School Is In Session

(In this week’s blog Dr. Alex Touchstone discusses the advantage of continuing your education)

Dentistry is a wonderfully complex profession. As such, we tend to have an innate curiosity to learn new methods for improving patient care. Learning new techniques is exciting and rewarding on many levels. I recently added up the number of CE hours I have scheduled for learning in the next 12 months and they total over 250. I greatly appreciate the valuable guidance, experiences, and teaching from the many mentors who have been central to my development. There will most likely be more added as new interests are ignited or old ones rekindled.

Like many of us, I am committed to a lifetime of professional learning. My commitment is rooted in a desire to continuously improve at the art and science of dentistry. I also have the privilege of teaching many dentists per year how to implement various aspects of digital dentistry into their practices via lectures and the online learning platform, LearnDigitalDentistry.com. Over the years, these pursuits have enriched my practice, personal relationships and maintained my passion for our profession.

So, I pose this question: If you have experience in digital dentistry, are you willing to share it? Industry professionals, doctors, professional organizations and DSO groups are embracing digital dentistry. They are looking for dental professionals like you to speak at events full of professionals eager to acquire more knowledge or to learn from their peer’s experiences. With the rapid advance of digital dentistry, (CBCT, 3D printing, CAD/CAM, digital implant planning), those with this experience can offer insight that others will want to hear. Topics of interest include how to improve your workflow, discover previously undiagnosed conditions and most importantly how to improve patient care.

A great way that I’ve found to help advance learning is to document work and experiences that show solutions for optimizing workflows. If you have something to share, I encourage you to post your case studies/images with tens of thousands of members on the forum at LearnDigitalDentistry.com or with another group that appeals to you.

Now, as children embark on another year of schooling, let's remember that our learning journey continues as well and that we may rely upon one another to advance our abilities.

Dr. Alex Touchstone is a Key Opinion Leader for Planmeca.