Dr. Joe Favia, known to most as, “Dr. Joe”, is an accomplished clinician that has been teaching dental implant placement since 2005.  While teaching surgical placement for Henry Schein to general dentists throughout North America, he received many requests from doctors to learn advanced procedures that will give them the confidence to execute implants within their practice.  Subsequently, in 2009 he founded the Midwest Dental Institute. MDI offers an array of implant courses geared towards the general practitioner.  Some of the more popular programs focus on implant complications and appropriate treatment, immediate implant placement, and a newer technique that involves immediate implant placement using no sutures.  The programs all consist of lecture, hands on techniques, and live surgery in an operatory setting.  Some of the keys to MDI's success have been the participants’ ability to practice hands on procedures with instrumentation, implant supplies, and sutures of his choosing.

Of the instrumentation participants get to use, the X-Otomes are among his favorites when it comes to performing an atraumatic extraction prior to placing an implant. When asked, Dr. Joe swears by the X-Otomes and claims, “The A.Titan X-Otomes are like Periotomes on steroids and are my go to when extracting root tips.  My two favorite X-Otomes are the spade tip (XO-70) and straight narrow (XO-10).  I rarely let them touch the buccal or lingual plates since the sole reason for using them is to atraumatically remove the roots while preserving the plates.  I first use the spade tip (XO-70) and place from the lingual inter-proximally and start to use controlled force and movement to see it get between the tooth and the PDL, periodontal ligament.  As I am applying force I start to turn the instrument slowly back and forth to start getting some movement of the tooth.  As the tooth starts moving, the instrument will tend to slowly move down the root.  I then repeat the same on the other side with the same spade tip X-Otome until I start to see some good movement.  I then switch to the straight XO-10 and within a minute or so will have the tooth either out or close to it."

In addition to doing hands on exercises utilizing some of Dr Joe's favorite instruments, participants also take part in a 1/2 day live surgical experience solidifying what they had learned during day 1.   Currently, the lecture, hands on, live surgical format is offered in two courses, Implant I and Implant II.  Implant I  is designed to change your dental outlook and give you the confidence needed to start incorporating the easier implant cases into your practice. You will leave after the 2-day course knowing which cases to do and which ones you can refer to a specialist. The course is packed with clinical information to implement immediately.  The Implant II course is also two days.  Day 1 lecture focuses on implant complications and treatment, with a hands-on regarding a newer Immediate Placement Technique using no sutures.  Day two consists of a live surgery of Immediate Placement Technique using no sutures. To find out more on Implant 1 and Implant II courses given through the Midwest Dental Institute, click on the MDI logo below.