Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download
ePaper created 2016-04-19, 11:44:05 | version 1.38.0
| feature interview 48 ortho 1 2016 The European Aligner Society is an international organisation established in 2013 that aims to pro- mote education and research in aligner therapy. Trained in South Africa and with 22 years of clinical experience, Dr Graham Gardner has been running his own private practices in the UK since 2008. In an interview with Dental Tribune International, the EAS President shares his ideas and views about the importance of aligners in orthodontics and about the EAS, which he believes will become the society for aligner therapy. DTI: Dr Gardner, you have been working with aligners for more than a decade now. What convinced you initially of this treatment method and what are the main advantages in your experience? Dr Graham Gardner: From the beginning of my career in the early 1990s, a time when ceramic brackets and lingual braces became available, I was certainlyawareofthefactthataestheticappliances were going to be the future of orthodontics. In 2001, I was fortunate to attend a certification course for Invisalign, which was truly a watershed moment in my orthodontic career because I saw the value and potential of aligner therapy for both dental professionals and patients. In my opinion, aligner therapy opened the door for a huge cohort of patientswhowouldnothaveconsideredorthodontic therapy in the past mainly owing to aesthetic con- cerns.Inadditiontoaestheticbenefits,alignersarefar more comfortable than fixed appliances, as they are removable and hence facilitate oral hygiene during therapy. They also move the teeth more gently with less pressure, which is favourable with regard to patient comfort and from a biological perspective too. Today, I treat over 75 per cent of patients with Invisalign in my practices. In recent years, clear aligners have become a favourable treatment alternative to fixed ap- pliances, and the global orthodontic supplies market is expected to reach about US$3.9 billion (€3.6 billion) by 2020. In your professional opinion, how will this market develop in the near future? Over the past decade, aligners have become mainstream orthodontics and I definitely see this trend continuing and expanding. With the technological advancements, including 3-D and CAD/CAM, that allow the clinician to diag- Dr Graham Gardner “We will be able to treat pretty much everything in the future” in the future An interview with Dr Graham Gardner, UK, President of the European Aligner Society 12016