Dental Academy kicks off with Excellence in Dentistry 4.0 - webinar series 

 

VENICE, Italy: The future of continuing education in dentistry will unfold online—a fact that has not been lost on Tokuyama Dental. The Tokyo-based manufacturer of restoratives and other specialty dental products is celebrating the launch of its Tokuyama Dental Academy in June with an inaugural webinar series that will offer dental professionals high-quality content, including solutions to the questions and problems that crop up in their daily practice. 

 

The inaugural webinar series, Excellence in Dentistry 4.0, will take place from Tuesday, 8 June, to Saturday, 12 June. When Dental Tribune International asked him about the forthcoming event, Prof. Simone Grandini, full professor of endodontics, restorative and paediatric dentistry at the University of Siena in Italy, quoted the famous American football coach Vince Lombardi: “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” 

 

Grandini, who will be chairing the webinar series, said that those participating in the event can expect to receive many tips and tricks from the varied programme as they learn about the latest best-practice techniques in restorative dentistry. 

 

Markus Leson, sales manager at Tokuyama Dental Germany, explained that the webinar series will be structured in two parts: “From Tuesday to Friday, two new lectures will be available, one at midday, CET, and the other in the evening. This will then culminate in a grand finale on Saturday in Venice. The webinars during the week will take place exclusively online owing to the pandemic; however, we wanted to offer something special for Saturday. In compliance with all hygiene regulations, a small group of speakers will meet live on-site on Saturday to hold an expert panel discussion.” 

Tokuyama Dental is a multinational dental manufacturer with a long list of regional branches. Leson said that Venice was chosen as the location of the online event to emphasise the unique qualities of the company’s dental composites. “But Venice is only half the story,” he said. “The event will take place on the island of Murano, located in the Venetian lagoon. The island is famous for its long tradition of glass-blowing, and its fine craftmanship strikes a chord with the unique spherical fillers that make up our composites and which make them so distinctive. The production of spherical fillers using the sol-gel method is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary, and the island of Murano, with its history and background, provides a worthy setting.” 

 

“A dental event not to be missed” 

 

Participants will have the opportunity to earn continuing education credits, and experts holding webinars at the event include: Dr Thomas Taha of the UK, who will speak about a personalised workflow in approach to colour; Drs Allegra Comba and Alberto Libero of Italy, who will present direct and semi-direct techniques to improve patients’ smiles; and Dr Paul 

 

Gerloczy of Hungary, who will discuss cementation and performance of materials during cementation, with a clinical approach to the different steps. 

 

Grandini added: “Additional highlights of the webinar series will include a presentation by Drs Engin Taviloglu and Bora Korkut of Turkey, in which they will discuss topics that are often highly complicated for the general practitioner, such as cervical restorations. Dr Anne-Katrin Lührs of Germany and Dr Kaja Wichrowska-Rymarek of Poland will discuss tips and tricks for dealing with subgingival restorations and how to approach daily restorations with simplicity. Finally, Dr Guilio Pavolucci and I will talk about a workflow for the simplification of aesthetic restorations in anterior regions.” 

 

According to Grandini, the experts who will join the live panel discussion on Saturday need no introduction. They will include dental adhesion experts Prof. Bart Van Meerbeek from KU Leuven in Belgium and Prof. Junji Tagami from Tokyo Medical and Dental University. Dr Jean-Pierre Salomon of France will share expertise with the panel on the optical properties of materials, and Dr Newton Fahl of Brazil and Dr Fernando Autran of Spain will provide tips on achieving high-level aesthetics. 

 

“Dr Noboru Takahashi of Japan and Dr Vincenzo Musella of Italy will propose minimally invasive treatments for the realisation of aesthetic veneers,” Grandini said, adding: “Finally, my friend and mentor Prof. Angelo Putignano will talk about our experiences and the ‘Style Italiano’ approach. There will also be some room for surprises. In conclusion, this is a dental event not to be missed.” 

 

Striving to meet the latest challenges in restorative dentistry Leson explained that Tokuyama Dental founded the eponymous academy so that it could help customers with the problems and questions that they face in their daily practice. The company has confirmed that it will not participate in the International Dental Show (IDS) this year—owing to concerns for the safety of both staff and customers—and Leson said that the absence of IDS in the company’s calendar reinforced the need to seek alternative means of customer engagement. 

 

As a kick-off event to launch the academy, Grandini said that it was crucial that the Excellence in Dentistry 4.0 series presented a broad programme that included topics dedicated to both research and clinical procedures owing to the variety of needs and challenges faced by those practising restorative dentistry. He commented that one of the greatest challenges nowadays is simply staying up to date with the latest information. “Especially in the field of restorative dentistry, there are many new materials and techniques coming out all the time; therefore, it is essential for dental professionals to choose the material that best suits their needs and to follow a repeatable protocol that matches their abilities.” 

 

Grandini added: “Another great challenge relates to the ability of dental professionals to follow the shift in perspective that has taken place lately. In fact, whereas on the one hand the choice of both materials and techniques is of paramount importance, on the other hand that should be allied with a multidisciplinary approach to clinical cases in order to achieve a full rehabilitation.” 

 

A few surprises, and continuing education credits, will be on offer for those participating in Tokuyama Dental Academy's inaugural webinar series, Excellence in Dentistry 4.0 in June. More information on the online event and registration can be found on the Tokuyama Dental Academy website. 

 

Caption: As part of the Excellence in Dentistry 4.0 webinar series, Tokuyama Dental will be streaming its global festival live from Venice in Italy on 12 June.