Invisalign Possibilities (Wide Range Cases Treatment with Invisalign)

1st General Meeting and Scientific Seminar 2017
February 9, 2017

It was a jam packed hall at the Metropolitan Club in Makati as the Association of Philippine Orthodontists (APO) held its 1st General and Scientific Meeting for 2017. There was a total of 116 attendees eager to learn more about the possibilities of Invisalign. The program promptly started with Dr. Glenn Gonzales hosting the event. Dr. Lorena Balacanao led the invocation followed by welcome remarks given by APO President Dr. Martin Reyes.

For its 1st General & Scientific Meeting, APO was fortunate to have in Manila a renowned Invisalign speaker from Taiwan, Dr. Maggie Chiu. This was made possible by the support of Luna Distributions, Inc., the local Invisalign distributor. Dr. Chiu is a Diplomate of the Taiwan Association of Orthodontists (TAO). She received her MS degree and Orthodontic training in 2007 and has been a certified provider of Invisalign since 2009.

Invisalign is a kind of orthodontic appliance that helps to straighten teeth without the use of the usual metal or ceramic brackets bonded on the patients’ teeth. Instead, a series of custom-made, computer programmed, clear, smooth, comfortable, BPA-free aligners are worn over the patient’s teeth to subtly and gently move teeth according to the doctor's prescription.

Dr. Chiu shared with the attendees that, at the start, like most orthodontists, she was doubtful of the capacity of the aligners to move teeth. But when she started treating cases with these aligners, she understood that it is a good treatment option for patients.

So when did Invisalign start?
Invisalign started last 1997, and over the years, the company’s Research and Development arm continued to improve the product to come up with the best treatment approaches using Invisalign.

In 2015, Align technology launched Invisalign G6 which deals with first premolar extractions. It is engineered to improve clinical outcomes for orthodontic treatment of severe crowding and bimaxillary protrusion, a common type of malocclusion especially prevalent in Asia that requires premolar extraction. Align's new first premolar extraction solution provides vertical control and root parallelism using new SmartStage™ technology and SmartForce® features that optimize the progression of tooth movements for first premolar extraction treatment planned for maximum anchorage. Align Technology is committed to further improving the product.

Dr. Maggie presented different treatment approaches for different types of malocclusion using the latest aligner innovations particularly cases of patients with moderate to severe malocclusion. She presented the following cases which were successfully treated and finished with Invisalign:

• Open bite (anterior/posterior)
• Deep bite
• Class II teen patient
• Class II adult patient
• Class III teen patient
• Class III adult patient
• Severe crowding with IPR
• Extraction cases

In the practice of Orthodontics, whether the appliance used is fixed or removable, metal, ceramic or lingual brackets, and now clear aligners, the Orthodontists know that all these can lead to the successful treatment of our patients. And providing our patients an option to use the appliance that best suit their needs show the concern and care we give them.