The Original Dental Implant Community

Implant placement and learning: your views?

Last Updated: Mar 08, 2018

Many of us learn about placing implants in various courses given throughout the United States. The cost of learning these procedure can reach $20,000 for a week of learning on cadavers, pig jaws, plastic models, etc. Most of the time, the learning goes on beyond that and so do the expenses.

My curiosity goes out to my colleagues by asking if in your opinion one can learn the implant placement procedures well in these courses or do you see any alternatives? The anatomy, the hardware, pharmaceuticals, the surgical protocol can and should be learned from sources like books, videos, journals, and various publications. Do our colleagues in medicine deal with the subject of learning new procedures in the same way?

Are the courses that provide hands-on opportunities by practicing on anything but people, under supervision, achieving their objectives? By sharing your experience we can help others who are anticipating their involvement in the treatment of patients with dental implants. What are your views on this subject?

3 Comments on Implant placement and learning: your views?

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Dok

3/8/2018

Weekend courses are surely not enough. One on one mentorship with a local oral surgeon is probably best. Everything else is somewhere in-between.

Etow

3/8/2018

I started with an AAID Maxicourse. Gives a good foundation in the science and opportunities to place initial implants with supervision. It does cost though. I just figured it was an investment in something that I enjoyed. Good luck.

Greg Kammeyer, DDS, MS

3/15/2018

Both Dok and Etow have great ideas. You must look at how serious and committed you are to meeting the standard of care, which is high in implant dentistry as are patient expectations. Certainly there are higher levels of learning yet: getting a certificate in OMFS, Periodontics or Implant Dentistry will give you yet a much fuller appreciation for what it takes to do implant surgery well. The cost of failure in implant dentistry is HIGH and the training invaluable. I applaud your interest and encourage you to evaluate all the options before jumping in. Once you start, go slow and have a mentor. Someone to go over cases with you before you say "this is easy enough for me". If you develop your skills effectively than you will have fewer mistakes to remake/give refunds on etc. Good luck!!

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