University postgraduate training in implant dentistry for the general dental practitioner.

AIMS OF THIS PAPER: This paper aims to: (1) Describe the educational requirements of general practitioners who want to safely and effectively introduce implant dentistry procedures to their practice. (2) Define the necessary competencies and level of complexity that would need to be attained in a postgraduate implant dentistry programme for general dental practitioners. (3) Discuss the programme structures which universities can utilize in order to provide quality education in implant dentistry for general practitioners. (4) Provide guidelines for the resources, content, course format and instructional methods which could be well suited to the educational requirements of such programmes. The authors intend to produce a headline reference guide to outline the necessary educational structures for postgraduate pathways aimed at facilitating the continuous professional development of general practitioners within implant dentistry. This paper does not address issues concerning specialist training or higher research degrees.

Participation in continuing professional development by Victorian dental practitioners in 2004.

BACKGROUND: Continuing professional development (CPD) has been long considered an integral component of professional practice across a range of health professions. It is believed to ensure the maintenance of practitioner clinical competence and knowledge of current concepts. This study investigated the participation in and attitudes of Victorian dental personnel to CPD activities. METHODS: A self-administered cross-sectional survey of a random sample of registered dental care providers (n = 451) was conducted from March to June 2005 using an anonymous, postal, self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: The response rate was low (48.1 per cent). Nearly 90 per cent of respondents attended a CPD course in 2004, with the mean hours of attendance ranging from 8.3 to 36.9 hours, depending on registration category. Nearly half of the dentists attended more than 20 hours of CPD courses, while less than 20 per cent of prosthetists attended more than 15 hours of CPD courses. Three-quarters of respondents supported mandatory CPD as a condition of registration. CONCLUSIONS: There was a high level of participation in continuing professional development activities by surveyed Victorian dental care providers in 2004, although more than half of the dentists and specialists, and nearly two-thirds of therapists, hygienists and prosthetists would fail to meet the new DPBV mandatory requirements for CPD.

Web-based continuing dental education in California.

This article asks and answers a series of questions about Web-based continuing education for dentists. A summary of these answers are: (1) all indicators point to a substantive increase in the number and types of continuing education courses in the next five years; (2) the main reasons to take an online dental C.E. course are that it is available at any time from any location that has an Internet connection and the total cost per unit will be substantially lower compared to traditional C.E. courses; (3) the best type of online C.E. course would be one that has an identified experienced expert instructor, provides a case-based or problem-based approach, and provides an interactivity opportunity between the instructor and student via chat room or e-mail; and (4) online continuing dental education is simply one of many methods that can be used by dental practitioners and will not replace other continuing education methods but rather supplement them. In summary, as more and more online dental C.E. courses become available, it is hoped they will be designed to be more than a series of slides since this method does not take advantage of the unique features and opportunities provided by the Internet.

Attendance at and self-perceived need for continuing education among Mongolian dentists.

In May 2000, a questionnaire-based survey was targeted at all Mongolian dentists practising in the capital city of Mongolia in May 2000 with the aim of evaluating attendance at and the self-perceived need for continuing education (CE) in relation to their background characteristics and to their attitude towards CE. The response rate was 98% (n = 245), with 38% of the dentists reporting a CE learning opportunity in at least one of the clinical disciplines of dentistry during the 2 years prior to the survey. A need for CE in at least one of the disciplines was perceived by 58%. A dentist's field of practice and attitude towards CE were the significant factors for attendance, whereas length of working experience, field of practice, holding a postgraduate degree, and having attended CE courses were significant factors for perceiving a need for CE, when controlling for all other variables in the logistic regression analyses (P < 0.05). There seems to be a need for an increased attendance at CE courses among the dentists and a need for preparing them to have a positive attitude towards CE. On the other hand, creating an organized CE system which produces courses for dental practitioners, based on their need, will be at present a challenge for the Mongolian dental profession.

It's time to revive dental study clubs.

Dental study clubs provide a major opportunity for dentists to meet with other dentists and dental team members and to learn in a friendly, nonthreatening environment. They afford members the opportunity to increase their knowledge of and clinical skills in using new concepts, materials, techniques and devices by hearing about them from fellow members or by working with and evaluating innovations themselves for the benefit of other members. I strongly support the study club concept, and I feel that it should be encouraged in all clinical disciplines in all parts of the country.

Implant dentistry education for the practicing dentist.

Contemporary standards of care, as well as ethical and legal issues, dictate the incorporation of dental implants into the general dental practice. Given the simplicity of current implant systems, most general dentists already possess the clinical expertise necessary to provide basic implant restorative services to their patients. However, due to the restricted manner in which dental implant training was propagated in the United States, and perhaps due to its foreign origins, many competent dentists seem unaware of this greatly beneficial innovation. There are a variety of educational resources available for the uninitiated dentist to gain proficiency in basic implant dentistry. The ideal education in implant dentistry provides supervised hands-on clinical training on live patients as well as didactic instruction by recognized teachers in implant dentistry. Such education may or may not be devoid of commercial bias. This paper will describe many of these opportunities.

A survey of continuing professional education for orthodontists in 23 European countries.

This paper reports on a survey of the organization, forms and methods of funding continuing professional education (CPE) for those providing orthodontics in 23 European countries in 1997. A postal questionnaire was sent to all members of the EURO-QUAL II BIOMED project, who came from 28 countries, together with an explanatory letter. Answers were validated during a meeting of project participants and by further correspondence, when necessary. Completed questionnaires, which were subsequently validated, were returned by orthodontists from 23 countries and indicated that orthodontic CPE took place in 22 of the 23 countries surveyed. A number of different bodies were reported as organizing orthodontic CPE. This task was most frequently performed by orthodontic societies (in 22 out of 23 countries), but a number of other bodies were also involved. Practical technique courses were reported as taking place in 20 countries. Other frequently occurring forms of orthodontic CPE were lectures (in 18 countries) and study groups (in 15 countries). Orthodontists were reported as financing their CPE in 22 countries; others, who contributed to some or all of the costs, were the Government (in six countries), employers (in four countries), universities (in four countries), and a dental company (in one country). It was concluded that some orthodontic CPE took place in the vast majority of the countries surveyed, and was invariably organized by and paid for, wholly or in part by orthodontists themselves.

Emerging trends in professional development.

The shape of professional development in dentistry can better be guessed from imagining the emerging needs of practitioners than from the technology of education. Four predictions are offered: professional development is likely to involve a greater blend of learning and doing, customized to individual dentists, emphasizing value added rather than evaluation of dentists, and to be distributed in the sense that dentists will take their learning in smaller doses and at their own convenience.