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ePaper created 2014-11-23, 21:56:20 | version 1.30.01
I opinion _Overthepastfewyears,itappearsthattherehas been increase in continuing education. Many of the courses are about implant dentistry and the conven- tionalcoursesthatformthebasisoflearningtheskills ofsavingteethhavebeenfewerinnumber.Obviously, everybody wants to learn how to surgically place a dental implant. It appears that some apparent “need” of patients has driven clinicians to subscribe to these weekend courses in surgery so they can respond to these patient “needs.” However, patients see their dentist regularly to save their teeth, not to have their teeth sacrificed for implant dentistry. Are we sending the wrong message here? Originally all courses were provided by clinicians and researchers with a broad scientific support, jus- tifying the concepts and designs for implant den- tistry. Longitudinal and retrospective clinical data, scientifically based, were always presented to justify adesignimprovement,clinicalprotocol,orchangein concepts like Submerged vs. Non Submerged Im- plants,forexample.Lately,however,continuingedu- cation courses appear more sales oriented. Clini- cians with biased viewpoints try to provide an objective view, but exhibit a clear conflict of interest, which generates doubt about their objectivity. Clinicians today therefore find it more challenging to select a continuingeducation programmethatlacksany bias conclusions. Thewholemarketingapproachtoimplantden- tistry has been to “oversimplify” the protocols so that anybody can place or restore a dental implant. These lectures appear to be purely mechanical with no prosthodontic considerations. Gone are the lectures showing long term data substanti- ating implant protocols and design. The presence of this oversimplification of implant dentistry and lack of academic control of scientific documentation has the dental field overrun with over glorified concepts like “All on 4”, “Immediate Placement and Loading With Teeth in a Day”, and “Flapless Surgery” all used in marketing dental im- plants without any respect for the prior established scientific data. There is a need for long term clinical Is continuing education of implant dentistry sending the wrong message? The risk of extinction Authors_Dr Sebastian Saba & Dr Michael Moscovitch, Canada 36 I implants4_2014 [PICTURE: ©IQONCEPT]