Fixed pros course

 Just finished day one of two of a fixed prosthodontics course "Masterprep VIP". It's a fairly popular course that a few colleagues had done but isn't particularly well advertised so it mainly gets circulated by word of mouth. The first day is relatively long starting at 8:30 and running relatively non stop until 6:30pm. They said they have shifted the course structure over the years and have put the majority of the theory into the first day and all of the hands on component into the second day because splitting up the exercises throughout the two days wasted time in the transitions between lecture and hands on. This is certainly something I have noticed at hands on courses in the past and in addition, when the hands on component comes along, some people are listening, some are trying to get ahead and if the presenter wants to make an interjection,  it can sometimes be drowned out in the noise and activity. Every one tends to work at different speeds and moving the group forwards cohesively can be a challenge.

I found the flow of the presentations relatively easy to follow and nothing to overwhelming or shocking. Some parts were good revision of previously learned concepts, some were rearranging of concepts in a more easily understandable format and there were some useful clinical hints as well as glimpses and justifications into their personal philosophy of aspects of fixed prosthodontics.

The presenters have a broad extensive background including ceramics, particularly zirconia, oral surgery, digital dentistry and dental technology and so the courses they run touch on each topic with finesse. They are altruistic in their sharing of knowledge and it seems as though there is a genuine desire to answer questions and engage in interaction. There seems as though there will be stations in day two with exposure to different aspects of the preparation workflow i.e magnification, scanners, analogue impressions, ultrasonics etc. There will be multiple different preparations to be attempted on plastic teeth in manikin heads and these are designed to highlight the differences in the prep design and how they relate to the materials and stresses put upon the tooth and restoration as well as the limitations of the material and how they are overcome in the prep design.

One concept they mentioned which I liked was the idea of principles vs protocols. This essentially stressed the importance of protocols and checklists to achieving reliable success and safe practising whilst also underlining the importance of understanding the principles which underly these protocols to know why we do what we do. This becomes important when we are faced with something that fits outside the mean, and if we can understand the logic behind the rules then we can bend the rules to fit the situation in a bespoke way.

The class size is fairly small, about 14 people and this will become important as we move onto day two and the hands on component. Though the room is relatively long so it would be hard for the people at the back to see the lecture screen and diagrams well. 

The theory covered is very broad based and seems like a lot but in reality it is not a comprehensive collection of all their knowledge but more of a sample of selections of the most important points about each aspect of the fixed prosthodontic journey from patient assessment to delivery. I think there is too much for me to summarise like previous courses given the time I've had these days but I will eventually try go go through few aspects of their clinical steps that differs from my own as well as an idea of aspects of their "philosophies" of fixed pros if that isn't too grand a term.

The second day promises to be very different to the first but it will be interesting to see how it progresses especially if they can tie in and reinforce some of the concepts covered in the first day. It would be good to see if they can make the benchtop simulation of preps clinically relevant in terms of soft tissue management and material limitations which is very difficult to do outside a clinical setting. I would like to have a bit more exposure as to the lab side of the fixed prosthodontic process which is something that wasn't covered exhaustingly at university or at previous courses but I don't think this is something that piques everyone's interests. 

This is the first course I have attended in a long while and it was refreshing to get my brain working again outside of the monotony of daily practice. Critiquing and trying to learn from my own work has been very useful but I find that I am limited by the narrow scope of the dentistry I practice and the things that I am trained to see and recognise. Getting an outside perspective from the presenters, getting exposure to materials and technologies that I don't have is very useful in getting my brain primed to further question and refine how I do things. In any case, we will see how this next day goes and hopefully there will be more interesting things to share after that.