New Course: The 5-Step Approach to Fabricate Conventional Dentures
By Kaitlyn Thompson on June 25, 2019 | comments
For many of the 36 million Americans who don’t have any teeth, conventional dentures can be the ideal treatment option to overcome the feeling of humiliation that comes with a disfiguring condition.
The new Spear Online course, The 5-Step Approach to Fabricate Conventional Dentures, taught by Spear Resident Faculty member Dr. Darin Dichter, provides clinicians with the confidence required to effectively fabricate conventional dentures.
Around 90% of the total edentulous population has dentures, according to the American College of Prosthodontists. With the short treatment time, hygiene convenience and cost-effectiveness, the aging and economically disadvantaged individuals who are more vulnerable to edentulism may gravitate toward conventional dentures.
“There’s a big advantage in terms of hygiene access with conventional dentures,” said Dr. Dichter, who brings nearly 20 years of clinical, research and teaching experience – as a general practitioner and prosthodontist – to his role with Spear.
“Patients who struggle to maintain their appropriate hygiene, for whatever reason, actually do better with conventional dentures than they would with anything else we could give them,” Dr. Dichter said.
In the new CE-eligible course, Dr. Dichter highlights the value of conventional dentures in modern practices and helps doctors develop a strategy to care for a wider range of patients.
The American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute reports that more than 61% of seniors make an annual visit to the dentist, meaning clinicians have more opportunity to treat aging baby boomers seeking solutions for their edentulous conditions.
In the 5-Step Approach course, Dr. Dichter discusses the classic five-step approach for creating conventional dentures, from creating impressions to the final insertion. He also discusses protocols for trimming, contouring, building a case on an articulator, adjusting borders, determining the occlusal vertical dimension and insertion sequencing.
“I hope learners will find this course as a really nice refresher,” Dr. Dichter said. “But hopefully, what they find is something to get them excited about getting back into the operatory and excited about working with the edentulous patient who may be in their practice now or who may be looking for them today.”