In 1999 I ran one of the first educational courses, independently, that I’d ever done.
It was a ‘restore your own implants’ course at what was the Gateway hotel in Nottingham at J26.
About 10 dentists turned up (two of whom still refer to me) with the aim of finding out how to restore dental implants which was this new treatment modality that they knew very little about.
In truth and on reflection, I knew very little about it too, but I knew more than them and they didn’t have to pay for the course because it was funded by the implant company (Straumann).
And so, we turned up for 2 days, altogether, and with all the kit and I went through the process of what to do if they sent patients to me and I put the implants in and sent them back to them and they restored the implants.
And so, from 1999 that format rolled out and I also watched it roll out around the country as different implant surgeons did the same thing to build their referral base and to teach other people how to place implants.
I don’t think it’s unfair or over arrogant to suggest that this helped Straumann create a massive foothold in the east midlands as implant dentistry developed from there and between us, we managed to introduce many people to dental implants through that format.
That format is worn out and dead and to introduce people to dental implants using a 2-day implant restorative course format just simply doesn’t work and I and we have identified that some time ago.
Introduce, stage left, one of our new course formats that we ran for the first time in autumn last year was our digital dental business course.
These course formats consist of a four-week modular course design which is entirely based online.
The course is project based, not lecture based and it has a 1-week introductory week or ‘onboarding’ and a 1-week catch-up week making the total of this course format 6 weeks.
The course is entirely done in your own time, at your own pace but in the midst of a vibrant online community; based on the Slack platform.
There are Zoom elements to the course and recorded content and hours of verifiable CPD.
There is the ability to revisit the lecture or the content to make sure you’ve got a handle on it but also to share it in a safe place; with the people that are learning at the same time as you.
The digital dental business course was a great success and will run again twice this year and now we introduce our Online Implant Restorative course.
This is an introductory course for people that are not restoring dental implants but are keen to find out more about it and to achieve the necessary verifiable CPD to get started on straightforward cases.
As part of this course, we’ll send you a box with everything you need to practice on, which is guided by online material.
This is an extension of the tabletop exercise as we used to do on the 2-day restorative courses.
You’ll have all the digital resources, all the educational resources through our online academy and access to all the speakers and educators.
You can do the course when you come home in the evening or you can take some time off or you can do it at the weekend.
You can do modules in your lunch break or go to work early in the morning.
In short, you can fit it in around your life as much as you want and sign it off over whichever period you like.
There is no travelling, no hotels and no time off practice, there is however the chance to join a community of people who think the same way that you do and see the world in a similar way.
We can also, if you need us to, introduce you to a surgeon locally to you who would be delighted to work with you and get you moving.
The design of these new six-week courses was not in any way our response to Covid as they were in the pipeline from 3 years ago so, I guess we just got lucky with the format.
They’re actually based on the hugely successful Akimbo platform that Seth Godin uses for his courses in which several of us at the Academy have used for further education.
More and more of these will emerge in time including a CBCT course later this year and many other digital modular courses to enhance the courses we provide face-to-face.
These are not a substitute for face-to-face learning, they are an adjunct and an addition, but this is a really, really good place to start if you’re thinking about implant dentistry and to expand your career.
It’s how hundreds and hundreds of people started in a face-to-face format and now it’s more accessible than ever.
If you’re interested and you like the idea, find out more here!
Blog Post Number - 2642
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