ST. LOUIS, Missouri – A stereoscopic camera takes your portrait, which appears as a three-dimensional model on a computer monitor. A click of the mouse, and the image rotates like a globe, ear to nose to ear and around again-or in the vertical dimension, forehead-to-chin. Another click stops the image. Click and drag for a profile, a front view, a bird's-eye view, or even a view from below.

The next generation of computer-imaging software, presently under development, will be capable of showing the potential outcome of orthodontic treatment in 3-D. The "virtual face" - until now visible only in two dimensions - is envisioned to serve as a treatment benchmark. The image can be stored in the orthodontist's computer system, and digitally remodeled to simulate potential results. Or the image can be transmitted via e-mail so that the orthodontist may confer with the patient's dentist or other specialists involved in the case.

Developments in orthodontic software-and hardware, the materials used in the brackets, wires and elastics that comprise braces, that is-have dramatically changed the face of a specialty that has always created healthy, beautiful smiles. Yesterday's braces were larger, with bands encircling each tooth. Today's sleeker braces are more comfortable to wear than their predecessors.

From Outer Space, To Cyberspace

It's not a stretch to call today's braces "space age." Some of the materials widely used by orthodontists had their origins in the space program, points out Dr. Robert P. Scholz, an orthodontist who practices in San Leandro, Calif.

"Our heat-activated arch wires were developed through NASA," points out Dr. Scholz. "When the wires reach mouth temperature, they start to move teeth gently and gradually." These wires use a nickel-titanium alloy that was originally engineered to automatically activate antennae or solar panels of spacecraft orbiting into the sun's rays.

Some of today's tough, resilient brackets were engineered from the same materials used in rocket nose cones. Why? As the Cold War wound down, at least one Southern California defense contractor, seeking business alternatives, retooled and started producing ceramic orthodontic brackets.

Dr. Scholz, who coordinated the Technology Conference late last spring in San Diego at the 99th Annual Session of the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO), notes many of the advances seen in orthodontics today are software-based. The rapid growth of the Internet has led demand for appropriate software.

"Another exciting new development for orthodontists is the film-free 'panorex'," notes Dr. Scholz. These panoramic X-rays, used by orthodontists to determine how teeth are coming in and which ones will need to be moved where, also have reached the next level: images can be transmitted directly into the computer system for storage with patient records or sharing electronically with the family dentist, periodontist or other specialists.

"Hi-Tech" a Boon for Patients, Too

While technological advances can help the orthodontist diagnose and plan a patient's treatment, technology also allows the orthodontist to show a patient's family the orthodontic problem and how it will be corrected, points out Dr. Mervin W. Graham of Denver, president of the AAO.

"Software helps us share potential results," Dr. Graham says. "Computer-imaging programs can help patients visualize what they might look like once treatment is completed." With a click of the mouse, specialized CD-ROM programs can clearly demonstrate how typical orthodontic problems such as an underbite, overbite or crowding are corrected.

SOURCE: American Association of Orthodontists

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