Australasian Dentist Magazine March April 2021

Category 14 Australasian Dentist Develop and enhance your clinical and technical skills Post Graduate Institute of Dental Surgery Excellence in Post Graduate Education § The most comprehensive clinical and practical programme in Australia § Clinical treatment blocks in all major Australian cities, accessible for students and patients § PGIDS only engages in interactive and engaging learning. § Regulated Quality Framework Graduate Diploma and Programme (EQF7). An intensive and hands on programme designed for clinicians wishing to develop surgical and prosthodontic training, experience and competence in dental implantology o Utilises multiple implant systems, components and augmentation materials representing the state-of-the-art. o Comprises practical workshops, seminars, presentations and clinical case planning and treatment. 500 CPD hours including 350 direct contact teaching. For more information contact info@PGIDS.net Graduate Diploma in Dental Implantology (one year commencing July 2021) n ws E ducation and Continuing Professional Development has never been more important to dentists. Appropriate training, experience and competence are considered essential by the dental board. So what education is available and how well does it match clinician’s needs? Dental CPD falls into four main areas: 1. Communication with patients and the dental team, consent, complaints and risk management. 2. Practice and business management, leadership skills 3. Professional behaviour, ethics and jurisprudence, equality. 4. Maintenance and development of clinical and technical knowledge and skills within the scope of practice. There are a range of postgraduate education providers covering these fields and they vary in their focus areas. Universities focus on undergraduate education, RHD’s and a few offer D.Clin. Dent. programmes in certain specialties. However, CPD is generally not well covered. The Australian Dental Association has been a main source of dental CPD with an excellent range of courses. However, the onset of CoVid left providers with an immediate cessation of face to face programmes. Some online services have stepped in but it is important that prospective registrants examine quality critically before parting with funds for a series of taped presentations. In the UK and US dental CPD is verifiable and programmes are independently assessed and reviewed against established learning criteria. This situation becomes even more important where CPD seeks to develop and enhance a dentist’s clinical and technical skills. Three such areas are CAD-CAM, dental implants and orthodontics. It should be obvious that an instruction manual or IFU will not suffice where development in diagnostic, surgical and clinical skills is necessary. However, CPD in these fields is often very minimal and led by industry. Industry has a long history in training and education in dental implantology for example. Many courses are two day Weekend Warrior programmes, often sales events to promote intro packages. Other courses including travel abroad focus on surgical placement with no consideration of diagnosis, restoration or complications. The best way an ethical and responsible dentist can protect his patients and himself is to ensure he has appropriate training, experience and competence for any treatment he is providing. Fortunately, there are one or two Australian educational institutes providing comprehensive education in a number of areas of dentistry. These are accredited diplomas and certificate programmes from institutes regulated to EQF, RQF and AQF standards. The Post Graduate Institute of dental surgery is one such organisation and is proud to offer the highest quality of education designed specifically to provide chairside clinical education and training to the highest standards. u For more information contact: info@PGIDS.net Professor Neil Meredith, Dean