Bridging the Gap Between Material Selection & Clinical Application

Episode #329 with Dr. Taiseer Sulaiman

Imagine a dentist who doesn't know what they're putting into your mouth. They don't know the name or even the basic components of what they're using. Would you really want them restoring your teeth? To help you not be that clinician, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Taiseer Sulaiman to teach you the importance of understanding the materials you work with. Close your gap between material selection and clinical application! If you want to optimize your restorative treatment, listen to Episode 329 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Dental students are suffering from the gap between material selection and clinical application.

Students are graduating from dental school with minimal knowledge about materials.

No matter how talented you are, if you select the wrong material, it will not support your work.

Not knowing how to select and apply the right material can ruin your practice!

New materials have a lack of clinical trials and data.

Finding trusted sources of information for dental materials can be a challenge.

Offer gold restorations to patients before new materials. You know gold works!

Quotes:

“One of the challenges that we’re facing in dental education, before we get into the clinical world, is that if you look at the area of dental materials, usually, it is taught by material scientists — and I have the utmost respect for them. Without them, we wouldn't be able to do the things that we’re doing for our patients in our clinical practice. But many of the material scientists did not have the opportunity to try the things that they were researching and discovering on patients. And so, they were missing that link.” (05:15—05:50)

“To be in an area where you can understand the research world, where you can understand the development and be up to speed with the materials that are introduced into our profession, and to be able to evaluate that, to research that, and then take what's useful and apply it in the patient’s mouth or in a specific clinical scenario, that's when you really complete the circle. And so, that's where I think most of the dental schools are missing out on.” (05:51—06:18)

“Our students are really suffering, because if you think about dental materials that were taught in the ‘70s and ‘80s, there were about five or six materials that were out there, and that was it. And so, now, if you look at dental cements alone, there's like eight, nine different types of dental cements. I mean, you talk about the adhesive systems, you talk about ceramics, you talk about composites, impression, etc., you can go on and on, how do you teach this to dental students and when do you teach it to the dental students? So, that's been a challenge in the dental curriculum, which I hope — and I'm certain — that a lot of dental schools are focusing and looking at.” (07:21—08:01)

“You can be a talented, god-gifted clinician with hand skills and dexterity, but if you select the wrong material and you apply it incorrectly, does it really matter how talented you are or how well you prepared that tooth? That material is not going to support your work. Patients look for final outcomes, and they don't know how you isolated the tooth, how you prepared it, how wonderful your line angles and convergence and all that. They don't really care about that. They want a final restorative outcome that lasts for a long time.” (08:04—08:42)

“Something as simple as not knowing how to select the right material and not knowing how to apply it is a big problem because it will ruin your practice.” (08:44—08:54)

“The current curriculum right now, dental materials, is taught in the first year. [Students] don't even know what a cavity is. How can...