Attending some continuing ed can be humbling?


I just finished attending the Spear Leadership Summit for three days and have just returned from Arizona on a red eye flight. I sat through some amazing lectures given by great lecturers that were both thought provoking and more than a little overwhelming. As dentists we practice and gain experience and skills over time and after a period of learning and if we are open to learning new things and incorporating them into our practices we can continue to improve and reach ever higher levels of competency.

That being said watching high level presentations can make even experienced and excellent dentists feel somewhat "inadequate". Often this is a necessary step for us to be motivated and able to get better. Also some of the presentations involve "cutting edge" dentistry that provide a peek into newer modes of treatment. Some will become the next big thing, some maybe not. There are many ways to perform dental procedures and most dentists develop a comfort and competence in the techniques they are using, but there is always room for improvement if we just can figure out the details of how we might achieve a better and more predictable result. Seeing a skillful dentists presentation that gives step by step how to instructions is a great way to learn new techniques and then go back to our practice and put some of these techniques into practice. As with all things there usually is learning curve and our initial results may not always match the results show in presentations, but that is OK since learning usually occurs over time.

In addition talking with other dentists during breaks and at meals can provide valuable insight into how other dentists are handling things and procedures in their own offices. These conversations can be extremely enlightening since these fellow colleagues are in the actual trenches and  are usually "real world" dentists like most of us. They aren't supported by manufactures or vendors and are generously sharing the way they handle dental problems and usually are quite open about the techniques and services they are using.

Frank Spear uses the analogy that  attending good seminars can be like drinking water from a fire hose since there can be just too much of a good thing to fully absorb. I find this especially true of the lectures I attend at the Spear Summit since they often have speakers who are world renowned and quite up to date on their particular expertise. I always find things that I can incorporate into my practice right away as well as things that I am not sure are ready for my implementation (Sleep dentistry, full on digital dentistry are two examples).



from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/2019/09/attending-some-continuing-ed-can-be.html - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/

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