Nonsurgical Periodontal Therapy: Two Special Workshops at ISPRD 2019

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The main goal of the two workshops I am presenting at ISPRD 2019 is to demonstrate my modified nonsurgical treatment protocols, which are validated by my 35 years of clinical experience and published in numerous scientific articles and textbooks. In some cases, nonsurgical treatment may be the only approach possible—even following diagnosis of severe periodontal or peri-implant diseases—due to concomitant systemic pathologies, economic problems, and/or other complications. These workshops are designed to provide participants with concrete clinical indications for practical nonsurgical treatment options. Afterward, each clinician will be able to select the best therapeutic options for his or her own clinical reality, choosing from a comprehensive range of materials, techniques, protocols, strategies, and tips and tricks.

The clinical value of a hands-on course is absolutely superior to a lecture. In addition to practicing techniques and strategies and experimenting with different materials (without first having to buy them), the participants also have the opportunity to be guided by an expert as they learn to implement modified techniques. They will be able to ask me questions and interact with their colleagues to clear up doubts or to have their own treatment modalities confirmed.

These courses are addressed to many different dental specialists. First, they are addressed to the dentist who believes that periodontology is essential in any dental treatment. They are also addressed to the clinician who knows the nonsurgical approach is always the first therapeutic phase and who acknowledges the advantages—both for the patient and for the dental practice—that these treatment modalities provide in increasing the percentage of clinical success in complex cases. The courses are also directed at the dentist who, while delegating certain aspects of prophylaxis to the dental hygienist, can identify methods and protocols to create profitable synergies. These courses will provide educational value for dentists who are experts in many other fields of dentistry, including surgical periodontology, but who want to expand and improve their knowledge regarding a nonsurgical approach so they can offer a less invasive treatment (at least initially).

These courses are also well suited to newly graduated dentists who are responsible for nonsurgical patient management in their clinics and who feel the topic of nonsurgical periodontology has not been sufficiently covered during their academic training. Many dentists around the world have to practice nonsurgical periodontology, especially in countries where the figure of the dental hygienist does not exist. While nonsurgical treatment has traditionally been given secondary importance compared with the patient’s other treatment needs, nonsurgical periodontal management is as essential as the patient’s motivation for homecare with regard to periodontal health. If the clinician believes the nonsurgical phase is as crucially important as the patient’s home care skills and can communicate that to the patient, thereby enlisting the patient as a treatment ally, then the clinician can positively influence all dental treatment outcomes.

Last but not least, these courses are addressed to dental hygienists who want to explore new techniques using the latest materials and technologies and who want to receive practical, simple, and effective advice for everyday clinical challenges. I look forward to meeting and interacting with each and every one of you who will attend!

Marisa Roncati, RDH, DDS
Nonsurgical Periodontal Therapy: Novel Modified Technique and New Protocols
and
Peri-implant Diseases: Nonsurgical Periodontal Approach
Two Half-Day Hands-On Workshops at ISPRD 2019
Register today at www.bostonperiomeeting.com

On the Dental Hygienist’s Place at ISPRD

ISPRD is an important symposium for dental hygienists to attend because it will dramatically improve their clinical practice. Currently, dental hygiene programs lack comprehensive curriculum on implant dentistry. Dental implants are the standard of care for the replacement of teeth, and with worldwide concern about peri-implantitis and an emphasis on implant maintenance, I am pleading for the dental hygiene community to own the role we play and step up!

This year’s program includes two hands-on workshops presented by Dr Marisa Roncati that are especially relevant for dental hygienists. I first met Marisa at Geistlich Pharma’s 2017 Symposium on Multidisciplinary Treatment Solutions for Peri-implantitis in Chicago, Illinois. I flew from Washington, DC, specifically to attend her hands-on workshop on a nonsurgical approach to peri-implantitis. During her workshop, I was exposed to techniques and information that you never find at typical dental hygiene conferences. Marisa was intriguing to me for four reasons: (1) She is a dentist by way of dental hygiene, (2) she is a practicing clinician, (3) she published a textbook supporting advanced dental hygiene practices such as the use of a diode laser, and (4) she was presenting on a nonsurgical approach—music to my ears considering my patient population consists mainly of patients with advanced implant dentistry.

Because of resources like the advanced clinical education at ISPRD and the cutting-edge, hands-on experience and guidance from Dr Marisa Roncati, I have been able to redefine the role of the dental hygienist in my practice as a clinician specifically designed and educated to treat patients with advanced implant dentistry. It has also impassioned me to seek and develop other opportunities for clinical dental hygienists to work intraprofessionally with other dental hygienists. Dental hygienists often get lost in the subgrouping of auxiliary staff at multidisciplinary symposia when—in all actuality—we are providers and clinicians, so why should we be separated from the doctors? It is crucial that dental hygienists engage with educational resources like this symposium and Marisa’s textbooks and hands-on workshops. Until dental hygiene programs provide such curriculum and resources and until the dental hygiene profession can orchestrate our own symposia with clinicians, researchers, and academicians all presenting and discussing cases, where else are you going to get such education? I’m looking forward to all of the information that I am going to learn at ISPRD 2019. Some of it will be revalidating the need to break boundaries in dental hygiene that limit our abilities to provide individualized patient-centered care, and some of it will be new information that will surely take my professional practice to the next level! If you are that dental hygienist still stuck on titanium and plastic scalers, you have a responsibility to be here!

Shavonne R. Healy, MSDH, RDH, ICP
President, District of Columbia Dental Hygienists’ Association
Register today at a special discounted rate for hygienists at www.bostonperiomeeting.com!