Dr. Jeff Rouse To Join Spear's FGTP Workshop, Bringing Airway Expertise To EFSB Philosophy

Whether you’ve been involved with Spear for several years or just a few days, you’re likely familiar with the term “Facially Generated Treatment Planning.” The philosophy permeates our entire core curriculum, which is why we are thrilled to announce the FGTP workshop will be getting a major update in January 2019 with the addition of Spear Resident Faculty member Dr. Jeff Rouse as an instructor.

The FGTP workshop is a foundational element of Spear’s comprehensive learning ecosystem, serving as many clinicians’ introduction to the EFSB ( esthetics, function, structure, biology) method of evaluating a patient's condition and planning proper treatment.

With the addition of Dr. Rouse, a veteran prosthodontist and airway expert recognized for his pioneering work in “sleep prosthodontics,” that EFSB method will now include a critical extra letter — “A” for “airway.” His expertise has already enhanced Spear’s Airway Prosthodontics and Worn Dentition seminars, in addition to a variety of Spear Online courses and pathways. 

Along with fellow Resident Faculty member Dr. Greggory Kinzer, Dr. Rouse developed the six-step “Seattle Protocol” for recognizing, controlling and resolving airway distress within a restorative dental practice. Since Dr. Rouse joined Spear faculty in 2017, he has collaborated extensively with fellow faculty to incorporate more airway perspective into existing curricula.  

“Our goal is to start doing more treatment planning based on airway,” Dr. Rouse said. “That’s the area of expertise I’ll be bringing to the FGTP workshop. It’ll help doctors learn how airway integrates within the interdisciplinary treatment plan.”

Dr. Rouse said Spear founder Dr. Frank Spear’s FGTP philosophy, and the time he spent collaborating with Drs. Spear and Kinzer at their Seattle practice, helped him shape his own clinical approach to airway management and refine the strategies he uses to help clinicians address airway issues with greater precision.

“I’ve used Dr. Spear’s FGTP ideas and sort of given my own flavor to it for years now,” said Dr. Rouse, who added that he looks forward to the opportunity to instruct the FGTP workshop with Dr. Kinzer and Dr. Gary DeWood.

Introducing the “A” component to the EFSB method will help prepare clinicians to attend Spear’s more advanced airway sessions, such as the Airway Prosthodontics seminar and workshop. Dr. Rouse said the enhanced FGTP workshop will address how to create better smiles with an emphasis on esthetics (“E”), assess function (“F”) and gain confidence to treatment plan anterior and posterior restorations based on structure (“S”) and biology (“B”).

Dr. Rouse said he looks forward to continuing to collaborate with fellow faculty members to revisit and revise existing material.

“Anytime you bring someone new in, the excitement is being able to step back and look at what you’ve done successfully and see how you might get better moving forward,” he said. “Refreshing a very successful course is going to be exciting.”

To learn more about our FGTP workshop and get registered, visit https://www.speareducation.com/workshops