Testimonial – Dr George Freedman and Dr Fay Goldstep
Putting Video into Practice and Education
George Freedman, DDS, FAACD, FASDA, FIADFE, FACD
Fay Goldstep, DDS, FASDA, FIADFE, FACD
Dr. George Freedman is a founder and past president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, a co-founder of the Canadian Academy for Esthetic Dentistry and a Diplomate of the American Board of Aesthetic Dentistry. His most recent textbook, “Contemporary Esthetic Dentistry” is published by Elsevier. Dr Freedman is the author or co-author of 12 textbooks, more than 700 dental articles, and numerous webinars and CDs and is a Team Member of REALITY. Dr Freedman was recently awarded the Irwin Smigel Prize in Aesthetic Dentistry presented by NYU College of Dentistry. He lectures internationally on dental esthetics, adhesion, desensitization, composites, impression materials and porcelain veneers. A graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Dr. Freedman is a Regent and Fellow of the International Academy for Dental Facial Esthetics and maintains a private practice limited to Esthetic Dentistry in Toronto, Canada.
Dr Fay Goldstep has been a featured speaker in the ADA Seminar Series, and has lectured at the American Dental Association, Yankee, American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, Academy of General Dentistry, and the Big Apple Dental Conferences. She has served on the teaching faculties of the postgraduate programmes in Aesthetic Dentistry at SUNY Buffalo, University of Florida, University of Minnesota and University of Missouri-Kansas City. She has been a contributing author to four textbooks and has published more than 60 articles. She is a Fellow of the ACD, IADFE, ASDA and the ADI. She sits on the editorial boards of the Oral Health Journal, Dental Tribune US Edition and Dental Asia. She has been listed as one of the leaders in continuing education by Dentistry Today since 2002. Dr. Goldstep is a consultant to a number of dental companies, and maintains a private practice in Markham, Canada and can be reached at goldstep@epdot.com.
In dentistry, everything is visual! The more that we can see, the more that we know; the better our knowledge, the better we can perform our tasks. Dentists mostly prefer visual and hands-on training opportunities as these modalities are far more clinically instructive than written, diagrammatic, or even photographic teaching methods. Over the past three decades film cameras, and then a succession of digital cameras, have become quite common in dental practices. These technologies have secured an increasingly important position in dental education. It is rare that one sees a dental publication nowadays without at least some supportive, illustrative images. It must be remembered, however, that we live and work in a video age and dentistry must keep up! Professionals expect immediate, high-quality sharing of the latest techniques and materials, and clear documentary training in these procedures.
SurgiTel has developed the SurgiCam Pro, the first loupe mountable, digital surgical camera that captures DVD-quality video directly into a computer via a USB port without the need for conversion. It features advanced miniaturization, high-precision optical lenses, and an integrated sensor technology that provides high-quality video (with an amazing depth of field) as well as still images, all with an intuitive ease of use. Unlike ceiling and overhead light-fixed surgical cameras, the SurgiCam Pro sees exactly what the operator sees, all of the time, without impediments. There is no need for an extra set of hands or complicated control and switching units. Very light and comfortable, the SurgiCam Pro and its powerful coaxial light source (for bright target illumination, including in deep intraoral recesses) are affixed directly on to the operator’s personal magnifying loupes. There are three magnification options, 2x, 3x, and 5x, corresponding to the various dental magnification preferences for operative, surgery, and perio/endo/cosmetics. The SurgiCam Pro camera sees precisely what the dentist sees. It offers the viewer a totally unobstructed view of every single step of the treatment process.
We have utilized the SurgiCam Pro primarily for educational training, both live and recorded. While live presentations are very impressive and exciting, there is extensive clinical “down” time which the instructor must “fill” with commentary in the midst of treating the patient. We find that recording and editing the sequences, removing non-instructional segments, makes the greatest and most useful educational impact. SurgiCam Pro presentations can be sent to specific groups or individuals or uploaded to the web for instantaneous worldwide distribution. Thus, it makes the process of sharing innovation and clinical techniques immediate and globally accessible. We are now seeing the scope of “publication,” which once referred exclusively to printed hard copy books and journals, expanding to multiple digital online formats including video. It is readily foreseeable that in the near future, the comprehensive dental article will include video documentation in addition to photographic evidence.
Video documentations of dental diagnostics and procedures are indisputable records: the entire set of visuals and observations archived by the dentist in the patient files as a history and reference. Visual documentation is also important for our patients for comprehension, for participation, and for an appreciation of our professional services. The SurgiCam Pro can also be used to take patients for a real-time tour of their own mouths, providing them with a recordable, highly-detailed perspective that will lead them to a better understanding of their own oral health and the need for recommended treatment.
SurgiCam Pro online video consultation, in real time, with specialists and laboratory technicians is an excellent communication tool. Treatment planning and coordination are now collaborative exercises wherein novel concepts and solutions can be efficiently introduced, improving patient treatment and clinical prognosis. There is far more information in a video than is possible in a photograph and real time interactivity is often highly productive.
The lightweight SurgiCam Pro has widely compatible software that is very easy to set up and is ready to “go” in a matter of minutes. The data is not stored on the device or in the software, and thus it can record continuously, limited only by the space available on the computer hard drive. The hardware’s powerful onboard compression allows recordings to use very little hard disk space. The files are stored in the popular AVI format (annotated by folder or by date) and can be played back immediately from the recording. Still images may be captured from either the live feed or the recorded video. All storage files can be readily transferred to any storage or rapidly uploaded on to the web.
Enable your patients, students, and colleagues to learn by highly effective visual means. Experience the developing digital revolution in education and online collaboration using SurgiTel’s SurgiCam that we have been using effectively for more than four years.
