Is there a career path in implant dentistry?

Colin Campbell explains how to develop your own career path in implant dentistry.

If you’re looking at implant dentistry as something you wish to develop in your career it would be nice to think that there was a set format that everyone went through to get to the other side.

I’m sorry to let you know that that is not the case, there isn’t.

The world of teaching in implant dentistry is ferociously competitive and everyone will tell you that their route is the best route for you.

At this stage, you have to take advice from as many people as you can and to decide where you would like to be in five years before starting to embark on training in implant dentistry.

For some people, that will involve hospital training pathways towards being a consultant in restorative dentistry, or periodontology, but for the rest (and the greatest majority) it’s about designing your own pathway for where you would like to be.

A training pathway

Our suggestion at The Campbell Academy is to break down a three to five-year pathway to individual years and to get a solid foundation in straightforward implant dentistry, followed by practical teaching and more advanced and complex implant dentistry, while being part of a tribe of people where you can share and discuss both the high and low points in an environment that is safe and secure.

Together with this it is essential that you gain as much practical experience as you can and this should be facilitated with a mentor who can guide you through these stages of your career, to allow you to gain confidence and skills in the area that you have chosen to work.

One of the problems with structured courses is that they only provide the structure within the course, and that is not for everyone.

The Campbell Academy provides an advanced and complex training pathway which is modular based, so you can pick and choose the areas where you wish to develop, which may work the best.

For some people, a masters degree is the way forwards because they wish to be able to register their qualification, but it is important to remember that patients rarely understand what a masters degree means or is, and this is not usually how they select their implant practitioner going forwards.

If you’re keen on research and wish to provide a dissertation, then that is the place for you, otherwise it might be better to ‘bespoke’ your own individual training pathway to get the most out of it that you can.

If you would like to discuss with us a way that you can do that, please don’t hesitate to contact us.


For more information visit www.campbellacademy.co.uk, call 0115 9823 919 or email [email protected].

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