with the 50 Years of the Cagliari Orthognodontic School and with the Plenary Session of Friday afternoon

Simplicity and excellence: friends or enemies?

In contemporary dentistry it’s increasingly important that the dentist who cares for young patients must possess skills that embrace both Pedodontics and Orthodontics, as well as competencies in other health fields involving child growth. Orthodontists today have many new technologies at their disposal including intra-oral scanners, new bioactive materials and technopolymers.  Digital skills have redesigned the paradigm in the care of young patients and redefined the standards for excellence in care.

Skills are also strongly influenced by the development in technology. The new digital age is therefore a revolution both in the dentistry and more specifically, in orthodontics- but is it really a REVOLUTION ? Is it true that traditional principles and concepts have been altered by the introduction of facial and intra-oral scanners, CBCT radiology, 3D planning and CAD/CAM technology? These questions will be critically explored based on well-founded research and many years of clinical evidence.

A growing field in the digital era is represented by the unstoppable aligner therapy. Aligners can also be used in the management of interceptive therapy. A new system will be illustrated, in which the aligners are combined with myo-functional devices that have given interesting results that are currently being evaluated.

The synergy between Orthodontics and Esthetic Dentistry also deserves mention in its goal of attaining the absolute respect of the biological form and function. Among the key principles  guiding the orthodontist in this area are the minimum invasiveness with respect to the patient’s chief complaint. The modern “face driven orthodontics”beginning with diagnosis and the development of a multidisciplinary treatment plan, can help improve dialogue with the patient making it clearer and more effective while simplifying the work of the surgeon, implantologist and prosthodontist in improving the patient’s smile while attaining excellent results using simple instruments with minimal impact.

In diagnosing malocclusions in children, the orthodontist continuously draws on consolidated knowledge.

After the diagnostic path, therapeutic decisions are also based on skills: the latter act as a link between diagnostic knowledge and practical clinical applications.

Skills in orthodontic practice are also strongly influenced by the tools they can use and therefore by technological development. In recent years, therapies with aligners in pediatric age have largely attracted the  clinicians.

A new system will be illustrated in which the aligners are combined with myofunctional devices: this combination allows you to work on the teeth and muscles at the same time.

The pediatric aligners used in this system have some peculiar and innovative characteristics that will be illustrated in clinical cases of children with early deciduous and mixed dentition.