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09 Dental Tribune United Kindom Edition | 1+2/2016 WORLD NEWS By Claudia Duschek,DTI VIENNA, Austria: The increasing number of adult patients seeking orthodontic treatment but ex- pressing concerns regarding aes- thetics and comfort, has given rise to alternatives to conventional fixed appliances over the past decade. Until now, however, there has been no independent forum for examining aligners as a pri- maryorthodonticappliance.Atthe first congress of the European AlignerSociety(EAS),DentalTribune spoke with Ritesh Sharma, Market- ing Director at Align Technology, about how the establishment of the independent aligner body couldchangethewayorthodontics is practised. “The struggle we faced prior to the establishment of the EAS was that we did not have an independ- ent forum to validate the claims of manufacturers. In addition, the foundation of such an independ- ent body was essential from the consumer’s point of view. Patients needed an institution from which they could obtain independent advice,”SharmatoldDentalTribune in Vienna. “About two years ago, at our European advisory board meeting in Brussels, we therefore discussed the idea of launching an aligner society with the ortho- dontists who went on to become founding members of the EAS, including Dr Les Joffe, who was one of the first orthodontists to treat patients with Invisalign in the UK. We received an overall verygoodresponsefromallparties involved.” Align Technology, a market leaderinalignertherapy,believedit important not to interfere with the establishment of the independent body.“Inthelaunchofthesociety,it was not our job to influence but to bring in the right people—people who have been working success- fully with aligners for a long time and therefore have considerable expertise in the field,”Sharma said. Today, over 30 per cent of an estimated 2.6 million orthodontic cases a year worldwide are suitable for Invisalign treatment, but only 3–4percentofpatientsareactually treated with this clear aligner sys- tem. According to Sharma, this is soon to change through increasing awareness of the benefits of alter- native treatment options among patients and dentists alike, as well as the rapidly growing importance of digital technologies. “In the absence of knowledge, peopletakewhattheyget.Through the work of the EAS, we want to ensure that patients know that they have a choice and do not have to accept metal braces. However, our efforts can only succeed if den- tists believe that aligners are the right choice for the patient. There- fore,theprimaryaimofthesociety is to educate dentists on the sys- tem,” Sharma said. To this end, the EASistargetingbothorthodontists and general dentists. “Moreover, orthodontics needs to keep pace with technological advancements,” he explained. “Brackets and wires have been used for orthodontic treatment for more than 150 years with hard- ly any adaptation to modern tech- nology. We believe that patients should not be treated with tech- nologies that are obsolete.” That the first EAS congress at- tractedmorethan300participants from Europe, which is considered the most significant market for aligner treatment, as well as from Asia and the Middle East, reflects the importance of aligners in or- thodontics today. “The congress surpassed our expectations. About five years ago, aligners were not widely accepted by orthodontists. They were rather considered an in- ferior plastic device. The attention the first EAS congress received shows the progress we have made in the past few years developing the system to treat more complex malocclusions and educating or- thodontists about the potential it gives them to expand their clinical treatmentportfolio.Itreallyshows thatalignersarebecomingthenew norm,”Sharma said. “As a supporter of the society, we are facilitating the coming together to change the behaviour and mind set of dentists regard- ing orthodontics. This cannot be achieved by one company, only through the combined efforts of experienced clinicians and manu- facturers. It is exciting to be a part of this,”he concluded. Ritesh Sharma European Aligner Society paves way for future orthodontics By DTI STRASBOURG, France: Requiring dental regulators in countries within the European Economic Area (EEA) to inform each other once a dental professional has been prohibited or restricted from practising,thenewlyimplemented European Alert Mechanism aims at improving transparency in European dentistry. The new EU legislation, which came into effect on 18 January, pro- vides that a Europe-wide alert be issuedwithinthreedaysofadecision toprohibit,suspendorrestrictapro- fessional’s practice—even on a tem- porarybasis—inanotherEEAstate. As a minimum, national regu- latory bodies, such as the General Dental Council in the UK or the National Board of Health and Wel- fare inSweden,will needto include therespectiveprofessional’sname, as well as his or her date and place of birth, in order to allow other reg- ulators to identify that individual. Furthermore, the alert must indi- cate the period for which the re- strictionapplies,includingthedate on which this decision was made. Although the alert must not con- tain any background information or justification of the restriction, concerned regulators may request further information. “We are delighted that this sys- tem has come into effect, it gives patients much greater visibility andsecuritywhenitcomestotheir oral health,” commented Dr Nigel Carter, OBE, Chief Executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, on the new legislation. “This will hopefully lead to an improvement in standards of dental practice Europe-wideandmorepublictrust in dentistry.” In this context, Carter pointed to the increasing trend of dental tourism and the potential pitfalls associated with it. Although some countries still do not have any for- mal system of registration for den- tists,Carterexpressedhisbeliefthat “mechanisms such as this make for amuchmoretransparentprofession andgreaterpatientprotection.” New dental alert system aims at improving patient safety in Europe DTUK0116_09_Sharma 25.02.16 14:58 Seite 1 DTUK0116_09_Sharma 25.02.1614:58 Seite 1