On Friday, February 9, 2011 Lee Coursey of Russellville Dental Lab was presented with his Mastership status in the Implant Prosthetic Section of the International Congress of Oral Implantologists at their Spring Symposium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The awards ceremony saw a total of 23 of 20,000+ ICOI members receive this status.  The Mastership is awarded to those Fellows of the ICOI "who have accepted their professional responsibility and challenged themselves in the field of implant prosthodontics by developing the skills, knowledge and experience and training to properly treatment plan, design, fabricate and deliver implant supported prostheses."

Lee presented a total of 40 restorations to a board for review.  His acceptance into the Mastership makes him one of only 22 technicians in the United States to receive this honor.  Among them is his father, Joseph Coursey.

Some new laws have recently gone in to effect in Kentucky that change the way dentists are used to working with labs.

For years, Russellville Dental Lab has been required to annually register with the Kentucky Board of Dentistry.  This registration maintained our early registration number of "126".  However, as of July 15, 2010, the Kentucky Legislature passed HB.179 which effectively removed registration for dental labs in Kentucky.

The wording was changed to the following:

SECTION 11. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 313 IS CREATED TO READ AS FOLLOWS:
(1) A dental laboratory shall employ at least one (1) of the following:
(a) A certified dental technician who shall supervise all work performed in accordance with a written laboratory procedure work order issued by a dentist licensed pursuant to this chapter; or
(b) A dentist licensed pursuant to this chapter.
(2) No dentist shall use the services of any dental laboratory to construct, alter, repair, or duplicate any denture, plate, bridge, splint, orthodontic, or prosthetic appliance, without first furnishing the commercial dental laboratory a written procedure work order. Both the commercial dental laboratory and the dentist producing the work order shall keep a copy on file for two (2) years, and all laboratory procedure work orders required by this subsection shall be open to inspection by the board.
(3) A dental laboratory that employs or contracts with a dentist licensed according to this chapter may construct, alter, repair, or duplicate any denture, plate, bridge, splint, orthodontic, or prosthetic appliance without a work order from a referring dentist if the patient is seen or evaluated, or whose care is supervised by the referring dentist.

Therefore, Russellville Dental Laboratory can no longer provide our registration number because there is no such number.

You can read the full text of the bill here: 2010 Kentucky Acts Chapter 85

2010 brought some speaking oppurtunities for Joe Coursey of Russellville Dental Lab in the United Kingdom.

Russellville Dental Lab is proud to recognize Joe Coursey for having received his Mastership status with the International Congress of Oral Implantologists.  The award is given by Implant Prosthetic Section of the ICOI and recognizes those individuals who have shown proficiency in the restoration of Dental Implants.