Kevin O'Brien's Orthodontic Blog

Kevin O'Brien's Orthodontic Blog

Am I being too critical? One of the goals of my blog is to raise questions about all aspects of orthodontic treatment. In these posts, I acknowledge that I have occasionally been quite blunt. This is partly due to my writing style for the blog. Nevertheless, I have felt it necessary to express my points firmly, and I make no apologies for this. I also understand that some readers think I am overly critical. I have reflected on this, and I plan to address these issues in this post.

Am I being too critical?

One of the goals of my blog is to raise questions about all aspects of orthodontic treatment. In these posts, I acknowledge that I have occasionally been quite blunt. This is partly due to my writing style for the blog. Nevertheless, I have felt it necessary to express my points firmly, and I make no apologies for this. I also understand that some readers think I am overly critical. I have reflected on this, and I plan to address these issues in this post.

Adults Orthodontic Treatment

• Why do adults want orthodontic treatment

Alignement

• A new, really good clinical trial of aligning archwires. The wire doesn't matter
• A new study shows how aligners close anterior open bite
• Back to basic. Ten top tips on alignment
• Do plastic aligners cause harm?
• Has Invisalign advertising "Crossed the line"?
• Invisalign tips teeth into extraction spaces. We are finally seeing more research papers on aligners. One of the most prolific research teams has published several studies based on a vast database of aligner cases. I previously discussed their work when they examined incisor torque, mandibular advancement, and overbite reduction. In this latest paper, they investigated the effects of Invisalign on closing extraction spaces.
• Should we worry about microplastics and clear aligners?
• What Does Recent Research Tell Us About Aligners?

Bio-mechanic

• Directly Printed Aligners are effective for mild/moderate malocclusions
• Is Invisalign effective at changing incisor torque?
• Breathing problems
• Does orthodontics cure or cause child breathing problems? A new consensus conference doesn’t think so

Bonding

• A new trial looks at the effectiveness of digital direct bonding

Bullying

• Is bullying about malocclusion a problem?

Class II malocclusion

• Class II Malocclusion. 20 facts about treatment

Expansion

• Expansion with Aligners or RME. What is better?

Extractions

• A simple summary of the need for orthodontic extraction
• Cortical Plates: Cliff-Edge or Forgiving Friend?
• Do orthodontic extractions change soft tissue profiles?
• Extracting premolars does not influence the ariway?
• Good news! Extractions do not damage smiles
• Is non-extraction kicking the extraction decision into the long grass?

Healthcare

• What is healthcare success?

Interceptive Orthodontics

• Is interceptive orthodontics a hopeless pipedream?

Maintaining orthodontic correction

• A CAD-CAM Nitinol bonded retainer has a high failure rate
• CAD/CAM nitinol bonded retainer versus a chairside rectangular-chain bonded retainer: A multicentre randomised controlled trial
• CAD/CAM. Retainers again, does this one do better?

OSA

• Adenotonsillectomy is better than RPE for treating paediatric OSA!

Marketing

• Does Diamond status make me better than you?

Mewing

• Let’s talk about “Mewing” the astonishing internet sensation

Orthodontics

• Indirect bonding may or may not improve the efficiency of orthodontic treatment
• Thoughts and Reflections on Orthodontics

Orthodontic literature

• How to get through the mire of orthodontic publications?

Orthognatic surgery

The post Bone-anchored protraction reduces the need for orthognathic surgery

Radiology

• Orthodontic radiation exposure: a week of background radiation?

Retainer

• Do bonded retainers really fail as much as the research suggests?

RCT

• A new RCT shows how pacifiers influence malocclusion

RME

• Can RME change childhood behaviour?
• Does RME reduce bedwetting?
• Early expansion: patient impacts with RME versus Quad Helix
• What is better? Quad helix or RME for maxillary expansion

Sleepiness

• Is there an association between sleepiness and malocclusion?

Time of treatment

• What reduction in treatment time is important to our patients?
• LightForce makes claims using dodgy evidence?

TMDs

• Managing patients with chronic pain from Temporomandibular Disorders