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According to "Dr. Wo": Wm. Randol Womack, DDS, Editorial Director, Orthotown Magazine

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Orthotown's Virtual Study Club


Wm. Randol Womack, DDS
Editorial Director,
Orthotown Magazine		 One of the things that piqued my interest about Orthotown was the Orthotown.com message boards. As I stated in the first issue of Orthotown, I belong to the Arizona Orthodontic Study Group (AOSG) – a study club that has been active for more than 60 years. Three or four times during the year, we have "case discussion" meetings at which members bring patient records and pass them around a table of peers for multiple "second opinions" on treatment. Most members would agree that the case discussions produce the most "return on investment" for attending study club meetings.

Our virtual community, exclusively for orthodontists, is "the place" to share cases, treatment plans, ideas for practice improvement, office design, equipment reviews, etc. In this electronic age, Orthotown.com provides a "virtual study club" where exchanges of ideas can happen several times a day. Where the AOSG offers discussion among a few colleagues, Orthotown.com message boards offer discussions with hundreds of colleagues from across the United States and even abroad. Growing this community of orthodontists happens when you post topics or cases and/or when you reply to existing cases or topics. You can view, reply and/or post. In addition, your contribution to the message boards could possibly be printed in the next issue of Orthotown Magazine! This is the unique aspect of the marriage of Orthotown, the Web site and Orthotown, the magazine – for the orthodontist/by the orthodontist. Posting is really a simple process. Here's how you do it:

When inside the message boards scroll down until you find an appropriate category to post your case or treatment plan. Once on the forum page it will show a list of the last few subjects that have been spoken about in that category. Click on the button that says Create New Case in the upper right hand corner.

Now you can enter the information from your case or treatment plan, including a subject title and an opening explanation. In order to post photos/X-rays to this case, the images must first be saved to your desktop. If you are using image software or X-rays from your practice management software you can easily export those by opening each image and saving to your desktop. These images can be saved as either a .jpeg or .gif making sure the file name does not include any non-alphanumeric characters such as, #, %, &, @, etc.

Once the images are uploaded to the case, you can then fill in the closing section to wrap-up your case or treatment plan and give any last comments. When you are done, click on Post Case and it will take you back to the forum. Your newly posted topic should appear at or near the top of the list.

If you do not have time to fully complete this process, you have the option to save your work and resume later on. Just click on the Save Work button; the screen will refresh but look the same. Your case will not be uploaded in the message boards at this time. When you are ready to resume your posting go back into the message boards and click on the My Cases link on the right hand side navigation bar. From there, you can select the case you would like to complete by clicking on the appropriate title. Follow the directions above to complete the process and post your case or treatment plan.

For me, it has always been exciting to see the vision, to be a part of something from the beginning and to watch it grow. The vision for Orthotown.com is that it will become the best "virtual study club" for orthodontists on the Internet. Have you been to Orthotown.com, yet?
Orthotown Magazine
October 2025
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