“With the right orthodontic training, general dentists can become better clinicians and increase their revenue – all without upsetting their specialist colleagues”, says leading specialist, Dr Derek Mahony.

General dentists performing orthodontics is a touchy subject and Sydney orthodontist Derek Mahony has long been in the thick of it, controversially siding with GPs as well as putting his money where his mouth is: he runs his own mini-residencies and mentors hundreds of dentists. Now, with more orthodontic cases around the world initiated by general dentists than specialists, he says it’s time for the two sides to work together and, let’s face it, all make their businesses more profitable.

“I’m willing to share knowledge because it creates a good working relationship,” he says, “and when the GPs perform their own cases I know they will refer the tough ones to specialists. Given the state of dentistry now, you’ve got to work with them, not against them.”

From his state-of-the-art lecture centre at Alexandria, Dr Mahony and his staff of instructors teach about 100 dentists a year. The typical course participant is likely to have done a short introductory orthodontics course before realising they need a much better grounding. He now has 15 years of teaching behind him and 1500 alumni. Graduates who complete all theory and clinical requirements can apply for a MClinDent awarded by the BPP University in the UK, in conjunction with the City of London Dental School.

Dr Mahony’s main claim to fame is interceptive orthodontics, which minimises the need for extractions. This is a key part of his courses but they cover the full range of treatments, from the simple to the complex. The next mini-residency in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics starts in March 2017. The focus is on investigation as well as correct and thorough note taking, formulation of treatment plans and communicating those plans to the patient or parents.

“We teach dentists exactly what they need to know and provide a strong support network for when things go wrong. I have a number of co-instructors from specialties such as sleep medicine and Ear, Nose and Throat because my teaching is very much based on getting in early: nasal obstruction in children affects their upper jaw, which causes dental crowding. My programme is not just about putting braces on and extracting teeth, it’s also about how to prevent malocclusions from occurring.”

In the first two years, participants commit three days every two months to a program of face-to-face lectures – including live in-house procedures with full audio-visual, plus online tutorials, literature reviews and their own hands-on training with typodonts and live patients. There is a third year of clinical training, involving one day a week, in one of Dr Mahony’s own practices. “Unlike many courses where they can do two or three years of theory before they do one case, we ensure that each dentist will complete 15 closely supervised cases to a high standard. If you do the maths you’ll find that that more than pays for their tuition fees.” The courses also include more discussion in which the dentist’s’ cases are subject to group review. “It’s open learning and there’s a good camaraderie.”

Dr Mahony says his course not only makes the participants better dentists, it also generates a substantial “recession-proof” revenue stream. Graduates incorporate orthodontic techniques to permit less aggressive procedures, like moving teeth before doing veneers, or restoring a collapsed bite before doing a crown and bridge. On the revenue side, he says he knows from 30 years’ experience that parents will make great sacrifices to help pay for their children’s “essential” orthodontic work. One impediment is the fear of cost and inconvenience when the dentist says they need to refer to a specialist. “But if their own dentist does the orthodontics, patients are quite comfortable with it. It reminds them that they go to this dentist for a reason, and it says this practice offers more than the average treatment options. Of course, the more complex cases are referred to a specialist.”

Contact EODO Course Coordinator, Dr. Sakshi Arora, BDS on (02) 9398 8338 or courses@eodo.com

Generate more income and stand out from your competition. Let QST teach you short term orthodontics!

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of short terms orthodontics, our one day accreditation course will provide you with the knowledge and skills to plan and treat mild to moderate cases in your own clinic.

You will receive training in our fixed and removable appliances to give you the confidence to complete simple cases appropriate for general dentists and highlight which cases require referral to specialists.

Best support

Designed and supported by specialists to give you the confidence to practice orthodontics safely.

Best value

The course is 80% hands-on and costs only $395 +GST — the best quality and value in Australia.

Best products

We only use 3M brackets, bonding and products — widely considered the global standard.

Best price

Despite our product quality and unrivalled support, we are around $200 cheaper than our competitors.

* Includes all the instruments required to begin simple orthodontics in your practice.

Let QST teach you short term orthodontics in 2017 — only $395 + 9 CPD

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of short term orthodontics, our one day accreditation course will provide you with the knowledge and skills to plan and treat mild to moderate cases in your own clinic. You will receive training in our fixed and removable appliances to give you the confidence to complete simple cases appropriate for general dentists and highlight which cases require referral to specialists.

Best support

Designed and supported by specialists to give you the confidence to practice orthodontics safely.

Best products

We only use 3M brackets, bonding and products — widely considered the global gold standard.

Best value

The course is 80% hands-on and costs only $395 +GST — the best quality and value in Australia.

Best price

Despite our products quality and unrivalled support, we are around $200 cheaper the  our competitors.

Book a course today and receive our FREE ebook that explains how short term orthodontics will benefit your clinic.

For further information, contact Steve Douglas on 1300 362 761 or email steve@quickstraightteeth.com.au.

Historically, hygiene was seen as a ‘break-even’ area, taking cleans off the dentist. Consequently, the hygiene department gets stuck in a ‘recall trap’, where the average daily production stagnates (or even reduces). Complacency also sets in (including complacency of the patient) and the dentists’ patient flow slows down. 

Increasing hygiene profitability is achieved through increasing the average daily production, and this simply won’t happen with recalls alone.

The notion that all that hygienists do is ‘take cleans off dentists’ couldn’t be further from the truth. In today’s era, practices that have the right systems in place within their hygiene departments are not only highly profitable, but also find there is a higher uptake of major restorative and aesthetic cases flowing into the books of the dentist — and all with the added benefit of creating the optimal patient experience and care.

So how do you get your hygiene department to be even more profitable, expanding its scope, increasing patient retention and also the uptake of optimal care? (And, we are not just talking about including therapy and whitening as the only way to make your hygiene department even more profitable.)

Exclusive live training event

The Hygiene Productivity Intensive — 24–25 February 2017, Melbourne

At this one-of-a-kind Hygiene Seminar, Peak Hygiene Performance will be sharing advanced hygiene success strategies and systems to show dentists exactly how to increase hygiene profits and improve service delivery. Peak Hygiene Performance will walk you through the complete systems and communications.

Learn how to:

• Reduce your downtime, cancellations and FTA’s
• Realise the true potential and scope
• Increase the production of hygiene
• Implement an active periodontal program
• Know exactly what to track
• Determine the role of the hygiene department in today’s era of dentistry
• Avoid the “recall trap”
• Keep your patients retained within your practice
• Know when to add an assistant dentist, more hygienists or both?
• Have patients be better educated, seek out optimal care without you or your hygienist having to push, sell, plead or convince.

Further resources you can download now:

Learn how to calculate downtime cost. Determine the potential and production within a periodontal program and so much more. Download the 5 steps to productivity success.

Hitting a wall with your hygiene department? Check out this video…

About Peak Hygiene Performance

Peak Hygiene Performance is one of Australia’s only dedicated consultancies, helping dentists to launch, build and advance their hygiene departments. For more information go to www.peakhygieneperformance.com.au or email info@peakhygieneperformance.com.au.

Learn Smile Design from Dr Maria Csillag using her world recognised smile design principles ‘White Aesthetic Conscious Pre-Planning‘ (WACP).

Dr Csillag will conduct a two day Smylist Academy in Melbourne for Australia practitioners that want to learn this unique smile design system. The course and Smylist® software will assist you in selling your case to the patient and helping them to understand the outcome.

Her last academy in Dubai with 30 students was a great success. Don’t miss this unique opportunity!

The Perfect Smile Design course is run by Intelligent Dental Solutions in collaboration with Smylist. To learn more about Smile Design, visit www.smylistdentist.com.

Endodontics Update 2017 offers practitioners an in-depth look at a range of techniques, material choices and strategies essential in clinical practice.

Three endodontists combine to present EU2017 and cover a diverse range of topics including root canal preparation, diagnostic tests and procedures as well as restorative aspects for root filled teeth. Operating microscope video footage will be presented to further visualise concepts and approaches to root canal preparation. Professor Paul Abbott AO, Dr Glen Weston and Dr Patrick Caldwell combine to present the Endodontics Update 2017 at the five star Brisbane Marriott Hotel, 24 March 2017.

General dentists, their patients and profits would benefit from introducing simple orthodontics into their practice. Nearly half of all adults feel that their smile could do with some improvement, and many of these would consider orthodontics to achieve this. With suitable training, mentoring and case by case support you can treat these cases ethically and safely in your practice.

Alternatively, if you are a general dentist already offering simple orthodontics to your patients but are experiencing brackets de-bonding, long lead times for laboratory work, plastic or composite brackets and lack of local support, then why not make the switch to QST?

QST is a specialist designed, taught and supported orthodontic system design specifically for use by the general dentist. We offer gold standard products, training, mentoring, local support, marketing and clinical integration into your practice.

Do we teach you everything you need to know in one day? Not at all, but this is not a one day course, it is very much a learning pathway. What we do is put you on the right path, and with our guidance you are able to treat simple cases successfully.

The good news is that the demand for adult orthodontics has never been higher, there will be many cases you can treat from the patients you see day to day. We have trained over 500 dentists in Australia over the past 8 months — don’t miss out on the chance to offer this fantastic service in your practice and help your patients to smile with confidence.

Book your course today and remember to quote promo code TDROFFER (limited to the first 25 course registrations due to high demand).

For more information download our Quick Straight Teeth information pack.

* Includes all the instruments required to begin simple orthodontics in your practice. Quote promo code TDROFFER when booking. Limited to the first 25 course registrations due to high demand.