How Dentists Use Online Dental Continuing Education for Practice Growth

Every dental professional worth their salt knows that dental continuing education is integral to growing as a practitioner.

In this day and age, there are myriad opportunities for dentists to learn through dental seminars and workshops around the world. But what happens when they return to their practices? Based on Hermann Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve, if they don’t apply what they’ve learned and refresh their memory on the topics, those dentists will very quickly lose everything they’ve studied.

So what’s a dentist supposed to do?

According to Ebbinghaus, reviewing the material at regular intervals is the key. And that’s where online dental continuing education platforms, like Spear Online, become important. Using Spear Online, dentists can review the content they’ve learned at workshops and seminars, as well as expand upon that knowledge, through the online course library.

“There’s information about virtually any topic in dentistry,” said Dr. Keti Deligrudeva, a Spear Online member. She said Spear Online has allowed her to learn about new trends in technology, as well as discuss issues with other dentists. “It has made my professional life more profitable and enjoyable.”

Selected as a best online dental education platform by Dental Product Shopper, Spear Online has not only helped dentists in retaining and expanding upon what they’ve learned, it has also helped them implement those new skills in the practice.

In fact, Dr. Russ Jensen, who has used Spear Online for more than four years now, said the platform has made him a better clinician. The 24/7 access to Spear’s online curriculum, as well as each lesson’s step-by-step, actionable advice, makes it easier for Jensen to quickly apply what he’s learning.

“It … gives me information I can use immediately,” he said.

Again, this ties into Ebbinghaus’ idea that repetition is one of the keys to truly learning - in this case, dentists can watch the lessons, implement what they learn and repeat. Not only will their new skills more likely stick with them, but it will also open the door to further dental practice growth. How? Because dentists who view the courses regularly will be able to take on new types of cases and help a wider variety of patients.

Drs. Matthew Vamvakas and Matthew Bryson agreed that Spear Online's dental continuing education courses have increased their practice’s success. They said the comprehensive, detailed lessons opened the doors to diagnosing and treating larger and more complex cases.

And now with the release of Spear Curriculum, clinicians will be able to more easily integrate dental CE into the practice. This new learning tool allows doctors and their teams to learn together through more manageable chunks over a given period of time. Scheduled learning and implementation across the practice will help the team retain what they’re studying, increasing their confidence and competence.

While hands-on dental workshops and seminars should be a part of every dentist’s CE regimen, online dental continuing education platforms like Spear Online are indispensable - both as a supplement to what was learned in person and as a resource for on-demand knowledge.

Just make sure you don’t close this article and forget about it.