Hands-On Dental Course | Level 1

The patient's account, read correctly, explains why they are in your chair. This module teaches you to elicit the information that matters: the sequence of events, the habits, the prior treatment. You will learn which details to probe and which to set aside. The objective is not a longer conversation. It is a more targeted one.

Time spent gathering information on a patient who declines basic treatment is time lost. This module teaches a staged approach: a rapid screening to qualify the patient, a comprehensive examination when the case warrants it, and the diagnostic records that support the presentation and closure of complex treatment. Knowing which step a given patient requires is as important as knowing how to perform it. Children are screened with the same sequence, recorded differently. The module covers how the pediatric findings are recorded and when they warrant a discussion of early intervention with the parents.

Periodontal, biomechanical, functional, and dentofacial findings are usually assessed in isolation. They should be read together. Not all bone loss follows poor hygiene. Not all fractured teeth follow caries or hard food. This module teaches you to identify the parafunction behind the presenting signs and to predict the trajectory of the condition: which tooth, which muscle, which symptom is next if the cause is left uncorrected. Prediction, shown to the patient before it occurs, is what converts a skeptical patient into one who accepts comprehensive treatment.

Imaging narrows the diagnosis and the treatment options. Photography drives case acceptance. Both fail in practice when they are slow, hard to delegate, or inconsistent. This module teaches a standardized protocol that your team can perform on every patient, and how to use those records efficiently in a treatment presentation that makes the value of the plan evident to the patient.

Digital technology runs through every level of the pathway. All laboratory work is performed onsite: digital scanning, design, 3D printing, CAD/CAM and milling of single and multiple units. Level 1 covers scanning technique: how to obtain an efficient, complete scan, including difficult areas, and where the scan fits in the diagnostic records. The program pairs current digital tools with conventional articulators and mounted models, so the material is taught across all four learning modalities: visual, auditory, didactic, and kinesthetic.

The panoramic radiograph is taken on nearly every new patient and read for caries, periapical lesions, third molars, and gross pathology. It is then set aside. The same image records the loading history of the masticatory system, and that information is rarely extracted.

This module teaches a second reading of the film. Four findings are covered in detail: condylar form and cortical integrity, vertical symmetry of the condyle–ramus unit, antegonial morphology, and the load signature written into the teeth and alveolar bone. Each is tied to the mechanism that produced it and to the clinical decision it changes.

The module also defines the limits of the image. A panoramic radiograph cannot show disc position and cannot establish condylar position or 3-dimensional shape in the fossa. It raises suspicion and directs further imaging. It does not exclude joint disease. Participants learn which findings warrant CBCT, which warrant MRI, and which warrant neither.

A treatment plan is only as sound as the diagnosis beneath it. This module brings together history, examination, imaging, and records into one defensible diagnosis. That diagnosis is the deliverable of Level 1 and the required starting point for the treatment planning taught in Level 2.

Many patients expect outcomes the biology will not support. A mutilated dentition with decades of neglect will not be resolved by a few veneers. This module addresses how to identify what a patient believes is achievable, how their perceived budget shapes that belief, and how to communicate reasonable expectations in a way that moves them toward the appropriate treatment rather than the one they arrived asking for.

A complete presentation does not require a complete digital workup on every patient. This module teaches how to use photography to qualify the patient before further records are taken, how to identify what motivates the patient, and how to present the full diagnosis, including findings the patient did not ask about, in the order that matters to them. The patient's motivation determines the emphasis and the order of the presentation. It does not change the diagnosis or the recommendation.

Attending dentists may submit their own cases for review on Day 2. The cases are read with the same method taught in the course: history, examination, imaging, and records assembled into a diagnosis and a predicted progression. Instructions for submitting cases are sent after registration.