Lou Graham, DDS
Lecture Topics
- AI
- Case Acceptance
- Dental Technology
- Geriatric Dentistry
- Hygiene
- Imaging
- Implants
- Periodontics
- Practice Management
- Profitability and Finances
- Restorative Dentistry
About Dr. Graham
For the past 35+ years, Dr. Graham has practiced dentistry in Chicago, Illinois. As dentistry evolved throughout his career, he remained at the cutting edge and incorporated many of these changes into both his multi-group specialty practice and his clinical courses. Dr. Graham’s course offerings incorporate the latest diagnostic technologies into everyday treatment planning and clinical care to ensure the best options and treatments are presented to each and every patient.
Throughout his career, his goal has always been to get teeth to their 75th birthday. With such, Dr. Graham’s emphasis has always been based on trust with the patient and conservative dentistry. His courses highlight many of the restorative options in dentistry today along with an emphasis on customized approaches to periodontal care, implants, laser dentistry and treatment for the ever-expanding geriatric population.
Dr. Graham is the founder of Catapult Education, now composed of 30+ speakers including clinical evaluators of the latest dental products and technologies with over 35,000 education subscribers.
Dr. Graham is a published author and is the former Dental Director of the University of Chicago’s Department of Dentistry.
Throughout his career, his goal has always been to get teeth to their 75th birthday. With such, Dr. Graham’s emphasis has always been based on trust with the patient and conservative dentistry. His courses highlight many of the restorative options in dentistry today along with an emphasis on customized approaches to periodontal care, implants, laser dentistry and treatment for the ever-expanding geriatric population.
Dr. Graham is the founder of Catapult Education, now composed of 30+ speakers including clinical evaluators of the latest dental products and technologies with over 35,000 education subscribers.
Dr. Graham is a published author and is the former Dental Director of the University of Chicago’s Department of Dentistry.
Honors and Achievements
Discover Dr. Graham's Latest Courses
Diagnostically Driven Dentistry: What’s the reasonable thing to do? NEW!
Today’s standard of care diagnostics dates back 100 years with low sensitivity and yet, dentists are hesitant to change. This course is all about taking out the often occurring and dreaded, “dental surprise”!
You extract an upper molar and there’s the sinus, you’ve begun a root canal and your files aren’t going as planned, you remove an old class 1 composite and find proximal caries, or you have been watching unrestored teeth that when treated, present far more issues than thought, these are just a few of the surprises that modern-day diagnostics can help prevent and guide us into more predictable procedures and outcomes. This course will take attendees into modern-day general dentistry diagnostics and demonstrate why the GP must be in control of how they integrate these into their treatment planning and clinical procedures.
You extract an upper molar and there’s the sinus, you’ve begun a root canal and your files aren’t going as planned, you remove an old class 1 composite and find proximal caries, or you have been watching unrestored teeth that when treated, present far more issues than thought, these are just a few of the surprises that modern-day diagnostics can help prevent and guide us into more predictable procedures and outcomes. This course will take attendees into modern-day general dentistry diagnostics and demonstrate why the GP must be in control of how they integrate these into their treatment planning and clinical procedures.
Highlights:
- Understanding why traditional diagnostics continue to fail us daily
- How 2D AI “ups” our game within seconds of taking an x-ray
- Why CBCT’s are NOT just from specialists but even more for general dentists
- Why the future of the FMX is in danger and it should be!
- Maximizing additional diagnostics for occlusion, white spots, and diving into the next generation of diagnostics
- Today’s recall exam, why it becomes the health of your practice
- Today’s initial exam and the flow to success
- Clinical casework throughout the presentation
Course Format: Full Day Lecture
The Challenges in Restorative Dentistry
“Success” is a very interesting word as it relates to a dental procedure. What is a successful restoration? Is it one that lasts 5 years, or 10 or 15 or 20 plus? Or, did it prolong the life of the tooth until another replacement restoration was required? What is success? This course is all about expanding your game as a general dentist, and covers topics that are essential to understand and equally, deliver success to our patients.
Highlights:
- Direct Pulp Capping: The steps to success with the right materials
- Treating Resorptive Lesions: The challenges and successes
- Treating Cracked Teeth: Trying to make sense of it! What does the literature really say?
- The Single Implant Crown: 3 options (and yes, they are all different)
- Socket Grafting and Temporization: It’s all about the planning
Advanced Concepts in Restorative Direct and Indirect Dentistry
For over 100 years, the standard of care for caries diagnostics has been the explorer and x-rays. Let’s all agree that if you are utilizing these as your solo tools for caries diagnostics, you are simply guessing way too often. You are also limiting your treatment offerings to patients, both in prevention and early minimally invasive treatment. This program will challenge you with new protocols for care, and problem-solve many of the issues today in direct restorative dentistry. The program then transitions into far more challenging casework that will include both direct and indirect restorative clinical care. This full day program will update the attendee with the latest in adhesion dentistry, along with many of the latest techniques and materials available today.
Highlights:
- Modern Day Diagnostics: It’s time to put down your explorer and truly compliment your digital x-rays with the latest in caries diagnostics
- The key pitfalls in direct adhesion and how to avoid them (you will be surprised!)
- Advanced approaches to direct restorative: How to really up your game
- “Elevated margins” and the reason they are important
- Posts and Cores: Unique approaches to add long term success
- Digital Crown and Bridge: The joy of impressions… and more!
- Cementation: How to choose the right cements and why bioactive cements offer excellent options today
A Sound Recession-Proof Restorative/Hygiene Practice
The obstacles and challenges we face day after day continue to change so fast in our profession. This course will dive deep into how you can resist signing up for PPO after PPO and help you know how to transition your office for such. We then dive deep into how diagnostics have changed and why you must advance your practice with far greater treatment plan acceptance. From the new patient exam to hygiene re-care exams, come see how to create new protocols and far superior outcomes. This course is recommended for the entire team. Doctors, bring your team! Or should I say, teams…bring your doctors!
Highlights:
- Over two thirds of dental offices take more than 7 PPO’s… come learn why you must create your own in-office dental plan
- Why FMX’s are a thing of the past, why bite-wings for your younger patients really aren’t necessary, and so many more ways to customize your diagnostics for your office
- The NEW Patient Exam…An OMG change that everyone can do
- Redesigning the entire hygiene “one hour” to maximize treatment, diagnostics, and communication
- Maximizing hygiene outcomes with lasers and oxygenation (Or, It’s not about Star Trek; it’s about PERIO!)
Objectives:
- To present the latest approaches to running and growing your team and your business
- To update the team on the latest diagnostic approaches for a general dental practice
- Present the latest methodologies to compliment hygiene growth and understand how adjunctive therapies are bringing us far more success in treatment
Dentistry 2024: The Business of Dentistry (Concepts they should have taught everyone in dental school and just didn’t!)
Forget the days of the past… In fact, forget everything pre 2010. Survival for a dental office today must involve contemporary business concepts that enable it to run efficiently and yet be incredibly personal. Forget just watching how much a bib costs or how much cash you have in your office checking account; this course is about understanding the latest economic and demographic changes in dentistry and what you can do to prepare, rather than joining every PPO in the hopes of paying your monthly lab bill! This course is for the entire team to attend. After all… it takes a team to change.
Highlights:
- “Actionable” analytics that drive your huddles and monthly meetings
- Understanding how best to utilize today’s technologies to grow your business and clinical efficiency
- Why Key Performance Indicators drive market success and ROI in the office
- Hygiene growth equates to practice growth: seeing is believing
- The in-office dental plan, steps A to Z (and why these are NOT optional today)
Diagnostically Driven Technologies and Their Essential Role in Advanced Concepts in Restorative Direct and Indirect Dentistry
For over 100 years, the standard of care in dentistry has been an explorer, an x-ray, and a periodontal probe. This program will challenge the audience as to how today’s diagnostic technologies can be integrated into our offices, and how they impact diagnostic protocols today. Truth be told, we have been guessing far too much. The more information we can attain, the far greater the ultimate clinical result. The program takes everyday clinicals situations and identifies how to maximize diagnostics and thereby maximize long term outcomes for your patients and practice.
Highlights:
- The limitations of traditional diagnostics, contrasted with new technologies on the market today
- Incorporating modern day diagnostics into new protocols for patient care
- Customizing what diagnostics are best for your practice and how this raises long term outcomes and decision making
- Communication and treatment plan acceptance: implementing new approaches to growth
- How your own in-office dental plan ties in our day
- Clinical casework and outcomes that support diagnostically driven dentistry
Objectives:
- To update the attendee in regards to “what’s best for the patient”
- How upping your diagnostics drives greater treatment plan acceptance
- Incorporating many of the latest materials and techniques to achieve superior long term outcomes
Implants: The Restorative Solutions and Challenges Long Term
Face the truth: not every implant is placed in the ideal position and not every patient has the ideal setting for the final restoration. The challenges are numerous: access via limited vertical opening, limited vertical interocclusal distance, tissue challenges, and proximal issues, just to name a few. Leaving treatment decisions to the lab or lead surgeon is simply not an option anymore.Whether you are utilizing the traditional single screw one-piece approach, the cementable crown, or even the combination termed the hybrid approach, you must understand what your options are for long term success. Treatment coordination and planning for optimum results often involves superior diagnostics utilizing CBCT imaging, and the latest options in digital scanning for communication with both the patient and lab. It’s 2022; Let’s get up to date with today’s technologies and expectations!
Highlights:
- CBCT: Why this is not just for the surgeon but for every GP and everyday challenges that 2D imaging can’t see
- Today’s initial exam: How to increase case acceptance via today’s diagnostics and technologies
- Step by step case presentations you can take back to the “chair” Monday
- Which cement is the only biocompatible cement for implant cemented crowns
- Immediate temporization: The technique and why the “flipper” usually belongs in the ocean
- Stock abutments versus milled
- ADD general restorative dentistry combination cases
- Long term issues and maintenance approaches (and yes, you need to know what future issues will be!)
Integrating a Commonsense Approach to Diagnostically Driven Dentistry
Since the era of GC Black, dentistry has been using an explorer as its chief diagnostic tool for fissure and smooth surface caries. In the post-World War 2 era, x-rays became another diagnostic mainstay in dental practices. Flash forward to 2023 and what are you using in your office? How sensitive and specific are these diagnostics for our patients? The answer, not very! This course takes you in a deep dive into how and why you should be updating your diagnostic skills, and how both your patients and practice benefit. Unless you like premature failures and dental surprises, this course will disappoint you. Our journey during this course is all about optimizing success and YES, there are so many options available today. It’s truly not if you will make these changes, but when. Come enjoy our day together and understand not just the diagnostics, but the everyday clinical solutions with each case.
Highlights:
Highlights:
- Optimizing 2D imaging with artificial intelligence. We all know we miss stuff, come see your second set of eyes and why patients often believe a computer more than you
- Why all too often explorers and 2D imaging are not the best diagnostics, and yet for other patient groups they are. Do you know which group best benefits?
- How today’s transillumination can change your bitewing protocols and why fluorescence does add more to the story
- Why CBCT imaging is NOT just about implants and why it should be in most practices
- Step by step new patient protocols to patients saying, YES
- Step by step recall patients understanding that things change and getting them to say, YES
- Clinical casework that is everyday dentistry but without the surprises
Geriatric Dentistry: The Fastest Growing Demographic in Dentistry
Who knew that the fastest growing segment of our population is 65+! Another fact, more patients than ever before above the age of 70, have their teeth and with that comes far more challenges in their dental options and treatments. Add medical issues and you have a whole new subset within our profession, and it’s called geriatric dentistry. Let’s not forget most of these patients don’t have dental insurance and this course will also present some commonsense business approaches because when a 75-year-old comes to your office, they may be a patient truly for life! Lastly, this is not a course on nursing home dentistry but far more about customizing your practice around the needs of these patients.
Highlights:
- Why AI (artificial intelligence) is becoming an essential part of our diagnostics and even more!
- How initial exams and recall exams incorporate the latest technologies (digital scanning) and 3D diagnostics (CBCT) into treatment planning and case acceptance
- Modern day restorative approaches that allow us to prolong our patient’s dentitions
- The vast majority of these patients present with periodontal issues, understand the best approaches to “upping” your oral hygiene game and the latest on treating refractory periodontal patients and their periodontal challenges
- Customizing your own in office dental plan, these patients love them!
Book Dr. Graham for a live lecture, workshop, or virtual event today.
1615 NW 4th Ave, Delray Beach, FL 33444 | United States