INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Jim Prittinen

This course will discuss angle of wire entry and how an understanding of this concept will greatly increase the efficiency of your orthodontic treatment. Following that discussion, we will explore how to handle some very challenging open bites cases, canted occlusal planes, and midline discrepancies. This will be followed by a short presentation on how to do IPR and the rationale behind distal offsets. We will end the courses with a presentation on battling relapse. Retention strategies based upon not only the original malocclusion, but also the severity of the malocclusion will be emphasized.
The first topic to be discussed is muscle strength, particularly how a patient’s muscle strength influences every decision made during treatment. That will be followed by a presentation of a collection of basic cephalometric measurements that are often use to both formulate and supplement the orthodontic diagnosis of a particular case.
Following the discussion on cephalometrics, we will explore the topic of visualization of treatment results and how this technique is used to formulate a treatment plan. This discussion will include a look at cases that could be treated in a variety of ways. Advantages and disadvantages to various treatment plans will be presented for each of these cases.