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Orthodontics and You
Orthodontics is a natural part of pediatric dental care. I cannot imagine how one can NOT offer it within the practice setting. It is such an amazing and wonderful piece of the ideal - holistic care of the patient, intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.
There are many types and levels of orthodontic care you can offer your patients.
If you are a general practitioner or pediatric dentist who treats children, OH MY GOODNESS, there is so much you can do! It will change your life as it has mine.
Orthodontics will give you a new challenge, a whole new area for your imagination, creativity and joy to exude and flow through you to your patients and their parents. Same is true for your adult patients - imagine what they could feel if you make more beautiful, their smile!
There are many types and levels of orthodontic care you can offer your patients.
If you are a general practitioner or pediatric dentist who treats children, OH MY GOODNESS, there is so much you can do! It will change your life as it has mine.
Orthodontics will give you a new challenge, a whole new area for your imagination, creativity and joy to exude and flow through you to your patients and their parents. Same is true for your adult patients - imagine what they could feel if you make more beautiful, their smile!
Orthodontic care takes into account the growth and development, the visual / aesthetic, the emotional, and the functional aspects of the child. It is not geared toward signs and symptoms of disease, but rather health. The term healthcare is so misused. Most medical AND DENTAL care is disease care.
But in general, orthodontic care is health care. Glorious health care!
There are various ways to approach orthodontics in your practice. One is to hire an orthodontist or other dentist to finally make it possible to offer and keep your total patient care in-house. We can teach you how to do that, and what to offer, expect and do to make it work.
Like any associate or partnership, the person doing ortho in your practice has to be someone who shares your dream, your vision, your care of your practice and patients. It’s way more than a business deal. It’s shared dream, vision, purpose and mission! It’s shared systems. It’s shared life.
Whether you hire and delegate the ortho out or not, you will find awe and love in your learning about ortho, your learning to provide any part of orthodontics that appeals to you, or your learning to know when to refer, and what to expect of your ortho people.
If you treat children, you already have skills and knowledge and can hone your awareness and expectations as well as your understanding and beliefs in what can be done with and for your patients.
And of course, I cannot encourage you enough, to learn orthodontics yourself, because I know how it has transformed my life and the lives of so many patients, their parents AND their dentists.
But in general, orthodontic care is health care. Glorious health care!
There are various ways to approach orthodontics in your practice. One is to hire an orthodontist or other dentist to finally make it possible to offer and keep your total patient care in-house. We can teach you how to do that, and what to offer, expect and do to make it work.
Like any associate or partnership, the person doing ortho in your practice has to be someone who shares your dream, your vision, your care of your practice and patients. It’s way more than a business deal. It’s shared dream, vision, purpose and mission! It’s shared systems. It’s shared life.
Whether you hire and delegate the ortho out or not, you will find awe and love in your learning about ortho, your learning to provide any part of orthodontics that appeals to you, or your learning to know when to refer, and what to expect of your ortho people.
If you treat children, you already have skills and knowledge and can hone your awareness and expectations as well as your understanding and beliefs in what can be done with and for your patients.
And of course, I cannot encourage you enough, to learn orthodontics yourself, because I know how it has transformed my life and the lives of so many patients, their parents AND their dentists.
Teaching ortho and interception orthodontics since 1991, Dr Chris Baker has served on the faculties of three U.S. dental schools.
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Were you meant to be a dentist?
There are studies that show that being a dentist is "Number One" in a number of categories. This week, we will take a look at these claims.
There are studies that show that being a dentist is "Number One" in a number of categories. This week, we will take a look at these claims.
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Orthodontics and me
Here are my answers to these questions:
Why would you be interested in orthodontics?
Why would you want to read about it?
Why would you think of possibly adding it to your practice?
My interest in orthodontics came from an interest in seeing my child patients have the most gorgeous smile as soon as possible, and for as long as possible. It came from seeing children who felt like (and were often called) names like 'Bugs Bunny' (protrusive upper incisors).
It came from seeing children who felt (or were thought of as) “a bully” (Class III mandibular protrusive profile with the resultant “tough” look).
It came from seeing children who felt like they had (and/or were told they had) “fangs” (high, horrid-looking canine eruption).
It came from seeing children who felt as if their teeth were horridly “ugly” (severely crowded or spaced anterior teeth.) It came from seeing children who needed four-bicuspid extractions which in my mind, often decreased the beauty of their profiles and faces.
It came from realizing children with airway difficulties often had lower IQ’s, bedwetting, ADHD, open-bites, and that some of these sequelae would never be different, even when later their “teeth were different” (orthodontically treated).
And, it came from seeing teenagers and young adults who covered their smile (or didn’t have one) so no one could see their teeth.
It came from within.
It was a passion that would not be silenced.
After pediatric dental residency, I had the grand opportunities of first, a fellowship in the orthodontic department at UConn. And then, of working under the tutelage of the great Dr. Walter A. Doyle.
The passion still burns, calls, and my learning never ceases, in making these things better for children, and their parents who love them so dearly. And then, I had to get out there and teach it!
The calling to widen the reach, through you and other dentists who are called like I was, is everything to me. Transforming your life and many other lives through you.
Here are my answers to these questions:
Why would you be interested in orthodontics?
Why would you want to read about it?
Why would you think of possibly adding it to your practice?
My interest in orthodontics came from an interest in seeing my child patients have the most gorgeous smile as soon as possible, and for as long as possible. It came from seeing children who felt like (and were often called) names like 'Bugs Bunny' (protrusive upper incisors).
It came from seeing children who felt (or were thought of as) “a bully” (Class III mandibular protrusive profile with the resultant “tough” look).
It came from seeing children who felt like they had (and/or were told they had) “fangs” (high, horrid-looking canine eruption).
It came from seeing children who felt as if their teeth were horridly “ugly” (severely crowded or spaced anterior teeth.) It came from seeing children who needed four-bicuspid extractions which in my mind, often decreased the beauty of their profiles and faces.
It came from realizing children with airway difficulties often had lower IQ’s, bedwetting, ADHD, open-bites, and that some of these sequelae would never be different, even when later their “teeth were different” (orthodontically treated).
And, it came from seeing teenagers and young adults who covered their smile (or didn’t have one) so no one could see their teeth.
It came from within.
It was a passion that would not be silenced.
After pediatric dental residency, I had the grand opportunities of first, a fellowship in the orthodontic department at UConn. And then, of working under the tutelage of the great Dr. Walter A. Doyle.
The passion still burns, calls, and my learning never ceases, in making these things better for children, and their parents who love them so dearly. And then, I had to get out there and teach it!
The calling to widen the reach, through you and other dentists who are called like I was, is everything to me. Transforming your life and many other lives through you.
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The D2 distalizing appliance was developed to simplify treatment of Class II cases during the initial stage of treatment. The patented D2 design treats to a Class I platform by the intra oral elastics forces. Molars are distal rotated into their desired position. Take advantage of early treatment patient cooperation. Brackets can be placed during or after the Class I correction is completed.
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Dr Chris Baker, teaching orthodontics to her Dubai study group.
Part 1: Get Clarity
Have you considered adding orthodontics to your practice?
As a pediatric dentist, and with more than 25 years of practice, I can not imagine practicing dentistry if I did not do orthodontics. It has been part of my practice for all my years of practice. All of them.
But, before I tell you why it’s so important to me, let me ask you:
Why might you be interested in orthodontics?
Why might you want to read about it?
Why might you think of possibly adding it to your practice?
The answers to these questions are the beginning of clarity for you.
Why is that important?
Because the etiology, the source of all your power, and all your joy in life - in practice - is within you, never outside of you. (Likewise, the cause of your weakness and misery is within you as well.) Thus, thinking about and discerning your intent, a clear vision and your actions toward those goals come from your clarity.
As you identify your dream, the reason you are here, the reason you are in dental practice, go back to why you went to dental school. What made that a goal that you would work so hard to achieve? What about it answered that inner longing, inner need, inner source?
In the United Arab Emirates, in the city of Abu Dhabi where I practice orthodontics, I regularly marvel at the amazing, mind-boggling tall and very modern skyscrapers in this city, all built on a sandy desert. I often think the architects must have an absolute blast, getting to design and see to fruition, such unusual, uncommonly distinctive and striking art, in its hold on the cityscape.
As a pediatric dentist, and with more than 25 years of practice, I can not imagine practicing dentistry if I did not do orthodontics. It has been part of my practice for all my years of practice. All of them.
But, before I tell you why it’s so important to me, let me ask you:
Why might you be interested in orthodontics?
Why might you want to read about it?
Why might you think of possibly adding it to your practice?
The answers to these questions are the beginning of clarity for you.
Why is that important?
Because the etiology, the source of all your power, and all your joy in life - in practice - is within you, never outside of you. (Likewise, the cause of your weakness and misery is within you as well.) Thus, thinking about and discerning your intent, a clear vision and your actions toward those goals come from your clarity.
As you identify your dream, the reason you are here, the reason you are in dental practice, go back to why you went to dental school. What made that a goal that you would work so hard to achieve? What about it answered that inner longing, inner need, inner source?
In the United Arab Emirates, in the city of Abu Dhabi where I practice orthodontics, I regularly marvel at the amazing, mind-boggling tall and very modern skyscrapers in this city, all built on a sandy desert. I often think the architects must have an absolute blast, getting to design and see to fruition, such unusual, uncommonly distinctive and striking art, in its hold on the cityscape.
Dr Chris Baker, treating an orthodontics patient at her clinic in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Consider the power of your imagination.
So I ask you - how did these buildings come to be? And the answer is, they came to be, the same way your dental career came to be. Imagination. Imagination builds cities. Imagination grows careers. Imagination lessens diseases, originates relationships, and changes the world. Every time. It’s where everything starts.
In other words, we become what we think about. Nothing else.
So, again, I ask you, Why would you be interested in orthodontics? Why would you want to read about it? Why would you think of possibly adding it to your practice?
Consider how your imagination has brought you to this moment. Imagine having your life, your practice blossom in new ways. Imagine.
This is how your life develops. Hold tight to the possibilities, to your dreams, and say goodbye to the “impossibilities” -- because everything is possible. Otherwise the skyscrapers around me would not exist. Smallpox cured, knee replacements, dental implants and your incredible care for your patients were once "impossibilities."
What seems abstract and unreal in the imagination is where the tangible, concrete values begin for you.
You change the world first in your inner world, your imagination.
If this calls to you, “rings” for you, picture orthodontics in your practice! Picture it as a real live active part of your day, and your patients’ great results. Picture the smiles, the joy, the self-views. This is your starting point. How to get there may not be clear. Neither was the cure for smallpox. Neither was your ability to do your first posterior restoration.
Let your values drive your search. Your values to see the smile, to see the great results that are better than what you see all around you. Your values to see joy in your patients’ eyes as well as their smiles.
Your values - the inner quest of you - may be calling.
Orthodontics in your practice can be a real bell-ringer. It can bring you to clarity and uncommon success. It can feed your soul as well as your heart.
So I ask you - how did these buildings come to be? And the answer is, they came to be, the same way your dental career came to be. Imagination. Imagination builds cities. Imagination grows careers. Imagination lessens diseases, originates relationships, and changes the world. Every time. It’s where everything starts.
In other words, we become what we think about. Nothing else.
So, again, I ask you, Why would you be interested in orthodontics? Why would you want to read about it? Why would you think of possibly adding it to your practice?
Consider how your imagination has brought you to this moment. Imagine having your life, your practice blossom in new ways. Imagine.
This is how your life develops. Hold tight to the possibilities, to your dreams, and say goodbye to the “impossibilities” -- because everything is possible. Otherwise the skyscrapers around me would not exist. Smallpox cured, knee replacements, dental implants and your incredible care for your patients were once "impossibilities."
What seems abstract and unreal in the imagination is where the tangible, concrete values begin for you.
You change the world first in your inner world, your imagination.
If this calls to you, “rings” for you, picture orthodontics in your practice! Picture it as a real live active part of your day, and your patients’ great results. Picture the smiles, the joy, the self-views. This is your starting point. How to get there may not be clear. Neither was the cure for smallpox. Neither was your ability to do your first posterior restoration.
Let your values drive your search. Your values to see the smile, to see the great results that are better than what you see all around you. Your values to see joy in your patients’ eyes as well as their smiles.
Your values - the inner quest of you - may be calling.
Orthodontics in your practice can be a real bell-ringer. It can bring you to clarity and uncommon success. It can feed your soul as well as your heart.
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According to studies, being a dentist can be a very hazardous occupation. Practicing dentistry has certain health risks. There are some important ways to approach the profession that help the dentist to stay healthy.
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As a dentist, do you find you asking yourself, "What's next? Is this all there is?"
You need a new plan to take you where you want to go. Think about where you are going - give it a thought. And then put energy and effort to what your plan will be.
You need a new plan to take you where you want to go. Think about where you are going - give it a thought. And then put energy and effort to what your plan will be.
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You're probably going to wonder what in the world I'm talking about. There IS a correlation, so let me explain...
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Making the right, simple, tiny little decisions will greatly improve your life. This is true, whether you're a dentist, or in any other business or profession.
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Many dentists are taught to preserve primary teeth at all costs.
Well, primary teeth are important. However, they might also be problematic. The primary teeth might be the problem and not the solution. There are ways to identify when primary teeth are problematic and to learn what to do about it.
Well, primary teeth are important. However, they might also be problematic. The primary teeth might be the problem and not the solution. There are ways to identify when primary teeth are problematic and to learn what to do about it.
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ORTHO ARCH COMPANY
The D2 distalizing appliance was developed to simplify treatment of Class II cases during the initial stage of treatment. The patented D2 design treats to a Class I platform by the intra oral elastics forces. Molars are distal rotated into their desired position. Take advantage of early treatment patient cooperation. Brackets can be placed during or after the Class I correction is completed.
- Published on
So how does a Texas girl and Past President of the American Orthodontic Society find herself practicing orthodontics in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates? It's been a wonderful journey.
