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ePaper created 2016-04-19, 11:44:05 | version 1.38.0
49 ortho 1 2016 nose, plan the treatment and confirm biomechanics in a far more in-depth way than ever before, ortho- dontics is now catching up with the high-tech world we live in—it is twenty-first-century orthodontics. When aligners were first introduced to the market, there were some limitations and we could only treat mild malocclusions. However, aligner therapy has come of age and is now a genuine appliance system with which we can treat the majority of malocclusions. At the moment, however, aligner therapy is still a fairly expensive form of orthodontics. Thus, I hope thatimprovementsinmaterialsand3-Dprintingwill render manufacture and the product itself more cost-effective. For example, 3-D printers could allow individual practices to print their own aligners in the future. Overall, with technological advancements and in- creasingpatientacceptance,wewillbeabletotreat pretty much everything in the future in my view. How have developments in the European and the overseas market differed? Dentistry as a profession is very conservative and dentists in the US, for example, are perhaps a bit more progressive. However, with regard to aligners, I no longer really see a great difference between Europe and America. The movement is global and I suspect the advancements we are now seeing in Vienna © mRGB / Shutterstock.com “...the advancements we are now seeing in Europe will match those in America and Asia...” feature interview | 12016