New technology only unfolds its value once the practice team supports it. How the introduction of computer-assisted implantology succeeds from the team's perspective is one of the central themes of the third episode of the podcast trilogy from Queens & Sons of Dentistry, hosted by the managing owner of USTOMED INSTRUMENTE. The guest is an implantologist who has established three navigation systems in his practice and who speaks openly about resistance, learning curves and the involvement of his staff.
Acceptance is a process, not a switch
Asked about acceptance within the team, the implantologist answers without glossing over anything: it was a process. Some people embrace new things, others react with reservation. In his practice there was an assistant who left the room as soon as the navigation system was brought in. There are simply people who are drawn to technology and people who are less so – and that applies to practitioners just as much as to the team.
By now the step into digital implantology has been very well received within the team. Everyone welcomes the development because they notice that it makes patients' lives easier – and eventually their own as well. It does not happen overnight, however: there is a certain learning curve, and that applies explicitly to the assistants too. Moreover, something new does not always generate enthusiasm straight away; but once a tool has arrived in the workflow, the team understands its benefit.
Involvement: from watching to co-treating
For the practitioner the key lies in consistent involvement. His team is involved in the entire treatment: it begins with the impressions, which the team naturally takes. During surgery with the Falcon or the Navident system the staff are directly involved, because the surgeon works sterile and cannot touch everything – the team therefore has to be just as familiar with the systems as he is.
Beyond the procedure, too, the staff take on genuine tasks: they operate the 3D printer – refining the printed teeth independently visibly gives them pleasure – and they work with photogrammetry: installing, sending, handling everything through the practice's platform. In this way, as the podcast puts it, they become genuine co-treaters and enter the digital world themselves. In the end they sit at the treatment chair and see a result they helped to create – an enormous added value, because it has made them a real part of the treatment.
The host of the episode adds an image from the crafts: someone who only ever fits the knob to the drawer on an assembly line experiences their work differently from the joiner who builds the whole cabinet and sees the finished piece of furniture in front of them at the end. Tools and processes that give staff more responsibility and deeper insight thus also act as an element of appreciation – an assessment the implantologist shares.
A fixed point of contact from the consultation onwards
One building block goes beyond the technology: in the implantologist's practice every patient is assigned an assistant who is present as early as the consultation and who accompanies the patient through the entire course of treatment. This creates a special rapport between team and patients. The practitioner also suspects this to be one reason for the high acceptance of the digital procedures within the team: the patients are happier, the treatment is quicker and causes less pain – and the team experiences this effect at first hand.
Effects on the team structure
Asked whether the changeover had cost him members of staff, the implantologist answers clearly: no – the team is extremely stable. He himself constantly tries to improve his workflow and his work, and is happy whenever he can get better. The team, in turn, sees how patients receive a new smile in fewer stages and in a shorter time, and experiences the patients' gratitude directly.
The conclusion from the conversation: the introduction of digital implantology is always a process of change within the team as well. Those who plan for learning curves, take resistance seriously and assign staff genuine tasks from the impression through to 3D printing gain not spectators but co-treaters – and with them a stable, satisfied team.