Recent challenging economic times have tested (and will continue to test) individuals' true resiliency and attitude. People who know and live their passion are not defined by circumstances but by courage.

Author, speaker and executive coach Gary Zelesky brings the practical side of passion to any dental office team. His hallmark energy and humor motivate and challenge, ensuring attendees remain engaged and educated and leave energized to become the change they seek.

Learning objectives:
1.    Discover how knowing and embracing your passion and the passion of your team members will make your office more productive and profitable for everyone!
2.    Learn Gary’s four passion keys – Passion=Productivity=Profitability=Pleasure – to create boundless energy, intentional focus and a “referral mindset.”
3.    Experience Gary as your personal passion coach as you discover, define and deploy your passion before you leave this session.

Dentistry is a high-pressure profession, and without clear boundaries, stress can quickly erode both well-being and professional fulfillment. This course explores the essential role boundaries play in reducing burnout, improving work-life balance and creating a more sustainable, successful practice. Participants will uncover common mindset blocks that make boundary-setting difficult, learn the three types of boundaries every dental professional needs and gain practical strategies to protect their time, energy and mental clarity. By the end of the session, attendees will have the tools to set and maintain boundaries that support a thriving practice and a more balanced, rewarding career.

Objectives:
1.    Define boundaries and identify common mindset blocks that prevent dental professionals from setting them.
2.    Explore how boundaries reduce stress and prevent burnout in a demanding dental environment.
3.    Understand how boundaries create a thriving practice while improving overall well-being and work-life balance.

This course is designed to equip dentists with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively integrate artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into their dental practices. Participants will explore various AI applications tailored to dentistry, understand their implications for patient care and practice management, and learn how to leverage these tools to enhance diagnosis, treatment planning and overall patient experience. Through a combination of case studies, clinical examples and audience-involved activities, participants will gain practical insights into implementing AI solutions in their day-to-day clinical workflows, and also debunk the myths around what AI can and cannot do for the dental practice at this point in time.

Objectives:
1.    Understand the fundamentals of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and computer vision as applied to dentistry, including terminology and common applications. Learn about the five categories of AI and how each is impacting dentistry.
2.    Evaluate the potential benefits and challenges of integrating AI technologies into dental practices, including improved diagnostic accuracy, treatment planning efficiency and enhanced patient engagement to increase case acceptance and understanding.
3.    Explore the evolving landscape of AI in dentistry, including its impact on the patient insurance process. Gain insights into how AI-driven tools and algorithms are revolutionizing insurance claims processing, fraud detection and reimbursement optimization, and learn strategies for navigating this changing environment to streamline administrative workflows and maximize practice efficiency.
4.    Learn how to leverage AI for marketing and patient engagement, including generating website images, creating compelling blog posts and articles and streamlining patient communications to save time and enhance practice efficiency.

Obstructive sleep apnea in adults and children is a major health concern in the U.S. population, affecting an estimated 30% of adults and 12-20% of the pediatric population. The systemic health effects of OSA are far-reaching. Recognizing the signs, symptoms and intraoral anatomy of patients in a general dental office can be simple, efficient and potentially lifesaving. Communication with the medical team and appropriate referral are the keys to helping a patient get diagnosed and treated. OSA as it relates to TMD, bruxism and wear cases will also be discussed.  

Objectives:
1.    Learn to recognizing the signs, symptoms and intraoral anatomy of OSA in adults and children.
2.    After identifying these concerns, understand how to communicate with the medical community. Screening forms will be provided.

The demands of dentistry can be relentless, often leading to stress, burnout, and diminished fulfillment. This course equips dental professionals with resilience-building strategies to navigate high-pressure environments with clarity, confidence and composure. Participants will explore the five key traits of a resilient dental leader, uncover practical techniques to manage stress effectively and discover how intentional leadership fosters stronger team dynamics and improved patient care. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies to cultivate a more balanced, focused and thriving practice—without sacrificing their well-being.

Objectives:
1.    Identify the five key traits of a resilient dental leader.
2.    Learn how to leverage resilience and mindfulness to navigate stressors in dentistry.
3.    Explore how resilient leadership enhances team performance and practice success. 

Unconscious bias is a learned stereotype that is automatic, unintentional, deeply ingrained, universal and able to influence behavior. It seeps into decisions that affect recruitment, retention, hiring, access to healthcare, banking, housing, education, the justice system, providing services, interpersonal interactions and outcomes in ways that can disadvantage both individuals and groups of people. We all have some form of unconscious bias, and the key is to recognize that we have it and employ techniques to mitigate it.

Objectives:

1.     Learn to assess and measure your unconscious bias.
2.     Be able to define unconscious bias.
3.     Learn the history of unconscious bias in America.
4.     Learn how subconsciously, decisions are being made in your mind.
5.     Learn how unconscious bias affects everyday life.
6.     Finally, learn ways to mitigate your bias.

This course will shed light on the fact that the natural tooth-supported fixed partial denture is frequently the preferred treatment planning choice over a dental implant.  Having worked for and with three separate generations of prosthodontists, Dr. Waliszewski will provide an unmatched perspective on the modern natural tooth-supported FPD and highlight the risks of the current implant-centric treatment planning mentality.  This will lead to guidance discussing the most common instances where natural tooth-supported FPDs are the preferred treatment planning choice.  He will also highlight the instances where natural tooth-supported FPDs should be avoided.

Objectives

1.    Recall the historical context of natural tooth-supported FPDs.
2.    Realize the high complication rate with dental implants and their associated restorations.
3.    Realize the high success rates with natural tooth-supported FPDs.
4.    Identify when to select a natural tooth-supported FPD.
5.    Identify when to avoid a natural tooth-supported FPD.
6.    Identify the value of proper tooth structure analysis and core restorations.
7.    Recall proper tooth preparation criteria.