Article

Feature Article
Nov 23, 2017 // 10 min read
The Status of Continuing Professional Development in Implant Dentistry for the General Dentist in Europe
Ulrike Stephanie Webersberger
Nikos Mattheos
DOI: 10.3290/iti.fi.45672
Continuing professional development (CPD) implant dentistry postgraduate dental education general dentist
Abstract

In Europe, there is enormous diversity in regard to undergraduate and postgraduate dental education programs. As the increasing demand for implant-based therapies requires educational opportunities associated with implant dentistry, it is necessary for the general dentist to find postgraduate dental courses tailored to the individual needs of the practitioner that are also applicable to their dental practice.

Continuing professional development (CPD) courses are now accepted as an essential activity for dentists to maintain clinical skills and stay up to date with new developments in dentistry. There is a huge range of CPD courses provided in implant dentistry ranging from 1-day industry-driven product training to full-time implant dentistry training programs and long-term university-based curricula. As implant therapy involves many levels of complexity, CPD in implant dentistry can have many “points of entry” and dentists should be able to define their own learning objectives, depending on the level of practice they wish to achieve. To this end, Personal Development Planning (PDP) is an essential tool to help dentists identify their learning objectives and derive greater benefit from their CPD by selecting the appropriate learning strategy and courses. Therefore, clearly defined educational objectives have to be set for each level of competence. This will help in the long term to develop a structured and regulated CPD curriculum in implant dentistry, at least at a national level.

Introduction
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” - Mark Twain

As, over recent decades, implant dentistry procedures have become more predictable and efficient, and cost-benefit ratios have improved, Implant dentistry has become an integral part of dentistry, reaching a growing part of the population as an important treatment alternative in reconstructive dentistry (Mattheos et al. 2009; Thomason et al. 2007; Thomason et al. 2009). Straightforward implant procedures are no longer carried out only by specialists, as at the beginning of ID, and are increasingly performed by general dentists (Sanz et al. 2009). Educational institutions have the responsibility to educate dental professionals to perform implant procedures at different levels of complexity. Consensus guidelines from the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) workshop in 2008 were issued to provide state-of-the-art dental care, and the academic leaders agreed that ID should be taught in undergraduate education (Mattheos, et al. 2009).

The study by Koole et al. demonstrated that the average amount of implant dentistry teaching in undergraduate curricula has increased to 74 hours, compared to 36 hours in 2008 (Koole et al. 2014). Nevertheless, further progress is still needed on all educational levels in implant dentistry.

In recent years, different postgraduate training schemes were introduced by dental schools, professional organizations, scientific societies and commercial companies (Petropoulos et al. 2006). Dentists can participate in implant dentistry courses of different quality and quantity ranging from 1-day industry-driven product training to full-time implant dentistry training programs and long-term university-based curricula.

At the moment, three separate pathways of training opportunities are available to dentists who wish to practice implant dentistry in Europe (Donos et al. 2009; Koole, et al. 2014; Ucer et al. 2014):

  1. University postgraduate degree programs dedicated to implant dentistry leading to a postgraduate diploma or master’s degree
  2. Established specialist training programs leading to recognized specialist status according to national legislation (e.g. periodontology, oral surgery, prosthodontics etc.)
  3. Continuing professional development (CPD) courses