1st APO General Meeting

By Raquel Uy & Ramona Locsin

New fiscal year, new venue! The 1st APO General Meeting of the Fiscal Year 2011-2012 was held on February 2, 2011 at the Bayanihan Center, United Laboratories, Mandaluyong City. A large turnout was expected due to the day’s lecture topic and the prominence of the speaker. Registration did not disappoint and the roster showed a mélange of attendees- APO members, non-APO members and even graduate students from the Orthodontic programs of different universities.

At 9:00 AM, Master of Ceremonies Dr. Iris Panlilio of Manila Cell Group 3 started off the day’s activity with the National Anthem and a prayer by Dr. Angie Torres. Association business was then discussed with President Dr. Roberto Tan announcing the great news that the Association of Philippine Orthodontists was awarded the Certificate of Accreditation as the official specialty society for Orthodontics by the Philippine Board of Dentistry. Beautiful photographs by Technical Committee Chair Dr. Santy Mulles of the previous weekend’s Alay Parada were also shown.

Dr. Robert Eustaquio, Chairman of the Philippine Board of Orthodontists, gave an inspiring message about the pursuit of excellence in our craft and stressed the importance of taking the PBO examinations among those present at the meeting. Director of Membership, Dr. Bernie Lim also gave committee updates.

Dr. Frances Tamayo was then called to introduce the day’s speaker, Dr. Chetan Jayade from India. His topic, “Current Concepts in Class II Correction Using a Fixed Functional Appliance, Forsus FRD (Fatigue-Resistant Device) and its Clinical Usage” was certainly a crowd-pleaser. He started his lecture with some biological concepts and moved on to the more clinical aspect which featured some beautifully finished cases with definite improvements in the patients’ profiles. He also reiterated the use of the Cervical Vertebra Maturation Index as an adequate measure of growth to be anticipated and is a good tool in determining when it is best to start orthodontic treatment using the Forsus appliance.

Dr. Jayade recommended having the patient bring the mandible forward into an edge to edge incisor relationship during measurement for the appropriate Forsus size, particularly when a large discrepancy exists. He also recommended having the patient wear the Forsus appliance for another 3-4 months following Class II correction instead of removing the appliance immediately after correction. This allows maximum bone remodeling and will better prevent relapse.

The hands-on portion of the program was scheduled in the afternoon. Here, Dr. Jayade showed techniques for how to better install in the Forsus appliance. All attendees were able to try these tips for themselves with a sample appliance on a typhodont model. Correct positioning and some minor tweaking in the angulation of the hooks and pins all result in more patient comfort and less stress on the appliances in the mouth. Each participant of the hands-on portion was given a brand new Forsus appliance to take home at the end of the activity, courtesy of 3M/Unitek through Mr. Chandran Suppiah and their distributor AHESCOR.

With more than a decade of research and use of the appliance, Dr. Chetan Jayade indeed brought with him a wealth of knowledge on the Forsus FRD which he unselfishly shared with everyone. It was undeniably a successful 1st General Meeting and we look forward to the next meetings to come.