SURGICAL AND PROSTHODONTIC TRAINING OF GENERAL-PRACTITIONERS FOR SINGLE TOOTH IMPLANTS - A STUDY OF TREATMENTS PERFORMED AT 4 GENERAL-PRACTITIONERS OFFICES AND AT A SPECIALIST CLINIC AFTER 2 YEARS

Both the surgical and the prosthodontic procedures will be performed b y one and the same general practitioner (GP) for many implant patients , as access to specialists is limited or non-existent in a large numbe r of places. However, treatment by GPs has not been documented to the same extent as treatment performed by specialists. This lack of knowle dge was the reason for the present study, in which four GPs performed both the surgery and the prosthodontics on patients requiring single t ooth implant replacements. The treatments were performed after an init ial training of the GP and his/her dental assistant for 8 days. The tr eatments by the GPs exhibited clinical results corresponding to those achieved at a specialist clinic. The outcome indicates that complete s ingle tooth implant treatments might be performed by GPs who have pass ed an initial training and demonstrated an interest in a close co-oper ation with specialists in oral surgery/periodontics and prosthodontics . Such a co-operation should be based on the distribution of complicat ed cases to the specialists and of non-complicated cases to the GPs.