About the Kois Center

The Kois Center is an advanced graduate didactic and clinical program for practicing dentists. The Center features a comprehensive nine-course curriculum, with the latest advances in esthetics, implant and restorative dentistry. The curriculum is based upon the mission statement: “Enabling motivated dentists to achieve extraordinary levels, expanding knowledge and application skills in restorative dentistry.”

 

What makes the Kois Center special?

The Kois Center is located in Seattle, Washington, on the shore of Lake Union. Fifteen years ago, the Center began forty miles south of Seattle in the back room of a dental office in Fife, around a table with room for only twelve students to attend each class. As word travelled about the incredible teaching to be found in that back room, dentists from around the world sought spaces on waiting lists, hoping to be one of the twelve.

The Kois Center in Seattle was built to accommodate the increasing number of dentists eager to become students, and incorporates the latest technology to maximize student learning over each three-day course. Live patient demonstrations can be broadcast directly to each of the 26 students. Multimedia electronic presentations allow rich content to be memorably shown, and students have the opportunity to practice new skills on patient simulators.

But the Kois Center is unique because it is SO much more than a physical location or a facility. The Kois Center is part of an educational network inspired by John Kois and populated by dentists who have made a commitment to a rigorous program of continuing education. This network is actually a living, maturing postgraduate educational think tank. The Center’s growth is the result of the continued support and participation of those who have graduated. The collaboration of these members has created an ever expanding knowledge base at the Center and is a pathway for extraordinary professional growth.

Graduates can return annually to attend the Symposium, which includes a review of the prior year’s published dental science, speakers who are pioneers in their field, and the inspiration of lik eminded colleagues. As graduates incorporate their new knowledge into their dental practices, they can apply to become Mentors, who return regularly to the Center to offer help to current students, continuing the cycle of contributing to an improved dental profession.

The Kois Center can now use the knowledge of its membership to improve the curriculum of the Center, enhance the professional growth of its members and improve the dental health of the patients they serve. The Kois Center provides an intense educational experience which allows your dentist to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to assist you, the patient, in keeping your teeth healthy and aesthetically pleasing for a lifetime.

Who is John Kois?

Dr. Kois Received his D.M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Dental Medicine and Certificate in Periodontal Prosthodontics with an M.S.D. from the University of Washington, School of Dentistry. He maintains a private practice limited to prosthodontics in Tacoma and Seattle, Washington and is an Affiliate Professor in the Graduate Restorative Program at the University of Washington. Dr. Kois continues to lecture nationally and internationally, is a reviewer for many journals and is the Editor-in-Chief for The Compendium of Continuing Education in Dentistry. Dr. Kois is the recipient of the 2002 Saul Schluger Memorial Award for Clinical Excellence in Diagnosis and Treatment Planning, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from both the World Congress of Minimally Invasive Dentistry and the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is the past president of both the American Academy of Restorative Dentistry and American Academy of Esthetic Dentistry, and a member of numerous other professional organizations. In addition, he continues to work with restorative dentists at the Kois Center, a didactic and clinical teaching program.

What is a Kois Center Graduate?

The Kois Center is a family of dentists and dental professionals who are passionate about dental healthcare and have the discipline to pursue excellence. A heavy emphasis on community exists, and I am proud to associate with the professionals who attend the Center which promotes a culture of generosity, humility, kindness and passion for learning. These individuals are integrity-based and committed to both their patients and education. Dentists who attend the Center seek evidence-based knowledge, willing to question their beliefs in pursuit of excellence. The Kois Center community works to provide the best, most efficient and cost-effective care to their patients and help one another to achieve this goal.

Graduates have completed all nine courses in the curriculum at the Center. Once students become graduates, they have the opportunity to attend an Annual Symposium. At the Symposium, current updates based on new studies are discussed, and our community of professionals and their families have the opportunity to network and get to know each other better. Graduates also have the privilege of being part of our referral service on the website, wherein other graduates can search for contact information and refer patients who are moving or are out of town to another highly trained and skilled dentist.

Graduates have made a serious commitment to this rigorous curriculum—sacrificing time away from families, home and their practices—challenging themselves to be the best. To achieve this goal has required questioning of traditional standards and examination of strongly held beliefs under the light of published evidence. It has also required the courage and willingness to change, when necessary, how they practice dentistry.

Above all, dentists attending the Kois Center are committed to excellence and doing their best for their patients.

Call Our Office Today At (703) 723-7810

Providing Excellence In Dentistry

It simply feels different when you walk into a store or an office where excellence is the standard. In an era when people are constantly bombarded with mediocrity and apathy through poor customer service and the performance of products below expectations, it is refreshing and reassuring to encounter excellence. Dental offices that consistently excel at customer service, also have a tendency to hire carefully and provide in-depth training for their employees. These offices personify excellence.

Excellence in dentistry includes words like integrity, trust, and empathy. It means you can trust your dentist and staff to autograph their work with excellence; they aim for perfection on every procedure, every day, even when no one is watching. Decisions that will affect your oral health and well-being for a lifetime must be made in collaboration with someone who is looking out for your best interest now and in the future.

Excellence cannot be static. The doctors and staff that you entrust with your dental health must continually seek new knowledge to enhance the predictability of their work and remain connected with exceptional colleagues who support continuing professional growth.

Excellence is the sum of many parts. Attention to detail and accuracy of diagnosis, along with the skilled hands of an experienced dentist, will provide you efficient, informative, individualized treatment in a cost-effective manner. Your dentistry will be fabricated using the best materials available with a built-to-last attitude. At the Kois Center, EXCELLENCE permeates every educational and interpersonal interaction—ALWAYS! This book is an overview of how Kois-trained dentists make excellence their standard and how you, their patient, will benefit.

A Paradigm Shift

A paradigm is defined as a model to follow with a set of rules and regulations (written or unwritten) that does two things:

  • Establishes or defines boundaries
  •  Tells you how to behave inside the boundaries in order to be successful.

A paradigm shift: a change to a new game, a new set of rules.

Dentistry has been a very traditional profession with a long-established paradigm where the rules of the game have changed very little over the past 100 years. Accepted practices of dentistry, with little or no scientific basis, have been and continue to be taught in dental schools and continuing education programs. This has had an unfavorable outcome on the level of dental health care, perceptions of what is needed in order to maintain dental health and what insurance companies will cover for their participants.

For instance in the 1960s, the original Crest toothpaste advertising campaign promised healthy teeth if one would brush twice a day with Crest and see their dentist twice a year. This advertising slogan became part of the dental paradigm, accepted as scientific fact without any research to test the validity. Dental insurance companies subsequently established a policy to cover teeth cleanings twice a year. The scientific truth is some people do not need two cleanings a year while others would be better served by having their teeth cleaned four times a year. The best cleaning interval depends on your risk for disease.

At the Kois Center, we are not constrained by dental philosophies and practices just because they were taught to us years ago. We are committed to learning, growing and getting better for our patients and their care. All dental practices and procedures are questioned as to their purpose; the rationale and basis for their use are continually being examined. We are willing to build a bigger box—or even throw away the box—if science and treatment in the best interest of our patients calls for that action. In this manner a Kois Center Graduate is at the forefront of technology and knowledge when diagnosing and treating patients with the most up to date and predictable procedures and technologies.

We are located in Leesburg, VA but proudly serve Lansdowne, Reston, Broadlands, Ashburn, Sterling, and all neighboring communities.