The Innovators – Another First for GSDM

No other dental school can boast that they have a comprehensive pre-clinical digital implantology course that precedes the actual experience of patient treatment. The Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine will be rolling out this new course in January 2017, the beginning of Spring Semester. Aimed at second year DMD students and first year Advanced Standing DMD students, the course was developed and will be co-directed by Dr. Hesham Nouh (Prosthodontist) and Dr. Neal Fleisher (Periodontist) in the Department of General Dentistry, supervised by Dr. Celeste Kong.  This will be a required course for all students.

Since the introduction of dental implants to the United States, in 1986, there has been an exponential increase in the number of implants placed, each year. This is due to the relative reliability of the Osseointegration process, as well as ease of use.

In addition, the profession has seen a significant broadening of the background of the dentist placing and restoring the implants. Initially limited to only prosthodontists and oral surgeons, today for a variety of reasons, implant placement has become more common place in any number of specialty practices, including periodontists, endodontists, and prosthodontists.

Currently, it has become a routine practice in a growing number of general practitioners. This can in part be attributed to the introduction and integration of various digitaltechnologies, taking some of the risk and uncertainty out of the placement and restoration processes.

With the advent of Galileos CBCT technology, merging with CEREC digital image files captured by optical cameras, and the sophisticated Sidexis software, these advances allow implants to be planned in a 3 dimensionally accurate representation of the patient’s jaw. In short, students are learning to merge data of the CBCT with the digital impression, virtually placing an implant.  In addition, using CEREC CAD/CAM technology surgical guides are milled and used to ensure the exact placement of the implants.

At the end of this preclinical course, the student will be able to:

• Read and manipulate a CBCT (Galileos) scan
• Treatment plan the implant placement and subsequent restoration using CBCT and CEREC software
• Virtual placement of a dental implant in the Galaxis software
• Design surgical guides that can be milled from the merging of Galaxis/Galileos files and CEREC files
• Place an implant in the Simulation Learning Center into specially designed models using digitally milled surgical guides and keys
• Restore a single missing tooth in a posterior quadrant on a typodont
• Restore an implant supported mandibular complete denture on a typodont with two overlay denture attachments

This course will enable students to translate the skills learned in the simulation lab into clinical expertise needed as they transition to the clinic, placing implants in the predoctoral treatment center.

“Drs. Nouh and Fleisher have done an amazing job in the creation of this new course that incorporates digital dentistry into the treatment planning, design, and placement of surgically guided implants during preclinical training,” said Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter, “both our predoctoral students and their patients will greatly benefit from this advanced training.