If you’re a general dentist considering adding implant placement to your practice, there is no shortage of continuing education.
There are weekend courses.
Online programs.
Large implant continuums.
Hands-on workshops.
International live-patient programs.
And courses promising everything from basic implant placement to advanced full-arch surgery.
At first glance, they can all begin to look remarkably similar.
They aren’t.
We reviewed publicly available information from five well-known implant training options and compared the things we think matter most to a dentist who actually wants to use the training after getting home:
What we found was interesting.
Because the program with the most CE wasn’t necessarily the most attractive.
Neither was the biggest name.
And neither was simply the program promising the greatest number of implant placements.
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The more useful question turned out to be:
All five offer legitimate approaches to implant education.
More importantly, they aren’t really selling the exact same experience.
And that’s where things get interesting.
Implant Pathway has built one of the more recognizable implant-training brands for general dentists.
Its Fast Track program combines online education, classroom instruction, model-based training and live-patient surgery into an accelerated format.
Published program information describes roughly 92 CE hours, extensive online modules, hands-on training and approximately 2.5 days of live-patient surgery, with a published 2:1 attendee-to-mentor ratio.
Speed and structure.
Implant Seminars, founded by Dr. Arun Garg, has been teaching implant dentistry for decades and has trained thousands of dentists.
Its implant continuum offers substantial didactic education, surgical concepts and live-patient opportunities.
The organization currently promotes a continuum plus live-surgery option with extensive CE and a significant volume of surgical experience.
Depth and legacy.
Few names in implant education carry the historical recognition of Misch.
The Misch Implant Institute has long emphasized comprehensive implant education grounded in treatment planning, biomechanics, prosthetics and surgical principles.
Its current continuum is extensive, with live-patient surgical training available separately.
Clinical pedigree and depth.
3D Dentists approaches the subject somewhat differently.
Its Tooth Replacement Therapy training incorporates live-patient implant education while placing substantial emphasis on actually integrating the procedure into a productive dental practice.
That includes digital workflows and the business side of implementation—not merely the surgery itself.
Practice implementation.
Restored Smiles is smaller than several of the organizations above.
And strangely enough, that may be one of its greatest advantages.
Its implant program is built as a three-stage progression:
Dentists begin with self-paced education covering topics such as:
Then comes the transition that many CE programs struggle with.
The dentist moves from education into a two-day hands-on course at the Restored Smiles Ranch in California.
But here’s the number that caught our attention:
Participants work through implant placement, grafting, suturing, treatment planning and other surgical workflows in a much smaller environment.
That matters because implant dentistry is not learned entirely from the front of a lecture hall.
At some point, the dentist needs to ask:
Is my angulation correct?
Would you graft this?
What am I feeling in the bone?
Is this the case I should be doing—or referring?
Small groups create more opportunities for those conversations.
Then Restored Smiles takes another step.
Doctors who complete the foundational training can progress into two full days of supervised live-patient surgery.
And Restored Smiles limits that experience to:
Not 30.
Not 50.
Six.
According to the program, participants may have the opportunity to place approximately 8–18 implants, depending upon the patients available, procedures, and the individual doctor’s experience.
That number is appropriately not guaranteed.
And frankly, that’s not what interested us most.
The interesting part is the progression:
A dentist isn’t being asked to jump directly from a lecture into surgery.
The program deliberately builds toward the live patient.
The interesting part is the progression:
Based on currently published program information, the programs vary substantially in format, CE and investment.
Program | Published pathway investment* | Live-patient component | Primary strength |
Implant Pathway | About $19,500 | Yes | Accelerated immersion |
Implant Seminars | About $16,000 for continuum + live surgery package | Yes | Depth and training volume |
Misch Implant Institute | $17,500 continuum; live surgery additional | Available separately | Legacy and comprehensive education |
3D Dentists | About $17,995 for live-patient program | Yes | Practice implementation |
Restored Smiles | $13,995 for Sessions 1–3 | Yes | Small-group progression + direct mentorship |
*Published pricing can change. Dentists should confirm current course pricing, schedules, inclusions and CE applicability directly with each provider before enrolling.
Something else became apparent from this comparison:
A dentist who wants the largest curriculum may choose differently from a dentist who wants the fastest program.
Someone interested in advanced implant academics may prioritize something entirely different from a GP trying to confidently place straightforward implants in an existing practice.
But for one particular kind of dentist, Restored Smiles became very interesting.
Imagine you’re already a successful general dentist.
You see implant cases.
You understand the restorative side.
You may already treatment-plan these patients.
But when it’s time for surgery, you refer the patient somewhere else.
And you’re not necessarily looking to become an oral surgeon.
You simply want to become competent and confident treating appropriate implant cases in your own practice.
That’s a very different objective.
You probably don’t need another giant lecture hall.
You need:
Good case selection.
Hands-on repetition.
Access to someone experienced.
Real patients.
Feedback.
And somebody you can still call when the course is over.
That is where the Restored Smiles model starts making a lot of sense.
Courses are ultimately taught by people.
Dr. Jed Huss isn’t positioned merely as the person standing at the podium.
Restored Smiles emphasizes an ongoing mentorship relationship.
That means a doctor can potentially learn with Huss, work through hands-on procedures with him, perform supervised live surgery, and continue asking questions as real cases begin appearing back at the practice.
That may matter more than another eight hours of lecture.
Because the difficult moment in implant education often doesn’t happen during the course.
It happens several weeks later.
A patient walks into your office.
You see the CBCT.
You think:
“I can probably do this.”
And then another voice says:
“But should I?”
Having an experienced clinician available for a second opinion can be extremely valuable during that transition.
Restored Smiles also has something that is difficult to manufacture:
a substantial body of third-party course reviews.
Course Karma currently displays more than 200 reviews for the Restored Smiles implant program.
And one theme shows up repeatedly:
Doctors don’t merely describe enjoying the course.
They talk about becoming more comfortable with implant dentistry, implementing what they’ve learned, tackling cases they previously would have referred, and continuing to rely on Huss as a resource afterward.
That may ultimately be the best way to judge advanced CE.
Not:
“Did I enjoy the weekend?”
But:
After comparing these programs, we wouldn’t tell every dentist to choose the same one.
Instead, we would ask one question:
If your goal is the broadest possible curriculum, choose accordingly.
If your priority is speed, factor that in.
If you want a famous academic lineage, there are excellent options.
But if your objective is:
small classes + hands-on repetition + supervised live patients + direct access to the instructor + a step-by-step path toward implementing implant dentistry…
Restored Smiles deserves a very serious look.
Because sometimes the best CE isn’t the course that teaches you the most information.
We’ve also put together a simple guide covering the 7 questions every dentist should ask before investing in implant CE.
It covers:
[READ: 7 QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE INVESTING IN IMPLANT CE →]
Or, if you’re ready to see how the Restored Smiles progression works:
[EXPLORE THE RESTORED SMILES IMPLANT CONTINUUM →]
Contact us today to register for our dental implant courses and start your journey toward mastery!
We take your privacy seriously and guarantee that your information will never be shared with third parties.
