Finishing and Beyond: Aiming for Excellence in Finishing and Long-term Treatment Stability

By Dr. Ethel Lingat-Escultura

No amount of traffic and rain last August 4, 2014 was able to stop the 223 delegates from ushering in the first day of the Association of Philippine Orthodontists 9th National Orthodontic Congress headed by Dr Diana Dorothy Lim, chairperson of the Congress and APO President-elect for the year 2013-2014. This year, the APO congress was held at the Crowne Plaza, Ortigas Center.

First on the Congress program was the opening of the Trade Exhibits by Dr Dorothy Lim along with the two guest speakers, Dr Rangarajan Krishnaswamy and Dr Tae-Woo Kim. The delegates of the Congress also witnessed this.

The APO Congress was spearheaded with the theme; Finishing and Beyond: Aiming for Excellence in Finishing and Long-term Treatment Stability. Two prominent and influential speakers fully expounded on the theme, centering their presentations on this. On the first day, Doctor and Professor Rangarajan Krishnaswamy, or Dr Krishna as he prefers to be called, offered his answer to the APO Congress theme through a lecture entitiled, Goal oriented Diagnosis and Treatment Planning. Here the professor from Ragas Dental College and Hospitals in Chennai, India, emphasized the need to ‘go back to the basics’ and for practitioners to remember how orthodontic treatment affect the whole face and not just the dentition. Ideal goals not just for the dentition but also for the face, the temporomandibular joint, the periodontium and stability were then highlighted with the rest of his lecture.

Doctor and Professor Tae-Woo Kim from the Department of Orthodontics of Seoul National University, on the other hand, shed light to the Congress theme through his lecture, Approaching the Finish Line: Solutions to Finishing Problems. Even at the start of his lecture he already listed the definite reasons why finishing problems are encountered: Errors in bracket positioning, failure of space and anchorage control, excluding second molars from bracketing; and most importantly, disregarding basic orthodontic principles. Dr Tae-Woo’s simple reminders to avoid finishing problems include, first and foremost, keep always the orthodontic principles and steps, and to accept challenges and ‘never give up!’

A special presentation was given by the Asian Pacific Orthodontic Society ‘APOS’ president, Dr Kazuo Tanne on the Trends in Orthodontics in the countries of the APOS. The presentation stemmed from an in depth survey conducted by the APOS president himself through the member Orthodontic groups of APOS.

The two days of the APO Congress were definitely filled with food for the mind, and also food for the tummy ably covered Crowne Plaza’s skilled chefs. Dr Krishna and Dr Tae-Woo generously provided pockets of wisdom, to apply to practice. Together, they reminded us to follow basic orthodontic principles for successful orthodontic treatments.