IOC 2015: Organisers announce final programme

The title of Prof. Susan Cunningham’s paper for the Northcroft lecture is “Did I ask you how you felt about that?... Benefits of patient-centred research”. The Northcroft lecture is the most important research-based presentation in the UK annually, being named after George Northcroft, the father of the orthodontic specialty.

Cunningham’s presentation will look at the evolution of patient-centred research, the value of seeking patient input and the evidence it delivers. The implications for this area of research in future health-care planning will also be discussed.

The only non-UK speaker will be Dr Vince Kokich Jr, whose much loved and widely respected father died last year. The title of his paper is “The Interdisciplinary team: A collaborative approach to optimize treatment outcomes for the orthodontic patient”. His presentation will use clinical examples to demonstrate a systematic, interdisciplinary approach to optimising anterior aesthetics for patients. Case studies will typically include adult patients with missing or compromised teeth, overeruption of opposing teeth, extreme occlusal wear, or a combination of these.

Also speaking on interdisciplinary treatment will be Dr John Scholey: “ ‘There’s no space like bone’—moving teeth for the adult restorative interface”. This lecture will focus on the clinical treatment of adult interdisciplinary restorative cases where orthodontic treatment has been used to reposition teeth to facilitate the final restorative care. In particular, Scholey will discuss the role of the orthodontist in regaining bone and soft-tissue volume for implant placement as an alternative to bone grafting.

Dr Lars Christensen, an Oxford-based specialist practitioner well known on the international lecture circuit, will speak on managing patients’ expectations. He will discuss ways of improving the tools available for assessments and discuss through case examples what is realistically achievable and the advantages and disadvantages of the different options. His aim will be to ensure that the patient’s expectations are aligned with the orthodontist’s aims and objectives.

Drs Nigel Harradine and David Birnie are the first speakers of the day, with a paper titled “Digital orthodontics—Benefit or burden?”. They will be asking whether the advantages are real and whether they translate into measurable benefits for patients.

Dr Padhraig Fleming will examine the current trend for speeding up treatment in a talk titled “Faster treatment: getting ahead of ourselves?”. He will ask how long a course of orthodontics should really take. What are the benefits of shorter treatment? How can we speed up orthodontic treatment without biological risk? These questions will be explored with an emphasis on treatment planning, sequence and mechanics.

Vibrational forces are one of the ways in which treatment can be speeded up and this is Prof. Martyn Cobourne’s topic in his paper “Vibrational force in orthodontic treatment: What are the effects?”. Cobourne will be presenting the results of a randomised controlled multicentre trial and will discuss these in relation to the underlying biology of tooth movement.

No conference is complete without a talk involving mini-implants and this is delivered by Dr Richard Cousley, author of a textbook on the subject. His paper is titled “A systematic evidence-based protocol for anterior open bite correction using mini-implants for molar intrusion”. He will provide an analysis of the literature and resultant dento-skeletal changes and how this evidence has been combined with clinical experience to optimise the use of mini-implants in both adolescent and anterior open bite cases.

Sixteen orthodontic societies are holding their own conferences on World Village Day during the IOC, a record in the history of the World Federation of Orthodontists, which co-hosts the meeting. Congress attendees—more than 4,000 of whom have already registered—can attend any of the events.

Simon Littlewood, organiser of the British Orthodontic Society’s day, says it promises to be both entertaining and professionally stimulating and features eight of the UK’s most popular speakers.

The day will also include an awards ceremony and a talk by Richard Jones, organiser of the 2016 British Orthodontic Conference, who will give an overview of next year’s conference in Brighton from 23 to 25 September 2016.