Your Roadmap to Growth: Why Every New Dentist Needs a Continuing Education Plan
Whether you are just starting in the dental field or have been practicing dentistry for years, being a lifelong learner will benefit you and your patients. Even after drinking from the fire hydrant of information in dental school, you need to include continuing education in your life to keep yourself up to date and stay competitive in your field. Just meeting the minimum requirements of the board won’t help you grow.
Create a plan of action and that considers your interests and career goals. Let’s talk about how and why making a plan is important for Continuing Education for dentists is a difference maker.
Why a CE Plan Matters?
If you are only interested in meeting the state requirements, then the easier option would be to take any random CE course without a plan. Some courses are quick but add little value to your care for patients. But when it comes to building a well-rounded and successful career, you will need to prepare a plan.
Making a CE plan helps you in the following ways:
- Keep track of your learning.
- Pin down what areas need more training.
- Develop in areas that are important to you.
- Deliver a better service for your patients.
- Builds up your clinical expertise.
Continuing education is not another checkbox on your to-do list. This implementation will shape your future as a dentist and help you understand what kind of dentist you want to be.
Start with a System: Join a Professional Organization
Joining a professional association like the Academy of General Dentistry is one of the best options to stay consistent in learning and structured in your approach. AGD keeps track of your CE and categorizes the courses you have studied, indicating the gaps that you need to work on. It’s a valuable insight. One that will help you make balanced and smart learning decisions to be a well rounded dentist. This can especially help a new dentist vary their CE experiences to be exposed to new areas.
AGD also offers recognition programs, such as earning a Mastership or Fellowship. Earning these titles will not only upgrade your qualifications but also reflect your commitment to top-notch care.
Follow Your Passion
Do you love cosmetic dentistry? Drawn to implants? Fascinated by endodontics?
Incline towards whatever excites you to learn. Your passion for learning will make it more meaningful and enjoyable. You will become more proficient in a subject and be able to give more value to your patients, the more you know about it.
Don’t wait for “free time” to study those areas. Make yourself available for them. Make them your priority in your continuing education plan.
Think About Your Patients' Needs
When creating your continuing education path of course, place emphasis on your interests. But also you should consider the needs in your pool of patients.
Find out the most common treatment patients typically receive. Look for any new technologies or techniques that you can excel in that help meet these needs. See if you have any gaps in your services and grow in these areas with additional training.
The purpose is to be a better provider for those who sit in your dental chair every day. Everyone benefits when your learning better fulfills the treatments your patients need.
Document Your Progress: Take Before and After Photos
This little action can potentially have a great impact.
Make sure you take good, high-quality before and after pictures of your work. It’s not merely for advertising. It’s for you.
Images help you:
- Observe how your abilities are growing.
- Clearly explain treatments to patients.
- Create a case portfolio for study groups or presentations.
- Consider what went well and what may be improved.
It’s also a subtle approach to raise your quality of care as you begin to examine your work more consciously and critically.
Connect with Peers: Join a Study Club
Learning doesn’t have to be a solo experience.
Join a local dentistry study club in your area or start your own with like-minded coworkers. These groups contain an enormous amount of practical knowledge. You’ll get access to:
- Discuss each other’s cases
- Be open about sincere criticism
- Gather information from various experiences
- Find answers to particular clinical problems.
- It’s a secure environment for growth and questioning.
Everyone benefits—including the patients—when one dentist in the group gains new knowledge.
Work on Your Practice, Not Just in It
Continuing education involves more than simply clinical expertise.
Spend a portion of your continuing education time on practice management, including:
- Increasing communication with patients.
- Learn more about marketing.
- Simplify the processes.
- Improving team leadership.
Consider it to be a sort of mini-sabbatical. Look at it as an opportunity to take a break and clear your head. Then, come back with fresh ideas to further improve your practice.
Your Next Step Starts Today
Start taking your CE seriously now. Don’t wait years to pass in your career. Sketch out your plan. Select courses that will push you and help you develop. Keep track of your progress. Find your learning tribe and keep your curiosity alive.
It’s exciting to be a lifelong learner. Be keen to learn and explore the field. The actual journey, however, starts with improving as a dentist and becoming a better one.
You’ve got the degree. Create a plan. And keep going forward.