Educating the Dental Community

New resident faculty member brings her own perspective to Spear Education

Spear Education has been an influential organization at the forefront of dental continuing education ever since its inception 18 years ago, and Frank Spear, DDS, MSD, has solidified his place as one of the premier educators in restorative and esthetic dentistry in the world. Offering numerous in-person courses, panel discussions, hands-on workshops, webinars, and more, Spear Education's faculty represent some of the most respected minds in dentistry today. The organization recently announced the newest addition to its Resident Faculty, Effie Habsha, DDS, MSc.

Habsha is a fellow of The Royal College of Dentists of Canada, serves as an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Dentistry at the University of Rochester's Eastman Institute for Oral Health, and maintains a private practice limited to prosthodontics and implant dentistry in a full-service office in Toronto. Among other achievements, she is also the founder of Women in Dentistry, an organization that just celebrated its 14th year of bringing together women from across the profession.

"What drew me to Spear was that they had such a great education platform, both in-person and online, and I already knew some of the Resident Faculty, members, including Ricardo Mitrani, DDS, MSD, a clinician for whom I hold the utmost respect," Habsha says. "When Spear invited me to join the team, I was so honored. I felt that it would be a great way for me to disseminate my knowledge to a much broader audience."

Habsha is currently set to join Frank Spear himself along with Amy Morgan, the organization's vice president of practice growth strategies, in presenting a brand-new 2-day interactive seminar, Predictable Outcomes in Everyday Dentistry, which will include a panel discussion on patient communication and how to effectively manage challenging situations, such as cancellations, laboratory remakes, and economic barriers to case acceptance. In addition, Habsha will be teaching a 3-day hands-on workshop, Restoring the Edentulous Arch, alongside Darin Dichter, DMD. "The seminar with Spear, Morgan, and myself will discuss key strategies to reduce stress and achieve practice enjoyment and predictability," Habsha says. "It will cover the soft skills of patient management while also discussing how to develop processes that are predictable from a clinical perspective."

In addition to this seminar, Spear Education also offers a number of online resources geared toward interacting with patients. "I've shared Spear's online resources with my treatment planning coordinator to utilize when discussing treatment details with patients," Habsha says. "They've got great animated videos and procedural videos that have been very helpful for my patients."

According to Habsha, continuing education offerings such as the Predictable Outcomes in Everyday Dentistry seminar offer opportunities for early-career dentists to gain perspective and inspiration about the parts of dental practice that they may not have learned enough about in dental school. "I think that as a panel, we're able to give the attendees multiple perspectives, which is beneficial," she says. "I believe that the attendees will leave feeling empowered to effectively communicate with patients and increase their case acceptance and that they will also be inspired by hearing Spear's personal perspective, which comes from 40 years of experience in the profession."

Educating the Dental Community

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