SDS Occlusion Blog

I was privileged to spend time on Tuesday and Wednesday last week with the six brilliant dentists who produced some beautiful dentistry on their lucky patients over the 8 days of the 2010 IRS (Intermediate Restorative Course), plus our two great instructors, Graham and Richie. This is what makes it all worthwhile for me – all those light bulbs switching on as they finally begin to “get it”!

Graham Browning (Lead Instructor), Nirav Thakker, Alejandra Loureiro, Rob Masters, Doug Rider, Mark Worthing, Sunil Mangla and Richie Morgan (Back-up Instructor)

The course took place over 4 2-day sessions in Poole, Dorset, at Richie Morgan’s Dentistry @ 68 Wimborne Road Practice, expertly lead by Graham Browning (of South Coast Dental Specialists, Wimborne) with wonderful technical support from John Wibberley and his team at Water’s Edge Ceramics, Saddleworth.

People are always asking me for the names of dentists around the UK they can trust – well now we have six more to add to that list: Nirav Thakker (Leeds), Alejandra Loureiro (Edinburgh), Rob Masters (Hereford), Doug Rider (Milton Keynes), Mark Worthing (Hereford) and Sunil Mangla (High Wycombe). A lovely group of skilled dental surgeons, any of whom I’d recommend without hesitation.

The SDS IRS Course has been running regularly in the UK since I attended the very first one, way back in 1987. Whilst the POS Course provides the knowledge and skills in occlusion it’s not until you reach IRS that those skills become second nature and part of every treatment plan on every patient.

IRS is all about treatment planning and making complex dentistry simple and predictable. Suddenly quite daunting cases become a pleasure and patients who have been used to being patched up receive comprehensive, long-lasting care. It’s a life-changing experience, as these six dentists will testify.

Thank you for a great course, I believe we all took a lot away from it. I, for one, am practising very differently from the way I have been for a long time.

Hopefully will be on the Advanced course later this year, if there’s space.

The dates for the next IRS course have not been finalised, but if you would like to attend please register your interest early and we will reserve you a place.

ARS (the Advanced course where delegates restore a full mouth under close supervision) re-starts at the end of this month (31/7/10). If you’ve completed IRS in the past and you have a patient that needs a major reconstruction with a change in vertical dimension … now’s your chance to join us. I think just one place remains available and this course will not run again for almost 2 years.