Dr. James Rutkowski, Director of the Jacksonville University Comprehensive Oral Implantology Program, discussed the program's unique three-year (soon to be two-year) master's degree in implant dentistry, which is the only university-based program open to all dentists. The program integrates surgical, prosthetic, and maintenance aspects of implant dentistry, providing comprehensive training in real-world settings. Dr. Rutkowski emphasized the importance of evidence-based practice and the program's goal to equip graduates with the highest level of implant dentistry education. Dr. Josh Muir and Dr. Tanner Townsend highlighted the benefits of the program for both residents and site directors, including flexible learning, hands-on experience, and the potential for ABOI diplomate status upon graduation.

Dr. Josh Muir 0:05 Welcome to Smile Reconstruction Dental Implant Podcast where we talked about all things related to dental implants. My name is Josh Muir and my partner here, Dr. Tanner Townsend, and we’ve got a special guest for you today. Tanner, why don’t you introduce Dr. Rutkowski?

Dr. Tanner Townsend 0:24 Thank you, so Dr. Rutkowski is the program director for the Jacksonville University Comprehensive Oral Implantology Master’s Program. Dr. Rutkowski has an extensive background in implantology. He is a diplomat in the American Board of Oral Implantology, and he has an extensive background that I am not even going to attempt to to rehearse because it is so well done. So I’m going to let Dr. Rutkowski do that and kind of share his background.

Dr. Josh Muir 0:50 Dr. Rutkowski, how are you doing today?

Dr. Rutkowski 0:55 I am doing great. It is a thrill and a distinct pleasure to be here with you and your audience today. I I look forward to this opportunity of getting the word out about the JU, Jacksonville University Comprehensive Oral Implantology program. I know that you’ve been working with the program, with it since its inception, and I thank you dearly for that. I also know that you’ve got a great associate resident in your practice in Dr. Townsend, Tanner Townsend, so you’re doing good things there, and so I appreciate this opportunity to let the rest of the world know about what we’re doing down there in Jacksonville, Florida.

Dr. Josh Muir 1:38 Well, again, thank you for for joining us and creating this opportunity for us to visit together. And so your your job or your title in the Jacksonville University Program is what?

Dr. Rutkowski 1:51 I am, the director of this Comprehensive Oral Implantology Program, and I have the responsibility of overseeing the entire program, all of the clinical sites, as well as the Didactic Program and putting it together. And I think it’s really important that this program, like a program like this, exists because it is the only master’s degree program, university based master’s degree program, so legitimate, real master’s degree, not a Mastership, but a master’s degree that is put out by a university that allows general practitioners to enter into the program. Our program is open to all people in dentistry that care to learn more and become the very best implant dentists that they can become. So if one is a periodontist, yet they desire to learn more about in depth about implant dentistry, because in that period program, you learn some things about implant dentistry. And in a period program, mostly surgical, you do learn some prosthetics, but you don’t necessarily do those prosthetics oral surgery. You learn surgical component, not necessarily the whole package and the follow up and the maintenance of it, because the oral surgeon does his thing and then moves on and prosthodontists. They may not get all the surgical training yet, in this program, you get the oral surgery, the perio, the maintenance, the prosthetics, the post op dignity out of complications, whatnot, and it’s open to general practitioners. So you don’t have to be an oral surgeon perio process to get into a fellowship in implant dentistry. You can be a general dentist and get in this and get a master’s degree and learn intense, thorough implant dentistry to help your critical thinking skills to help your patients.

Dr. Josh Muir 3:42 What is the goal of the program? If you could say in one line, what is the goal? What are you trying to accomplish here with these residents that participate in the program? Dr. Rutkowski 3:53 We’re trying to equip our graduates to be the best educated in implant dentistry that there is in the world, not just a oral surgeon, Prospero or general dentist who’s learned some implant dentistry, maybe through continuing education, but not, and not to poo, poo, those things, but to get a deeper dive into it for our practitioners to help their patients back home.

Dr. Josh Muir 4:19 And that is, I mean, that’s a big job. That’s a it. Hearing you say it, it sounds like it’s, oh, that’s not too bad. You just teach them the stuff and you’re done. But it’s it, that’s a big deal. There’s a lot going on there. And so with your career, you know why you as the director here? Now I know the answer for why you? But why are you chosen? And you know, when I heard that you had been tricked into taking this position, I mean, excuse me, when you had accepted this position, I was very excited, because even though I had never met you, I had seen your name all over the place. Would you mind going over some of your credentials and some of your experiences that have made or helped you be just the right person for this program?

Dr. Rutkowski 5:12 Well, thank you for those nice words. That’s kind of you. I started out as a pharmacist. I went to pharmacy school, and from pharmacy school, I went directly to dental school. After completing dental school, then I went into private practice, and I did a fellowship program with the Midwest implant Institute and Duke Keller and Jack Vaughn in Columbus, Ohio. Really dove into implants. I graduated from dental school in 1976 but started placing implants earnestly in 1983 and you know, we we didn’t have all the fancy kits. We didn’t have the all the diagnostic tools, the CBCT scans, all of that stuff. So was a bit of a cowboy, which we all were in implant dentistry at that point in time, the universities hadn’t taken a hold of it yet, so that we didn’t have a lot of evidence based ways of doing everything that we were doing. It was pretty much by, you know, this is what he did. This is what you go to a meeting and you talk with somebody, you take a course and you pick up what you can from that and move forward. But after I got my kids, my wife and I got our kids through college, and then I decided I wanted to go back to school. I always loved pharmacology. I’d done a fair amount of bone grafting with limited success, as we all had at that point in time. And so I went back to school to get a PhD in pharmacology, because I saw bone grafting as being nothing but a pharmacological principle where you’re going to go ahead and put something in there. You’ve got excite bone cells. You’ve got to get signaling pathways going, receptors activated, get osteoclast do their thing, osteoblast to lay down the new bone. Call in stem cells do all the things. And so I created my own research project on the use of autologous spread products, blood concentrates, white blood cells and platelets for bone grafting in the oral cavity, with eventually got expanded to include spinal fusion. I opened up a I put a lab in the lower level of our office building. I hired technicians and we did research, and from there, when I got done with my PhD program, then a couple of universities asked me to come and teach with them. I decided I wanted to stay in private practice, so I only went to the universities on a part time basis, University of Pittsburgh, University of Buffalo, and started a research company on further bone grafting and things that could enhance bone grafting results, making it more predictable, and from there, started incorporating it into things. I worked with some orthopedic surgeons in spinal fusion, and we were able to come up with some predictable ways of doing things. And thatvent continued me throughout my practice. I at the end of my career, we actually my wife and I retired to South Carolina, but I still practice two and a half days a week in Pennsylvania. I needed to have predictability, because when I left my office, there was nobody left there. I no longer had associates. I kind of had things pared down, and that worked well for five years, and then I retired. I did some more teaching with Roseman University as well as the University of Buffalo. I was lecturing, and I was kind of retired, and I was enjoying life, when Duke Keller called me and said, Jimmy, would you take this program? And I said, You know what? I’m really enjoying life. Everything’s fine. And he said, Well, do me a favor and think about it. And I said, Well, Duke, I’ll think about it, but I think the answer is going to be no. And about a month later, he called me, said, Well, when are you going to start? And I said, I thought I’d answer that question. And he talked to me again, and I said, Well, okay, Duke, I’m I’m going to give it some thought. Then the Dean of the University called me. They looked at my credentials, my experience of having done research, having been in academia and having been in private practice, because this was truly a hybrid program, like anything else, nothing else in that. It was in private practices as well as in academia. And so I met with the dean and the provost and the vice president. And I got off the phone, I said, You know what? I went to the dog pound. They put the puppy in my arms. And you know, once you hold the puppy, you’re going to bring it home. And so I brought it home. And I’ll tell you what I’m enjoying it. It’s it is a lot of work. The days are long, the nights tend to be short. But I love working with the residents. I love working with the residents directors, the types of things that are being done. It’s it’s very rewarding, and to see that the patients that are helped with it. So I think we’re going to make a difference in implant dentistry in that it’s going to allow the general practitioner become well educated. It may lead into specialty, maybe becoming a sub specialty of oral surgery, perio process in general dentistry, but I want general dentists to be involved in there, because everybody has a place in implant dentistry, all those recognized specialties, but the general dentist in particular has a real space there, because these are lifelong treatments, and it’s the general dentist who treats the patients for a lifetime. The other specialties, they may come and go, but the GP is there with them.

Dr. Josh Muir 11:19 Well, I appreciate that, that introduction and an explanation of what led you here, and again, what an asset to the program. And I’ve got to say it, it almost looks like the longer you’ve been in this program. I think you needed it, because you actually look younger now than when you first started with the program. So, I mean, I don’t know for sure if that’s true, but we’ll say it is.

Dr. Rutkowski 11:43 But that’s nice that you would say that.

Dr. Josh Muir 11:47 Why don’t we talk about, you know, some of the things I like about the program, and what people may not realize is, oftentimes, these post graduate training programs that that, for example, dentists will take to learn how to place implants. They may just be over a weekend, and there will be a little bit of hands on, but they’ll get set up with equipment, and then they’ll go back to their office, and they’ll try things out, which can work on a number of different things, but at the same time, it’s hard to get really good when that’s the approach to education that’s available. So Dr. Rutkowski, one of the things I like about this program is that it’s not one of the weekend courses. This is something that’s it’s a three year program, and it should be morphing into a two year program, which it sounds like we’re losing a whole year of training, but really what it is, it’s, it’s condensing and focusing and bolstering up and making it a really intense two years of of daily training. I think what a what an amazing program that is.

Dr. Rutkowski 13:02 It’s three years now, but in another month, I will be meeting with the curriculum committee at the university, and we are going to be presenting the case to take it to a two year program. I think that’s going to be better use of everybody’s time. I mean, these are young people that are in the program, principally, and they’ve got to get on with their life. They do have school loans that they have to start tackling, and all of those things they want to get on with their family life and getting their practices and getting established, so that we feel that we can make this a two year program and still educate them sufficiently well, particularly since they’re working on a daily basis with a director, a well experienced clinician.

Dr. Josh Muir 13:44 So as we look at that, a two year program, residents can start a case, they can go through every aspect of healing. They can complete a case and then have that patient function on those new implants and new crowns or restorations into the future, all during their training program. And I think that’s just an invaluable opportunity that allows you to see every step of the way.

Dr. Tanner Townsend 14:16 Tell us about some of the interesting things that the program is doing in order to get residents good hands on training, good exposure to different technologies such as exocad and CTS and all that. What are some of the things that you’re really trying to accomplish?

Dr. Rutkowski 14:31 Well, what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to find the the appropriate clinical settings, and whether that be individual private practices, or whether that be 5031c clinics, where they may be serving the underserved populations, maybe low income populations, where they need dental implants and they may couldn’t afford them in a regular setting, but these clinics and private practices, they can bring in the associate residents who will then work in those practices, and they are to do everything that an associate would do. This is real world training. This isn’t just in a university or hospital setting. And we have to remember that the overwhelming majority implants are placed in the outside world, in private practices and in clinics, not in dental schools and not in hospitals. So this is the real world training that they’re getting. So they’re bringing, they’re getting a patient in. They are diagnosing, treatment, planning that patient, the the practices or the clinics. They may give a lower fee because it is a resident doing form so somebody that maybe couldn’t afford it, they’re able to now get into this, this treatment modality, the fondest treatment valid there is for dentistry by going ahead and getting implant implants, as opposed to, you know, having to suffer with removable prosthesis and things of that nature. So what we do is we go out and we try and find the best individuals out there in the real world placing implants, and that can be oral surgeons, perio pros, or general practitioners. And what we do is we look for clinics that do a reasonable volume of implants correctly, and we like them to be involved in all aspects of that treatment, from the diagnosis, acquiring the patient diagnosis, treatment planning, getting acceptance to the treatment, surgical management of that patient, whether they be sedated or not, depending on what the patient’s needs and the case requirements are for them, then moving through all the post operative care with them, ways of enhancing that post operative care for them, whether it be using the autologous blood concentrates with it, or stem cells or recombinant BMPs, whatever it takes to get this case to this patient to the very best that they possibly can, then getting it through the healing stage, then restoring The case, and that’s where none of the other programs puts it all together like that, and that’s why I really believe that our residents come out with the greatest total experience in implant dentistry. That’s not to say that other programs, they’re not well educated. I’m not trying to say that at all, but what I’m trying to say is that we are giving the best overall education in depth to improve those critical thinking skills. So for all the way from diagnosing it to placing the implants to restoring the implants, then manage them post operatively, and manage any complications that could occur along the way. You know, and we use the greatest of technologies, because we partner with many different vendors who offer discounts, academic discounts, to the resident site. So they can get implants at a discount. They can get kits at a discount. They can get cat can technologies at a discount, CBCT scans, all the prosthetic components for everything that’s needed there. They can get it at a favorable price, because it is an academic institution that they’re working with. So we think it’s a win, win for the patient, for the resident director, for the resident, and the university is just having to be the vehicle you take to get there.

Dr. Tanner Townsend 18:21 Yeah, I love some of the things that you said there, and some things that I kind of want to highlight are that it is real world dentistry. It’s not that academic setting kind of dentistry that we kind of typically associate with a master’s program or a residency program, which is wonderful because then it really helps enhance that. And like you said, I’ve found a lot of benefit as we’ve developed that technology, as we’ve been exposed to CT, the prosthetic components that we’ve worked with, with different vendors, and the exocad, the CAD CAM design, I think as we touch on those things in the residency program, it’s such a wonderful blessing to be able to be exposed, like you said, to every part of the restorative process. Because oftentimes, sometimes doctors will pigeon hold themselves, Oh, I’m just doing the restorative part, or I’m just doing the complications part, or I’m just doing the surgery part. And so being able to handle things from A to Z is a huge benefit. So I’d kind of like to jump into how a little bit more, how it benefits a doctor that is going to be like a site director. And so Dr Muir, you’re here with us. You’re my site director. Tell us. Tell us a little bit, besides some of the things that Dr. Rutkowski talked about, that you’ve been able to benefit from personally, but also like how it’s been a blessing for you and your practice in having this affiliation with JU.

Dr. Josh Muir 19:49 Yeah, you know, I think right off the bat, one of the things is, anytime you set yourself out to be involved in education and educating, it takes a different or it takes a special person and a special mentality. And so for me, that’s something I’ve always been involved in in my career. It’s something I’ve always tried to be involved in. So as I had the opportunity years ago, before the program was even developed, to to be a part of it. I said, Yeah, keep me on that list. And as the program progresses, and we get to that point, if it’s if I’m at the point in my practice, in my career, where I can make this happen, absolutely, I’d love to do that. I like to teach whether it’s children or adults, but definitely I like to teach people that are excited to learn. And so with this program, it really it. It has residents that will be involved in the program for three years, and so or two years. And so it takes an excitement from the resident to commit to a two or three year program.

Dr. Tanner Townsend 21:03 Yeah

Dr. Josh Muir 21:04 That was exciting to me, you know. And as you know, we’ve taught some shorter classes, we’ve we’ve worked with other dentists on certain things. And there’s a different enthusiasm, though, when they set out with a goal that, hey, when this program is over, I want to be trained and know everything I need to know. So that was exciting to me. But as far as the benefits of working with with residents and working with the program, Dr. Rutkowski touched on some of these things, but it’s really it gives the it gives the opportunity for patients to join in on that journey. So some of the things we’ve done, some of the promotions we’ve offered have have been geared a little bit around that educational side. Hey, you know patient named John. You know your situation, your anatomy, your needs, fit exactly what we’re trying to provide an experience about. And if you’ll work with us on that, then we’re going to give you a special rate, you know, for example, that’s something that could easily happen. But then also, as we’ve worked together, you know, we have, we have the opportunity to be highly involved in our day to day patient care, and so what a blessing to be able to say. Dr. Townsend, why don’t you come over? Tell me what you think about this. Would you do anything different? Hey, Dr. Townsend, I know you guys were talking about antibiotics and some of the new uses, or you said something about not using amoxicillin in this situation. What do you what did you learn? How did that class go? And so for me, it’s been really neat, because I’ve got somebody that’s in the cutting edge program, and I get to piggyback off of that. And of course, if he doesn’t know the answer, he says, Hey, Dr. Rutkowski, we’ve got another question for you. And so what a blessing to be involved in this network of people that are taking the time to be at the top, the top of the educational and and provider chain, really so that that’s been really neat. I think our situation is a little bit unique. Where, what a blessing for me to have someone that you you already did a residency. It was AGD, Advanced Education in General Dentistry program, which gave you a lot of surgical and implant experience, and so you were already probably a little bit more ahead or prepared than most residents would be. And so the benefits I have had is you’re such a well educated, experienced provider, even when you’re starting this program, and that’s been a great blessing with the practice. Even the cases you were working on earlier today are just advanced and fantastic. So that’s been a blessing to be able to share some of that load together and just a camaraderie we’ve had. This just reminded me, but when you were in your residency program, we worked together a little bit because I taught your your residency how to incorporate surgical guides, including the design and 3D printing and so on. And so that’s something you guys were adding in in that way. So that was something neat that that we could do together before we started working together on a daily basis. But now that you’re involved in the JU program, you didn’t stop there with that, with that technology sign that I worked with you guys on through the JU program, you guys use the top dental design software. You’re doing all sorts of abutments, crowns, dentures, full arch cases that you are learning to design, and we’re milling and printing and fabricating in office so that we can treat our patients in a more timely manner. Have have products that are more customized, and we can make changes more easily as well. And really, the benefit that that’s been for me is being a part of this has accelerated my learning by shaving years off of it, and so it’s provided a lot of opportunity that way, just to be involved in this cutting edge design and implementation.

Dr. Tanner Townsend 25:37 Well, let’s kind of give I’ve got another question for you, because we want to give someone a snapshot. Let’s say there’s a faculty member or potential faculty member in the United States that Dr. Rutkowski is looking to kind of incorporate into the JU program. And they’ve got a few questions, I would imagine, a question maybe, what does your day to day look like? Role look like, being a site director in this program? How does it really affect you? Or is it not really affect you all that much?

Dr. Josh Muir 26:02 Yeah, I think there’s a couple of scenarios that would be worthwhile pointing out. So again, with your previous training, I don’t have as many worries about, oh man, Dr. Townsend is going to get into trouble. This is going to be way over his head. Oh boy. I hope he doesn’t get in too far, because you already know what those boundaries are. You know where you’re at, and you’re not a cowboy, meaning you’re going to work it out and plan the case beforehand. So with you, the experience has really been we work as partners, and that’s something I’ve tried to establish from the very beginning, I don’t want any patient thinking that if they don’t work with me, that they’re working with someone that’s second rate. And so to a patient, I’m absolutely going to build you up into the understanding of the clinician that you are, who is trained, who is thoughtful, who’s intelligent, and so on. Now let’s flip the other side. If we have someone that is brand new to all of this, doesn’t have that training background, that would be a little bit different, because I would be holding that hand a little bit more. We would be absolutely case planning in a very particular way to make sure we were on the same page. My day to day is Dr. Townsend and I meet every morning. We go over the schedule. We go over the consults of our day. We talk about any hurdles or obstacles with any of our patients that either one of us might have, and we go over those before patients are even in the building. And then throughout the day, we stick to that plan. If there’s a situation where I want a second opinion, or where he wants a second opinion, then we we radio over, Hey, Dr Murray, can I get a second opinion? And I mean that what a blessing that’s been. But in in my experience, it’s been together, we can accomplish more than either one of us can do individually. And yes, there have been times where there’s training involved. Yes, there have been times where you’ll start a procedure and say, Hey, can you get me through this next step, I want to make sure that I’m there and, you know, as we talked about sinus crafting and things like that, tell, show, do or, you know, however, those teaching styles work, but, but by and large, it’s we each have our patient load. We work together, and it’s been a wonderful blessing. I think for both of us, I would agree, if I was with someone that that was just starting out, I would block my schedule off, and we would do cases together, side by side more often. And I think that’s a way that depending on the resident, that might be beneficial. What are your thoughts there?

Dr. Tanner Townsend 29:00 No, 100% agree. I think there’s a couple different avatars of residents, in a sense, the one that comes with prior implant experience, versus the one that doesn’t come with much experience at all. And I think you hit it on the head, you you’ve done an excellent job. I feel, from the resident end, of giving me freedom to kind of push myself, but also following up and helping me plan things ahead of time. That way I don’t get into a pickle. We had a case today that sinus lift. I lifted the sinus and I said, Hey, there’s a spot on the medial wall that’s going to be a little bit tricky to navigate. So I just wanted your second opinion to come and see if you felt like I was up around that enough and and like you said, it’s just nice to be able to discuss things and have more of that partner relationship, which I’ve been very blessed with you that you’ve treated it that way. But like you said, there may be a resident that needs a little bit more hand holding in the beginning, and I think that’s the beauty of this private practice resident model is that it allows for that flexibility, depending on who’s with you, and hopefully the goal is to get them to that more partnership kind of feel. And you’re kind of doing it, and I’m here if you need help and guidance. But I think those are kind of the two real avatars. Dr. Rutkowski, from your end, as you are finding faculty to kind of join with us on this endeavor to become part of the JU program. Is there anything else that you feel like is good for a future faculty member to know that kind of what they’re signing up for, in a sense?

Dr. Rutkowski 30:42 Well, you know, Dr. Muir brought an excellent point there. It’s gotta be somebody who is is, loves teaching, wants to teach, wants to pass it on to the next generation. You know, dentistry is a bit of an unusual group of individuals, and that we went into this because we wanted to help people. And originally it was, you know, to help patients. And, you know, we just think of somebody with a toothache, we want to get them out of their pain and whatnot. And that’s kind of what feeds us, is that, that we get to help people, but that that as you get into practicing, you learn, then you realize that boy, I can help teach. I can help others, those coming behind me, those that are younger than I, less experienced than I and they can go ahead and they can, you know, learn from all the experiences that I’ve had, the education I’ve gotten, the experiences that I’ve had, but it’s synergistic in that you’re going to learn when you teach. The best way to learn is to teach, and vice versa. That student is going to ask you questions and make you think and in, again, a situation like this, where it’s a residency, where Dr. Townsend is taking didactic classes in the evening, albeit asynchronously. And we should talk a little bit about that so we don’t make people think you work all day and then you study all night. It’s we do make this user friendly for you, but it’s very synergistic in that it’s a it’s good for the resident, it’s good for the clinical site, the resident site, it’s good for the patient, and it’s good for that resident director, and it gives us all purpose and meaning. And I’m the oldest one in the group here, and as you get older, you do have to have a purpose, and you do have to have meaning in life. And that’s why I struggled with just pure retirement, because, you know, I missed that, that that I was being fed by students and by by patients, that I was helping people, and that’s what you want to do. And it’s obvious that the two of you just want to help patients. You want to help people, you want to help them. Smile, enjoy life. Chew with confidence. Speak with confidence. And our best residents. Our best residents are those that come out of a residency program, either in AEGD or an AGD program. Currently, we have 27 residents, two of which are already ABOI diplomates. So they had a tremendous amount of experience, and yet they wanted to get do a deeper dive into it. And so I’ve got two ABOI diplomates as residents, and a maxillofacial surgeon who’s been in practice for probably 30 years, but he said, You know, I realize that implant dentistry is changing so fast with all this digital dentistry, and what’s all this stuff that we’re doing, and we’re printing and we’re milling and all of this stuff, all this technology. And so he signed on with the program, and he’s an excellent resident that he just wants to learn more, and so you’re never too old to learn, you’re never too young to teach. And it’s just synergism. It’s a win, win, win for everybody going through it. Now, I like those directors to have a practice that does a reasonable amount of implants. They’ve got to want to teach. Okay? They have to want to do. What does the evidence show that we should do? Not just because they’ve done something they may be a lot well experienced, because they’ve done something a certain way for 30 years, that doesn’t mean that we things haven’t changed and moved on. So they’ve got to be willing to learn themselves and do in their practices. What is evidence based? I respect everybody’s experience, but we also do with this an academic program. It’s not just passing on what my grandfather taught me about fishing and then what my dad taught me about fishing, and then what I teach my son about fishing. Now you know what there are people there is a sign. That’s behind phishing, and we might as well learn from the very best. Dr. Tanner Townsend 35:03 I loved how you brought up evidence based industry, and I think that’s one of the things that I’ve almost gained the most from this program last night. It’s funny that we brought this up is because last night, I was going through all our old lectures and all the PDFs and the different evidence based literature that we’ve received in the year and a half I’ve been in the course so far, or in the program, and I was astounded about the different things that I’ve learned so far that way. It’s been quite a quite a blessing. And as I’ve spoken about with Dr. Muir, we were talking about it today, and he had even mentioned it as he was just talking how it’s cool that he’s able to adapt himself as we’re both uncovering new articles of literature that we haven’t come across before, and then we can incorporate them. And so I think that is a huge benefit, because it’s so hard to stay on top of the literature. And you, Dr. Rutkowski, do an excellent job being the editor for the Journal. Like to stay on top of all these things. I don’t know how you can just whip them off the top of your head like you do, but it is quite impressive. So I think that is one of the great benefits of we’re always trying to stay current with that, just like you had mentioned.

Dr. Josh Muir 36:17 So Dr. Townsend, we’ve talked about our side of this, why don’t you tell us what drew you to the program, but then also tell us what does your day look like? Because you have to juggle the didactic portion the lab portion and also the clinical portion. So tell us about your story.

Dr. Tanner Townsend 36:37 Yeah, so I think to answer your first part of your question was, the reason I decided to do this was I wanted to make sure I was providing the best care for my patients. And as I look at individuals like yourself and Dr. Rutkowski, who are extremely experienced, your ABOI diplomats, you both grade for the ABOI, you have tons and tons of experience, and so I want to make sure that whatever I’m doing in my future practice, I am to that status, and I’m able to provide that highest level of care. And so that was something I wanted to do now, you and I, before we even started the program, had talked a little bit about this and kind of the different routes to potentially go. Now, for someone that previously was pursuing an ABOI, it’s going to take hundreds of hours of

Dr. Josh Muir 37:29 ABOI being diplomat board certified by the American Board of Oral Implantology.

Dr. Tanner Townsend 37:36 Yes, thank you for clarifying that. Yep, so being board certified by the Board of Oral Implantology and so I wanted that status. And so there’s a couple different routes to get that set status. And previously, it involved hundreds of hours of CE. It involved a maxi course. It involved a bunch of different documentation on cases, and it took potentially seven to eight years. I remind how long did it take you to get yours?

Dr. Josh Muir 38:08 I believe it was eight an eight year process.

Dr. Tanner Townsend 38:10 And so and you were pretty on top of moving your process along to make sure you had that status. And so one of the benefits of this program was we were going to be able, as graduates of the JU program, to sit for that ABOI examination, because there’s an oral and written component to that examination earlier than that, seven to eight years, that timeline could be sped up. And Dr. Rutkowski, you’ll have to correct me if I’m wrong on any of this, but it’s I can sit for it after I graduate. And the written portion is not going to be a requirement, but the oral portion in the case presentation will be.

Dr. Rutkowski 38:52 Yes, the the ABOI, the board has to make that final agreement that we would be held on par with those completing a max officiant surgery, residency, perio, residency, or cross residency, and that they do not have to take the written exam. They only have to take the oral exam. We have petitioned the board recently, in conversations with the president of the board, the current board, he feels that it will be approved, that we will be on par with Max and facial surgeons, perio and pros, and we do not have to do that. We have just recently petitioned the ANC board, and that there’s a very good possibility, in conversations with the people on that board, that the our graduates would be just conferred by Prudential the ANC Associate Fellow, they would not have to take the examination, the written or the oral examination. So you’re you complete the program, you petition the board, the ANC board, and that you should be getting your Associate Fellow without the examination process. ABOI diplomate status, you would only take the oral and not the written examination, and you will have your cases. Some of your cases will been function long enough that you should be able to have your cases for the board, if not right at graduation, then within a year.

Dr. Tanner Townsend 40:16 Yeah

Dr. Josh Muir 40:17 Yeah. What a what a blessing that is. I mean, I again, I, I spent eight years meeting all the requirements for that. You’ll be able to do it in about three years. And so, I mean, that’s what an advantage that is, you know, that’s, that’s pretty neat. So I’m a little bit envious. You know, my my journey was a lot longer. I had to travel all all over the country, and multiple, multiple countries, to get the education that I was trying to piece together. And you’ve got it in this consolidated place where we the program brings all of these resources to you, here in Montana, yeah, or where the other residents are in other parts of the country, and you know what? What an amazing thing that is. So what? What is your typical day look like?

Dr. Tanner Townsend 41:07 Yeah, so typical day. So I’ve got two kids, and so one of the things that was really important to me with this program is my wife, when we signed up to do this program, she’s like, I don’t want you gone all the time. I don’t want you going to work and then having to hop on lecture for two to three hours at night, and then not seeing the boys and I, and then doing homework at the end of the night. And so one of the things that I’ve really enjoyed from this program is it is asynchronous. I’m able to hop on and watch recorded lectures when it makes sense for me. So my day typically looks like as I’ll wake up and I may watch a lecture, or if I have time in between patients at work, I may watch a lecture at work. And that’s just what has worked for me. And so it hasn’t been a huge burden, time wise, at home with my family, which my wife has really appreciated. It’s been some but it’s been much more manageable, and I’m still getting that comprehensive education, kind of like we talked about, there are tons and tons of great implant courses out there. And like you said, you even mentioned this, it’s hard because you have to kind of piecemeal it together, piecemeal your own education together with this, I get the A to Z, and it’s laid out for me, and that part has been such a blessing that I don’t have as much piecemealing that I have to do. Of course, there’s things that I maybe not, don’t catch the first time, but in terms of day to day, I wake up, I may watch a lecture listen to a lecture. I’ve even listened to lectures at the gym, and then come to work, I’ll work, and it’s a normal eight to five kind of thing. Do my notes, work on my cases, I may say a little bit after, depending on the day, and design a case, or different things like that. So typical.

Dr. Josh Muir 42:59 And one of the things we’ve talked about is just the idea of when you know you’re going to need to devote more time to those lectures, more time to learning the softwares and so on. Then we say, hey, let’s block them out at this time.

Dr. Tanner Townsend 43:15 Yeah

Dr. Josh Muir 43:15 So lots of flexibility. It’s just communicate what’s needed, and we find a way to make it work. Dr. Tanner Townsend 43:22 Yeah. So for residents, it hasn’t been a huge burden from my end on that, and I think every resident can approach differently. If you want to be on the live lectures, be on the live lectures, that just doesn’t work for me as much. So I like being able to have that flexibility.

Dr. Josh Muir 43:39 So we’re we’re we’re running out of time at this point. This has been, this has been really neat, just getting all of us together. We have the program directors perspective. We have a site directors perspective. We have a resident perspective. And what we’d like to do over a couple of more of these episodes is talk about some of the procedures, some of the other aspects of the program, and really answer questions that potential residents, potential site directors may have. Dr Rutkowski, any closing statements as we’re wrapping things up today?

Dr. Rutkowski 44:22 I would encourage everyone to make the best use of your early years in dentistry, because the years will pass by quickly. I practiced for 44 years, and I woke up one day and all of a sudden I was at 44 years when I thought I was just at year two. It just goes by so quickly, and that it’s the decisions you make while you’re young and getting as much education as you possibly can that will position you to be where you want to be later in life. In other words, just putting it off and putting it off will not get you to where. You need to be, or where you desire to be, or where you want to be. And I’ve never regretted one course that I’ve ever taken. I spent a lot of time in school between pharmacy school, dental school and my PhD program. Yeah, I did have to learn how to manage my time effectively. But I don’t regret one minute of that, and I know that our residents will not regret one minute that they invest in getting a master’s degree in implant dentistry. It will improve their stature in the community, with patients and with other clinicians and those that desire to become resident directors, I encourage you to reach out to us at Jacksonville University. Those of you that would care to teach a didactic course and become an adjunct professor, please reach out to us. It’s never too late to do that, and it’s never too early to do that. Reach out to us, and I’m sure that there’s some way that you can be involved in the program, either just as doing a guest lecture here and there, or being involved in the program greater so you will never regret it. I love everything that the two of you said in your work together, the synergism there, and it really is. It’s a blessing for the entire profession that we can have a program like this going. So I thank the university, because the university, they took a chance in doing this. And so I thank them. I thank resident directors. I thank you, Dr. Muir. I thank the residents. Thank you, Dr. Townsend, so thank you very much. Thank you for the opportunity to present this program to your audience. Thank you.

Dr. Josh Muir 46:46 Well, and thanks again for joining us. So what we’d like to talk about next time Dr. Rutkowski is, let’s get into some of the curriculum, you know, so we can show by example. Here’s, you know, here’s year one. These are all the things we’re going to cover. Here’s as we get into the second year. And what does that flow look like? You know, when we say we’re looking at technologies, we’re looking at lab stuff, let’s, let’s delve into so anyone investigating becoming a resident can see what that is. So we’ll plan on that for next time. I want to thank everyone for watching today. Again, my name is Josh Muir, and we’re here with we’ve got Dr. Tanner Townsend, of course, and as our special guest today, we’ve got Dr. James Rutkowski from the Jacksonville University Comprehensive Oral Implantology Program. So thank you everyone. We’ll see you next time.