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delta dental academy course

Taking care of business

Ewelina SmakEwelina Smak talks about her role as Business Manager at the renowned Delta Dental Academy in Bristol.

As a qualified dental nurse I’ve been working in the dental profession now for almost 10 years. I started my career in a busy practice in central London before moving to Bristol where I continued nursing in both NHS and private practices.

In 2014 I took a career break and followed my dream of opening my own coffee shop. Once I established the business I decided to go back to dentistry, as this had always been my passion and an environment I love. I first took up the role of Practice Manager at High Street Dental Clinic in Bristol in 2017 and today I am also the Business Manager at Delta Dental Academy, a renowned educational facility that offers dental courses for all professional needs and interests with a special focus on dental implants and endodontics.

Delta Dental Academy

The Delta Dental Academy was founded in 2016 by Massimo Giovarruscio and Alfonso Rao, with the aim of providing dentists with the knowledge they need to grow their professional skills and gain confidence in clinical procedures. Initially the Academy offered just 2 or 3 courses a year, but the response was so positive we started offering additional courses with the opportunity to work on live patients so delegates could take that valuable experience back to their own surgeries.

2019 was an amazing year for the Academy with over 160 delegates attending. We had a lot of plans for 2020,  but of course the COVID-19 pandemic meant we had to put the majority on hold. However, 2021 is looking far more positive and courses have resumed following strict safety protocols in accordance with official guidance, with many more courses to come throughout the rest of the year.

Because of the pandemic, we did ask delegates if they wanted courses to be moved online, but they said definitely not! Implants and endodontics are a technicality, and delegates want to be hands-on to ask questions and be involved in live surgery.

The right customer support

As Business Manager I have to make sure that everything works every day. I’m responsible for promoting courses, booking delegates and speakers, coordinating patients and ensuring that each course has the all relevant materials and equipment. It’s a full-on role, there’s lots to deal with but it’s great fun and I love it!

When it comes to equipment, I believe it’s essential that we always utilise the best and latest technology wherever possible. The majority of the handpieces, implant and endo equipment we use on our courses are supplied by NSK. It’s a pleasure dealing with NSK and we receive great customer support from our local Product Specialist Ralf Wendel. He is highly experienced, very knowledgeable and is always on hand to answer any queries or sort out any issues.

Ralf also provides handpiece maintenance training for nurses, to make sure handpieces are correctly cleaned, oiled and maintained ready for surgery and attends some of our endo and implant courses to answer delegates’ questions on equipment in a totally impartial way. No request is too much for Ralf and that makes my working life so much easier.

Upcoming surgical courses

The courses we offer cover a range of topics including endodontic microsurgery; implant fundamentals; implant soft tissue grafting; essential endodontics: a modern approach for the GDP and an endodontic retreatment master course.

There is new Immediate Implant Placement Masterclass in June for experienced implant surgeons, to learn the principles of the immediate implant placement technique. The Full Arch: Immediate Placement and Loading Course, designed for dental implant surgeons to be able to diagnose and provide immediate functional, and aesthetic tooth replacement with predictability, has proved so popular that we are now running the course again in November.

Training for nurses

Dental nurses are essential members of the clinical team when it comes to successful oral surgery. They are vital to the outcome of treatment and give confidence not only to the clinician but also the patients. We offer our implant delegates the opportunity to attend some courses with their nurse, so they can both gain a better understanding of implant procedures. We are also planning to offer a dedicated course – An Introduction to Dental Implants – designed specifically for nurses in the coming months.

At the Delta Dental Academy our aim is for courses to be relaxed and informal as we know delegates learn more that way. The course programme for 2021 is well underway and open for booking with full details available on our website at deltadentalacademy.co.uk/courses/.

*Specifications are subject to change without notice.
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