Dentaltown New Grad Edition 2016 - 32

have a didactic seminar with a two-week clinical rotation, in which you do some exams and some work with prophies, sealants and fillings. As a result, the average dental student graduate is ill-prepared to treat the myriad of dental problems that exist in children today. Regardless of whether the graduate or new dentist starts a new practice or gets an employment associateship, chances are high that the bulk of new patients treated will be children. The old adage still applies: No matter where you start in dental practice, the odds are good that you will treat children until you get successful. Then, at that point, you could refer out children or give them to the new associate. The question is, would it make sense to stop treating kids at that point just because you could? I'd argue that the answer is no. Surf's up So if you're going to treat kids-at least for the short term and ideally for the long term-where do you get the training in pediatric dentistry? Here are three options: 1. Try to get an associateship with a solo or group pediatric dental practice. Is that possible? Don't pediatric dentists 32 NEW GRAD 2016 // dentaltown.com only hire pediatric dentists? Well, not all do. Some pediatric dentists who've had trouble finding pediatric dentists do hire general dentists to be associates. For ethical compliance, they must inform parents that the doctor is a "general dentist who treats children," not a specialist. Sometimes the only available training is on-the-job training. 2. Try to get an associateship with a solo or group children's dental practice that may be owned by general dentists. Although not pediatric dentists by training and experience, some of these "general dentists who treat children" are very experienced and can also offer that on-the-job training. 3. If the first two options are not possible, then consider a multiday, didactic, hands-on "SimLab" CE training program through an AGD- or ADA-accredited entity. One-hour circuit lectures are easier to find and much less expensive, but multiday, didactic, hands-on SimLab courses are far superior and well worth the extra investment. Without hands-on SimLab training, you won't get the psychomotor skills to back up the cognitive learning. Close out Chances are high that you didn't get didactic introduction to the new game changers in pediatric dentistry, because dental schools don't often expose their students to the latest and greatest techniques and products. Many dental schools and postdoctoral CE courses introduce you to the game changers in adult dentistry: dental imaging, cosmetic dentistry, rehabilitation CAD/CAM dentistry, implants, nonsurgical perio therapy, adult orthodontics and adult sedation. I would bet, however, that most of you know little of the major players in pediatric dentistry: digital radiography and imaging, caries transillumination, CAMBRA diagnosis and treatment planning, advances in local anesthesia, oral conscious By 2020, the biggest segment of our population will be pediatrics (patients ages 0-18). In the U.S. approximately 4 million people are born every year, and 80 percent of those are born to millennial parents. sedation, advances in isolation systems, MTA pulp therapy, cosmetic resin restorations, zirconia cosmetic premanufactured primary crowns, advances in immediate space maintainers, and other factors that are rarely taught in predoctoral dental education and hotel or dental society CE courses. If you are to make the most of this shift by successfully treating children, you must perform pediatric dentistry that is better, faster and easier. If you can do that, by definition you'll also be giving millennial parents the four C's of pediatric dentistry for their child: care, comfort, convenience and cost. Performing and marketing pediatric dentistry in a general practice can and will fill your chairs as you catch the pediatric dentistry wave. But to successfully ride this exciting wave, you will have to understand and provide the new services that today's parents expect and tomorrow's parents will demand. ■ References census.gov/topics/population.html ada.org/en/science-research/health-policy-institute/ ada.org/~/media/ADA/Science%20and%20Research/HPI/Oral HealthCare-StateFacts/Oral-Health-Care-System-Full-Report.pdf aapd.org/residency_program/ theadso.org. http://www.census.gov/topics/population.html http://www.ada.org/en/science-research/health-policy-institute/ http://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/Science%20and%20Research/HPI/Oral http://www.aapd.org/residency_program/ http://www.theadso.org http://www.dentaltown.com

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