Implant success: communicate with the entire team, patients

Dental implants can provide the greatest financial opportunity for dentists, but you “have to communicate differently to patients and the entire dental team.”

That was one of the messages emphasized by Dr. Tom Dawson at a Friday lecture in Peoria, Illinois in front of a packed room at the 12^th DAL Dental Appreciation Continuing Education Event. The Dental Arts Laboratory event, held at the WeaverRidge Golf Club, was sponsored in part by Dental Products Report, with Dentsply Sirona Prosthetics serving as anchor sponsor.

Related reading: Implanting success: The state of dental implants

Dr. Dawson, who is a member of the American Academy of Fixed Prosthodontics, the International College of Dentists, the American College of Dentists, and the Southwest Academy of Restorative Dentistry, presented his CE course titled “Predictable Dental Implant Success.”

“There are three things that implant dentistry should be,” the Texas dentist told the attendees. “It should be comprehensively planned. It should be developed from a restorative perspective and not surgically driven. And it has to be performed as a team-the restorative dentist, the surgeon and the lab.”

Dr. Dawson, who has had the opportunity to speak at nearly every major U.S. dental meeting, as well as at many university programs and study clubs across the country, has served in almost every capacity of teaching and service at the Pankey Institute and was recently appointed to the Senior Faculty of the Dawson Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he has been asked to direct the newly formed Implant Curriculum.

For more on implants, read: The latest options in dental implants

“It’s a much more strategic procedure than we thought about in the past,” he says of implant dentistry, noting that it’s changing rapidly as technology provides us with excellent opportunities for predictable success.

The course objectives included:

• Define the problem…how did we get here?

• Clarify the roles of the implant team

• Give a compelling motivation on for why we need to change

• Explain “Implants by the Numbers” … a simple process to predictable outcomes

• Show “IBN Tools” … a practical everyday application in implant treatment planning

• Explain why we are doing more bone level implants

• Clarify the choice…. stock abutments versus custom abutments

• Erase the mystery of custom abutment design

• Teach the principles of custom abutment design with case examples

• Provide case examples for teaching the steps of tissue development in the esthetic zone

• Demonstrate how to help each member of the implant team claim their role and realizing it’s not that hard.

Dr. Dawson will conduct a 2-day hands-on workshop also in Peoria on Nov. 4-5. The intense “Taking Implant Dentistry to the Next Level” course will also feature Walt Richardson, CDT, TE, the Implant Division Co-Manager at Dental Arts Laboratories, Inc.

Products that help

During the lecture and during the event, which featured tables from Dentsply Sirona Prosthetics, DPR, Heraeus Kulzer, Brasseler USA, SS White, Elite Dental, BioHorizons, Argen, Elite Dental Partners, BEGO, Dental Arts Laboratories, and WhipMix, Dr. Dawson and DAL highlighted products that can help clinicians provide better and more efficient implant treatments.

One such product is IBN Tools (Implants By the Numbers). There are (8) different plastic tools that make up the IBM Tools with different tool for the (6) types of restorations, a Tissue Management Tool to always remind you of the different components that make up Implants by the Numbers and a Universal Tool for larger measurements.

Dr. Dawson also has developed a web-based product that brings the whole team into one place and also includes a section for patients. At centergistix.com there’s a universal form that patients need to fill out just once, and there’s a section on the site designed solely for implant patients.

“Centergistix is a website for efficiently managing dental implant procedures,” Dr. Dawson says. “Using this service makes treatment planning a snap and treatments are faster, better and more profitable.”

Also at the event, DAL introduced a new handpiece repair service and shared information on The Dawson Academy Central Illinois Study Club held in Peoria.

For more information on DAL products and services, visit dentalartslab.com and dentalproductsreport.com.