Founded earlier this year, the American Laser Study Club (ALSC) promotes science-based laser dentistry, surgery, and safety education. It also helps clinicians prepare for the American Board of Laser Surgery (ABLS) certification exam. And now, Dentistry Today Leaders in Continuing Education Gordon J. Christensen, DDS, MSD, PhD, and Rella P. Christensen, RDH, PhD, have been named honorary members.
The “sound scientific basis and proven efficacy in order to ensure public safety” is one of the main eligibility requirements for the ADA’s CERP Recognition Standards and Procedures. But, the ALSC reports, some laser dentistry educational programs and publications include misrepresentations with regard to soft and hard tissue laser science and safety.
The ALSC further notes that such misrepresentations partially originated in the Laser Dentistry Curriculum Guidelines, which date back to the early 1990s and are missing numerous important laser-tissue interaction concepts such as absorption spectra, hot glass tip, and plasma plume. Instead, the ALSC has based its curriculum on the ABLS Study Guide.
Dr. Gordon Christensen is the founder and CEO of Practical Clinical Courses, CEO of Clinicians Report, and a practicing prosthodontist. He has presented more than 45,000 hours of continuing education worldwide. Dr. Rella Christensen is a team leader with Technologies in Restorative and Caries Research. She also has taught at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels and written many abstracts and reports.
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