Dental News - Meeting review: 2018 AACD Scientific Session in Chicago

Dental Tribune USA

Sun. 22 April 2018

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CHICAGO, Ill., USA: The American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry is referring to its 2018 annual meeting as “a masterpiece of comprehensive cosmetic dentistry education.” The AACD 2018 program, from April 18-21 at McCormick Place Lakeside Center in Chicago, featured a selection of topics and speakers that have been specifically selected to keep attendees on top of the industry’s latest advancements.

The educational program comprised four main collections of focused education: The Complex Case collection, the Accreditation collection, the Lab Focus collection and the Dental Team collection. Additional courses filled out the educational program. In total, attendees were able to choose from more than 40 hands-on workshops, 70 lectures and 80 educators.

The Complex Case collection featured some of the biggest names in dentistry discussing some of the profession’s most complicated cases. Lee Culp, CDT; Joseph Kan, DDS, MS; Aldo Leopardi, BDS, DDS; and Michael Sesemann, DDS, FAACD, tackled two cases: one involving six or more restorations in the upper arch, including implants and natural teeth, and another involving six or more indirect restorations in the upper arch where all restorations are on natural teeth. Attendees were able to engage with these specialists as they discuss the challenges of these complex cases and solutions for treatment.

Yannick Gosselin can tell you all about the Additive Reductive Template process for delivering naturally beautiful, ultra-thin Lumineers in the DenMat booth. (Photograph by Nirmala Singh / Dental Tribune America)

Need to update your loupes and headwear? Stop by the Designs for Vision booth, and get some help from Joanna Sterna and Phil Bullock. (Photograph by Nirmala Singh / Dental Tribune America)

The Ivoclar Vivadent booth. (Photograph by Nirmala Singh / Dental Tribune America)

Get all your impression and resin material needs met at the Kettenbach booth. (Photograph by Nirmala Singh / Dental Tribune America)

Anna Kataoka and Bob Garnica are here to give you the details of the many products, including the EyeSpecial C-III and Beautifil II LS, that can help your practice at the Shofu booth. (Photograph by Nirmala Singh / Dental Tribune America)

The Accreditation collection featured top academy educators helping attendees on their way to achieving clinical excellence and professional distinction. Under the guidance of Accreditation Chairman John Rowe Jr., DDS, AAACD, and featuring J. Fred Arnold III, DMD, FAACD; Betsy Bakeman, DDS, FAACD; Scott Finlay, DDS, FAACD; Brian LeSage, DDS, FAACD; Brett Magnuson, DMD, AAACD; Frank Milnar, DDS, AAACD; Adamo Notarantonio, DDS, AAACD; Bradley J. Olson, DDS, FAACD; Michael R. Sesemann, DDS, FAACD; John Weston, DDS, FAACD, and Corky Willhite, DDS, FAACD, attendees could work hands-on toward mastery of some of the most in-demand and profitable cosmetic case types and get started on their journey to becoming an accredited member of AACD.

The Lab Focus collection featured two full days of the top dental technicians in the field presenting the latest techniques and materials. Jungo Endo, RDT; Edris Rasta, MDT; Thomas Sing, MDT; Sung Bin Im, CDT, MDC, and Aram M. Torosian, CDT, MDC, touched on pink esthetics, biomimetic layering, matching a single central, and digital and esthetic considerations for creating predictable restorations, respectively.

The Dental Team collection educated dental team members on essential skills for assisting with cosmetic dentistry patients, including courses on leadership, communication, contemporary concepts in cosmetic dentistry and esthetic dental photography. Instructors included Leigh Ann Faight, RDH; Salvatore Lotardo, DDS, AAACD; Debra Engelhardt Nash and Adamo Notarantonio, DDS, AAACD.

Easier than ever to find an AACD dentist

The AACD is implementing a new consumer awareness campaign that will leverage the existing AACD consumer website Your Smile Becomes You (www.yoursmilebecomesyou.com), the new and improved AACD Find-a-Dentist website (www.aacd.com/profiles), and a new AACD Instagram account (@yourdreamsmile).

The @yourdreamsmile account will focus on educating and engaging consumers about cosmetic dentistry, increasing AACD brand awareness among consumers, and driving consumer traffic to AACD’s Find-a-Dentist website. The account will feature fun smile and cosmetic dentistry related content, which is where you come in!

The AACD invites all members to create content for @yourdreamsmile to share, including video tips, patient smile stories and patient portrait photos. We urge you to follow @yourdreamsmile on Instagram, use #AACDdentist in your practice posts and have your patients use #myAACDsmile in their posts.

If your practice isn’t already on Instagram, here are some statistics for you to consider: six in ten online adults have Instagram accounts, over 80% of accounts on Instagram follow a business, and engagement rates on Instagram are 15 times higher than Facebook and 20 higher than Twitter.

For more information about the opportunities to get involved and to gain exposure for your practice through the @yourdreamsmile account, visit www.aacd.com/instagram.

AACD Con•tin•u•um: Hands-On Workshops

If you couldn’t make it to AACD 2018 in Chicago, the AACD offers you additional opportunities for hands-on learning in the AACD Con•tin•u•um. AACD Con•tin•u•um consists of three intensive, hands-on workshops, taught by top Academy educators on topics that will enhance your clinical performance so that you can offer your patients better and more predictable results.

According to Michael R. Sesemann, DDS, FAACD, “Patients present to the 21st century dental practice with specific ideas and high expectations of how esthetic dental treatment can help them in their lives. These expectations must be met with expertise that takes esthetic dental diagnosis and treatment to its highest level.” The Con•tin•u•um courses are designed to start you on a path to achieving that highest level, which may also include working towards AACD Accreditation along the way.

The workshops cover topics including bonding with composites, performing anterior esthetics, and replacing a missing tooth in the esthetic zone. Members are welcome to register for individual courses or all three, but these educational opportunities to explore new materials and methodologies won’t be available forever – space in each course is extremely limited.

Visit www.AACD.com/continuum for more information.

2019 AACD Scientific Session to be held in San Diego

Are you ready to catch the wave of cosmetic dentistry education that is going to be coming ashore in San Diego next year? AACD 2019 will take place April 24 - 27 at the San Diego Convention Center, and the Professional Education Committee (PEC) already has some of the hottest names in the industry on the program. The current lineup includes Pablio Caetrano, Stephen Chu, Jimmy Eubank, Leon Hermanides, Pascal Magne, Peter Pizzi, Kyle Stanley and Dennis Wells, just to name a few.

The program will feature a rapid-fire session the PEC is calling “To Prep or Not to Prep” that will walk attendees through occlusion, restoration longevity, preparation, caries management, and tooth loss – all the things we see daily in our offices. And the schedule is going to be different from previous years to allow for a bit of breathing room between educational sessions and the evening networking and social events.

And as always, you never pay per course at an Annual AACD Scientific Session. All tuition prices also include: all applicable lectures and hands-on workshops; breakfasts and exhibit hall networking lunches and social hours; general sessions that will entertain and motivate; access to the AACD Exhibit Hall featuring the latest dental technologies and practice related services; and entrance to AACD's Welcome Reception. You won’t find this kind of all-inclusive experience at any other conference!

Learn more or register at www.aacd.com/sandiego.

(Source: AACD)