Pearls of Wisdom for Clinical Practice and More

Progressive treatment options for numerous patients of varying ages with differing malocclusions will be discussed. The magic happens when the best results are achieved through timely diagnosis and proper treatment selection, often avoiding orthognathic surgery and permanent tooth extractions. The orthodontist’s goal is to provide each patient with the most appropriate treatment plan at the most appropriate time. The dentist no doubt plays a critical role in this timely intervention. This session will be interactive encouraging the audience to rate patients’ potential treatment plans
relative to their level of difficulty.

Objectives:

1. Appreciate the importance of timely diagnosis and the general dentist’s responsibility in the patient’s orthodontic problem.
2. To understand progressive orthodontic treatment planning for all ages ie which treatment approach is recommended at which age: Invisalign, brackets, growth modification with Invisalign for children, surgery, or non-surgical treatment?
3. To understand what the treatment compromises and consequences are with cosmetic-only orthodontic treatment.

You may not realize it, but even if you don’t do root canals in your practice, you are still performing endodontics every day.  Many dentists don’t realize the true importance of endodontic diagnosis in their practice and for their patients.  Even if you refer your patient’s out of the office for treatment, many patients end up at the wrong specialist and that makes for a very unhappy patient.  Every dentist needs a system to make diagnosing tooth pain a no brainer and simple; and every dentist needs to understand how to interpret those findings too.  When you learn the nitty-gritty of endodontic diagnosis you will learn how a proper diagnosis sets the stage on how to anesthetize, treat, medicate and follow-up every case even if you aren’t the one doing the procedure.  This lecture will show you how to manage your patient’s expectations to keep your patients happy and loyal for life.

Objectives

1. Develop a system for your diagnosis and understand the merits of CBCT.
2. Learn the #1 tool in Endo (psst…you already have it).
3. Learn how the right diagnosis sets the stage for your entire treatment: for how you anesthetize, treat and medicate your patients.

In the day and age of information overload, multi-tasking and always being “on” and “available”, our minds can become distracted by the urgent at the expense of the important.  We become so preoccupied by yesterday and tomorrow that we can no longer lead and excel in the present.

Both in professional and personal settings, most of us are expected to lead in helping organize, manage and direct the day to day.  Given the abundance of “stuff” thrown our way, our leadership abilities may sometimes falter.  The work of developing mindful leadership begins by recognizing how much time we spend in a mental state called “continuous partial attention”.  We tend to react rather than respond to situations that arise in our professional and personal lives. This presentation will describe how cultivating focus, clarity, creativity and compassion are all essential traits of becoming a mindful and effective leader.

Objectives:

1. Define and outline characteristics of a mindful leader in personal and professional spaces
2. Understand the negative impact of “continuous partial attention”
3. Outline how to respond to life’s challenges in a way which promotes focus, creativity, and compassion in daily life

The palate contains a variety of different tissues, including odontogenic, salivary, mesenchymal and lymphoid tissues, and is intimately related to the nasopharynx and oropharynx. Disease processes affecting the palate range from innocuous and insignificant to destructive and life-threatening. Therefore, lesions presenting in the palate may present challenges in diagnosis. Using a case-based approach, attendees will learn:

1. How to formulate a differential diagnosis,
2. About recent updates regarding the etiology of some of these lesions, and
3. How to manage common and/or clinically significant lesions of the palate.

Women today see more images in the course of a day than our grandmothers did in their entire lifetimes! As we ingest these images, our self-esteem and self-image can become eroded; and we pass that self-loathing on to our daughters and our sons! Through the wonders of photoshop and other manipulations these images obliterate the old adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words”.

Join Adrienne Gold as we re-claim our dignity through heightening our consciousness of media manipulations and developing an appreciation for ‘truth’; in advertising and in our own aspirations!

Millions of patients are now being treated with dental implants in general dental offices. It is easy to focus on filling the missing spaces and not look at the whole oral condition. Periodontal disease still remains often undiagnosed and untreated, even though modern technology, such as lasers, has allowed us to treat this condition with less downtime. This lecture will address the importance of assessing oral conditions using salivary diagnostics, laser periodontal regeneration procedures as well as nutritional interventions that will improve results with your patients.

Objectives:

1. Assessing oral conditions using salivary diagnostic tests
2. Predictable periodontal procedures using minimally invasive techniques
3. Functional nutritional interventions to reverse osteoporosis, inflammation and nutrient deficiencies.

Dr. Lesley David and Dr. Carolyn Poon Woo will face off with Dr. Effie Habsha and Dr. Reena Talwar in a treatment planning session that will be both educational and entertaining. In this dynamic session, several cases will be presented and both teams will give their perspectives on diagnosis and planning. This will be an interactive session that will no doubt spark controversy as potentially different ideas will erupt on how to treat a range of various clinical scenarios. Audience participation will also be sought.

Objectives:

1. The importance of a proper diagnosis in formulating a treatment plan
2. Appreciate how various clinical scenarios can have different treatment options
3. Understand the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration