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At Implant Pathway, we hear this all the time from clinicians after they spend time in our courses:
“I’ll never look at dental implants the same way again.”
That shift in perspective—seeing implants not as isolated procedures but as a responsibility to restore lives—is exactly what defines our approach to education. And it’s a mindset embodied perfectly by one of our mentors and instructors, Igor Borisov.
Dr. Borisov has been practicing dentistry since 2019 and has been placing implants since the beginning of his career. He joined Implant Pathway as a mentor in 2022, and in just a few short years, his influence on our attendees—and our culture—has been profound. His philosophy, his humility, and his passion for doing right by patients capture what Implant Pathway is all about.
This is not just a story about implants.
It’s about how you see your role as a clinician—and what happens when that perspective changes.
Implant Dentistry Is About Giving People Their Lives Back
When we talk with Dr. Borisov about what drew him to implant dentistry, the answer is never technical. It’s never about torque values, drill sequences, or implant systems.
It’s about people.
He often says that when someone loses their teeth, they live like an amputee for a while. Even when they’re given a removable prosthesis, something fundamental is missing. Their confidence changes. Their speech changes. Their relationship with food—and with other people—changes.
Then implants happen.
Suddenly, you see the shift. Patients start smiling again. They speak more clearly. They eat without hesitation. There’s a glow of confidence that wasn’t there before. And as clinicians, we get to witness that transformation firsthand.
That’s why implant dentistry is so powerful. You’re not just restoring function or aesthetics—you’re restoring the person as a whole.
What Makes Implant Pathway Different
From the outside, many CE programs look similar. Courses. Lectures. Certificates. But what sets Implant Pathway apart isn’t just what we teach—it’s how we teach and who we are.
At Pathway, there is no hierarchy.
Attendees, mentors, and instructors are treated as equals. Ego has no place here. Experience is respected, but curiosity is valued just as much. Mentors learn from one another. Sometimes mentors even learn from attendees. That kind of openness creates an environment where real growth happens.
And once you attend a Pathway course, you’re not “done.” You’re part of the family. Our alumni stay connected. They message one another. They reach out to mentors. They collaborate on cases. The learning doesn’t end when the course does.
That sense of community is intentional. Dentistry can be isolating. Implant dentistry doesn’t have to be.
A True Continuum of Implant Education
One of the biggest misconceptions in implant dentistry is that you can learn it all in a weekend.
You can’t.
Implantology is a continuum, and that’s how we’ve designed our education. At Implant Pathway, clinicians can start with the fundamentals—digital planning, prosthetically driven thinking, single-unit implants—and progress all the way to full-arch surgery and advanced techniques like remote anchorage.
We don’t force anyone down a predefined path. We tailor education to where you are now and where you want to go next. Some clinicians want to focus on predictable single implants. Others want to move into sinus lifts, guided bone regeneration, or full-arch immediate load cases. Our job is to meet you there—and guide you forward safely.
Patients Don’t Want Implants—They Want Teeth
One of the core principles we teach is this:
Patients do not come in asking for a screw.
They want a tooth.
They want a smile.
They want to eat.
Implant dentistry only succeeds when we respect that reality.
That’s why everything we do is prosthetically driven. We don’t start with the implant—we start with the end result. The planning phase, data acquisition, surgery, and prosthetic delivery all work together as one system. Skipping steps or rushing phases compromises outcomes.
When implants are planned with the restoration in mind from the very beginning, the results are more predictable, more aesthetic, and longer-lasting. That’s how you “guarantee” success—not by cutting corners, but by respecting the process.
Teaching with Responsibility
When Dr. Borisov lectures or mentors, he often jokes—but only half-jokingly—that he feels personally responsible for every implant his students place after training.
That mindset matters.
Implant education isn’t just about giving someone permission to start drilling bone. It’s about instilling fundamentals, discipline, and respect for the procedure so that patients are protected long after the course is over.
That’s why we spend so much time on didactics before surgery. Why we emphasize planning. Why mentors walk attendees through why something is done—not just how.
Our goal isn’t to create implant placers.
It’s to create implant clinicians.
When Implant Dentistry Becomes Personal
For Dr. Borisov, implant dentistry became deeply personal when he treated his own father.
Growing up in Ukraine, access to quality dentistry was limited. Years of under-treatment and over-treatment left his father with poor dentition, severe bone loss, and extremely pneumatized sinuses—so much so that they extended toward the anterior teeth.
The treatment plan required advanced care, including remote anchorage surgery. Technically, it was challenging—but the hardest part wasn’t the surgery.
It was the first incision on a parent.
No textbook prepares you for that moment. The pressure is immense. You’re not just delivering a result—you’re temporarily hurting someone you love so that they can live better in the future.
Dr. Borisov stayed with his father throughout the entire healing process. Day one. Day two. Day three. He saw firsthand what recovery actually looks like—not just clinically, but emotionally.
That experience changed how he speaks to patients. It gave him confidence in discussing post-op healing because he had lived it. And it reinforced why meticulous planning and execution matter so much.
Digital Dentistry Isn’t the Future—It’s the Present
For years, dentistry talked about digital workflows as something “coming soon.”
That time has passed.
Digital dentistry is here, and clinicians who don’t embrace it are already at a disadvantage.
At Pathway, we encourage attendees to start simple: get a scanner. Start scanning teeth and soft tissue. Seeing the mouth in three dimensions immediately reveals occlusal relationships and anatomical nuances that are easy to miss in 2D.
The next step is printing. Print arches. Print models. Explore occlusion in ways you never could before. Then combine that with CBCT data, and suddenly you’ve digitized the patient—layer by layer.
Dr. Borisov describes it like peeling an onion. The more layers you can visualize, hide, manipulate, and analyze on a computer, the better your treatment planning becomes.
Seeing the End Before You Begin
One of the greatest advantages of digital implant dentistry is foresight.
Instead of eyeballing implant placement and hoping the restoration works out, we can now plan the entire case digitally—from implant position to screw channel emergence—before ever picking up a handpiece.
Even when performing freehand surgery, we are digitally guided. We know the anatomy. We know the prosthetic endpoint. We know what lies beneath the bone before the flap is elevated.
That level of preparation transforms surgery from stressful to controlled.
Why Full-Arch Cases Demand Precision
Nowhere is this more important than in full-arch implant dentistry.
Full arches aren’t just multiple single implants. They are a connected system that must function, look natural, support speech, and remain comfortable for decades.
Implant positioning affects prosthetic thickness. Prosthetic thickness affects phonetics. Phonetics affect patient satisfaction. Everything is connected.
Digital planning allows us to design implants and restorations simultaneously, ensuring the final prosthesis is slender, aesthetic, and biologically sound. Without that planning, full-arch cases become guesswork—and guesswork has no place in lifelong restorations.
Learning to Read the Data
Digital dentistry isn’t just about collecting data—it’s about understanding it.
We dedicate significant time in our courses to teaching clinicians how to read CBCT scans slice by slice, how to orient patients correctly in three dimensions, and how to combine multiple datasets accurately.
Intraoral scans, cone beam scans, digital wax-ups, smile design—each piece adds context. When combined properly, they allow for precise, prosthetically driven planning that translates directly to better outcomes.
Surgical Guides: A Teaching Tool, Not a Crutch
Surgical guides are one of the most popular topics in Dr. Borisov’s courses—and not because every case needs to be guided.
Guides force you to plan thoroughly. They make you think spatially. They teach discipline. Even clinicians who ultimately prefer freehand surgery benefit tremendously from learning how to design and evaluate guides.
Patients appreciate them too. Just like bowling with bumpers, guides add a layer of safety—even for experienced clinicians.
Aesthetics Matter—Especially Up Front
Making an implant look like a tooth, especially in the anterior zone, is one of the most challenging aspects of implant dentistry. Screw-retained restorations add complexity. Soft tissue management is critical.
That’s why we integrate aesthetics, digital planning, and surgical execution into a single conversation. You can’t separate them. A beautiful result is never accidental—it’s designed.
CE That Actually Makes You Better
There’s a big difference between passive CE and transformative education.
At Implant Pathway, attendees work on live patients in the U.S., in a facility that mirrors real-world private practice. These patients will be restored. Complications will be managed. Outcomes matter.
Before touching a patient, attendees complete comprehensive online modules that often satisfy licensure requirements on their own. But what’s irreplaceable is live mentorship—one-on-one guidance that builds confidence and competence.
Implant Dentistry Is a Journey, Not a Weekend
We encourage clinicians not to stop after one course.
Our “circle of life” at Pathway often starts with FastTrack, progresses to sinus lifts, and eventually leads to full-arch surgery. Each step builds naturally on the last.
More implants placed does not mean more learning. Sometimes fewer implants—with deeper mentorship—teach far more.
Why CBCT Is Non-Negotiable
If you place implants without CBCT imaging, you’re working blind.
Two-dimensional imaging cannot show lingual undercuts, nerve positioning, sinus anatomy, or bone density accurately. CBCT is essential—no matter where in the arch you’re working.
We encourage wide field-of-view scans so clinicians can evaluate sinuses, ostea, membranes, and pathology—even if they don’t plan to treat those areas immediately.
Seeing more allows you to treat better.
Immediate Load Requires Discipline
Immediate load can be an incredible tool—but only when planned properly.
Without prosthetically driven planning, immediate load may satisfy a patient short-term while compromising tissue health long-term. Temporaries must mimic what was lost. Occlusion must be controlled. Biology must be respected.
Happiness today matters—but longevity matters more.
Mentorship Over Volume
We believe the ideal mentor-to-attendee ratio is about 1:2.
Why? Because real learning happens in conversation, not in crowds. In small groups, mentors can teach hand position, angulation, incision design, and—most importantly—why decisions are made.
Sometimes, more is not better.
A New Way Forward
At Implant Pathway, we don’t teach implants as a commodity. We teach them as a responsibility.
Digital planning. Surgical precision. Prosthetic excellence. Mentorship. Community.
When all of those come together, implant dentistry stops being intimidating—and starts being transformative.
If you’re ready to rethink how you see implants, we’re ready to welcome you.
(888) 309-2423
National education. Real mentorship. Better dentistry.
Once you see implant dentistry this way, you truly will never look at it the same again.
