DENTSPLY Friadent News

Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Successful Treatment Results

11-18-2011 | The DENTSPLY Divisions' Expert Day Provides a Platform for Knowledge Transfer

Combining mutual skills and building networks – this is how treatment successes are achieved. The DENTSPLY divisions, DENTSPLY Friadent, DeguDent and DENTSPLY DeTrey, who bring together their respective expertise in dental medicine and thereby provide treatment concepts across the whole life-cycle of the tooth, know this. Based on this principle of interdisciplinarity, with their “Expert Day”, they now also facilitate a forum for scientific exchange for the employees of a number of university institutions. With the aid of presentations by renowned experts, practical hands-on sessions and animated discussions, common points of intersection in the daily routine emerge in the process – and hence the opportunity to benefit from the knowledge of others. So, too, at the last event, on September 28 and 29, in Ismaning, Germany.

“Thinking outside the box, bursting the boundaries of one's own field and discovering points of intersection in the disciplines” read the motto of this, the second Expert Day. Whether in the area of conservative dentistry, surgery or prosthetics – each department has its specialty. “It is vital to benefit mutually from knowledge and hence to reognize new solution options. In this way, synergies develop and we gain new knowledge, not least for common research work – and therefore for promoting innovative ideas.”, as Dr. Joerg Nonhoff, Senior Manager, Clinical Research at DENTSPLY Friadent, summarizes the purpose of the event.

Learning from each other – Working with each other

Within the context of two advanced training days, the event gave comprehensive insights into a variety of specialist disciplines: the prosthetist, for instance, learned more about the daily craft of the surgeon – and vice versa. Above all, the contributors, Dr. Sjoerd Smeekens (Netherlands), Paul Delee (Belgium) and Dr. Sven Rinke, MSc. (Germany) assisted with their interdisciplinary presentations. Based on clinichal studies and descriptive case studies, they discussed overlapping topics such as systematic treatment planning, safe incorporation by the dentist or CAD/CAM-fabricated superstructures with the attendees. And they they showed that there has been a trend towards increasingly intense collaboration between the various dental fields for quite some time already and that “interdisciplinarity” is more than just a buzz word. A technique course at the conclusion made this come alive. This “was a great opportunity to understand the exchange of collective knowledge hands-on, as well.”, according to attendee, Dr. Carola Kolbeck, Private Lecturer and Senior Physician at the Regensburg (Germany) University Hospital.

New perspectives emerged, the attendees benefitted from the experiences of others, new links were forged – a summary that held true for the attendees just as much as it did for the contributors at the conclusion of the Expert Day: “An excellent opportunity, to discuss up to date treatment concepts across departments and to exchange the associated specialist knowledge”, as Dr. Sjoerd Smeekens aptly summed it up.

For the Purposes of “Better Dentistry”

The most diverse areas of expertise are outstandingly complimentary – at the Expert Day just as in the DENTSPLY divisions. The company provides the collective knowledge and experience of the individual divisions from a single source – starting with restorative treatment, through implant placement, right up to prosthetic solutions. So, the practitioner can benefit from the comprehensive knowledge and the collective expertise that has a solution for every aspect of the life-cycle of the tooth. In this way, the know-how comes together, entirely for the purposes of “better dentistry”.