The importance of continued learning doesn’t need to be emphasised to modern dental professionals. Continuous learning is not only a CPD requirement, but it is also the cornerstone of many individuals’ passion for skill and career development. There are many ways to obtain new information and build on one’s existing knowledge base. The advantages of face-to-face learning cannot be ignored, but online platforms often complement these events perfectly and afford many benefits in their own right.

Any time, any place

The most obvious of these is that most online educational platforms can be accessed at any time of day or night, and from any location with an internet connection. This makes learning much easier for the busy dental professional, who can more easily read a course module or review a new research paper at times that best suit them. It might be a last-minute appointment cancellation, travel time commuting to the practice or an afternoon spent at home. Online learning makes it simpler for professionals to fit in their development around their work and home life.

This convenience is of further benefit when it comes to improving cost and time efficiencies. For example, many courses supplement physical hands-on days with online resources and modules. This makes such courses more viable for professionals looking for part-time or blending learning opportunities. Delegates therefore save some money on travelling to and from courses by only doing so for practical elements. In the current climate of restricted travel and gatherings, this is particularly advantageous – there’s no need for your CPD to suffer!

Communication

Communication is streamlined with the many applications and online services available in the modern world. In some cases, it is enhanced with the possibility of contacting individuals in different countries and in different time zones. Instant messaging enables professionals to seek information and advice from world-leaders in their respective fields, in real-time. There is no lag in responses and with the advent of digital imaging and the like, clinicians can even request case-specific guidance with little hassle.

In addition, resources can be easily shared between huge groups of people, encouraging the development of the profession as a whole. Whether you choose to join online groups and forums, or you have access to a portal designed specifically for your training course, you can engage with peers, instructors and mentors at the click of a button.

Supporting reflection and review

Another benefit of online resources is that they facilitate comprehensive review of the available literature. Documents can often be found and stored for later viewing, allowing individuals to return to studies and papers whenever they need to. With your own learning materials and cases logged in the same portal, it is also easier to track your progress and to reflect on the topics studied. This supports the learning experience and allows individuals to revisit any subjects as necessary to improve their understanding and confidence.

Finding a trusted source

Seeking online learning from reputable sources you trust to deliver up-to-date and evidence-based teaching is key to success. For any dentists and team members interested in or already working within dental implantology, the Association of Dental Implantology (ADI) offers and supports a myriad of educational opportunities.

Aside from various events and meetings to attend, the ADI also provides a selection of online learning for members to utilise. Not least of these is premium membership to Dentinal Tubules for all Clinician and First Five Years ADI members. This provides access to more than 1,000 hours of educational videos and materials, complementing CPD and enabling professionals to advance their knowledge in a wide range of topics.

In addition, the new ADI website has recently been launched, designed to make it even easier for professionals to locate relevant education, news and updates from the association. On here, you will find a selection of webinars, filmed from some of the popular ADI Study Clubs held throughout the year. Gain CPD, progress your knowledge and meet plenty of like-minded clinicians and team members who share your passion for clinical excellence and career development. The ADI Members’ Forum on Facebook complements all this perfectly, offering a convenient online platform for members to communicate and share best practices or advice with colleagues.  

Drive your career forward

No matter what level you have reached in your career so far, pushing forward with skill development is crucial for your continued advancement. Not only will this introduce more variety into your day-to-day life, but it will also bring added job satisfaction as you achieve ever-better treatment outcomes for a wider range of patients. As such, online learning is a great way to expand your horizons.

For more information or to join the ADI, please visit www.adi.org.uk

ADI members receive significant discounts on ADI education, join today!

COLTENE is known for developing products that quickly lead the market in innovation and ingenuity.

A recent addition to its range, BRILLIANT COMPONEER™ offers dentists a veneering system comprised of prefabricated shells, based on the same sub-micron filler technology as BRILLIANT EverGlow™.

BRILLIANT COMPONEER™ makes it possible to deliver anterior restorations in a single visit, which offer stability and good aesthetics. Mechanical strength is high, with great polishabiliy and long-lasting gloss retention, too.

With no laboratory required, patients benefit from efficient treatment.

All in all, it has everything you need!

Call today to add BRILLIANT COMPONEER™ to your restorative materials.

To find out more visit www.coltene.com, email info.uk@coltene.com or call  01444 235486

Recruiting the right people for the right job is central to building an efficient practice team. There are four simple steps to follow to encourage a smooth process.

1. Instruction – The Dental Elite team will inform you about the current recruitment landscape and collect the necessary details from you to promote the vacancy.
2. Marketing – Proactive marketing and promotion in all the right places will maximise the opportunity of finding the right person.
3. Screening – We will phone interview candidates and check their qualifications before sending you a shortlist that meets your criteria.
4. Solution – Arrange interviews, manage negotiations (if applicable), check references and make an offer.

And there you have it – the ideal team with minimal hassle for you. Call Dental Elite today to find out more.

For more information contact Dental Elite. Visit www.dentalelite.co.uk, email info@dentalelite.co.uk or call 01788 545 900

Distinguished clinician – Dr Miguel Stanley – will be among the speakers at the BACD’s Seventeenth Annual Conference imparting their many pearls of wisdom.

“I will be talking about the way my interdisciplinary team and I communicate, diagnose, plan and execute complex cases,” says Dr Stanley. “Delegates will learn exactly how we at the White Clinic in Lisbon, Portugal, implement digital technology into our workflow in order to speed up processes and mitigate failures.

“I’m looking forward to learning, sharing ideas and making new connections at the Annual Conference, and I think the event is going to be great, as always.”

Book your ticket to the Annual Conference on the BACD website.

For further enquiries about the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, visit www.bacd.com

Evidence suggests that compliance remains high on everyone’s list of concerns. The biggest problem is often knowing what you need to do and, just as important, what you don’t need to do. Whether you are a practice owner, manager or a compliance lead, it’s essential to remain abreast of the latest regulations, requirements and guidelines that affect all practices so that you can be sure you are providing a safe environment for your patients and your team members.

There will be various opportunities at the British Dental Conference and Dentistry Show this May for all members of the dental team to update their knowledge and understanding of the current rules and recommendations in dentistry. The Compliance Clinic – hosted by Apolline, a leading provider of innovative compliance management software and in-practice support and training – will focus on important and relevant compliance-based topics for the dental team.

Pat Langley, CEO of Apolline, comments:

“The theme of the Compliance Clinic this year is ‘Working together to make achieving and maintaining compliance a reality’. The Compliance Clinic will update members of the dental team on a range of compliance-based subjects. These will include an update on the CQC, infection control protocols, the importance of keeping good patient records, working together to make compliance achievable, complaints handling, what you need to know to be compliant in health and safety, and radiation protection.”

A line-up of experts in the field will present sessions and be available to answer any questions that delegates may have. In addition to Pat herself, these will include:

• John Milne
• Sue Boynton
• Stephen Henderson
• Jimmy Makdissi
• Lanah Hector
• Bilkis Hussain

Pat goes on to explain what delegates can expect to gain from attending the Compliance Clinic programme:

“Delegates will gain confidence from listening to some of the leading speakers in the compliance field. This will either reassure them that they are on track or help them understand where they may have gaps in their knowledge and in their practices.”

Just one feature of the British Dental Conference and Dentistry Show, the Compliance Clinic is sure to provide an invaluable resource for practice teams. Delegates will also have access to several other theatres, with education tailored to different roles and disciplines and hours of CPD available. Further still, the trade floor will be home to more than 400 dental companies from the UK and abroad, with copious new products, materials and technologies on show.

“This event provides an unparalleled programme of information and help,” adds Pat. “There is also the opportunity to talk to suppliers about the latest innovations – all of which are designed to support the dental team in providing great care for their patients. It’s the biggest and the best event in the dental calendar so don’t miss out!”

The British Dental Conference and Dentistry Show 2020 – 11^th and 12^th September–Hall 5, Birmingham NEC, co-located with DTS.

For all the latest information or to register for free, please visit www.thedentistryshow.co.uk, call 020 7348 5270 or email dentistry@closerstillmedia.com

The primary focus for all dentists is on delivering high quality patient care. As such, it’s important for clinicians and their teams to have the skills, products and technologies needed to achieve excellent clinical outcomes. This should be complemented by sufficient support – which in itself can take many different forms.

For instance, it might involve establishing a network of colleagues to turn to for advice or guidance on specific cases. Peers can also offer recommendations on materials and training courses, further helping individuals to broaden their capabilities and advance their skills in order to deliver the best clinical dentistry.

Another essential avenue of support is that provided by your principal, management or senior clinical team within the practice(s) that you work. They should be able to offer guidance in a wide range of areas, helping you complete dental treatment as safely and effectively as possible in even challenging situations.

Demonstrating how important this support is from the management and senior team, Farah Hoosen shares her experience. She initially completed a year in hospital after her FD training year, before moving back to general practice. She joined Rodericks Dental in 2016 as the Clinical Lead for a brand new practice at the time – Luton House – and here talks about how she both receives support and offers it to others in order to maintain a clinical-led ethos in her practice.

“The initial induction course for the Clinical Lead role covered all the situations I would likely encounter. Topics included mentoring, common problems GDPs face and how to overcome them. Having worked in Luton and Dunstable Hospital, I already had experience of most dental emergencies.

“When the practice first opened, we received several visits from the group’s Clinical Advisors. They checked how we were getting on and provided any clinical support needed. They also gave me an opportunity to discuss any concerns or questions that I had relating to my role.”

Dentistry comes first

“Being clinically-led in practice means ensuring that dentists and their teams have all the materials needed to deliver quality patient care. In addition, all the surgeries are well maintained and any equipment break-downs are dealt with quickly and efficiently, ensuring no impact on our dentists or our patients. Personally, I have faced no restrictions on what I can offer patients and have the clinical freedom to provide the care I think is best. Plus, with all members of staff from receptionists to area managers concentrating on clinical decision making, everything is clinically-led and not business-led.”

Clinical experience right up to the top

Farah goes on to discuss how important it is to work with a team who understand the clinical side of dentistry.

“You definitely notice the difference it makes when senior management have clinical experience. Many of the directors have worked in practice, which means they know how it works on the ground. They’ve been there before and can offer solutions straight away. They also appreciate how it affects you as a clinician and in understanding the stresses of dentistry, they make pain-points easier to manage.

“I like that I can contact them if I need to; they talk to you on a personal rather than business level and value what you have to say. This was important for me in my role as Clinical Lead, as I was able to share my opinions and have a say on what changes needed to be implemented. Having that support directly from people who were able to make things happen instantly was really useful.”

Training and development

A part of getting the right support to focus on the dentistry, is having access to high quality and up-to-date training and educational opportunities. About the education available to her and her colleagues, Farah adds:

“Various training courses further support the clinically-led ethos, enabling dentists to improve their skills. These are very accessible and are often available with great discounts. Rodericks is keen to make the lives of dentists easier and I think it does this very well.

“Ultimately, Rodericks focuses on the dentistry and on making good clinical decisions.”

For more information on the career opportunities available at Rodericks, please visit www.rodericksdentalcareers.co.uk,

or contact Ashley Lillyman at  recruitment@rodericksdental.co.uk or on

01604 970988 (option 1)

#wearerodericks

Around 4 in 10 adults in England and Wales don’t attend regular check-ups.[i] Many only go when something has gone badly wrong. This is seemingly at odds with how much focus many people otherwise put on their health and appearance.

We often consider dental anxiety as the biggest motivator for non-attendance, but it isn’t the only reason. One demographic we need to ensure is being reached are those in their 20s and 30s. It’s a time in people’s lives when they’ve generally left home, are still on relatively low earnings compared to later in life, and will for the most part not have developed severe oral health problems. Many in this age group can slip into non-attendance, seeing it as a corner they can cut in their busy lives. Young adults who never previously had notable dental problems, may be particularly likely to feel a false sense of security and fall into this trap. However, skipping check-ups is false economy. The relative time and expense of a regular check-up to ensure everything is in order, is trivial compared to the damage that can take hold in a just few unobserved years, which can then require invasive and expensive treatment. Among those who only attend when they have trouble with their teeth, the most frequently given reason is that they thought it was pointless unless they were actively experiencing a problem.[ii] It is critical that patients understand how seeing their dentist regularly helps to prevent oral health problems.

Sourcing information

We live in a time where more information is easily available than at any other point in human history. Most of us are more or less permanently connected to the internet, and it’s a genuine challenge to type a question or topic into a search engine and not find anything. Yet for every pearl of verifiable, well-researched information, there is a deluge of opinions, conspiracies, scams and falsehoods. The public’s ability to distinguish between sources and vet them, particularly in medical fields that require specialist knowledge, may be a little lacking.

Rumours and scaremongering run rampant across social media, often spread by well-meaning but all too credulous individuals. Some jump to the other extreme, becoming paranoid about established facts and diving deep into conspiracies. Alternative medicines and treatments that appeal to those who distrust established science and healthcare are everywhere.

While people are entitled to their own beliefs, there can be dangerous real-world repercussions when people’s health is involved. For example, despite considerable efforts on the part of the medical community, the numbers of people choosing to leave their children unvaccinated continue to rise – commonly due to dangerous misinformation spread through social media and other channels.[iii]

Acidic ignorance

Many people have gotten the message that excessive sugar is bad for them and for their teeth. However, awareness is still poor around acid erosion. Sugar-free soft drinks can still contribute to plaque formation and dental erosion, as well as causing caries.[iv]

Soft drinks should generally be avoided, but if patients insist on drinking them, they should not drink them when thirsty. When our mouth is drier, the protective effects of saliva are correspondingly lessened. Moreover, when we’re thirsty, we drink more. Patients should be encouraged to drink water when they are thirsty, so they don’t condition themselves to reach for sweet beverages.

Patients also need to be cautious about health trends and gimmicks. For example, dinking lemon in hot water is gaining popularity and being ascribed with all sorts of benefits. Unfortunately, lemon juice is very acidic, so doing this regularly is potentially harmful. Many are drinking the concoction first thing in the morning, then brushing their teeth. While patients certainly shouldn’t be discouraged from regularly brushing, they do need to be careful about doing so shortly after exposing their teeth to acidic food and drink.

A dangerous misconception that many people have is that “if it’s natural it can’t hurt you” or that “natural” products are inherently benign. People mistrustful of “chemicals” sometimes turn to products such as apple cider vinegar to clean and whiten their teeth. Websites emblazoned with medical-style graphics and respectable sounding names frequently push such methods, yet in reality, following their advice could cause catastrophic dental erosion and general harm. Apple cider vinegar is good for descaling a kettle – not teeth.

Where patients have been led astray and require restorative work, providing excellent care can help reinforce the value of professional dentistry. Sourcing reliable, high-quality equipment and materials is just as important as learning to source information. Stabilok Dentine Pins from Fairfax Dental are as good as it gets. They separate at the shearing-neck of the pin, ensuring reliability. Each and every Stabilok pin comes in its own closed compartment – no fiddling around, no confusion and minimised potential for mistakes. A system is only as good as its weakest part. With Stabilok you are getting the gold standard when it comes to dentine pins.

By helping patients better understand oral health care and by correcting misconceptions, we can help prevent a great deal of dental damage and decay. Education is key. However, it is just as important for professionals to have the knowledge and quality products needed to restore patients’ oral health if they are led astray.

For more information, please call 0208 947 6464

Author Marjan Davasaz, Managing Director 

[i] Hill K., Chadwick B., Freeman R., O’Sullivan I., Murray J. Adult dental health survey 2009: relationships between dental attendance patterns, oral health behaviour and the current barriers to dental care.  British Dental Journal. 2013; 214(1): 25-32. https://www.nature.com/articles/sj.bdj.2012.1176 January 17, 2020

[ii] Nuttall N., Bradnock G., White D., Morris J., Nunn J. Dental attendance in 1998 and implications for the future. British Dental Journal. 2001; 190(4): 177-182. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11270384 January 17, 2020.

[iii] Public Health England. Childhood vaccination coverage statistics – England 2018-19. NHS Digital. 2019. https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-immunisation-statistics/england-2018-19 January 17, 2019.

[iv] Giacaman R., Pailahaul V., Díaz-Garrido N. Cariogenicity induced by commercial carbonated beverages in an experimental biofilm-caries model. European Journal of Dentistry. 2018; 12(1): 27-35. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5883472/ January 17, 2020.

You can rely on Clark Dental to offer state-of-the-art treatment centres from Sirona, including the Intego Ambidextrous.

Available as a TS version with hanging hoses or a CS version with whip arms, this cutting-edge treatment centre is optimised for both left- and right-handed dentists. It features an intelligently designed rotating mechanism that enables you to convert the treatment centre in just 15 seconds. This can be done without compromising available space, as the Intego Ambidextrous is not only compact, but also offers a wide range of integrated features.

To explore the full list of equipment options for the Intego Ambidextrous, contact the friendly team at Clark Dental.

For more information, call Clark Dental on 01268 733 146, email info@clarkdental.co.uk or visit www.clarkdental.co.uk

Achieve effective hand hygiene in practice with Nuview’s Continu hand wash and sanitising products. These are alcohol-free, water-based solutions that provide protection against a wide range of microorganisms.

The Continu hand sanitiser range is comprised of a disinfectant foam to use without water and an antibacterial soap that may be used in conjunction with wall brackets to meet the requirements of HTM 01-05. Continu hand wash and sanitising foam are also available with wall-mounted dispensers using sealed disposable cartridges to achieve full compliance.

The wall-mounted, touch-free unit also offers significant cost-saving benefits, as it dispenses 0.4ml each time, meaning a single pouch provides up to 2,500 applications.

Call Nuview for further details.

For more information please call Nuview on 01453 872266, email info@nuview-ltd.com, visit www.nuview.co or ‘like’ Nuview on Facebook.