Are Remote and Digital Really the Way of the Future? — Letter From an Editor

Dear ACOMS members,

As the school year ends and the rest of the world relaxes, we oral and maxillofacial surgeons gear up for the perennial trauma and wisdom tooth season! With the looming onset of “back to school,” we are also presented with a plethora of continuing education events. In the spirit of advancement, let’s consider how to keep that flowing throughout the year.

We can all agree that the pace at which technology advances seems to accelerate year over year. It’s a fact that as soon as we get a new smartphone, a better one will imminently come to the market. I graduated from dental school in 2013, having been trained on paper charts and alginate impressions. During residency, we used virtual surgical planning but still performed model surgery on casts. The term “digital dentistry” was one I did not encounter until I entered the world of private practice in 2017. Now, surgical guides and pre-bent plates have streamlined operating room efficiency. Digital dentistry reduces chair time with more accurate impressions and minimal adjustments on delivery days.

In our practices, we evolve and adopt these new best practices, but how can we evolve in our continuing education? As mentioned in my last editorial, our state society meetings are not well attended, and we are reprimanded for it. Is it the location, the date, the speaker, the content, or something else? Are we constantly offered so many options that the local ones are the least desirable? The seasonality of education is changing, with on-demand recorded webinars and a multitude of podcasts for on-the-go learning. Is the lack of real-time discussion hindering us, or are we able to each review the presented information and apply our own critical thinking to its content?

I attended the ACOMS25 meeting in Savannah, Georgia in May, where a rousing discussion on the evidence behind frenectomy ensued. Though I expected an informative and well-presented lecture, I did not expect it to lead to a spirited and insightful discussion among surgeons of academic and private practice backgrounds. This all on a procedure that sparked no controversy whatsoever in the few minutes it was taught in training. That being said, are we missing out by being so remote?

For over 20 years, my practice has hosted a study club for our referral base, with in-person sessions on Thursday evenings and Fridays, four times each year. These were popular, but we have noticed a decline in attendance over the past several years. Reviewing the speaker honorarium, room rental, food and beverage, and time out of the office to host, we began to reconsider the investment. Instead, this year we introduced a hybrid education model with our speaker. This includes a monthly virtual case study hosted on a HIPAA-compliant platform with our speaker providing remote learning, flanked by two in-person events. We are still in the early days, but could this afford us a better educational opportunity due to its flexibility and us always being available on our phones? Are our increasingly short attention spans best served for microlearning? Conversely, will the online program fall to the bottom of an endless to-do list, and will we be better served having committed time to be in person? Only time will tell!

Lauren E. Basile, DMD