Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition | 2/2020 ORTHO TRIBUNE D3 we should embrace that. Moving teeth more effi- ciently using computer technology should be some- thing that we embrace as a specialty. However, knowing where to move that tooth is the important part. What final posi- tion will be the most healthy? What will be the most stable? What will be the most attrac- tive? That decision will never be replaced by AI or computers. It is too complex and it is ever- changing. The more we learn, the more we will refine what we consider “best”. In the future, that process will be driven by CTI. And this iteration process of learning and growing and changing will forever be the na- ture of oral healthcare. Fig. 4: Case review data is easily collected and displayed across thousands of devices to dentists globally, resulting in collaborative insight about casework. Global insight helps dentists better solve difficult problems. Conclusion Orthodontists occupy one of the most opportune areas in healthcare. We are incredibly fortunate to have the luxury of treating our patients in the way that we think they should be treated. Compared with medicine, orthodontists have minimal constraints from outside interests aiming to sway our clinical decisions. This is one of the most valuable assets of our specialty and deserves our utmost attention and protection. It is clear that data will be one of the most valuable currencies of the future. By controlling their data, or- thodontists will better control the di- rection of their specialty. CTI will be about giving orthodontists control. Understanding that our orthodontic work is what matters most will give us the power to maintain control of this crucial asset. It seems clear that, as a specialty, we can protect our position as exempla- ry in oral healthcare. In the future, we will use CTI to grow even strong- er. As we move forward into a new digital online era, smart dentists, us- ing collaborative tools like CTI, will establish an even more exemplary position. This will likely lead the way for other areas of oral healthcare. Dentists are much more powerful together than when isolated. Given that CTI will lead to more of that uni- fication, the future of our specialty is very bright. Editorial note This article was originally published in ortho-international magazine of orthodontics, Issue 2/2019. About the author Dr Sean K. Carlson, US Associate Professor of Orthodontics at the University of the Pacific’s Arthur A. Dugo- ni School of Dentistry in San Francisco and is in private orthodontic practice in Mill Valley, both in California in the US. He is the CEO of OrthoScience, whose platform, Polaris, is striving to set the standard for CTI. AD ◊Page D2 Given all of our inter-connectivity, learning should be easier. Science should be easier. When properly im- plemented, CTI provides thousands of trusted learning opportunities for clinicians, every day, all across the globe. Sharing globally creates a new way of educating (Fig. 2). The CTI ap- proach will apply to young residents who are just getting started and to experienced clinicians who have been practising for decades. Let us all learn faster. Let us all share our good ideas. Let us all help everyone to grow together. 3) Unification Orthodontics is becoming increas- ingly digital. Of course, patient con- tact will always be at our core, but orthodontists are using digital tools to diagnose and treat problems more than ever before. Education and in- formation sharing are no different. Online social media are now respon- sible for a large amount of informal orthodontic education. But, as in so many other areas of oral healthcare, it is fragmented. CTI offers a solution to fragmenta- tion by consolidating orthodontic information. Using global data in clever ways and organising it careful- ly can help us grow faster. Now that evidence, education and sharing can all be experienced digitally, we have fewer limitations. But it is import- ant to provide a HIPAA-compliant platform on which searchable in- formation can grow organically and exponentially. Everything in a CTI database must be tagged, organised and easily accessible, but most im- portantly, privacy and data protec- tion must be of the highest calibre. Imagine having one location where you can easily find everything you need to know about orthodontics and a speedy answer to your burning orthodontic questions. We imagine that having a well-designed CTI platform will be like having your own private orthodontic Facebook, Google and LinkedIn all rolled into one, except that it will be built specifically for orthodontists. Plus, if data can be presented using an easy- to-understand and easy-to-navigate interface—one that makes user learning interesting— everyone will get better, faster. fun and 4) Commerce By examining the current world of e-commerce, now dominated by companies such as Amazon, Alibaba and eBay, it is easy to see that oral healthcare is lagging behind. The orthodontic supplies market, which provides orthodontists with the tools that they need to do their work, is surprisingly antiquated. With e- commerce rapidly becoming the expected norm for most consumers, the orthodontic supplies market is far behind. Many supply companies largely still operate using the door- to-door salesmen technique, where- by customer sales representatives in- troduce new products using cold-call office visits. These can be frustrating for both the sales representative and the orthodontist. There has to be a better way. We think CTI introduces an opportu- nity whereby dentists and industry can develop together, organically. Dentists do not need or want indus- try suppliers “meddling” in their pa- tient care. However, we do need their often exceptional appliance designs to do the work we love. Boundaries are important, but effective commu- nication between dentists and indus- try is essential. CTI provides a unique opportunity for dentists to share ideas in a private, dentist-only environment, but it also offers tools that bridge the gap between oral healthcare providers and industry suppliers. In the same way that the American Association of Orthodontists meeting brings together the lectures of the scientific sessions and the product displays of carefully designed CTI can marry these two often-competing enterprises by using dentist verification, privacy protection, rigorous science and intentional demarcation. the exhibit hall, Historically, new orthodontic prod- ucts have been introduced with lit- tle initial evidence of their efficacy. However, once in the hands of indus- trious clinicians, products are often taken to new heights—sometimes beyond initial expectations. We like to call this “organic validation” and we think it is important. Orthodon- tists want to use products that work. And they want to buy products that work for them—period. We think it should be easier for them to do both, especially when it comes to discover- ing new appliances. When CTI reaches critical mass, or- thodontists will have easy access to every orthodontic product on the market (Fig. 3). Imagine seeing a new product used by a clinician you trust. Once you have validated that a product is ready for use in your own office, you would be able to buy what you need with the click of a button. Or, if you prefer to learn more about that product in person, you would have the ability to summon a sales representative to your office, in your time, according to your agenda, and from your mobile device. Vetting new products will become easier than ever. This future world is not that far off. What does the future hold? Three-dimensional data is the future. There is simply too much evidence and too much adoption to suggest otherwise. The benefit of this is that the 3-D data being acquired in den- tal offices every day, all around the world, can be instantly shared. This will be the foundation of CTI, and the reason it will become commonplace. Because the data is digital, it can scale quickly. If we develop methods to harness its power, our specialty will advance quickly. That is exactly what CTI is meant to do. Recent clinical advancements in or- thodontics have been significant. This has put our specialty in a very healthy position to offer better treatment. However, the direct-to- consumer movement, which seems to have a large number of ortho- dontists worried, has capitalised on some of this technology. Orthodon- tists need not be concerned in the long term. Achieving consistently good orthodontic results is difficult. Even simple cases can be difficult. So many things have to go right to have a well-finished case. Therefore, decision-making by knowledgeable orthodontists will never become obsolete. The intelligence part of CTI (a human trait) will always be neces- sary, and the expert insight of the dentist will be one of the most im- portant parts of the equation (Fig. 4). AI is valuable, but it is never going to put smart dentists out of work. Therefore, orthodontists need not be concerned that they will be replaced by computers or laboratory techni- cians. Orthodontists are oral health- care providers, and oral healthcare is not scalable. It will always require an expert dentist. That said, computers and dentist- dependent CTI will rule the future. We need to accept that. There are certain things we do in orthodontics that computers can do better, and