Last Friday I was in Boca Raton leading a treatment planning training session for the Goldman Study Club. We had about 50 dentists in attendance. The first 2/3 of the day was lecture, then we did treatment planning for 1/3 of the day. I have found that while many dentists love the procedural part of what we do, planning is the most important thing we do. Choose the wrong path, and you’ll get in a lot of trouble.
Twenty or thirty years ago, we almost always put teeth back into their original position. Because of cosmetics now, we often consciously place teeth in different, more aesthetic positions. Some positions will work functionally, some won’t. The more we as dentists learn about how teeth function with joints and muscles – what we call "functional harmony" – the better course of treatment we can take.
I encourage dentists to take the same number of CE hours in treatment planning and visualization as they do in solid procedural and materials learning.