According to “Dr. Wo” Wm. Randol Womack, DDS, Board Certified Orthodontist Editorial Director, Orthotown Magazine

 

2012 AAO Recap
by Wm. Randol Womack, DDS, Board Certified Orthodontist
Editorial Director, Orthotown Magazine

The AAO meeting was quite amazing from a technology aspect. I think the exhibit area keeps getting bigger each year and there were a lot of “incentives” from companies competing for your visit to their exhibit area, including multiple “happy hours.” After all, they were competing with Hawaii for your time and attention. I was anticipating winning either an iPad 3 or a TaylorMade R11S driver… maybe they just forgot to e-mail me.

Of course, CBCT was still leading the pack for technology innovations, followed closely by the iOC intra-oral scanner at Align Technology. In addition, social marketing made a big push forward in attractions at the exhibit area. Several of our Orthotown Magazine contributors were represented in this area. If you didn’t have the AAO Hawaii app on your smartphone, you were considered behind the times.

My airline “catch-up” reading was the April AJO-DO Journal. I was very interested in the Point-Counterpoint in this issue: “Should CBCT imaging be used routinely as a pretreatment orthodontic record?” The point discussion was put forth by Dr. Brent Larson, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The counterpoint was by Demetrios Halazonetis, of Kifissia, Greece. Both discussions were based solidly on current literature references, which leads me to conclude that you can prove your point no matter which side of the discussion you take. (My pastor has made the same comment about the Bible!) Orthotown Magazine has continuously provided our readers with up-to-date articles regarding CBCT and will continue to feature CBCT in our annual September issue. But I digress. Each point and counterpoint is valuable and certainly worth spending time reading, no matter which side of the issue you currently support. However, for me, if I may paraphrase Dr. Larson’s finishing statements: “In 1953, Cecil Steiner challenged orthodontists with the following: ‘The cephalometer is here to stay, and those of you who are not using cephalometrics in your everyday clinical practice must soon bow to its importance, accept the added burden it imposes and master its mysteries if you are to discharge your full obligation to your patients.’”

Reading this brought to mind Dr. Robert Murray Rickets. Developing an orthodontic mechanics philosophy (Bioprogressive) supported by cephalometrics, Dr. Rickets devoted his life to the advancement of orthodontics. For a short time before his death, Dr. Rickets attended some of the Arizona Orthodontic Study Group meetings. He was a genius with vision and purpose, and orthodontics still pays homage to his tireless efforts to achieve his vision.

Finally, Dr. Larson comments, “If you substitute ‘CBCT’ for ‘cephalometrics’ in Dr. Steiner’s comment, it would summarize my feelings on the adoption of this technology in orthodontics.” Dr. Larson closes the discussion thusly: “With the understanding that each patient should be assessed before imaging and that patient-specific imaging decisions are made, CBCT has replaced conventional lateral cephalograms and panoramic images as the most commonly ordered imaging for comprehensive orthodontic patients… I truly believe its use results in better patient care.”

Dr. Rickets was a great thinker, teacher and innovator in orthodontics; perhaps one might place him on a par with Steve Jobs of Apple. Wouldn’t it be interesting to imagine how motivated Dr. Ricketts would be if he were present today and if he had the fantastic cone beam images to get excited about? Bob Rickets exemplified the truth that nothing stays the same and we must adapt to the changes.
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