Article
Many of us have had the privilege of listening to Dr Renato Cocconi on the subject of digital orthodontics, as he takes on an exquisite tour through the ‘art of the possible’. He takes digital smile design to new levels and shows what can be achieved for our patients when working together with talented technicians, restorative dentists and maxillofacial surgeons.
Modern technology has enabled us all to obtain the highest possible standard of digital records that can then be manipulated on our computers to enable treatment simulations, which can be discussed with both colleagues and patients to truly enable patient-led treatments and fully informed consent.
We are enormously indebted to Invisalign, the original disruptor, which has forever changed the orthodontic landscape. Is it now time for the orthodontists to regain control of the situation. Intra-oral scanners are plentiful and 3D printers are cheap as chips, and will soon become part of every forward-looking practice.
With a few like-minded colleagues, I attended a one-day teaching session by Dr Guido Sampermans, a Belgian orthodontist working in Vienna. He is another pioneer of digital dentistry and has been lecturing on the subject for 20 years.
Armed with the programme, OnyxCeph, he showed us how every clinician can diagnose and treatment-plan cases, as well as design and print both plastic and metal appliances at almost no cost. He firmly believes that in the very near future, every orthodontist will be printing their own expansion appliances, implant stents and also, aligners. There will be no need to pay aligner companies close to £2000 per case for something that, with a little training, can be simply achieved at very little cost in every orthodontic practice in the land.
If the predictions of Renato and Guido prove to be correct, and I firmly believe they will, we should seriously consider preparing all our young trainees for this digital orthodontic future.
