Designing Functional Restorations

During this 18-hour course, participants will learn how to generate a functional diagnosis using a logical algorithm which is practical and clinically relevant, and how to take centric relation records using three different techniques. The corrective steps to optimize a stable occlusion will be presented with hands-on exercises to reinforce concepts and techniques.

[It is recommended that participants take Course I prior to this course]

The primary focus of this course will be on understanding how to diagnose and treat patients with occlusal issues and when it’s best to refer them to the TMD specialist. Why are your veneers chipping? Why do some patients have anterior-only wear while others have posterior-only wear? How and when do we need to restore VDO? These questions will be addressed with a systematic algorithm that will provide you and your patients with the best approach possible. We use the “Diagnostic Diamond” – a formula-based system to integrate patient data in a clear and organized manner leading to a risked-based sequential treatment plan. The hands-on portion of the course will take dentists through the steps to take accurate esthetically derived facebow records, the indications for and delivery of deprogrammers, centric relations records, equilibration, bonded prototypes, and occlusal guards.

After this course, dentists can better understand the comprehensive diagnostic process and formulate predictable and affordable treatment plans for their patients with options and their risks and benefits. This is a practical course geared toward general dentists looking to take their dentistry to “the next level” of inpatient care with foresight, compassion, ethics, and integrity.

Topics Covered:

– Occlusal Diagnoses: Acceptable vs Unacceptable
– Data gathering and metrics – legal protection against an Internet-savvy world
– The ultimate and efficient cancer-screening exam
– Radiographic interpretation in the digital world
– Clinical Photography – keeping it super simple
– Current Periodontal diagnoses – they’ve changed
– Current Endodontic diagnoses – they’ve changed!
– Caries management – non-surgical and surgical
– New diagnostic modalities – technological advances
– Understanding structural compromise
– Formulating the elusive functional diagnosis
– Esthetic Facebow records that mean something
– Easy and repeatable CR records – we can all do this
– When will MIP work, and when it will not?
– Design in esthetic dentistry – it’s much more than just teeth
– Esthetic risk factors – staying out of trouble
– Treating the gummy smile – multidisciplinary approaches
– Sequential treatment planning – what to always do first to avoid unhappy patients
– The Prognostic matrix – with treatment and without – let the patient know the difference
– Restoring VDO – it all begins with one simple truth
– Equilibration – its narrow indications and its simple implementation
– Deprogrammers – they work when you understand them
– Treating the Emergency Patient – triage, reassurance, and practice building
– Occlusal Guards – let’s keep it simple
– How to minimize ceramic fractures by understanding the materials and occlusion.

Learning Objectives:

– Understand the power of mastering a comprehensive diagnosis
– Learn how to take an accurate CR record and know when it’s indicated
– Learn when to restore VDO and when to leave it alone!
– Be able to plan like a prosthodontist but execute within your comfort zone
– Learn how to synthesize restorative dentistry into a meaningful, risk-based treatment plan
– Learn how dental critical thinking is fun, profitable, and filled with possibilities
– Learn how to phase the most complex treatment with a simplified approach.

Clinical Occlusion. Course II