The Pikos Institute has just launched new training courses on zygomatic and pterygoid implant therapy. These courses allow dental professionals to learn advanced implant techniques and teach clinicians how to provide dental treatment for patients whose upper jaws are especially thin.
Over the past 32 years, the Pikos Institute, a dental implant institute, has established a reputation in esthetic dentistry and 3D-based implant training. Its advanced curriculum of advanced bone and soft tissue grafting courses now has alumni numbering more than 6,000 dental practitioners from all fifty of the United States and 67 countries.
Sharing a Deep Expertise
Opening its doors in 1990, the Pikos Institute was the brainchild of Dr. Michael A. Pikos, the center’s founder and CEO. An established dental implantologist, Dr. Pikos, saw a need to provide rigorous dental implant training following reports of poor outcomes from dental implant surgery. Through both live and online courses, he has been able to share his expertise with dentists worldwide.
Dr. Pikos has received many recognitions for this work, including the 2006 Aaron Gershkoff Memorial Award from the American Academy of Implant Dentistry and the 2015 Saul Schluger Memorial Award for Top Educator. He was also the first Carl E. Misch Advanced Dental Implant Studies Education Award recipient in 2017.
Today, Dr. Pikos serves in various academic and editorial capacities. He is on the faculty of multiple schools of dentistry in the US and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He is on the editorial board for Implant Dentistry, Inside Dentistry, the Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry, and the Journal of Implant and Advanced Clinical Dentistry. Dr. Pikos maintains a private Trinity, Florida, practice focused exclusively on implant surgery.
A Hands-On Approach to Dental Implant Training
Dr. Pikos is known to his students for his ability to communicate and demonstrate complex dental procedures in ways that make them visibly achievable. The Pikos Institute courses focus on hands-on training and are designed to guide dentistry professionals methodically through complicated cases in implant dentistry and advanced prosthodontics.
For example, at the Institute’s new March 2025 course on zygomatic and pterygoid implant therapy for patients with severely atrophic maxilla (extremely thin upper jaws), students will work with both cadavers and live patient surgeries.
Participants also practiced studying 3D scans to identify the best placement and angle for either zygomatic implants in the cheekbone or pterygoid implants, as well as practicing patient selection and reviewing possible candidates for these advanced surgeries. The objective is to eliminate the gap between learning the procedures and being able to apply them in private practice.
“Our mission,” Dr. Pikos says, “has always been to empower practitioners with education that translates to excellence in patient care.”
What’s Next for the Pikos Institute
As the Pikos Institute continues to add to its curriculum in, it has partnered with Modis Dental, the most significant dental practice and dentist training organization in the United States. Modis Dental Partners is explicitly focused on implant-oriented dental practices, technology, and education, and this partnership may allow the Pikos Institute to expand and intensify its offerings in the coming years.
