Spear Core Workshop Curriculum

A Transformative Learning Journey

This workshop curriculum is designed to help you master predictable, long-term success for cases from common to complex. You'll elevate yourself and your practice with learnings you'll apply every day.

The workshops are three-day courses held throughout the year at Spear Campus in Scottsdale, Arizona. These workshops consist of in-person lecture and hands-on training from supportive experts. See what curriculum completers have to say.

Ready to learn more?

Complete this form and a Campus Advisor will connect with you.

Moving beyond single tooth dentistry requires a change in the way we view and speak with patients. This workshop introduces the proven facially generated treatment planning (FGTP) approach to help you treatment plan any patient in your practice, regardless of the complexity. Gain the confidence to identify issues, visualize outcomes, plan, sequence, and present comprehensive treatment to your patients. Upon completion of this workshop, you will have the tools to know which data to collect during the examination and what the data means, how to choose from the various treatment options, and how to present treatment and engage the patient in the process. Recognize that not all patients want or even need comprehensive care and that you can still retain them in your practice while identifying those who do by using filtering processes that are discussed in this workshop. Unlock a higher level of patient care and more rewarding dentistry than you ever imagined.

Occlusion is one of the most confusing topics in dentistry. Dogmatic, often conflicting, theories coupled with variable dental school and clinical practice experiences often leave clinicians wondering how to best manage their patients.

This workshop is designed for clinicians who want to learn how to assess patients who present with pain and for clinicians looking to improve predictability with their restorative cases for patients not experiencing pain.

The workshop is designed to allow you to become comfortable detecting and addressing airway and sleep issues in your general dental practice. Breathing issues will be divided into 2 categories: stressful and apnea (breath holds). Recent science will be reviewed indicating that both categories can be extremely damaging. Therefore, resolution of apnea is no longer the holy grail of treatment today. Airway dysfunction is equally critical. The age of the patient will then be added to the equation as early damage appears to be more deleterious. Identifying and treating dysfunctional breathing in children can be extremely beneficial to the body and brain for a lifetime. Finally, 3 areas of impact will be examined: neurocognitive, systemic, and craniofacial. Neurocognitive damage can range from ADD/ADHD to Alzheimer’s. The chronic stress and inflammation from breathing issues will negatively impact all body systems. Lastly, alterations in facial growth from mouth breathing sets our patient up for a lifetime of difficulty. The workshop will then help you figure out what do you do with each category of illness. While medical diagnosis and treatment will be reviewed, this workshop is built around Just Doing Dentistry. Customized care options from controlling the problems with physical therapy and sleep appliances to attempting to cure it with orthopedics and orthognathics will be analyzed.

Fear is what most dentists experience when asked to treat the patient with worn teeth. This workshop is designed to help you enjoy increased predictability and longevity in your dentistry by basing treatment decisions on how the patient created the wear, and reducing the energy in the system through occlusal design. The workshop focuses on diagnosis, etiology, and an understanding of the principles that increase longevity of restorations for wear patients. Discussions and demonstrations are blended with hands-on exercises that allow participants to ground learning in doing by “treating” two wear patients on mounted casts in the course.

This course is designed to build on the principles and concepts taught in previous workshops by providing practical applications for larger cases and more complex treatment. Based on the patient’s needs and expectations, comprehensive treatment planning and sequencing often requires that treatment be phased without compromising the overall outcome. In addition to learning to treat large, complex cases all at once, a systematic approach will be presented to allow the phasing of comprehensive treatment. Presentations and exercises have been designed to relate the principles of tooth position, contour and arrangement directly to the esthetic and functional outcome.

Have you ever thought about having access to Drs. Gregg Kinzer and Jeff Rouse to get their help treatment planning and sequencing your most difficult cases? Advanced treatment planning is exactly that course. The workshop is designed to be the culmination of the Spear Education Core curriculum. Complex cases will be broken in to 5 categories: severe wear, airway, TM joint, hopeless dentition, and esthetic challenges. The workshop is less about lectures and more on cases. With that in mind, participants are encouraged to provide properly documented cases for examination and discussion. Spear will also provide several challenging “new patients” for you to treatment plan. Each case will provide opportunities to learn how to visualize, plan, and sequence care. We will create a template for you to present a tour of the mouth for the patient and discuss how to integrate this type of dentistry into your practice. The composition of and communication within your interdisciplinary team will be stressed. Finally, secondary treatment options for the patients that decline ‘ideal therapy’ will be presented.

Tooth preparation is the foundation of what we do as restorative dentists. Crowns, minimal reduction veneers, conventional reduction veneers, extensive reduction veneers, veneerlays, onlays, inlays – the design is dictated by the requirements of the material selected and the outcome desired. This workshop provides opportunity to explore, understand and practice delivering on both of those requirements. Material requirements provide the guide for creating space, and will be discussed in detail. A step-by-step system of tooth reduction using specially designed diamonds created by Dr. Robert Winter will increase your competence, your confidence, and your efficiency for all of the materials you choose to work with. This is a very “hands-on” workshop in which we discuss the concepts AND do the preps. Bring your magnification and take advantage of seeing more with higher power surgical loupes and a microscope bench available for you to try in the exercises. With 28 teeth to practice on, you will return home ready to immediately implement the skills you gained.

Building on the concepts and principles of Restorative Design, this workshop captures those in the restorative process by visualizing, planning and creating a treatment outcome. Utilizing two “patients” with teeth that must be changed to produce the visualized outcome, the participant will explore and experience the steps and techniques that let you confidently go from concept to completion. The systematic flow starts with your communication with the technician, a wax-up that captures your vision, guides that let you produce an accurate mock-up and guarantee adequate space for material, transfer of preparation information to the technician or the CAD/CAM operator, provisionalization, and finally, insertion of the final result with an appropriate cement or adhesive bonding material. Like Restorative Design, this workshop is highly hands-on with extensive demonstrations and exercises.

1. Treatment Planning with Confidence

From foundation to mastery this workshop lays the groundwork for precision with a comprehensive understanding of treatment planning. Develop the confidence to navigate complex cases, ensuring optimal outcomes for your patients.

2. Occlusion in Clinical Practice

Unravel the complexities of occlusion in real-world scenarios. Grasp the nuances of occlusal principles, empowering you to diagnose and treat with unparalleled accuracy.

3. Airway Prosthodontics and Sleep Dentistry: Prevention to Control

Learn time-tested best practices for airway and sleep dentistry directly from expert clinicians using them in practice. With early intervention, you'll dramatically improve a patient's quality of life.

4. Restorative Design

Boost your clinical speed, skill, and materials knowledge to minimize issues with indirect restorations. Practice technique on 28 teeth, learning proper tooth preparation, predictable margins, crowns, onlays, inlays, and a variety of veneers to implement right away.

Workshop-Thumbnail-Anterior Restorative Dentistry

5. Anterior Restorative Dentistry

Confidently go from concept to completion with a system for accurate mock-ups and adequate space, technician or CAD/CAM operator communications, provisionalization, and insertion of the final result with appropriate materials.

6. Worn Dentition

Specialize in addressing worn dentition, a crucial aspect of comprehensive dental care. Gain insights into diagnosis, treatment planning, and restoration, ensuring the preservation of natural dentition.

7. Phasing and Sequencing Complex Treatment

Learn the art of phased treatment, strategically sequencing complex cases for optimal results. Develop the ability to navigate intricate treatment plans with finesse.

8. Advanced Treatment Planning

The workshop is the culmination of the Spear Education Core Curriculum. Complex cases will be broken into five categories: severe wear, airway, TM joint, hopeless dentition, and esthetic challenges. The workshop is less about lectures and more about cases.