Editorial for Volume 6, Issue 5
I recently witnessed a virtual fight where two practitioners, one young and one old, fought over a virtual case. The young being more qualified, argued he practised evidence based dentistry and ‘this is what the textbook says’. The older being more experienced, said she practiced experience based dentistry and ‘in my 20 years of practice, I have seen only 10 cases surviving the said technique.’ His colleagues laughed at her and her colleagues bullied him, and this went on and on. I was left with one question in my mind – in a fight between evidence based dentistry vs experience based dentistry, who wins?
We all know what is evidence based dentistry – journals, articles and textbooks to read about researches, studies and case examples to achieve optimum clinical results. But is it always practical, feasible or even possible to do ideal literature based treatments in each and every case at the clinic?
Come to the other extreme – experience based dentistry. The favourite word of the dentistry jargon – jugaad – is a talent learned over time by seasoned practitioners. But the thing about jugaad is that it sometimes works and it sometimes fails – miserably. Some dentists follow what the head dentist at the clinic they observed at did, without applying their head to it much. Is it wise to be mechanical?
The real question is – can you really choose between evidences and experiences?
What if we could combine the two? Protocols based on sound principles of dentistry, along with a huge dose of reality?
Enter the DR Clinical Series. Keeping it simple. Keeping it real. Combining evidences and experiences for practicing both evidence based and experience based dentistry.
The DR Clinical Series: Evidences + Experiences
The primary objective of the DR ClinicalSeries is to provide dental professionals with practical and evidence-based knowledge and skills to achieve optimal occlusion in their patients. In particular, we aim to explore the interplay between esthetics and function in dental treatment planning, with a focus on available options for complex cases.
The series is designed to cover a range of topics, starting with an overview of the basic principles of occlusion and moving on to more advanced concepts related to treatment planning. The session is designed to be interactive so that the audience can grasp the concepts and ask the doubts in a Q&A session at the end of the webinars.
The ultimate goal of the series is to equip dental professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to provide their patients with the best possible dental care and to improve their overall understanding of the complex relationship between esthetics and function in dental treatment planning. We believe that the series will be successful in achieving these objectives and we are proud to have been able to provide this valuable educational resource to the dental community.
DR Clinical Series 1: Right Bite
Giving an insight into ‘Realistic Dentistry’ was our first mentor – Dr. Deepa Ravichandran. Her clinical series was based on Prosthodontics, where she took the viewers on a journey chronicling the struggles of the operator chair side, to delivering the final end result, in “high ticket cases”. The series was aptly named as:
Right Bite: Harmony between Esthetics & Function!
This 7 month series took place from September 2022 – April 2023.
It featured six webinars that delved into various aspects of achieving the right bite and harmonizing esthetics and function in dental treatment.
- Smile Rehab Strategies – Part 1
- Smile Rehab Strategies – Part 2
- Deprogrammers – Using What We Have!
- Selective FMR – Is that even possible?
- Complex Occlusion – Let’s be Precise!
- Customising Occlusion & Trouble Shooting – When, Why, Where & How?
Something about the mentor of series 1:
Dr. Deepa Ravichandran is a Prosthodontist & Private practitioner in Navi Mumbai. She has won awards at both State & National level, in her Master’s Program, for both Paper as well as Poster presentations. Her forte lies in Full Mouth Rehabilitations, Smile Designing and restoring cases of Complex Occlusion, conservatively. She has received acknowledgement for the same from peers and patients alike.
Presently, she is the:
- Brand Ambassador & Moderator of DentalReach
- Recipient of GOMHA Award for 2021 & 2022
- Recipient of Doctor’s Choice Awards National & City Winner 2021
- Mentor for Pulpdent Activa Pronto Challenge
- Silver Winner in the Dental Diva’s Endo-Resto Contest 2021
- Contributing Author in How To Conquer Dental School, a one of a kind novel, giving young undergraduates a unique perspective, in navigating the maze that is dental school.
The series was moderated beautifully by Dr Urvashi Tanwar, an Endodontist and active clinician. Dr Urvashi regularly contributes articles to DentalReach and most of them have a knack of going viral!
What’s next? DR Clinical Series 2
The next series is planned to cover a very underrated subject in dentistry: Oral Surgery. We are proud to collaborate with DR expert Dr.Nishit Shah to bring to you the unexplored areas of Oral Surgery.
Something about the mentor of series 2:
Dr.Nishit Kumar Shah is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. He has worked as an Assistant professor in the Dept of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery since last 10 years. He has a keen interest in making exodontia easy to practice not only for the undergraduate student, but also the private practitioners. He does this by means of various online and offline lectures and training sessions.
Registration details will be out soon. For queries regarding the same, please get in touch with Dr Zainab Kasid by dropping an email on media@dentalreach.co
I hope you got your answer to the question I posed in the beginning. To make it easier, let me put it down in words for you. In a fight between evidence based dentistry vs experience based dentistry, both win. The dentist who cannot balance between the two, loses.
DR Clinical Series 1 Special Issue
This special magazine issue, dedicated to DR Clinical Series consists of 7 articles:
- 1 article by Mentor Dr Deepa Ravichandran – Harmony Between Aesthetic and Functions
- 1 by Moderator Dr Urvashi Tanwar – How to host a webinar?
- 1 by Organising team member Dr Zainab Kasi – DR Clinical Series 1
- 4 articles by active participants, namely:
- Dr Zainulabideen – What are Precision attachments?
- Dr Sonia Joseph – Full Mouth Rehabilitations
- Dr Deepu Krishna S – Customizing occlusion & troubleshooting
- Dr Sana Atoof Momin – Smile Rehabilitation Strategies
If you want to join us as a mentor or moderator in DR Clinical Series, please drop us an email to media@dentalreach.co
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