Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

September 3-9, 201216 Education Tribune United Kingdom Edition Decontamination Rooms AccessoriesHandpiece Sterilisation EschmannDirect is the only stop you need to make when it comes to getting the advice and Little Sister products you need to ensure full compliance. Hanpiece Care Sterilisation EschmannDirect.com the only site you need for all your decontamination equipment needs. Direct.com GoDirect 01903 875787 Follow us: @EschmannDirect page 15DT costs. Questions 3,4,5,7 and 10 also have an economic theme. Think about it, what’s the point of the training? By the end of the programme you want to be able to place and restore im- plants in a safe and predictable manner in your General Den- tal Practice environment (The Goal) and get a return on your investment. Without a signifi- cant amount of hands-on train- ing it is unlikely that you will realise this goal. An implant programme should deliver two things, knowledge and skills. Many implant courses offer the knowledge component but most struggle when it comes to skills training. What, then, might the cri- teria be for the ideal implant training programme? Cost effective and cost effi- cient i.e. value for money - minimising the time you need to take out of your practice thereby being cost efficient and having low course fees, thereby being cost effective in allowing you to more readily see a re- turn on your investment. Adequate skills training -Patients provided for hands-on (skills) training -A significant amount of skills training A recognised qualification - That shows you are trained to a certain standard that meets the required guidelines -That will help with marketing your new found skills Looking at the last of these criteria first what exactly is a “recognised” qualification. This is usually taken as a de- gree inferred by an academic institution or a qualification in- ferred by a Royal College. One needs to be very wary of private courses promoting a “Certifi- cate” or “Diploma” at the end of their programme. At best such courses can only offer verifiable CPD or a certificate of course completion. Of course a recognised qualification is not an essen- tial requirement but the ideal course would at least offer the option. So what are the current pathways to meeting the ideal course criteria and what are the advantages and disadvan- tages of each? The GDC supported FGDP implant training standards document updated in June this year (http://www.fgdp.org.uk/_ assets/pdf/publications/policy documents/implant training stds jun 12.pdf) clearly indi- cates that appropriate train- ing can be delivered by a wide variety of providers ranging from universities to individu- als. The important point is that the course you enrol on should, as a bare minimum, meet these standards. The majority of UK univer- sities now offer part-time MSc. programmes in implant den- tistry but this is probably the most costly route to obtaining a qualification in implant den- tistry with average fees for a three year programme in the region of £25k. Furthermore the hands-on (skills) train- ing offered on university pro- grammes varies greatly from one university to the next. One slightly unusual path- way to a qualification in im- plant dentistry is the Diploma at the Royal College of Sur- geons of Edinburgh. With the right course geared towards the examination this can be the most cost effective and cost ef- ficient route. Things seem to be changing with a move from the bricks to the clicks of mobile learning