Ortho Tribune United Kingdom Edition

20 ORTHO NEWS Ortho Tribune United Kingdom Edition | 1/2017 Aligner therapy continues to improve An interview with the President of the European Aligner Society (EAS) Dr Graham Gardner someone seeking orthodontic treatment because he or she is already concerned and self- conscious about his or her teeth, as the last thing such a patient would then want is to draw at- tention to his or her teeth with ﬁ xed appliances. 3) Improved maintenance of oral hygiene and no dietary restric- tions, as the aligners are re- moved for eating. The advantages of aligner therapy for the orthodontist are: 1) Improved treatment planning capabilities owing to the 3-D treatment software. Virtual treat- ment planning allows one to evaluate different treatment op- tions that, crucially, can be more clearly discussed with the pa- tient owing to the virtual pres- entation process. In my opinion, this allows the patient to make a more informed decision on the treatment. 2) Broken brackets and emergen- cies are things of the past. Since it was commercially intro- duced in 1999, aligner therapy has grown and developed substantially as an orthodontic treatment mo- dality. Dr Graham Gardner from Winchester is the ﬁ rst President of the European Aligner Society (EAS), an organisation dedicated to in- creasing education and research in aligner therapy. The inaugural EAS AlignerLab workshop will be held in Vienna in Austria on 18 February and aims to provide a hands-on learning experience for dental pro- fessionals interested in updating their knowledge of aligner treat- ment. Dental Tribune interviewed Gardner about the role of aligners in orthodontics and what the event organisers have in store. Dental Tribune: What beneﬁ ts do aligners offer over ﬁ xed orthodon- tic appliances, and how have these developed since aligners were ﬁ rst introduced? Dr Graham Gardner: In my opinion, the advantages of aligner therapy for the patient are: 1) They are more comfortable than ﬁ xed appliances. 2) They are more aesthetic, and therefore less noticeable, com- pared with ﬁ xed appliances. This is especially important for compared with ﬁ xed appli- ances. What have the main impedi- ments been to the adoption of aligners by dental profes- sionals? I think that, initially, aligners were basic and our knowledge on how to move teeth with plastic was lim- ited. Hence, in the earlier years, only minor tooth movement could be predict- ably treated with aligners, and this limited their use and then restricted the num- ber of practitioners prepared to use aligners. Combined with the fact that the practi- tioner now had to learn new software programmes and how to plan treatment on a computer—a vastly different skill to having the physical study model in one’s hands and brackets on teeth—one can see why the initial take-up was per- haps less than would have been expected. ware that is necessary to opti- mise the aligner system and improve treatment results. It is therefore our objective to bring these two areas to- gether at one event with the AlignerLab. This will allow attendees an opportunity to listen to world-famous clinicians on different systems, to com- pare these different aligner systems and to gain hands-on experience with the different equipment associated with these systems. We think it is a unique way to update our knowledge on aligner ther- apy, with a bonus opportu- nity to forge links with our colleagues across Europe. Is the AlignerLab a one-off thing or is it intended to be- Additionally, a beneﬁ t shared by both patient and clinician is that adjustment appointments are often quicker and certainly more comfortable for the patient The ﬁ rst EAS AlignerLab is set to take place in Vienna in February. What prompted the EAS to hold this workshop, and what can par- ticipants expect to gain from it? Dr Graham Gardner at the ﬁ rst EAS congress last year. We are excited about the ﬁ rst AlignerLab. With the explosion in the 3-D treatment planning and manufacturing processes now available, we at the EAS believe that not only do we need to update our knowledge on the various aligner systems available, we also need to understand the associated hardware, such as scanners, com- puters and 3-D printers, and soft- come a regular event? We hope this will become a regular event because technolog- ical developments and advances will continue. Thus, an event at which practitioners can both make direct comparisons and trial new systems should become a popular and regular occurrence. Thank you for the interview. Invisalign Go en route to success —2016 in review By DTI AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: With launches in Germany, the UK, France and Italy, numerous Invisalign Go introductory seminars and a series of enhancements for the system, Align Technology has just been completed an exciting year with its new product, Invisalign Go. Designed speciﬁ cally for general dentists, the new aesthetic tooth- straightening product that can treat mild crowding, spacing and orthodontic relapse has experi- enced a high demand in record time and promises great potential for the future. Align Technology’s Invisalign braces are enjoying increasing popularity and have already helped over four million patients beautify their smiles. Until re- cently, aligner treatment was lim- ited to specialists, however, since the introduction of Invisalign Go this has changed signiﬁ cantly. With the help of case assessment software and a network of experi- enced orthodontists, general den- tists are now able to treat cases of tooth misalignment between the ﬁ rst premolars. Since its launch, hundreds of interested dentists have already be- come familiar with the new system through introductory seminars run by orthodontists and long-term and Birmingham this month,” said dentist Dr Andy Toy, an East Mid- lands-based orthodontist and long- term Invisalign user, who led both events. “That tells us that dentists Invisalign users. The training events provide a profound understanding of working with the Invisalign Go system—from the ﬁ rst case study to retention—and potential new users received the system enthu- siastically. “There have been a number of cases submitted after the initial two courses in London are responding positively, whereas sometimes in other courses, one is lucky to see them after three months and one ﬁ nds they haven’t really done anything. I think we have made a powerful start here.” The enthusiasm for the multi- disciplinary system is also reﬂ ected in the participants’ positive feed- back. “We believe that Invisalign Go will be very relevant to us. We liked the day here, it was a great course with a great instructor who explained everything very well,” Dr Jens Rathje summarised after a training day in Hamburg. The dentist from Lübeck, who special- ised in implantology and aesthetic dentistry, and his wife, endodon- tics specialist Dr Isabelle Rathje, were interested in Invisalign Go because they want to expand the scope of their aesthetically-orien- tated practice. Equally enthusiastic about the possibilities of the system was Dr Melanie Elger from Hamburg: “What I like about the system is that you have various tools to visualise the treatment for the patient and you have assessment tools to decide which cases can be done with an aligner system and which should rather be treated conventionally.” Owing to the close cooperation between dentists and orthodon- tists, Invisalign Go enables a strong bundling of competencies and therefore ensures medically opti- mal results. In order to expand this approach, Align has published a series of improvements for the product in October that will make the application of the system even more efﬁ cient. This includes, for example, the new Invisalign Go Photo Uploader App for iPhone, which allows dentists or assistants to directly capture the intra- and extra-oral photos of their patients and upload them directly to the Invisalign Doctor Site to start the case assessment. The new ClinCheck Pro 5.0 software also allows for extended application possibilities. In addi- tion to improved visualisation, ClinCheck Pro 5.0 includes a range of new features, such as a custo- misable toolbar, a ClinCheck wiz- ard for better orientation through the treatment plan and a modiﬁ ca- tion warning. Moreover, the case assessment and the tool for assess- ing the progress of treatment will also be revised. The improvements will make use of the new system and the time spent with patients will be even more effective than before. Invisalign Go will further ex- pand their training programme due to a strong demand in Ger- many, France, Italy and the UK and new product improvements are to be announced in 2017.

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