They are not led by the most well-known speakers on the dental education circuit, but table clinics — those concise, 15- to 20-minute presentations about materials, procedures, and techniques — offer some of the most interesting topics you’ll find anywhere. At the Chicago Dental Society’s 144th Midwinter Meeting, held recently, a number of table clinics were offered.
Topics included things like general dentistry, myofunctional therapy, occlusion, pathology, prosthodontics, endodontics, restorative dentistry, patient management, forensics, and much more. There was even a clinic on How to tell a drunk where to go.
Among the presenters, Dr Aadarsh Gopalakrishna of the University of Iowa College of Dentistry presented case reports on fractured anterior teeth treated with a simplified aesthetic approach using a lingual matrix. Dr Natanya Marracino of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry presented a case report on pulp revascularisation of an infected necrotic tooth.
Information was presented in bullet points, and discussion with colleagues was lively.
Who knows? Perhaps one day one of these presenters will be packing in the big lecture halls with hundreds of attendees.