Dr. Joe Massad and The Center for Higher Learning, Tulsa, Okla.
by Joseph A. Blaes, DDS
Regular Dental Economics readers will recognize Dr. Joe Massad since he is a long-time regular contributor. Dr. Massad has been practicing removable prosthodontics in Tulsa, Okla. for many years. Early this year, he told me about a totally new concept that he was putting together. His plan was to sell his practice and then develop and build an advanced learning center in Tulsa. Massad envisioned a place where dentists, technicians, and auxiliary staff could come together and be involved in working with patients � not mannequins. He dreamed of the students being taped while they were learning and then leaving the Center with a DVD of their performance and the instructions given by Dr. Massad and his team.
I visited The Massad Center for Higher Learning a couple of weeks ago and it is truly something to behold. Dr. Massad has done everything first-class! There are two extra-large, Kavo-equipped treatment rooms that are designed to film other dentists' presentations and professional continuing-education approved tapes. The Center is equipped with a complete Kavo laboratory set up for teaching lab concepts. Special digital lighting was built in Italy and installed on ceiling-mounted tracks for the best lighting possible. Dr. Massad is presently working on a new concept of educational films on interactive DVDs, and is currently in production with his latest series that features Dr. Myer Leonard, professor emeritus of the University of Minnesota, and Dr. Stanley Malamed of the University of Southern California. The special effects on each DVD include radiolucent, 3-D animations to clarify the most physiologically retentive perspectives on the oral cavity and the full human body.
His true love, however, remains removable prosthodontics, which he shares with others at the Massad Center. The Center will accept a limited number of dentists, technicians, or staff for courses given throughout the year. Dr. Massad has brought together an excellent faculty to assist him, including Dr. William Davis, Dr. David Cagna, Dr. Lily Garcia, Dr. Mark Connelly, Dr. William Lobel, Dr. Joe Thornton, Dr. Richard June, Dr. Sam Strong, and Dr. William Pagan. Also on the staff are master technician Vincent Alleluia and certified technicians Colleen Elder, Ron Johnston, Ken Waldo, and Tom Mays. Four months of classes at the center were booked within three weeks of its opening in May. Five different courses are offered at the center, including Complete Dentures, Partial Dentures, Combination Cases, Implant Overdentures, and the Team Experience. All classes include innovations in removable prosthodontics, and there are more classes in development. Step-by-step, over-the-shoulder instruction on actual patients helps close the chapters always left open in lectures alone.
Dr. Massad has decided not to travel the speaking circuit so heavily this coming year so that he can concentrate on advances in dentistry and on the Center, where professionals can share their successes and failures. His hope is that this information will help others to improve the delivery to patients worldwide. Joe's 500-plus national and international lectures have given him a network of noted scientists to share knowledge worldwide. In addition to his reputation as a noted lecturer and leader in removable prosthodontics, he holds faculty positions at the University of Texas School of Dentistry, San Antonio, Tex.; the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry, Oklahoma City, Okla.; Tufts University, Boston, Mass.; and the Pankey Institute, Key Biscayne, Fla. Dr. Massad is proposed to be seated as a professor at the Portugal School of Dentistry in Coimbra, Portugal. Dr. Massad also orchestrates many research grants with several of the dental schools across the country.
I am certain that readers will agree that Dr. Joe Massad has put together an outstanding higher learning center for teaching the latest and greatest techniques and materials in removable prosthodontics. You can contact The Massad Center at (918) 749-5600, (800) 800-3115, or visit the Web site at www.drjoe massad.com for more information.
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