense dentistry.com. Here at the GNYDM The AAFE is sponsoring a number of courses at this year’s meeting. • Monday, 9 a.m.–noon: “Total Dental and Facial Esthetics for Every Dental Practice,” Dr. Louis Malcmacher, presi- dent AAFE • Monday, 2–5 p.m.: “Botox Therapeu- tics for Dental and Facial Pain Treat- ment,” Dr. Lisa Germain, diplomate, American Board of Endodontics, and faculty member AAFE • Tuesday, 9 a.m.–noon and 2–5 p.m.: “Building A Successful Dental and Facial Esthetic Practice,” Dr. Peter Harnois, president, Illinois AAFE, and Beatriz Chalaz, founder, Doctor Web Solutions • Wednesday, 9 a.m.–noon: “Botox and Dermal Filler Treatment for Every DentalPractice,”Dr.LouisMalcmacher and Kristine Krever, MD, diplomate AAFE and American Board of Family Medicine 5 Fig. 1: James Jesse, DDS, AAFE faculty, instructs an attendee on proper extra-oral injection Botox techniques. (Photos/Provided by American Academy of Facial Esthetics) 5 Fig. 2: Kristine Krever, MD, center, AAFE medical director, teaches individualized anatomical esthetic treatment planning to an attendee. 5 Fig. 4: Louis Malcmacher, DDS, MAGD, AAFE president, teaches proper dermal filler delivery technique for subtle lip augmentation. ▲ ▲