It's very early on a Friday morning; I am having breakfast at the wonderful St Pancras station waiting for a Eurostar train to Brussels. I am playing the game of 'spot the dentist' as I am meeting up with GC organisers, the lecturer Jason Smithson and other dental delegates. Yup, spotted them. Such fun, people watching.
This was a very agreeable trip organised by GC for a hands-on course on posterior composites at the company headquarters in Leuven, Belgium.
The course included all travel via Eurostar, taxis to venue, hotel accommodation, lectures and all materials. It was excellent value for money and very well organised by Chris and Richard from GC.
I had been on composite courses years ago but decided to have an update as composite fillings are what I do every working day.
After lunch at the superbly light and modern GC headquarters we settled down for an afternoon of lectures by Jason.
We started the course which was described as: 'The predictable, rapid placement of highly aesthetic restorations with minimal materials and reduced instrumentation and transfer resulting in decreased stress and increased profitability.'
Topics included: potential for operator error, isolation techniques using quadrant rubber dam, cavity preparation, class I and II problems, matrixing, wedge designs, instrumentation, use of flowable composite and polymerisation and finishing.
Each topic was illustrated using excellent slides in letterbox format on a huge screen; now that seriously shows how good your slides are at such a magnification.
Jason then went on to describe colour stratification using stages from a monochromatic technique to a fully polychromatic technique with their indications and key points.
He then discussed the eternal problem of what we do with structurally compromised teeth.
The problem was identified as the: 'Volumetric contraction of light cured composite resin after polymerisation is two to five per cent. When forces generated by polymerisation exceed bond strength marginal gaps and enamel fractures occur resulting in bacterial and fluid penetration, which leads to sensitivity and ultimately caries.'
Topics covered included descriptions of stratified layering techniques, GIC sandwich technique, dual cure composite resins, semi-direct techniques and indirect techniques
If there was any criticism it was that there was not enough time to discuss the last topic in any detail as taxis were waiting to take us to our hotel.
Jason's delivery was smooth, relaxed, informative and interactive. The emphasis was on what we could do back at the practice rather than theoretical considerations.
I like a lecturer who does what he says and indeed the composites shown were of the highest standards.
A trip through the traffic and check in at the hotel were next on the list followed by a quick wash and brush up and visit to a local restaurant where we had an excellent meal, a lot of drink and banter courtesy of GC.
The younger ones (and Chris!) went out on the town but us oldies went to bed after a seriously long day.
The next morning was all hands-on using the excellent facilities at GC headquarters. Jason demonstrated a Class I cavity prep and polychromatic filling with GC G-Aenial composite. We watched on the screen as he did the work on a workbench. He showed how to produce an anatomic restoration using minimum tools and minimum finishing.
He then showed a Class II cavity, which he converted with the composite to a Class I that would now be completed as above.
Finally we had our turn and using the models, tools and materials provided we set about producing our own masterpieces.
As we all know this is good fun, its what we do best and with individual guidance from Jason many masterpieces were delivered.
It was useful to play with all the materials and colours and see how following the anatomy of adjacent teeth helps form the final finish of the composite – almost the same as doing a PK Thomas wax up but in composite. I have found the use of a brush to mould the enamel composite absolutely great in my practice.
After lunch Jason was asked to do a first for the organisers - some composites on a patient in the upstairs surgery as a live demonstration.
This is difficult at the best of times but especially as he had not used the equipment before. The procedure was done using a microscope with projection to a TV screen for us to watch.
It wasn't perfect and took a bit too long but that's what dental practice is all about: solving problems.
In the circumstances it was still a good result and I am sure it will improve on the next course now lessons have been learnt.
We were then whisked away to catch the Eurostar back to London and our onward journeys home.
Did I enjoy the course? Yes. Was it helpful for my practice? Yes. Would I recommend it? Yes.