Why does it take five years to become an implant surgeon who is capable in straightforward implant dentistry and working with some confidence into advanced implant dentistry (but not ready for complex)?
It takes five years (from a standing start) because there are certain things that people who come on a course don’t know and don’t know they don’t know,
I have taught people to perform surgical extractions in Oral Surgery for 25 years.
I have mentored people in implant dentistry for 15 years and I have seen a lot of people start out in their careers.
I have watched some guys smash it to bits and become fantastic implant surgeons from a standing start and I’ve watched others, who feel entitled because they paid for a course, be absolutely awful and continue to do awful things until disasters happen.
As I’ve said many times in these pages before, if you’re not entirely comfortable doing an upper anterior apicectomy close to the floor of the nose with piezo surgery, magnification and an aesthetic incision, why would you ever be any good at placing an implant in the upper anterior region and why would you have the skills to do that?
There’s no such thing as talent, there’s only purposeful practice and reflection.
That’s why it takes five years.
Blog Post Number: 1710