The emperor’s new clothes - aligners and pluralistic ignorance.

For One hundred of years of “modern” orthodontics, clinicians treated patients using brackets and wires. Then one day in a land called “Silicon Valley”, 2 people with an idea about moving teeth formed a company. Computer Programmed Sequential Aligners were born! The company raised a lot of money and attention.
They told the people of their idea, and the people loved it! Many orthodontists did not believe this idea would work, and did not like this new technology. But the company grew to have much influence over the people in many lands. And eventually orthodontists used the new system; some believing, some hoping to believe and some just because they felt pressure to adopt it.
.……But was there a Happy Ending?
Join Dr Vlaskalic as she discusses micro and macro aspects of aligner treatment in light of popular beliefs and behaviours.

Keynote lecture:
Biomechanics in the plastic revolution: the key to that elusive predictability.

After more than twenty years of remarkable growth in adoption by the dental community, as well as continued demonstrable broadening of the scope of clinical applicability, PREDICTABILITY of aligner-based orthodontic therapy continues to elude us. The rift between our digital treatment plans and the actual clinical results is still uncomfortably wide, limiting our capabilities, especially in more complex cases.
The lecture will point out on some of the variables that determine the clinical efficacy of orthodontic aligners, especially those associated with the often-uncertain mechanical performance of current polymers used by the industry. These variables include the magnitude and direction forces exerted by orthodontic aligners, as well as their varying behavior in time.

Change versus non-change in an ever-changing world, the big dilemma.

The only constant in life is change, and yet so many people feel resistance to change. Whether it is our patients, parents, teens, staff members, partners or even ourselves. In a clear way, Jerko will go deeper into change, explain why so many people have resistance on change, and how we can embrace change in our daily life and practice.

Bonding attachments: how, when and why.

Attendees will continue a specific look into the world of bonding with Clear Aligner Therapy. While the basics of tooth preparation is similar to traditional appliance treatment, this abbreviated lecture will focus on the specific differences and unique techniques to better the success rate of attachment bonding.

Invisalign: improved efficacy of mechanotherapy for complicated cases.

Keynote lecture: Hybridization of clear aligner therapy in teens.

Our Office started Aligner Orthodontics since 2006. We had focused to use Aligner treatment for Adult patients who concern about non aesthetic looking about conventional fixed type of appliances.
However today, 68% of our Aligner patients are growing children. In order to expand the limit of Aligner Treatment, some auxiliaries are necessary. The Carriere Motion Appliance was one of the appliance can be synchronized with mixed dentition case as well as adult case. We discuss how we manage transverse problem as well as vertical influence during distalization molars before aligner treatment.

A new dimension in orthodontics called 4D.

We all know about 3D technology and its application in orthodontics but did you know that 4D technology could be an inevitable path in orthodontics in the near future?
Shifting orthodontics to 4D technology will provide welfare to practitioners, patients and most of all our planet. It represents the next rational and smart step in orthodontics.
What you will learn:

1. What is 4D tech and how the shift between 3D to 4D will happen?
2. Our biggest problems in orthodontics and how they could be tackled with 4D tech.
3. Smart materials Vs traditional materials.
4. Case studies and thermomechanical tests
5. Case presentations
6. How could you start implementing 4D tech in your practice?

Faster, better treatments with photobiomodulation.

Due to recent advances in aligner technology, there are now increased options to treat complex cases with aligners. It is now possible to achieve excellent orthodontic treatment results for many difficult cases.
Dr. Ojima has experience treating over 3,000 cases with Invisalign and more than 2,000 cases with acceleration techniques. By adding OrthoPulse® light accelerated Orthodontics to the treatment protocol, one is able to shorten overall treatment times significantly and improve predictability.
Dr. Ojima will share his approach to 3-day Aligner changes with Invisalign & OrthoPulse. He will present various cases including expansion, extraction, distilization, open bite, deep bite aligner cases.
Dr. Ojima will explain how these cases were completed in a short period of time with less discomfort and explore the extent to which we can accelerate orthodontic tooth movement with aligners
using OrthoPulse®.

Short presentation: Presentation of periodontal cases treated with clear aligners.

AIM: With the increasing prevalence of orthodontic treatment in adults, clear aligner treatments are becoming more popular. No matter what kind of therapies you choose, clear aligner treatment (CAT) or fixed orthodontic treatment, the therapy must be performed on the basis of periodontal health and follow the rule that the treatrment cannot be harmful to the periodontal tissues. The CAT is more beneficial for the plaque-control and maintaining the periodontal health. However, there are a few articles which are talking about applying the CAT to the patients with severe periodontitis. The aim of this study was to present periodontal cases treated with clear aligners (Invisalign) and to evaluate the differences in the periodontal indexes before and after treatment.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 4 clinical cases who underwent orthodontic treatment in a private office (Damanakis ortho clinic, Athens, Greece) were included in this study.
After periodontal treatment with meticulous oral hygiene education, patients underwent treatment with clear aligners (Invisalign), and this study analyzed patient outcomes. Clinical parameters were assessed at baseline and after orthodontic treatment.
RESULTS: The overall plaque index, the gingival index and probing depth
improved after orthodontic treatment.
CONCLUSIONS: After orthodontic treatment, clinical parameters were improved in patients treated with clear aligners (Invisalign) with meticulous oral hygiene education and plaque control.
We suggest that combined periodontal and orthodontic treatment can improve patients periodontal health when clear aligners are used.

Orthognathic surgery using invisalign clear aligners orthodontics treatments: which protocol?

Clear aligner therapy in conjunction with orthognathic surgery can be an very effective treatment for orthodontic patients presenting with skeletal discrepancies.
The combination of CBCT and CAD/CAM technology has shown successful outcomes regarding orthognathic surgery simulation and surgical splint fabrication.
The use of outcome simulator and the ClinCheck of Invisalign allows the visualization of the expected dental results and the elimination of dental interferences since the beginning of treatment, reducing treatment time.
The surgery first approach significantly shortens total treatment time and is very favourably valued by patients and orthodontists. Nevertheless, careful patient selection, precise treatment planning, and fluent bidirectional feedback between the surgeon and the orthodontist are mandatory
During this presentation several cases will be presented in order to compare the treatment duration and outcome quality for patients who were prepared by using Invisalign® aligners when the surgery was planned conventionally versus when planned with the combination of CBCT, CAD/CAM, iTero® and the 3D Surgery software.

What patients want.

In the last years, the model of Evidence Based Dentistry is constantly changing towards a new paradigm which considers the patient as the center of our care.
Based on these premises, the presentation will cover several aspects of the interactions between aligner orthodontics and patient desires.
From frontal smile esthetics to treatment duration and compliance management, the speakers will provide new insights and protocols to perform the best possible Patient Based Orthodontics.

Predictability of crowding resolution during treatment with clear aligners.

During the years, the indication of Clear Aligners Treatments (CAT) has been extended from simple crowding to moderate malocclusion, including extraction or non-extraction cases, and nowadays it is particularly used for severe dental crowding resolution, by proclining tooth, expanding, performing Inter Proximal Reduction (IPR) or extracting.
The clinical experience and the accuracy of the software in predicting tooth movements should help clinicians to obtain the three-dimensional digital plane precise and attendible to reducing refinements, intermediate corrections and treatment time.
Up-to-date evidence with a medium level of certainty exists to underline the efficiency of clear aligner treatment only for certain tooth movements. In many cases, additional refinements are still required to overcome the current limited predictability of clear aligner therapy.
The aim of this presentation is to highlight the predictability of arch expansion, incisors proclination and IPR, in the planning of a CAT. The clinical implications will therefore be highlighted and in particular, the plans to optimize the resolution of crowding through the CAT will be outlined.

Orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning with aligners: it’s time to step into a full 3d world.

Nowadays three-dimensional technologies (stereophotogrammetry, computed tomography and intra-oral scanner) are preferred to 2D, especially in multidisciplinary cases (orthognatic surgery, implantology). 3D cephalometric analysis avoids the data loss of a 2D projection, leading to a more accurate diagnosis.
The present study proposes a way to measure movements of the teeth by analysing 3D data acquired for planning the treatment.
3D evaluation of orthodontic results is fundamental for establishing the efficacy of treatment plans along with the accuracy of manufactured appliances in order to assess the overall quality of a proposed system (commercially available solution).
The aim of this lecture is to present how 3D technologies can be used to obtain more realistic diagnosis and predictable therapies with aligners.