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CT Scan for Dental Implants

Dr. Scott Ganz believes that "those practices where a relatively high volume of implants, will soon witness the appearance of CT machines...". Furthermore, "One of the problems I see is that there are many formulas or cook-book approaches to treatment planning for implants.  You know, like so many implants are required to replace so many teeth or how many implants are necessary to support a particular kind of prosthesis."  Read more of his thoughts on CT Scans for dental implants by clicking here for Part I or clicking here for Part II. Feel free to post your thoughts on his interview, by adding your comments below.

June 28, 2005 in CT Scanning, Site Preparation | Permalink | Comments (4)

Training and Knowledge for Dental Implants

The most significant problem facing dentists who place and restore implants is obtaining adequate training and knowledge and continued development of skills. We need more continuing education courses with increased access.  We also need more hands-on training courses in supervised settings. In this post, we explore some of these educational issues. Please feel free to add your comments.

Acquiring your knowledge and skills in the course of completing a post-graduate program or residency is undoubtedly effective.  To assert that this is the only means to acquiring the needed skills and training is short-sighted.  The purpose of continuing education is to refine your previously acquired skills and to learn new techniques.  Continuing education supplements what we learn in structured programs of study in institutions.  If we only practiced what we learned in those programs and did not avail ourselves of the many opportunities of continuing education, we would be practicing only what we learned up until our graduation.   

There is a great deal of valuable information available in peer-reviewed dental journals.  Everybody who places and restores implants relies on the same common body of peer-reviewed information.  The simplest means of acquiring the knowledge necessary for implants is to study this information.  There are also many excellent textbooks on the subject.

G. V. Black said that if you become a dentist, you commit to being a perpetual student.  The questions may stay the same but the answers may change over time.  The key is continuous improvement through continuous training.  Implants are just another mode of dental treatment.

Source: Dr. Gary Kaplowitz, Special to OsseoNews.com

June 20, 2005 in Education, Treatment Planning & Complications | Permalink | Comments (3)

Nobel Biocare World Conference 2005 Las Vegas

Reporting by:  Dr. Gary Kaplowitz

OsseoNews.com was pleased to attend the Nobel Biocare 2005 Conference. We offer our review of the conference here. Please feel free to add your own comments.

We congratulate Nobel Biocare on its 2005 World Conference in Las Vegas which hosted over 6,000 denitsts, physicians and auxiliaries making it the largest dental implant meeting in history. The main program consisted of world-class clinicians and researchers presenting their cases and findings. Needless to say, the bar has been raised yet again. 

There were many presentations involving flapless surgery and CT-scan generated surgical guide stents. The stent was sued to position the tissue punch and pilot drill. After inserting the implants a provisional or permanent prosthesis was delivered. The techniques presented emphasized accuracy of implant placement and delivery of prefabricated prostheses.

Another major paradigm shift involved immediate loading. There has been a gradual but dramatic change in orientation. Instead of waiting months for osseointegration, the trend now is for immediate placement of a provisional or permanent prosthesis. The patient walks out not only with implants but more importantly, with teeth.

Another interesting aspect of the conference was the attendance of general dentists.  Most of the GPs we met were at the conference to learn more about diagnosis, surgical placement and restoration so they could go back to their own countries and perform this service to their patients. Many GPs from the U. S. were there for the same reason. But we talked with many GPs from the U. S. who were concerned about litigation and malpractice issues and explained how this influenced their decisions on what to do. Quite a contrast between the U. S. and the rest of the world.

The most exciting part of the conference involved the presentation of products under development. One of the most promising is a new design in implant morphology. This implant is self-tapping which requires less drilling. It also has a long neck emerging from a platform narrower than the implant body which creates a thick seal of connective tissue around the implant. Preliminary data based on 474 cases over 26 months demonstrated 98% success. A European team has developed another new design with a concavity from the most coronal thread to the platform. It too produces a thick collar of connective tissue around the implant. Both teams worked independently and it is interesting that both produced a new implant design that creates a thick collar of connective tissue around the neck of the implant to ultimately produce a better seal. 

Nobel Biocare is planning the next World conference for 2007. Mark your calendars!!

June 14, 2005 in Education | Permalink | Comments (4)