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Dr. Cowie's programs can be customized for the needs of particular audiences.
All of these interactive lectures are appropriate for members of the
dentists' office staffs.
GUARDING YOUR PATIENT’S OCCLUSAL HEALTH
3 Hour Lecture
Are you looking for ways of providing better service for your patients? Setting yourself apart from the rest of the dentists in the area? Providing a service that is relatively easy to deliver, of value to your patient, and that can be profitable to the dentist and their team? It is time that the dental community reengineer their practices to treat occlusal disease as effectively as we learned to treat the bacterial diseases of caries and periodontal disease.
The fastest growing segment of the population is those over the age of eighty! Dr. Gordon Christensen has stated that about one-third of the patients in your practice need a nightguard. Are you providing your patients with this easy and beneficial service at the level Dr. Christensen is suggesting? With the use of the ThermoguardTM material, nightguards can be delivered that virtually eliminate the need for internal adjustments from the lab, as well as make the appliance easier and more comfortable for the patient to wear.
In most states trained staff members – assistants and hygienists, can do the office procedures that are necessary for nightguards. This frees you for other procedures while allowing the staff to be more productive. This seminar would give all participants the necessary knowledge and skills to make a nightguard. More importantly, it will help everyone understand why it is being done so that patient questions can be answered and they will accept the treatment that will help them the most.
Do you need any more reasons to begin providing this treatment today? Join us for an informative and profitable presentation.
Program highlights:
- What causes occlusal wear
- The indications for a nightguard
- The steps needed to fabricate a nightguard
- What to say to the patient to inspire treatment acceptance
- What a well-fabricated nightguard should do
- How to decide which arch should receive the appliance
- How to get a predictable result and speed delivery time
What others have said about this course:
This is something that my patients need, that I now understand. ~ Dr. M.H.
I liked the speaker and how he related the information to everyday situations. ~ Dr. K.R.L.
A lot of great, important material. I could have listened all day ~ Dr. J.J.H.
A completely new philosophy in regard to approaching patients’ occlusal disease and treatment. ~ Dr. J.B
Spoke as a common dentist like we all are and made confusing things seem more simple. Very well done and very inspiring to me. ~ Dr. R.L.B.
Hard-hitting, concise, informative. I never understood how many ways a nightguard could benefit my patients and my practice. ~ Dr. J.E.R.-Georgia
Today’s problems presented with a good solution. ~ Dr.T.H.H.-Texas
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HOW DO YOU SELECT THE BEST MATERIAL FOR YOUR PATIENT’S CROWNS AND BRIDGES?
3 Hour Lecture
Confused with the seeming endless introduction of new crown and bridge materials? Unsure of what to use on your patients and why? What information should you give to patients when discussing their choice of materials? Hesitant to give up the porcelain fused to metal crown because it has worked so successfully for dentists for the last forty years? Unwilling to change the standard preparation design for PFM’s that you have been using for years?
Despite all the hype in all ceramic restorations, the fact is that porcelain fused to metal crowns remains the workhorse in the majority of dental offices in the United States. In fact, commercial laboratories consistently report that about 80 % of the single unit crowns made are porcelain fused to metal.
A quiet revolution is taking place however, as the Captek crown is gaining a considerable percentage of the PFM market. And there is good reason why it should be a frequently prescribed crown in your practice.
Offering the strength of a traditional PFM and the esthetics of an all ceramic crown, Captek is a truly unique material that employs an entirely different material and fabrication technique. During the presentation you will see a digital video film clip of a Captek crown being fabricated to better help you understand its advantages.
This presentation is a must for those who are considering using this material, as well as those who are using it and can take advantage of learning more about it so as to present it better to patients. Research will be cited, as well as clinical cases reviewed. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn more about a new leader in crown and bridge materials in an era where restoration selection has become increasing complex.
Program Highlights:
- Review of the advantages and disadvantages of the materials that are available
- Discussion of the various fabrication techniques that are now used in crown and bridge including CAD/CAM and ceramic pressing
- Factors you should consider when selecting an appropriate material for each clinical situation
- How preparation design should limit your choice of materials
- Developing your own philosophy on material selection
- Understanding how materials are promoted to our profession now and what to be on the lookout for
- Using your laboratory as a resource when selecting a material
- What your patient should be asked before starting and then what they should be told about the materials used
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INTERACTIVE DENTAL SEMINARS
Robert R. Cowie, DDS, FACD
As of June 2004 all of the seminars offered have an interactive component
at no additional cost to the honorarium sponsor.
The interactive component brings dental learning into the new millennium.
Up to 72 handheld wireless keypads, very similar in size to a TV remote, are
provided to the participants. A larger audience can be accommodated with 8
weeks advance notice. Questions are asked during the presentation that allows
each person to respond individually and anonymously. The results are received
on a sensor connected to a laptop computer and immediately tabulated and displayed
to the audience.
This allows the participants to give truthful responses without fear of exposing
their answers and identifying themselves as not knowing something. At the same time
participants can see where their knowledge level is compared to their peers. Instead
of the presenter intimidating or embarrassing someone who may have fallen behind in
their level of care, the individual is motivated to learn more by their own comparison
of their knowledge, skill and judgment to that of their peers.
In addition, questions are asked at the beginning of the presentation to assess the
current level of each audience. The presentation can become customized to the particular
level of that audience to become a more effective learning tool. At the end of the
presentation questions can be asked in a similar fashion to assess what was really learned
and accepted. This moves the lecturer away from the level of "look how good I am" to a more
effective level of "let's see how good I can make each of you in the audience". The
interactive capability will take dental seminars to a new level. It will no longer be acceptable
to strut and show your stuff. Audiences can expect to learn, understand, and be motivated to
provide better care for their patients.
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MAKING REMOVABLES AS PREDICTABLE AS FIXED
3 Hour Lecture
The fastest growing segment of the population is those over the age of 50! As the baby-boomers and their predecessors age there is an increased need for all types of prosthetic tooth replacement – implant, fixed, and removable. Yet an increasing number of dentists are turning away removable patients. These dentists feel they lack training and experience or because they fear the seemingly unpredictable nature of removable prosthetics – particularly when it comes to full removables.
Amazingly, the principles that guide full removable prosthetics can be mastered relatively easily and very quickly. And the bonus is that these same principles can be applied to all areas of restorative dentistry. Mastering impressions, records, bite relationships, vertical dimension, phonetics, tooth position, and esthetics for the full denture patient will propel your skills in implant-retained prostheses, crowns, bridges, veneers, and smile makeovers. In the meantime you will have enhanced your removable skills to the level where dentures can be predicable, fun, and rewarding to the patient and the dentist.
If you are still doing dentures the way we learned in dental school, you owe it to yourself and your patients to incorporate some new materials and devices into the same principled disciplines that you initially learned. This is NOT a two-visit, make a quickie denture course. This is an easier, simpler way to produce a superior clinical result in a predictable and satisfying way.
This presentation is for the dentist and expanded duties dental assistant.
Program Highlights:
- Final impressions border molded, without a custom tray that equals or surpasses anything you have ever done.
- A bite registration technique that is simple, quick, foolproof and right on each and every time
- When to reline and when to remake, and when a functional impression keeps you from promising more than you can deliver
- Applying key removable principles to all the other areas in esthetic and restorative dentistry
- Tooth selection – form and material
- Troubleshooting esthetics, phonetics, retention, and sore spots
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NEW PATIENT PROTOCOL THE PATIENT INTERVIEW AND EVALUATION
6 Hour Lecture/Workshop
We all learned how to exam patients in dental school, and then tell our patients what
they needed to have done based on what treatment plan was "approved" by our professors.
The examination, diagnosis, and treatment plan were "graded" based on what we learned about
the patient and then were able to explain and defend to our professors. How much was the
patient involved in the process?
Unfortunately, once out of dental school most of us continue the habits we established in
school - be they right or wrong. How often do we "tell" the patient what they need, instead
of "ask" what they want? How do you get them to "want" what you think is the best treatment
for them to have? How do you get them to "want" more than their insurance covers?
To be the most effective dentist today and be able to offer our patient the quality of care
they deserve requires a different level of understanding of the examination and consultation
process. This seminar is designed for the dentist and all team members to help them understand
what skills are employed to comprehensively diagnose each patient and then present the treatment
in a way that is most likely to be accepted by the patient.
Topics to be discussed include:
- An 8-step protocol for the new patient visit
- How to effectively use an intra-oral camera, techniques that
doubled the amount of crown and bridge units per month
- The most common mistakes made in treatment planning
- A simple, but effective evaluation of the TMJ and occlusion
- How to develop a financial plan for your patient that allows
you to be paid up front
- How to decrease the importance of insurance in the patient's eyes
- The single most important thing you can do to gain patient acceptance
- How to perform an effective periodontal exam that will
motivate the patient to want to begin treatment
- A protocol that will virtually eliminate the patient refusing x-rays
- Why understanding expectations can dramatically change the results you are getting in treatment recommendations
- Why developing an occlusal philosophy for your practice will
enhance your results
- When is the right time to present a fee and who should do it
- Why doing better dentistry helps the dentist as much as it helps
the patient
- Videotapes demonstrating these techniques on a patient will be shown
- Role playing will be incorporated into the program to demonstrate to all
the team members present the effectiveness of this strategy
This program includes information in the 3-hour presentation TURN YOUR PATIENTS INTO PARTNERS
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OCCLUSION: FUNCTION, PARAFUNCTION, AND TMD
Clinical Protocol for Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention
6 Hours Lecture
The astute dentist deals with functional occlusion all day long – in every kind of restorative situation from occlusal restorations to crowns, bridges, partials, and dentures. But what influence does the dysfunctional dentition have in your day-to-day dentistry? What influence does parafunction have? And what, if any treatment, are you willing to provide for the TMD patient?
Are you looking for ways of providing better service for your patients? Providing a service that is relatively easy to deliver, of value to your patient, and that can be profitable to the dentist and their team? The fastest growing segment of the population is those over the age of eighty! Dr. Gordon Christensen has stated that about one-third of the patients in your practice need a nightguard. It is time that the dental community reengineer their practices to treat occlusal disease as effectively as we learned to treat bacterial disease. Are you looking for reliable information that can easily and quickly be applied to your patients and your practice?
Drawing on over 25 years of full-time clinical practice and almost 2000 hours of continuing education, including the Pankey and Dawson Continuums, plan on a day full of practical answers to a lot of your questions and some concrete plans for better results on your next day in the office.
Program Highlights:
- Updates on the etiology of occlusal wear, parafunction and TMD
- Examination and history of the TMJ’s
- Quick and easy diagnostic tools to let you and the patient know that you can help them while identifying the patients with psychological problems that you can’t help
- Prevention of parafunction by use of an occlusal appliance
- The indications for and the steps needed to fabricate an occlusal appliance, including which arch should receive the appliance and how to decrease delivery time and get a predictable result
- Bite registration techniques
- Choosing a treatment position: centric occlusion or centric relation?
- Criteria for healthy and stable joints prior to restoration
- When to refer the TMD patient you can’t help
- AND HOW TO GET THE PATIENT TO SAY YES ON MONDAY MORNING TO ACCEPTING TREATMENT
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RESTORATION OF THE SEVERELY WORN DENTITION
6 Hour Lecture
One of the most common problems the dentist is faced with is restoration of a completely worn dentition. As patients live longer, and with more teeth thanks to better caries and periodontal care, there is a rapidly growing need to restore worn teeth, as well as missing teeth and old failing restorations.
How does one go about restoring the entire mouth without getting "in over your head"? Where do you begin? How do you know the result will be to your liking and the patient's liking? Most important, will the restorations last?
This presentation will answer all of those questions and more by outlining a step-by-step technique that Dr. Cowie has developed to make the most complex full mouth rehabilitation simple enough for every dentist to perform with predictable results. And the technique can enhance many other less complex restorative and esthetic cases.
This seminar will also provide some vital information for those patients who need to protect their teeth so that they might never get to the stage where they need a full mouth reconstruction. Are you providing your patients with easy and beneficial services such as nightguards? New materials virtually eliminate the need for internal adjustments from the lab and make the appliance easier and more comfortable for the patient to wear.
Set yourself apart from the rest of the dentists in the area by providing more comprehensive care. The dental practice of the future that will exceed beyond all expectations will be the practice that can learn to diagnose, present, and treat patients more comprehensively. Join us for an informative and profitable day and take your practice skills to where others only hope to go.
Program Highlights:
- How to engender acceptance by letting patients see the outcome in their own mouth before undergoing the procedure
- How to test an increase in vertical dimension without using a removable appliance and assess phonetics and esthetics in the mouth before prepping a tooth
- How to do a 28 tooth reconstruction in manageable sextants and avoid the 14 unit full arch impression
- The diagnostic information required for treatment planning
- The benefits of providing comprehensive treatment rather than a series of "quick fixes"
- The facts behind centric occlusion, centric relation, and changes to vertical dimension
- Techniques for communicating effectively with your patients
- Videotape demonstrating these techniques on a patient with a worn dentition will be shown
- The etiology of occlusal wear and indications for a nightguard to prevent wear
- What a well-fabricated nightguard should do
- How to decide which arch should receive the appliance
- How to get a predictable result and speed delivery time
- AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, WHAT TO SAY TO THE PATIENT TO GET ACCEPTANCE OF COMPREHENSIVE CARE - the verbal skills and office systems for the dentist and the staff to support comprehensive care, i.e. overcoming the "insurance" mentality
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THE SUCCESSFUL CROWN DELIVERY:
Analyzing High Bites and Contact Problems
3 Hour Lecture
The crown looked great on the model when you opened up the case for inspection,
but then it seemed to require an endless amount of time-consuming adjustment
to the occlusion and/or the contact. What went wrong? Why can't I get the
lab to consistently deliver a crown that requires minimal adjustment? How
can I get a predictable result and deliver a crown in ten to fifteen minutes?
You probably won't be surprised to learn that the number one challenge
that faces the dentist when doing a crown or bridge is finding a laboratory
that can deliver a completed case that requires little or no adjustment.
Why is this so hard? We'll examine a study in which ten different dentists
each submitted three single unit crown cases to ten different labs that
had no prior experience with these dentists. Photo documentation of the
crowns as they came from the lab and then after adjustment in the patient's
mouth shed light on this universal problem and lead to an understanding
of what when wrong and what can be done to avoid it in the future.
This presentation is for the dentist and anyone else on the dental team
that is involved in the seat appointment.
Program Highlights:
- Results of the study that includes 10 different labs, 10 different
dentists and 30 single unit crowns analyzing the occlusion and contacts
- Photo documentation of the crowns as they came back from the lab
and after adjustment with a discussion as to what happened to require
the adjustment
- Step-by-step protocol to seat a crown that the dentist or assistant
can follow while also evaluating the result from the lab
- Practical tips on how to minimize adjustments that will save not
only your time but money while keeping your schedule running smoother
- Simple steps that will improve the predictability and profitability
of your single crowns, and the principles involved that can be applied
to make the big crown and bridge cases better and easier
- How to use your laboratory as a resource to provide better quality
dentistry that will leave you feeling better and with more profit from
your work
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WHAT THEY DIDN’T TEACH
YOU IN DENTAL SCHOOL ABOUT IMPRESSION MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES
3 Hours Lecture
We all know that the dental laboratory is only as good as our impression.
Regardless of which lab you use or how much you spend on the lab bill,
if the impression is inaccurate or distorted, how well will the restoration
fit? Isn’t having a perfect impression the first and most important
step to achieve excellence in our restorations?
Yet, how much do you
know about the accuracy of the material you use? Have you researched
the dimensional stability of the brand you use? Can you find that
information in any of the advertising or in the package inserts? Most
of the advertising for polyvinyl impression materials centers on hydrophilicity
and the ability to displace fluids to make impression taking easier.
How is vinyl, which repels water as like poles of a magnet repel each
other, made to be hydrophilic? Can one brand be truly more hydrophilic
than another or is that a marketing gimmick? Does that change the dimensional
stability of the material?
Today we are required by law to disinfect
our impressions. How does this process effect our impression? Does
incorrect disinfection cause problems with the impression’s accuracy? If
you send the impressions to the lab to be poured, what effect does time
and transport temperature have on the impression?
And what about technique?
Which is better heavy-body and wash, putty and wash, or can one material,
a monophase, do it all? Should you use a triple-tray, a quadrant
tray, a full arch tray, or a custom tray? Is tissue retraction necessary?
Are cords the best way to achieve retraction?
This presentation for
the dentist and expanded duties dental assistant answers these questions
and more. The results of an independent comparison of the most popular
brands of impression materials will be presented with practical advice
on how to choose a material and technique that will give you the
best clinical results.
Program Highlights:
- Results of the study that includes different brands of
polyvinyls and polyethers, analyzing the dimensional accuracy of
the impressions with a stereoscopic microscope
- Photo
documentation of those impressions with a discussion of the different
causes affecting the accuracy
- An impression technique for
crown and bridge that the dentist or assistant can follow to get
a predictably excellent result
- Practical tips on how to
troubleshoot impression problems that will save not only your time
but money while keeping your schedule running smoother
How to choose a brand of impression material from those available today
and what to know about other materials as they become available.
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PREPARATIONS, IMPRESSIONS, AND TEMPORARIES: Materials and Techniques to Enhance Your Results
Robert R. Cowie, DDS, FAGD
6 Hour Lecture
Did you know that a survey of commercial dental laboratories indicated that over one-half of all problems they see with crowns and bridges are a result of inadequate tooth preparation or inaccurate impressions? Would you be interested in improving these two steps so that one-half of all your crown and bridges problems would be eliminated?
When did you last watch someone prepare and impress a tooth? Was it in dental school? Who taught your dental assistant how to effectively assist in four- and six-handed techniques to make it easier to accomplish these difficult techniques and yet get an excellent clinical result?
Who taught you how to place retraction cord and control hemorrhage? How did you learn to do temporaries? Are the retraction cords, impression materials and trays, and the temporary materials and techniques you used in dental school the same ones you use now? How do you choose a material and technique from the myriad of choices available today?
How much do you know about the accuracy of the impression material you use? Most of the advertising for impression materials centers on hydrophilicity and the ability to displace fluids to make impression taking easier. How is vinyl, which repels water as like poles of a magnet repel each other, made to be hydrophilic? Can one brand be truly more hydrophilic than another or is that a marketing gimmick?
By utilizing exciting new technology the lecture classroom presentation can be transformed into a learning opportunity previously only available to a limited few in a hands-on facility. Video from a digital surgical microscope will give you the opportunity to view procedures as if you were the operator to enhance your clinical skills.
For the fee of a lecture, take home the necessary information for you and your assistants to consistently produce better, more predictable results immediately.
Program Objectives:
- Understand a methodical preparation technique that will insure proper tooth preparation and reduction, while managing tissues for the impression
- Understand why attention to preparation is even more important with all ceramics than it was with porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns
- Learn how to place retraction cord and take impressions that will get a predictably excellent result
- Be able to choose a brand of impression material and tray that will achieve superb marginal accuracy
- Know how to fabricate an intra-oral temporary restoration that is quick, economical, and will be able to hold the contact and occlusion until the seat appointment
Dr. Cowie, a 1976 graduate of Northwestern University Dental School, practices in Jacksonville, Florida. He is a member of the ADA, American Equilibration Society, American and Florida Academies of Dental Practice Administration, Pierre Fauchard Academy, and Toastmaster’s International, as well as a Fellow in the AGD and American College of Dentists. He has completed over 2200 hours of continuing education, including the continuums at the Dawson Center for Advanced Dental Studies, the Pankey Institute, and the Society for Occlusal Studies. He was featured in the December issue of “Dentistry Today” for the fourth straight year as one of the leading educators in dentistry. He has presented over 150 lectures nationally and internationally on restorative procedures, materials, occlusion, and communication skills, and has published articles in Dentistry Today, Journal of Dental Technology, and Oral Health.
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CROWN AND BRIDGE PROCEDURES FOR THE DENTAL TEAM
Robert R. Cowie, DDS, FAGD
3 Hour Lecture
The successful dental office in today’s marketplace must excel clinically, as well as perform procedures effectively and efficiently. Procedures that can be legally delegated to dental assistant or hygienist free the dentist for other procedures, allowing the staff to be more productive and valuable to the office. As knowledge and abilities increase, the team member’s position becomes a career instead of just a job.
This seminar will give all participants the necessary knowledge and skills to become a knowledgeable crown and bridge assistant. It will also give the dentists an understanding of the value that comes from correctly performed delegated tasks. Both clinical and laboratory procedures will be discussed and explained in depth by showing videotape clips of actual clinical procedures. Topics that will be discussed include taking and pouring study models, bite registrations, facebow transfer for articulator mounting, tissue management and impressions, temporization, shade taking, and delivery/cementation.
The content is appropriate for all levels of dental assistants from beginning to advanced and hygienists. Dentists will also find the material extremely valuable to fully understand the value a highly trained assistant can bring to the practice and mentor their team as their knowledge grows. Patients win when their dentistry is performed with predictable excellence in a timely manner.
Lecture objectives:
- Be able to take and pour excellent study models
- Understand how and when to use a facebow transfer for articulator mounting
- Improve tissue management and impression taking for crowns and bridges
- Fabricate a temporary crown or bridge quickly and predictably so that the contact and occlusion is stable until the delivery appointment
- Learn a few quick tips on improving your shade taking ability
- Be able to evaluate and adjust the crown for delivery
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