Finishing Appliances

Do you need a finishing appliance for your case? Your options are many. Appliances such as the Spring Hawley (very similar to an Inman Aligner and only $160) have been around for many years, and why not? They work exceptionally well. Clear vacuum formed aligners can do a great job finishing a case or fixing up some minor relapse. You can have a series or 2 or 3 of them very cheaply because we don't have to go through the whole computerized scenario. We can simply cut the teeth off the model and move them incrementally into position. Doing more than 3 however, becomes a risk.
The key to the success of any of these appliances, as well as having an experienced lab to make them, is being prepared to do some IPR. You only need to do a little, just enough to break the contacts. But you may need to do it several times. Teeth can't move if they are jammed up together or have nowhere to go. IPR creates the room for the teeth to move.
Finishing appliances are exactly that, just to nicely finish off your cases or to rescue a slight relapse case.

The Removable Bonded RPE

At first I thought the doctor was confused, had made a mistake, not understanding the reason why we have a Bonded RPE. By it's very name, the bonded RPE is bonded. Cemented in place and not taken out until it's done its job and needs to be permanently removed.
Bu as I thought about this appliance, it dawned on me what a really good idea it is! Now there is a removable bonded RPE. A bonded RPE that is placed in the very same way as any other removable appliance and held in place with clasps such as Adams Clasps.  It can be taken out and thoroughly cleaned and be kept clean throughout treatment.
Then if the patient was not wearing it full time, it would be a very simple matter to cut off the clasps (or leave them on) and bond it in place without any down time, converting the removable to fixed in seconds.
What a good idea, the Removable Bonded RPE. (Of course it's available from Ortholab) 

There's a new bracket on the market. . . . .there always seems to be a new bracket on the market. But this one really got my interest. It's the type of product that when you see it, you wonder why it hasn't been thought of before.
The bracket is called "Agility". It's a self ligating bracket as well as a standard bracket. At a glance, it looks like a standard bracket but behind the tie wings is a clip. The clip can be slid into place and locked, to make it self ligating. This clip can also be removed totally to make it a standard bracket. If the "Door" of the self ligating bracket breaks (they all do from time to time), then with this bracket, you just replace the clip. No need to remove the bracket and replace it with another one at great expense. It's just a 30 second job to replace the clip.
So for once this really is a bracket that has all the benefits of a standard and a self ligating bracket in one. And you don't need any special tool to open and close the clip. I've played with the bracket and found that when it does lock, it's very firm and stays locked, unlike a lot of other brackets that will come open if the patient sneezes! The clip is made of NiTi, so it's resilient and not prone to wear or breakage. It is a low profile bracket that should be a winner. I recommend you try a set and see for yourself.

Are you giving the good doctors a bad name?

Education is a lifelong pursuit. To be the best in your chosen profession you will need to embrace this and never stop learning. Every time an opportunity to learn something new in Orthodontics comes along, I jump at the chance. Conferences are not just places to go to catch up with old friends, the same old friends you saw at this conference last year!!  I take the opportunity to attend about 20 ortho courses a year, some of which I have heard before, but I still learn more and more. I present about 50 courses a year and my observation about course attendees is this: The very people who need to attend the most, are the people who are noticeable by their absence.
There are countless courses and information nights happening for FREE, but still people find an excuse not to attend. I don't know why. I have given up even asking myself why. If somebody has the information you need, and they are prepared to give it for free, why wouldn't you turn up?
If you want to be really good at something, you need to learn. Once you have finished dental school, it's only the beginning, not the end. I am constantly amazed at the number of people practicing Jurassic Orthodontics, people asking for appliances that have been superseded many times over. It would be laughable if there weren't a patient on the end of it. And these doctors have never heard of the latest appliance that they really need to know about.
This is my rant, my moan, my complaint. Would you practice brain surgery if you didn't know how to do it? But you would practice ortho if you didn't know how to do it?  Well you are giving the good doctors a bad name. As I said, education is a life long pursuit, you will never know all there is to know about Orthodontics. It's been said by several people who know, "Dentistry is the fastest changing medical science, and orthodontics is the fastest changing dental science." Hang on, it's going to be a very fast ride.

Here's all you need to know about Digital Study Models

Isn't progress wonderful? Now we spend so little time making plaster study models. The lab is less dusty and I don't have technicians dropping like flies from inhaling too much gypsum, suction power never being sufficient for trimming plaster study models.
Nowadays everyone, except those who live in a cave or never read journals, are asking for digital study models. They are half the price, never fade, chip or break, you can always find them and they take up no cupboard space. Orthodontic study models are required by law for EVERY  ortho case you start, and they need to be kept for life. So if you are not yet using them, here's how you can find out everything you need to know about them. And you get the opportunity to ask as many questions as you like AND you'll get a voucher for a free set of Digital Study Models with your next case. Here's how. . . . . . . . .

Attend a short, 2 hour presentation in the evening (6.30pm). It's FREE! 
Melbourne      Tues 17th September
Sydney            Weds 18th September
Brisbane          Thurs 18th November

Call today to book your place, 03 9830 7630.   Don't get left behind, update your knowledge!

50% off!! (There's always a catch, but this is brilliant!!) New Marketing Con

A new company recently started up selling expansion screws, the very best expansion screws, the sort that cost a LOT of money. I received a letter in the mail informing me of their presence in the orthodontic lab supply market, and that they would be happy to offer me 50% off anything I wanted to order. "Wuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" ,   I screamed as I danced around the lab!!!! I called the wife and told her to organize a second mortgage on the house, I needed a lot of money fast!
I dutifully called the company and asked for the normal price of the screws I wanted, $5.65 I was told. "GREAT, I'll take 10,000 pieces at 50% off". Silence ensued..............    "Actually the offer is 50% off the price that the screws retail for in Germany", I was told. Silence and disbelief from my end of the phone this time. What has the retail price of screws in Germany got to do with me? Why didn't the letter say this? Is this bizarre or am I missing something. With respect to my German colleagues, I really don't care what they are paying for expansion screws in Germany. Why would a letter be drafted, and an offer be made in such a way? 
Hold the second mortgage, I'll just take 100pcs and try to flog them to my friends in Berlin at a hugely inflated price. Somehow I don't think it will work.
Suitably informed of the new marketing techniques that have cropped up to pull the wool over our eyes, I've decided to have a sale. I'm offering 99% discount on every appliance we make at Ortholab. How generous am I??  Before you go screaming around the clinic and mortgaging your house let me just let you know, it's 99% off what I sell my appliances for in Sweden. . . . . . . .and believe me, it's very expensive. So  much so that you'd be better off just paying my normal lab fees.
(By the way, no I don't sell into Sweden, but if there are any interested parties out there, my offer still stands)

Fast Orthodontic Treatment Options

There are so many options now available for fast correction of many orthodontic problems. It's hard to know what's best for the patient. Removable appliances, fixed braces, Smile Tru, Cfast. . . . . They all have their good and bad points. As a practitioner it's important to know as many of the available options as possible, and offer them to your patient. In hard economic times, cost is a very important factor and a patient may choose one option over another based solely on price. Once the patient has chosen , their expectations may need to be addressed. Choosing the least expensive option and expecting the very best outcome may not be realistic. Shortcomings of every type of treatment you offer need to be made very clear before commencement.
If a patient is unable to afford a better treatment right now, offer a payment plan or see if your practice manager or treatment coordinator can work out some arrangement that would be agreeable to all parties. Keeping the patient happy from the outset can go a very long way to ending up with a satisfied customer and more referrals. Know all the options, because if you don't, someone else will.