Glidewell

Glidewell is a dental laboratory that runs its own continuing education program for dentists and their teams. The education arm, Glidewell Clinical Education, "provides contemporary, continuing education for dental professionals," and its main page is titled "Free Online Dental CE." For a dentist or a dental auxiliary, it is a place to take on-demand CE courses at no charge, watch clinical videos, read a clinical magazine, listen to a podcast and sign up for live courses and symposia.

The education sits inside a much larger lab business. The home page describes Glidewell as a partner "for custom restorative services, clinical solutions and AGD PACE certified dental continuing education courses," and its company section says that "For 50 years, Glidewell has aimed to increase patient access to quality dentistry by enhancing the capabilities of the clinicians who serve them." The site's own heading for this side of the company sums it up: "More than Just a Dental Lab."

Online CE courses

The core of the offer for a learner is the online CE catalog. The home page invites dentists to "Take an on-demand course on crown & bridge, implant dentistry or other practice-boosting topics," under the heading "Free Dental CE Courses," and the education page calls each one "a free online CE course to expand your skillset."

The courses listed on the education page show the range:

• Introduction to Digital Dentistry for the Dental Auxiliary
• Implant Treatment Planning: The Contributing Factors
• 10 Things I Learned the Hard Way
• Restoration of Implant Overdentures
• 11 Steps to Increase Practice Production Right Away, Part 2
• Using Laboratory-Fabricated Provisionals
• Restoring Implants: Tissue Preparation and Impression Techniques
• Placing Prefabricated Provisionals
• Bite Registration and Provisional Restorations
• Digital Scanning for Restorative Dentistry

Implants and provisionals dominate that list, with digital scanning and practice production alongside. The first title is written for the dental auxiliary, so the catalog is not only for the dentist in the chair; a practice can point its assistants at the same library.

Three courses are marked as recently added, each with a short description and a named presenter. In The Airway Dentist: Thinking Beyond the Teeth, "Dr. Ben Miraglia explores the connection between malocclusion, airway health, and common medical symptoms through clinical cases from early childhood to adulthood." In Treatment Guidelines for Successful Implant Outcomes with Objective Guidelines, "Dr. Iyer discusses objective diagnostic criteria for identifying cases best suited for implant therapy and compares expected outcomes with conventional restorative treatment options." The third, iPhone Photography, starts from the premise that "Clinical photography is an essential visual tool that provides valuable case information while enhancing patients’ perception of value and understanding of their treatment." A Browse All Courses link opens the full catalog.

Credit and certification

The home page describes the courses as "AGD PACE certified dental continuing education courses," and puts that phrase in the same sentence as the lab's restorative services and clinical solutions, so the CE designation is presented as part of the company's main pitch to dentists rather than as a side note. The education pages do not give the credit hours attached to each online course.

Video, podcast and magazines

Beyond the courses, the education page points to "our library of over 10,000 education videos," which the site groups under Videos and Clinical Videos. Episodes of Chairside Live also appear as video, such as "Chairside Live Episode 260: Learn How to Scan a Posterior Combination Case." The audio side is the "Chairside Live: Dental Insights" podcast.

Chairside magazine is what the site calls "our chief publication," covering clinical techniques and industry news, and the education menu lists a second title, Integrate Magazine, with current issues of both shown on the page. The articles mix case reports and interviews written by practicing clinicians: "Milled Acetal Partial Dentures: A Clinical Case Report Exploring a New Removable Appliance" by Paresh B. Patel, DDS; an interview titled My First Glidewell HT Implant, with Stephanie Tilley, DMD; and a glidewell.io practice report, an interview with T. Scott Barton, DDS, by Justin Chi, DDS, CDT. A featured piece, The Clinical Innovators, introduces "the clinicians whose work informs every new material and service produced by Glidewell."

That last point is worth keeping in mind as a reader. Much of the magazine and video material is written around Glidewell's own products, such as BruxZir zirconia, the Glidewell HT implant and the glidewell.io in-office suite for designing and milling restorations. That makes it practical for a practice already working with the lab, and it means the free content is also part of how the lab presents its products.

Live courses, webinars and symposia

The education menu lists Upcoming Events, Live Courses and Glidewell Symposium, and the home page carries an events calendar. Its entries show two in-person formats, live courses and symposia, and one online format, the webinar:

• live courses in Raleigh, NC (Effective and Practical Implant Overdentures), Louisville, KY (Implant Surgery: A Comprehensive Review Utilizing Freehand and Guided Techniques) and Houston, TX (Techniques for Predictable Implant Surgery);
• a webinar held online, Same-Day Digital Implant Workflows: Planning, Printing and Provisionalization, with learning objectives that cover digital implant planning and surgical guides, freehand versus guided placement, and designing a same-day provisional for chairside printing or milling;
• two symposia at the Glidewell International Technology Center in Irvine, CA, Fall IOX: The Digital Dentistry Experience and Dentistry on the Rise, the second billed as "Incorporating Digital Technology Into Every Aspect of Your Practice."

The live course titles center on implant surgery, while the online catalog leans toward restorative work, planning and practice topics. The site also has a Glidewell Online Study Club in its education menu, alongside the courses and videos.

Account, support and where the company is

A newsletter signup on the home page offers "up-to-date news and announcements." Support is by phone at 800-854-7256 and by an email form, and the home page says "U.S.-based call staff are ready to answer all of your questions." The site footer gives the address as 2201 Dupont Dr., Irvine, CA 92612, and the page header links Website Accessibility Assistance.

Who it suits

Glidewell's education program suits general dentists who want free, on-demand CE in restorative and implant dentistry, especially those who already send cases to Glidewell and use its materials. The online courses cover implant planning and restoration, provisionals, digital scanning and practice production, and the 10,000-plus video library gives a clinician plenty to watch between courses. Dental auxiliaries have at least one course written for them, which helps a practice that wants its team on the same material.

Dentists who want in-person implant surgery training can use the live courses and symposia, which take place in person in several US cities and at the company's center in Irvine. The main caveat is that the content comes from a lab that also sells the products it discusses, which suits its own customers best and is worth remembering for anyone comparing techniques across brands.