Lecturing again!

Lecturing again – but this time, very conveniently, at the Smile Concepts centre in Solihull run by restorative specialist Dominic Hassall. It’s a lovely place, with a teaching area and impressive laboratory. Dentists from all over the country, even Northern Ireland, come to this course. (It certainly helps to have an airport and motorway network so close to hand!)

It’s a modular course which involves teaching small groups of 10-15.  The subject this year was ‘Orthodontics – What can it offer the adult patient?’. Basically, it looked beyond just straightening teeth and examined how aspects of restorative dentistry can be enhanced by working with an orthodontist, and also how restorative treatment can help to stabilise and improve the aesthetics of the orthodontic outcome.

Subjects included using orthodontics to restore the smiles of adults whose teeth have drifted because of severe gum disease and looking at how we can modify the position of gum margins and boost smile fullness and symmetry by moving the teeth. Where teeth are missing, orthodontists can organise the adjacent teeth and stimulate bone formation to facilitate the placement of implants.

It’s a real pleasure to teach on this course, everyone is so motivated to learn and make the most of their time there. Even if it means delaying their lunch – true dedication!

18-19 November 2010 - ‘Adult Orthodontics: A perspective on the clinical and management challenges’...

Well, the big day arrived – the start of the course I created with my colleague and friend, Bournemouth-based orthodontist Jeremy Moore. It’s the second time we’ve done it and we put so much work into it.

This time, our subject over two days was ‘Adult Orthodontics: A perspective on the clinical and management challenges’. 3M kindly hosted it at their Bracknell HQ and their invaluable back-up, from laying on wonderful lecture and marketing facilities to printing course notes, really did make it all possible.

Some 40 orthodontists came along – a gratifyingly high number – as we discussed how to make the most of the increasing number of adults who now opt for treatment. Clinical subjects ranged from managing deep overbite and retention in adults to periodontal issues and bone and tooth modification.

An afternoon’s management session, presented by Manager Amanda Reed, Marketing Advisor Cathy Holliday, and Simon Tucker of Medenta Finance, covered cost-effective marketing and ways to sell more adult orthodontics.

All in all, a great two days which led to really useful feedback. It was a fantastic experience that we plan to repeat in two years’ time-when we’ve made it even better, naturally!

Annual Lecture - British Society for General Dental Surgery

A Saturday lecture at the annual conference of the British Society for General Dental Surgery, held at the Chesford Grange Hotel in Warwick. Just down the road from our Solihull base, really.

The conference subject was Digital Dentistry and I spoke to the assembled dentists about the many technological advances in digital orthodontics and the opportunities these create.

Treatment is now easier to plan and communication with colleagues and patients is vastly improved. With high-specification imagery, we can show patients their treatment possibilities and even show them the probable outcomes. Plus, we can make treatment more individual, with custom-made appliances that are far more precise and comfortable and lead to better outcomes more quickly.  Some of these, such as the Incognito lingual system, are completely invisible!

Annual British Orthodontic Conference

Off to Brighton September 20-22 for the annual British Orthodontic Conference, organised by the British Orthodontic Society. For the first time, I’ve been invited to be one of the main speakers. More than 1,000 orthodontists attended the conference and I had 800 in my audience – I’ve never spoken to so many people before. Did I get nervous? You bet I did! 

I did a joint presentation with renowned restorative dentist Dr Chris Orr entitled ‘The orthodontic-restorative interface: Making each other’s lives easier’. The topic was suggested by the conference chairman, who had asked me to talk on this as he knows it’s one of my interests.

People tend to think of orthodontics as just straightening teeth but with complex problems, there’s growing potential in jointly managing patient care with a restorative dentist. It can lead to better outcomes; the orthodontist facilitates the restorative dentistry by optimising the bite and tooth positions, and restoring and replacing missing teeth can help stabilise the orthodontic outcome as well as put the finishing touches on the smile.

It’s a kind of symbiosis, with the whole becoming greater than the two parts. It is all too easy for one to focus on one’s own area of expertise and look at things with blinkers on but with the two specialities together, you can do some remarkable things. I hope we converted quite a few to our way of thinking.

The conference was held at the Brighton Centre. What a bonus it was to be by the sea, and even better to be put up in style at the wonderful Grand Hotel with a seafront room to boot! It was definitely worth the nerves.