Jack Griffin, DMD

The Highly Efficient Practice (while having fun doing it).
Success is where preparation meets opportunity. Practice enjoyment comes from being efficient at whatever level of dentistry you do. Efficiency is defined as competency in performance while accomplishing a job with minimum expenditure of time and effort. It would be nice if efficiency was just about hiring another staff member, receiving free supplies, inserting $49 crowns, or buying the magic piece of equipment or tool. Not so easy. It’s more about developing a vision of what you want your practice to be, having a well-designed office with great equipment, having a terrific support team, and doing profitable procedures as fast and well as possible. Those will make you a happy practitioner. Those are what we are going to focus on.

This course deals with the basics to make the office highly efficient while focusing on 4 critical areas: the office, the staff, the schedule, and the skill level of the doctor and staff. All are critical for practicing with little stress, higher enjoyment, and more profitability. The best way to flourish in any economy is to offer a wide variety of efficient procedures that patients almost always need and want. It all starts with an office that shows the quality of work you want to do and having the right equipment and organization to make it happen. Then we have to fill the office with a staff that truly believes “It’s not about me”. It then makes sense that we have a plan in place to keep the schedule full of people who desire our work. The staff and doctor must have a skill level that makes delivering exceptional care routine while encouraging patients to say YES to recommended treatment. This course takes a thorough look at many aspects of everyday practice to promote profitable busyness while offering procedures that are highly profitable.

Lecture outline:

1. The office – the layout, equipment, technology, and policies can all be the limiting factor for success
2. The staff -  “pay peanuts-get monkeys”, “It’s not about me”, motivation, set ME people free
3. The schedule – schedule engineering, marketing, the office portfolio, digital media
4. The doctor/staff skill- efficient, profitable every-day procedures that seldom fail …right the first time
5. Recession proof procedures – Direct composites, ortho, endo, implants, CAD/CAM and other things you didn’t think you would like to offer

In this day of heightened cosmetic awareness, we are held to higher cosmetic standards than at any time in dental history It’s much more than just taking before and after “pictures”. Excellent digital photography may be the single most important tool needed to improve our cosmetic results and refine our skills. Great photos should be routinely used to plan, prepare, evaluate, and correct our cosmetic cases. We will learn what images to take, what to do with them, and how to use them to grow your practice while having patients want the kind of work you like to do.

This is much more than just a “photography” course. We will cover case documentation, developing the office portfolio, setting yourself apart with the web site gallery, and what images to take to help the patient accept the cosmetic work you want to do. Photography also forms the framework for doing everyday dentistry including gingival recontouring, choosing porcelains, evaluating cement shades, and enhancing direct composites. The ultimate records for lab communication will be taught showing a variety of cases from single tooth porcelain matching to complex restorative/cosmetic cases. The basics of great portrait photography will be demonstrated while emphasizing how to capture the emotion needed to have other patients ask for your cosmetic expertise.

This is a very comprehensive course on many aspects of digital photography and cosmetic techniques and is intended for any dentist or staff looking to increase dental skills, practice growth, and digital photography skills. Dr. Griffin brings the equipment he uses every day in practice and shows efficient and predictable ways of achieving excellent results.  For participation courses, it is encouraged (but not mandatory) for participants to bring the equipment they normally use for help with set up and capturing techniques. This is the course you need to obtain consistent, high quality images.

Lecture outline:

1. Equipment needed to take efficient, excellent images…camera system, retractors, mirrors, contrastors
2. What settings to use, what buttons to push (or not push) – simplicity in excellence
3. Mastering the basic images – consistent series for all applications, simplified portraits
4. Lab communication – photos needed for great shade matching and the ultimate ceramist communication
5. Porcelain restorations - planning, prepping, and perfecting complex cosmetic cases
6. Composites - nailing single tooth composite matching and enhancing composite veneers
7. The portfolio - excellent photography to market…having patient WANT dentistry you like to do

"Let's do it"...the participation course

Let’s do it…the hands on photography course. In this day of heightened cosmetic awareness, we are held to higher cosmetic standards than at any time in dental history. Learning to do excellent digital photography may be the single most important tool needed to improve our cosmetic results. Capturing excellent digital images is critical in cosmetic case planning, patient education, case enhancement, lab communication, technique evaluation, practice promotion, and treatment documentation. We will end the confusion with lecture, presentations, and hands on components featuring the latest in camera equipment and how to use it. We make the complex easy.

Excellent photography forms the framework for our clinical treatment, enhancements, and corrections…a real skill and practice builder.  Participants will watch demonstrations for each image series needed and then have the opportunity to capture these images on some of the latest and best equipment available. This is a very comprehensive course on many aspects of digital photography and cosmetic techniques and is intended for any dentist or staff looking to increase dental skills, practice growth, and digital photography skills. Do what you have learned!

This highly rated course can be done as a lecture, hand-on, or both.  Dr Griffin brings the equipment he uses every day in practice and shows efficient and predictable ways of achieving excellent results.  For participation courses, it is encouraged (but not mandatory) for participants to bring the equipment they normally use for help with set up and capturing techniques. Generally the best way to learn photography is to do a full day with lecture and hands on intermingled…this gives each participant the opportunity to DO what is LEARNED. This is the course you need to obtain consistent, high quality images.

Hands-on Course Outline:

1. What equipment to buy: camera, retractors, contrastors…all the goodies
2. What buttons to push (or not push), how to capture consistently great images easily
3. Mastering the basic images for case documentation, lab communication, practice growth
4. Photographing the cosmetic case – what and when
5. Portrait capture using “normal” dental photography materials and operatory space
6. How to use photography to have patients WANT what you would like to do for them

Porcelain restorations are the standard in cosmetic dentistry and in this day of heightened cosmetic awareness, we are held to higher cosmetic standards than at any time in dental history. Often the choice in materials, preparation styles, temporization, and lab communication can lead to confusion, stress, and less than ideal results. How can we prevent breakage, de-bonding, and simplify placement? Focus will be on efficiency in each of these areas to make aesthetic porcelain restorations both stress free and rewarding. This program is intended for any dentist or staff interested in maximizing office efficiency and taking the stress out of success esthetic porcelain cases.

The format will be a high energy, interactive lecture going through many actual clinical cases. The emphasis will be on anterior/cosmetic cases but we will also discuss choices in posterior tooth colored indirect restorations that are giving us more success than any restorations since gold. Anterior cases will be taken from planning, mock up, preparation, impression taking, temporization, lab communication, and cementation. Our goal is to take the anxiety out of each of these steps and to increase your efficiency with these materials. We will review cases where things didn’t work out so well and what to do when these problems arise. This is a comprehensive course covering current concepts in esthetic restorative materials to use in any cosmetic and general dentistry practice…what works today!

Lecture outline:

1. Great new materials…how and when to use them: lithium disilicate, zirconia, pressed
2. What materials work and look best for posterior and anterior restorations, what DOESN’T work
3. Understanding the basics of smile design, cosmetic case planning and preparation
4. Steps is insure luting/cementation success… what and how to use
5. Preparations for success … minimal preparation that will help insure success
6. Using excellent digital photography for lab communication and plan the cosmetic case
7. Efficient mock ups, hassle-free temporaries, stress-free cementation
8. Anterior tooth replacement: using veneer principles for great results

So many materials, so little time. With a myriad of newer restorative materials and seemingly endless choices in luting materials and bonding systems could this stuff be any more confusing? There are excellent materials today that can help us minimize sensitivity, decrease de-bonding, stop microleakage, and reduce ther problems we may have with indirect restorations. They key is having an arsenal that is versitile and almost universal in application and understanding how and when to use them. When do we etch, bond, cement, rinse, blow, cure......? Ever had a patient say “Doc, that tooth was never a problem until you fixed it”? Let’s stop the madness.

The goal of this course is to simplify materials and techniques to provide great success with an increased efficiency. We will learn indications for newer materials such as Lithium Dislicate and Zirconia with preparation and placement methods for each. The bonding of direct and indirect restorations will be explored with emphasis on conservative bridges and cosmetic temporaries for office efficiency and patient happiness. Next we will cover the placement of posts, cores, and build up materials that will provide us with the dependable infrastructure we need for years of patient pleasing service. Each participant will place a veneer, cement and bond a full porcelain crown, bond a zirconia crown, do an esthetic post and core, and place conservative porcelain restoration. We will DO what we have learned.

Course outline:

1. An overview of current cements and clinical uses
2. Porcelain veneers – materials and techniques for simplified, esthetic bonding
3. Stress free temporizes and transitional restorations
4. Lithium Disilicate – surface treatment, when to bond and when to cement and how to do each
5. Zirconia bridges and crowns – surface treatment, when to bond or cement
6. Esthetic posts – easy and strong posts and cores using simplified materials
7. Clean up and adjustment techniques to make you enjoy insertion appointments

Digital impressions and CAD/CAM restorations have become an everyday reality for modern dentistry. Whether lab or office made, a large percentage of all porcelain restorations inserted today are designed and milled This course is intended to “de-mystify” the world of digital dentistry while reviewing various choices in digital impression taking, porcelain selection, preparations for success, and CAD/CAM fabrication. The techniques taught for preparation, porcelain selection, and cementation applies universally to most all porcelain systems. We will discuss and show cases that may make you change the types of restorations you currently offer.

In office CAD/CAM systems such as CEREC® and E4D® restorations have gained great momentum because of advancements in computer software and ease in design. Dr. Griffin has been involved with CEREC® CAD/CAM restoration education for over 10 years and has inserted over 10,000 restorations. He hides nothing and teaches very clearly which techniques and materials have been successful and which have not. The basic concepts of this system for routine posterior restorations as well as customization of anterior teeth are covered in a very clear and entertaining fashion. Demonstrations of this technology are done as time, space, and support permits.

This course is designed for those offices wanting to do the most current dental procedures in a very efficient way. We will try to take the stress and guess work out of the newer esthetic materials and show what gives years of success in every day practice. You will leave this course confident in your choices for routine indirect dentistry for your patients. The participation component for this course depends greatly upon the course location and ability for sponsors to provide CAD/CAM equipment and materials.

Lecture outline:

1. An overview and comparison of tooth colored indirect material…what REALLY works
2. Laboratory CAD/CAM – single crowns that almost never fail and fit like gold
3. Who should and who should NOT consider owning a chairside CAD/CAM system
4. Rational between in office or laboratory milling
5. The advantages of digital impressions and techniques for efficiency
6. Anterior and posterior preparations for success with all porcelain restorations
7. Posterior restoration finishing…staining, glazing, polishing
8. Successful and predictable porcelain bonding…making sense of a crazy cementation world

Ever had a patient say “Doc, that tooth was never a problem until you fixed it”? Let’s stop the madness. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could make the tooth grow? With newer regenerative/bioactive materials we can stimulate dentin healing and self-repair in our direct and indirect restorations all while reducing sensitivity. We will learn indications for newer liners, bases, cements, and restorative materials that encourage dentin repair, lessen sensitivity, and promote a healthier oral environment. We will apply these newer materials in our direct composite restorations while exploring matrix systems for predictable, tight, well contoured contacts. We will also consider regenerative materials when doing dentin replacement and cementation of durable esthetic indirect restorations like lithium disilicate and zirconia. We will learn how to do it right the first time and to make the practice more enjoyable and efficient.

Learning objectives:

1. The latest in regenerative materials such as dentin liners for dentin sealing, pulp capping, and thermal insulation for increased comfort and restoration success.
2. Cementation and infrastructure for zirconia and lithium disilicate crowns with materials that promote dentin formation and sealing of the restoration margins.
3. Efficient direct composite placement – preparation, bonding, matrix selection, bulk fill and bioactive materials for long term oral health.