Contributor

Assoc. Prof. M. Papadopoulos

School of Dentistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Contemporary interdisciplinary orthodontic, periodontic and prosthetic treatment of complex dental cases: What the general dentist should know

Details

Duration: 4 hours

Participants: up to 200

Cost: 50 euros.

During last decades there is an increase in the number of adults who present complicated dental problems and seek comprehensive or adjunctive orthodontic treatment. Orthodontic management of adult patients with complex problems presents certain characteristics:

(a) there are different reasons for searching orthodontic treatment from the adults' point of view in comparison to younger patients,

(b) the psychological reactions of adult patients derived from the specific orthodontic treatment differ from those of young individuals,

(c) usually, either they present periodontal problems or there is a high tendency to be created,

(d) they present additional prosthetic or skeletal problems

(e) the adults, in contrary to the young patients, they do not present growth, and finally

(f) the tissue reaction that takes part during the orthodontic movement is somehow slower, and consequently the duration of treatment is usually increased.

Orthodontic treatment of adult patients can be separated in two categories, comprehensive and adjunctive orthodontic treatment. Adjunctive treatment includes the management of pre-prosthetic patients and patients with localized periodontal problems. This type of treatment usually includes the reposition of teeth that previously had been moved due to extractions or loss of bone, the dynamic extrusion of teeth that their crowns had been previously fractured, the correction of crossbites (if these cause temporomandibular dysfunction problems), and the correction of anterior crowding for achievement of better esthetic restorations. Comprehensive treatment of adult patients includes management of conventional orthodontic problems, orthodontics in patients with severe periodontal background, pre- and post-chirurgical orthodontics (orthognathic surgery), as well as orthodontic management of patients with temporomandibular dysfunction problems.

Currently, the use of miniscrew implants reinforcing orthodontic anchorage, can be used in cases where the support of dental units is quantitatively or qualitatively compromised, as in partial edentulous patients or periodontally involved teeth. This allows orthodontists to treat these patients, who would otherwise would be not possible to receive treatment, enabling the dentists to conduct more conservative treatment plans.