by Excellent training and thorough education lay the groundwork for optimal patient outcomes.
In a busy group dental practice, where clinicians are continually evaluated on their performance and efficiency, office time is often limited. As a result, training and education – the foundation for providing successful clinical outcomes – don’t always take precedence. “Education provides the platform for cutting-edge information on techniques, technology and clinical products within the market,” says Scott Welch, Director of National Accounts, Ivoclar Vivadent, Inc. “Ivoclar Vivadent believes that education is the key component to success in helping dentists address the daily challenges they face within their practice.” Ultimately, this leads to optimal clinical outcomes, satisfied patients and overall self-esteem, he adds.
By providing innovation matched with educational support to as many dental clinicians as possible, Ivoclar Vivadent strives to “increase knowledge and awareness of the various challenges that dentists face in their practice,” Welch continues. Ivoclar Vivadent provides a variety of solutions to successfully meet these challenges, he says. “Based on the type of structure of the DSO, the training will vary. Ivoclar Vivadent provides industry-leading educational speakers, webinars and online training, all of which are effective means to meet the variety of educational needs of DSO practitioners.” In addition, the company hosts Open House programs for dentists and their key staff at its North American headquarters in Amherst, New York. These are distraction-free formats where attendees can become thoroughly acquainted with the benefits associated with the Ivoclar Vivadent product line.
Consistency across the practice
Ideally, all locations within a large dental practice or DSO rely on the same products and solutions, notes Welch. “Doing so helps offices better understand the chemistry of how products work together,” he says. “It is critical that the clinicians and staff have a solid understanding of the material science and limitations of the various products. For example, they need to understand the unique differences between ceramics, zirconia and resins. As clinicians have seen, resin cements, lithium disilicate (IPS e.max), lithium silicate (not IPS e.max ) and zirconium oxide are not all the same, even when they are sometimes general categorized together.”
When dental offices utilize Ivoclar Vivadent’s entire product portfolio, the company’s customer service department can provide immediate solutions to issues that may arise in a dentist’s office, Welch points out. Combining adhesives, cements, and composites from different manufacturers can increase the potential for clinical failure based on the mixed chemistries. It is essential that dentists have the ability to independently make a clinical decision based on the needs of a particular patient. Innovative systems from Ivoclar Vivadent provide the maximum long-term clinical success.
A league of its own
Ivoclar Vivadent’s dental customers tend to agree: The company provides a service that is unmatched. “Ivoclar Vivadent is a well respected company in the field of dental materials with great research, impeccable support and reliable quality,” says Joseph Rubis, DDS, owner of Advanced Family Dental. “The company has provided in-office support and training unlike other companies. Their representatives offer unmatched knowledge and constantly prove their dedication to training people in the field. It is extremely important to have companies and representatives who focus on quality and have the ability to follow up when trying to streamline efficiencies across an entire platform.
“Our Ivoclar Vivadent representative, Angela, has been an outstanding resource for our organization,” Rubis continues. “She has joined me on webinars about product implementation and usage, which have helped me create more consistency across a platform. She then follows up in person with each office to answer questions and help reiterate our reasons for utilizing certain products. This has helped us get buy-in from all of our doctors and team members and has helped eliminate the need for multiple versions of similar materials. Angela also provided us with an excellent speaker for one of our doctor programs, which in turn helped us produce more consistent treatment outcomes by properly using some of the best products in the industry.”
Mario Mariscal, RDA-EF, manager, field development, Pacific Dental Services, agrees. “Ivoclar has a great group of people working for them,” he says. “They are always willing to help our regional back office trainers and supported practices by providing proper knowledge and direction, enabling us to consistently use their products and materials correctly and provide optimal results in the process.”
