Experience, Expertise and Evidence

Clear aligner treatment is mainstream, but with some exceptions that are present only in the mind of the orthodontist. Treating a lot of patients without studying provides repetitive “experience” and yields personal opinions about what will work and what won’t; wereas the “expert” studies the conditions of success and failure to develop the means to understand or abolish the difficulty in difficult tooth movements. “Evidence”, meanwhile, provides the template of truth to elevate the expertise of the expert. Collectively, these three ingredients remove the uncertainty and guesswork associated with orthodontic treatment.

Learning Objectives:

Prepare for expert clear aligner treatment with training and experience
Evaluate available evidence in preparing treatment plans for using clear aligners

Aligners and Teens

Aligner treatment has certainly become mainstream treatment for most orthodontists with their adult patients. For most orthodontists, teenagers represent a majority of their patient base yet remain a minority of their aligner patients. This lecture will address the advantages, disadvantages and patient selection criteria for the use of aligners in comprehensive orthodontic treatment of the teenage patient.

Learning Objectives:

Identify appropriate malocclusions in the teenage population that can be effectively treated with aligner therapy;
Determine when aligner treatment is not appropriate in teenage patients;
Recognize and address parental concerns with prescribing aligner treatment for teenagers.

Orhan C. Tuncay DMD, Cert Orth

Appearances