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Sterngold™ Dental’s 2nd Biennial Implant Forum

Sterngold™ Dental’s 2nd Biennial Implant Forum, “The Standard of Care for Implant Supported Overdentures” was held at the extravagant Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 9 and 10, 2008. The Forum is part of Sterngold Dental’s ongoing commitment to continuing education and training for both general practitioners and specialists who desire adding mini and traditional implants to their practices. Sterngold Dental, with more than 110 years in the industry, is a world leader in dental products specializing in alloys, attachments, implants, and restorative systems. Building off a successful inaugural forum 2 years ago, this session drew more than 290 international attendees. Clinicians and staff members from Brazil, China, Columbia, Finland, Germany, Guatemala, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United States enjoyed fun-filled learning about current implant clinical techniques geared toward both the surgical and practice integration segment of the rapidly growing edentulous population.

DAY ONE
The forum (View Figure) was kicked off with a high-energy audio/video montage featuring the company’s implant system. Once the audience was fully charged, Mark Murphy, DDS, delivered a quintessential message entitled, “Mini-Implant Retained, Immediate Load Overdentures for General Practitioners; An Evidence Based/Risk Assessment Protocol.” The main premise of his lecture was how implants can be added successfully to any practice. Through data collection, a practitioner can objectively identify whether a case would be a “green light,” “yellow light,” or “red light” case. Adding implant placement to a practice does not mean a clinician will have to take on every case him or herself. “Green light” cases can be performed in the office while other more complex cases could be referred out.

As the morning sessions continued, Dov M. Almog, DMD, presented “Prosthetic Considerations for Implant Surgery Utilizing Cone Beam CT and Surgical Guidance Technology.” The convergence of CT scanning and surgical guides has transformed the dental implant industry. Advancement in the use of technology has enabled clinicians to objectively place implants in a controlled and extremely accurate way. Consistently predictable results are achieved through the use of guided surgery.

After lunch, participants enjoyed viewing a live surgery played on the main room screens. The case was performed earlier by Joe L. Carrick, DDS, and featured a man- dibular edentulous immediate-load implant protocol using a CT surgical guide. Throughout the presentation, segmented pauses with question-and-answer sessions gave the participants an opportunity to ask questions of Dr. Carrick about the case. At the end of the surgical presentation, the patient, Mrs. Patricia Perkins, was introduced and brought on stage. She shared her experience with the attendees and said, “The feeling of cold ice cream on the roof of my mouth really made everything work again, it had been a long time since I felt that. The simple aspects of this procedure really made the biggest difference.”

The closing presentation of the day featured Hamid Shafie, DDS, who spoke in detail on “Implant Supported Overdentures and Creating a More Predictable and Satisfying Treatment Option for Totally Edentulous Patients.” Dr. Shafie pointed out that a general practitioner should add an implant protocol to their practice and that using the ERA system provides the ability to correct angled implants so that the final prosthesis follows a desirable path of insertion.

The first day was wrapped up with a cocktail reception in the evening that featured the comedic entertainment of Michael Petit. Attendees had a chance to unwind and network while enjoying many laughs and funny celebrity impersonations by Mr. Petit.

DAY TWO
Day two began with the keynote address by Joseph J. Massad, DDS, with his presentation of “First Things First...A Superior Denture Creates the Most Predictable Implant Success.” As a dynamic and confident speaker, Dr. Massad guided the participants through the evolutionary cycles of creating the perfect denture and then demonstrated those successes through a moving video testimonial montage set to a catchy musical theme. Dr. Massad is regarded as the leader in the field of re- movable prosthetics around the globe.

The closing lecture, entitled, “Is Your Team Trained for Implant Dentistry? The Time is Now...The Choice is Yours!” was presented by JoAn Pickett-Majors. The audience really became excited when she started handing out $20 bills to anyone who had read a personal self-help book in the last 6 months. She urged all of the clinicians in the room to involve the entire staff in a team-approach format when integrating implant dentistry.

In the afternoon on Saturday, more than 100 attendees participated in a series of sold-out hands-on sessions (View Figure). The group was split into three separate 1-hour segments focusing on surgery, prostheses, and patient marketing/case acceptance. Once the groups were finished with the first session, they all moved in round-robin fashion to the next session. This format continued until each participant was able to attend each of the three sessions. In the surgery and prostheses sessions, detailed learning objectives were followed, creating an environment where each attendee was able to place implants into a synthetic bone mandible and then perform an attachment “pick-up” for final seating of the denture. The patient marketing session was presented by Ed O’Keefe, founder of Dentist Profits, who demonstrated effective tools that each clinician can use in their practice to increase case acceptance and patient satisfaction.

AN OVERWHELMING SUCCESS
Throughout the 2-day event, participants were able to visit with the many sponsors, including Bident-Synergetics, Blackwell Publishing, Care Credit, Compendium, Danilov Dental Lab, Dentistry By Choice, Dentist Profits, iDent, Innovative Implant Technology, Inside Dentistry, Newell Ledbetter Advertising, Pease & Curren, The Scottsdale Center for Dentistry, and Vident, who were exhibiting in the main meeting room. This setting provided a great way to learn about other product offerings in the industry and connected the attendees with the sponsors without having to leave the room.

The event was marked as an overwhelming success and the majority of the attendees had great things to say about the entire program. A doctor from Texas commented, “One of the best organized meetings in order of functions and implementation for us to follow. Thank you very much. This was a huge success.” Another said, “I will incorporate this implant system Monday morning.”

Participants received up to 14 CE credits through either the ADA CERP or AGD PACE for attending the forum.

Mark your calendar to join Sterngold at the next Implant Forum, scheduled for the Spring of 2010. Visit www.sterngold.com for more information and details on other training courses scheduled throughout the country and to learn more about Sterngold and its products.

Attendees enjoy one of the many informative presentations during the Forum.		Attendees were also able to participate in a number of hands-on demonstrations.