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It’s one thing to learn things that are cool, it’s a different thing to learn things that you need. 

As I write this blog, I’m on the back of a boat in Barcelona (we hired an Airbnb boat to stay at the Osteology conference here and it was amazing!!) 

The Osteology conference is the highest-level oral rehabilitation conference in the world probably, with thousands of delegates and a massive presence of companies and individuals. 

The Osteology foundation is a great organisation and should take great credit for the stuff they provide, but some of the educational content of these courses is just stellar and way beyond what’s even possible.  

You often find that at conference, you sit through a lecture from somebody who is quite extraordinary, showing you work that you’d never be able to do and wonder why you feel so desolate. 

The other option is to learn things that help you be better on a day to day basis, which might not be as sexy but just add to the foundations of providing excellent clinical care in practice, which over decades builds your life. 

This is one of the things that we decided to do at The Campbell Academy with some of the masterclasses that we provide, so when we did medicine in relation to implant dentistry (it was really just medicine in relation to dentistry) it was something that I wanted on a day to day basis, it was one of the best courses that I’ve done. This was provided by Professor John Gibson who is now the Dean of Aberdeen Dental School, but at that time was Professor for Oral Medicine in relation to dentistry at Glasgow. 

We’ve done other courses as well including anatomy from Thomas von Arx which is just truly amazing but not like doing an Invisalign course or a composite course. 

So, when we were looking at courses for this year, we wanted one on local anaesthetic, but, (and I don’t really like to tell people this too much) I have a little bit of an interest in facial pain from my time of working with John  Gibson, when he was a registrar and I was a house officer in oral medicine. I enjoy looking after patients with facial pain, but I don’t want to run a whole referral service based on it, so I try to keep it relatively quiet. 

The art of managing facial pain for dental practitioners is a basic and fundamental skill, it should be taught extensively to undergraduates but really isn’t in the best possible way in many cases, and so we decided to put a day together on facial pain management and local anaesthetic. 

I know you think you know everything about local anaesthetic, and you don’t need any help, but that’s b*****s and I know you think you can’t treat facial pain but that’s b*****s too. 

The day with John will be 6 hours of facial pain and local anaesthetic and you will use it every single day of your practice from now on. 

We also, with the master classes put ITI study clubs in the evening, just so you are aware, these are free for two attempts for anyone who would like to come. In the evening John will do an abbreviated version of his medicine in relation to dentistry lecture, which is absolutely priceless, including stuff on biologics, MRONJ and treating patients with diabetes and medical problems etc. He is a genius at this stuff and his information is absolutely accessible and usable, it’s absolutely honest to say that he changed my practising life the last time he gave that lecture. 

The master class on facial pain and local anaesthetic is during the day on the 18th September and the ITI study club is in the evening, email us here if you would like to come 

Blog Post Number - 1994