The journey to becoming an prosthodontist is a long but rewarding road. Once you have built up experience in general dental care, it may be a specialism that calls out as something intellectually stimulating, with the opportunity to provide uniquely lifechanging treatment.
When considering how you may develop your skills, it’s important to understand what a career in prosthodontic care will entail, and how it can be attained. You should find effective and appropriate training courses, and choose the right equipment to hit the ground running, meaning you can provide exceptional patient care from day one.
The new curriculum
One way to develop in the field is to pursue prosthodontics through the specialist pathway. This requires further training upon an undergraduate education to ensure you can safely and reliably provide care.
A specialist prosthodontist will need to obtain a Certificate of Completion of Specialty Training (CCST) and then admission onto the Specialist List for Prosthodontics. This can be achieved through a 3-year full-time training programme.[i] A new curriculum has been introduced in 2024, updating on the previous guidance that was launched in 2010.[ii]
The refreshed curriculum equips dental professionals with the necessary specialty-specific skills to become competent in:
- Independently undertaking, recording and interpreting patient history and examination in order to provide an accurate and comprehensive dental and prosthodontic diagnosis
- Determining and planning treatment strategies for simple and complex prosthodontic rehabilitation
- Providing specialist prosthodontic input to interdisciplinary treatment strategies
- Providing simple and complex fixed prosthodontics for patients either independently or in collaboration with other clinicians
- Utilising digital dentistry and clinical imaging as it relates to the management of fixed or removable prosthodontics.i
Choosing the right course for you is essential, and there may be a number of factors to consider. You could look into the experience of tutors and lecturers that are tied to a given course, and consider programmes that place an emphasis on hands-on learning.
Treating under supervision or observing a wide range of casescan ensure you are better prepared to care for patients and provide your own prosthodontic care. The new curriculum does not state a number of cases that must be treated, but using the orthodontic curriculum as a reference – a new specialty programme which came into effect in December 2023 – clinicians may wish to aim for 80-120 cases.[iii]
Dental professionals may attend other courses that help them develop their knowledge of prosthodontic care, but must only deliver treatments that they have been appropriately trained to perform.[iv]
A wide scope of care
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to prosthodontic care, and aesthetic and functional results may be obtained with improved treatment methods every day. As required in the General Dental Council’s Standards for the Dental Teamiv, clinicians have a responsibility to ensure that their care is based on current evidence and authoritative guidance.
Throughout your development as a professional, and long after you obtain a CCST, it’s vital to keep up with the latest findings in prosthodontic care, including those that have a holistic impact on patient health. This helps inform evidence-based dentistry, which closes the gap between clinical research and real-world treatments.[v]
Learning in this way involves identifying and evaluating new methods of care, determining when they can be implemented effectively, and discarding old diagnostic and therapeutic solutions when they are obsolete.v When we are surrounded by ever-developing digital solutions, and a rise in dental tourism[vi] that may prompt a change in treatment needs, staying up to date with the latest findings is paramount for the coming years.
Choosing optimal equipment
When embarking on or advancing a career in prosthodontic care, you should continuously consider the equipment and solutions you use. Clinicians could look at impression taking, a crucial step in prosthodontic care, but view some digital solutions such as intraoral scanners as a substantial investment. Conventional solutions, however, may not only be more affordable, but offer comparable results to digital impression systems in terms of accuracy and reproducibility. Engaging in both workflows throughout your development is optimal, but you must ensure you have effective solutions on hand.
Clinicians could find a solution from Kemdent with the Dental Water Bath, which aids conventional impression taking. The Dental Water Bath features digital temperature control, with a fitted lid to maintain the temperature of your impression compounds. The 2 Year warranty means you can rely on it for an extensive period, as you deliver exceptional care to patients. Clinicians will also receive a sample of the KemKat Impression Compound from Kemdent, which offers high viscosity for recording the full depth of the sulcus.
Prosthodontic care will always be in demand, and with the prominence of aesthetic dental demands coming to the fore, it is a fantastic time for professionals to specialise. Choosing the right training course and equipment, and keeping up with the latest developments in the field, will always offer the greatest chances for success.
For more information about the leading solutions available from Kemdent, please visit www.kemdent.co.uk or call 01793 770 256
[i] General Dental Council, Joint Meeting of Dental Faculties, (2022). Prosthodontics, Specialty Training Curriculum. (Online) Available at: https://www.gdc-uk.org/docs/default-source/quality-assurance/dental-specialty-training/specialty-curricula/prosthodontics-specialty-training-curriculum-2022_a.pdf?sfvrsn=9c0d4ac1_3/%20Prosthodontics-Specialty-Training-Curriculum-2022_a%20.pdf [Accessed August 2024]
[ii] General Dental Council, (2010). Curriculum for Specialist Training in Prosthodontics. (Online) Available at: https://www.gdc-uk.org/docs/default-source/specialist-lists/prosthodontics-curriculum-06-10.pdf?sfvrsn=90b46874_2 [Accessed August 2024]
[iii] General Dental Council, Joint Meeting of Dental Faculties, (2022). Orthodontics, Specialty Training curriculum. (Online) Available at: https://www.gdc-uk.org/docs/default-source/additional-dcp-titles/orthodontics-specialty-training-curriculum-2022.pdf?sfvrsn=91a5d28e_3 [Accessed July 2024]
[iv] General Dental Council, (2019). Standards for the Dental Team. (Online) Available at: https://standards.gdc-uk.org/Assets/pdf/Standards%20for%20the%20Dental%20Team.pdf [Accessed July 2024]
[v] Kishore, M., Panat, S. R., Aggarwal, A., Agarwal, N., Upadhyay, N., & Alok, A. (2014). Evidence based dental care: integrating clinical expertise with systematic research. Journal of clinical and diagnostic research: JCDR, 8(2), 259.
[vi] British Dental Association, (2022). UK dentists picking up the pieces from dental tourism boom. (Online) Available at: https://www.bda.org/media-centre/uk-dentists-picking-up-the-pieces-from-dental-tourism-boom/ [Accessed July 2024]
