I am a general practitioner and have taken about 80 hours of continuing education courses in the surgical placement of dental implants. I feel somewhat confident that I can place a single free-standing dental implant in a simple case.
I was wondering what kind of education and training others have had in the placement of dental implants. More importantly, when did feel confident to place your own dental implants? What kind of cases are you seeing where you feel comfortable in placing dental implants? Which dental implant cases are you still referring out?
Crawl, walk, then run. Start with the simplest cases, i.e., 2 implant overdentures or single teeth with ample bone. Use a surgical stent that will allow (or maybe I should say restrict you) to put the implant in exactly the position you want in all 3 dimensions. Do all the thinking, i.e., treatment planning on models before you ever go to the mouth.
Have fun! Implant dentistry has been the most rewarding discipline of dentistry that I have been involved with and I’ve done it all.
You’re ready when you know you can provide a predictable result. For implant surgery this includes medications, the actual procedures, and managing potential complications. I started with the anterior mandible. Starting with implant overdentures can really help you get comfortable with the instrumentation, the steps of the procedure, and speed. You also have much less to remember compared to other locations, except the mental loop. Just be sure to choose a thicker (faciolingually) mandible, but one that has enough interocclusal space so that you have some wiggle room if your vertical placement of the fixture is not ideal. B sure not to overdo it with the drilling so you don’t burn the bone. Also, most of the time you should tap the bone in this area unless you want to bend a fixture mount.
Yes…to all the comments. After restoring for many years, I thought I would NEVER place. Then after a lot more than 80 hours, Jack Hahn said something significant. He said, with so many hours, when exactly do you plan to use what you’ve learned? That served as a real challenge to my intellect and skill level. I studied like crazy for my first surgery and hired a long time surgical assistant for the procedure. As I began and got into my first overdenture case I thought to myself, “What the heck do you think you’re doing?” My mind went blank. But just settle down, go slowly, rely on your knowledge base, and guess what…things go better than you anticipated and the rush of accomplishing a new skill in phenominal. If you’ve got the equipment, and the training, and the patient, and the intestinal fortitude…GO FOR IT!