Planning and Maintaining Dental Implants in General Practice

A one-day course for general dental practitioners on the assessment, maintenance and referral of implant patients. 6 hours verifiable CPD. About this course Dental implants are increasingly common in general practice. Around 2% of adults in England have at least one, twice the 2009 figure, rising to 8% among adults aged 55 and over, and peri-implantitis affects up to a fifth of people with implants. The majority of these patients are seen by practitioners who did not place the implants and who hold no records for them. A 2026 survey of dental practitioners in Yorkshire found that confidence falls as tasks become more implant-specific: 37% felt confident debriding an implant, 31% removing excess cement, and 14% replacing a Locator insert. This one-day course addresses that gap. It covers the assessment, maintenance and referral of patients with dental implants, combining taught sessions with hands-on practical work in small groups. Learning outcomes By the end of the course, delegates will be able to: • Carry out and record a structured peri-implant examination • Distinguish peri-implant health, peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis using the 2017 World Workshop case definitions, including where no previous records exist • Manage peri-implant mucositis, and undertake the non-surgical first step in the management of peri-implantitis, in line with the BSP implementation of the EFP S3 guideline • Recognise screw loosening, abutment screw fracture, implant fracture and excess cement, and describe appropriate first steps • Take open-tray and closed-tray implant impressions, and fit and torque an implant abutment • Replace Locator retention inserts, and advise patients on the care of implant overdentures • Identify patients who may be eligible for NHS implant treatment, and prepare an appropriate referral Implant placement in a training model Each delegate places an implant in a training model. The exercise is not intended to prepare delegates to place implants in practice. Its purpose is to demonstrate how implant position determines the ease of subsequent restoration and long-term maintenance. Who should attend General dental practitioners. No previous implant experience is required. The course does not confer competence to place dental implants, or to restore them independently. It addresses the assessment, maintenance and referral of implant patients in general practice. Practical sessions Delegates work in groups of three to four, each group with its own training model, motor and surgical kit. Numbers are limited to 20 so that every delegate takes part in each exercise. Each practical session follows the same format: demonstration, supervised practice, and review. Continuing professional development The course provides six hours of verifiable CPD. A GDC-compliant certificate is issued to each delegate, recording the subject, aims, learning outcomes and anticipated development outcomes (A, C and D). CPD hours reflect learning time only, and exclude registration, breaks and lunch. Course lead Mr Jaymit Patel is a Consultant in Restorative Dentistry at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, where he leads oral rehabilitation for cleft patients and co-leads oral rehabilitation in head and neck cancer. He chairs the Yorkshire managed clinical network in restorative dentistry and the head and neck cancer clinical excellence network, advises NICE and the NCRI, and examines at specialty level for the Royal College of Surgeons. The fee includes All teaching, training models, implant components and materials Lunch and refreshments Course handbook GDC-compliant CPD certificate Declarations Dentsply Sirona provides the implant components, motors, training models and materials for the practical sessions free of charge, and has no input into the course content. The course lead holds an investigator-initiated research award from Dentsply Sirona for an NHS study, and receives no fee from Dentsply Sirona for this course. The teaching covers principles that apply across implant systems.