The Dawson Academy

Our purpose at The Dawson Academy is to share what we have learned with dental professionals striving to provide quality, complete care to their patients. It is our hope that we can bring knowledge to your understanding of the masticatory system.”

Dr. Peter E. Dawson
Founder & Director

The Dawson Academy was founded in 1979 on the premise that there is no better laboratory for determining what works in practice than the experience of a practice itself. As long as I can remember, there has been (and continues to be) a need for congruency among dental specialists regarding the diagnosis and treatment of masticatory system problems. To this end, I began the process of bringing together an interdisciplinary group of specialists who were committed to an academic orientation toward comprehensive concepts of diagnosis and treatment of the full spectrum of masticatory system problems.

In addition, that commitment extended to a willingness to combine an active teaching effort with the everyday realities of private practice. What we learned, we would share. Because of political constraints and the interdepartmental warfare that often occurs at the University level, too many graduating dentists enter practice with a confusing set of departmental view points on some of the most important aspects of diagnosis and treatment planning. There is still a different concept of occlusion taught in each department in many dental schools…and different parts of the masticatory system are still being exclusively assigned to certain specialties. This is why orthodontists end up “moving teeth” and surgeons end up “treating TMJ’s” as if they were mutually independent of each other.

And general dentists graduate to private practice not realizing that they are supposed to be the physician of the entire masticatory system. The concept of surgeons, orthodontists, restorative dentists and technicians working together, challenging each others ingrained beliefs and searching for the truth has been both exciting and productive. From within this combined group of specialists, a number of major diagnostic and treatment advancements have emerged, including doppler auscultation for TMJ disorders, differential arthrography to assess the role of muscle on disk derangements, new microsurgical procedures for correction of articular deformities, and new methods for repairing condylar fractures. New methods for classifying disk derangements and exciting new insights into degenerative joint disease have been clarified. Simplified instrumentation approaches have been developed for analysis of occlusal problems with the orthodontist and surgeon in mind, as well as, general practitioners. Even practice management systems have been developed to simplify planning, treatment, and communication.

Our purpose at The Dawson Academy is to share what we have learned with those dental professionals striving to provide quality, complete care to their patients. It is our hope that we can bring logic to your understanding of the masticatory system. If we succeed, we will have served the basic purpose for which The Dawson Academy exists.