After studying for many years at dental school, the thought of doing more studying and building upon what you’ve already learnt can seem daunting. This is hardly surprising! When I graduated from University, I wanted to get on with the job and build up my social life again, which became non-existent during the final year of my degree.
In many states, in order to renew your license to practise, you will need to have a certain number of credits. Therefore, it is vitally important you document and track your continuing education credits to ensure you have enough.
The importance of tracking your continuing education credits cannot be underestimated. If you take part in regular bi-monthly lectures for example, your knowledge of the latest techniques within the dental industry will be improved. Your knowledge of pre-existing areas will also be boosted, as it can be hard to remember absolutely everything that you have learnt prior to practicing. Say you were an experienced dentist who has been in the same job for over thirty years and didn’t complete any continuing education. Would this dentist be able to offer the same modern techniques as a new practicing dentist who has learnt all the latest techniques? Probably not.
If a dentist is renewing existing knowledge and learning new techniques, the quality of care in the dental industry is subsequently increased, which is great for patients. They can go to their dentist safe in the knowledge that they are adequately trained and offer the most innovative treatment solutions. This is also advantageous for the dentist, because if they offer an enhanced level of care, word will get around that you offer the latest techniques which could in turn increase the number of patients you treat.
Career progression is also another advantage of taking part in continuing education. If you voluntarily take part in continuing education, your next employer would be impressed that you’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty to improve your own skills, rather than just doing the bare minimum. It will show the employer that you have a real passion for the dental industry and make them more likely to hire you, as it shows you work hard and care deeply about furthering yourself. Anyone in their resume can say that they look to improve their knowledge of dentistry, but if this claim is backed up with continuing education credits, then your claims are more likely to be given credence.
It’s also a lot easier to complete education credits these days with the presence of the internet. In the past, you used to have to attend lectures in person, which would have been costly in terms of time and money.
It is possible to track your continuing education credits using DentReps own tracker, available here
https://www.dentreps.com/cm/resources/ce
We would advise that you make full use of this excellent resource in order to monitor your continuing education credits.
Conrad Armer 
Andrew Williams 
Romeo Cano