[특별 인터뷰] 대한치과교정학회 특강연자로 나선
William J. Clark(Private practice, United Kingdom)
Q Congratulations on being the key speaker of special lectures in 49th annual session of Korean Association of Orthodontists. Please let us know what you feel about that.
I am truly honoured to be selected to deliver key lectures to the Korean Orthodontic Society.
I look forward to renewing friendship with colleagues in Korea whom I met many years ago.
Q What is the topic of your lecture in KAO annual session?
I have two lectures and these are the topics:
1) TransForce Lingual Appliances.
2) Fixed Twin Blocks, Integrating Fixed and Functional Therapy.
Q And, why do you choose that topic?
1) TransForce Lingual Appliances are pre-activated by enclosed springs to deliver gentle forces to correct arch form. This is an effective technique to expand the palate and align the anterior teeth from the lingual aspect. TransForce appliances can be used from childhood to adult therapy in correcting all classes of malocclusion.
2) Fixed Twin Blocks, Integrating Fixed and Functional Therapy.
I developed Twin Blocks in 1977 as a functional technique with removable appliances designed to correct jaw position for patients who have a small mandible and a receding chin. This condition is often related to breathing problems due to a restricted airway. Twin blocks are the most widely used functional appliances worldwide. Preformed kits are now being developed for Fixed and Removable Twin Blocks with a new protocol to integrate fixed and functional therapy. The new appliances are “patient friendly” and simpler to construct than earlier designs.
Q Please describe clinical implications of your lecture in brief.
TransForce Lingual Appliances represent a revolution in interceptive treatment using pre-activated invisible lingual appliances. They may be used independently or integrated with conventional fixed appliances or as a pre-aligner technique for rapid correction of arch form.
Fixed Twin Blocks represent the next logical step in integrating fixed and functional therapy. Functional therapy is increasingly accepted as an alternative to maxillofacial surgery in treatment of mandibular retrusion and sleep apnoea due to a restricted pharyngeal airway.
Q We Korean orthodontists have great achievement especially in the field of TAD, lingual orthodontics, surgical orthodontics and so on. What do you think about the present position and the future possibility of Orthodontics in Korea?
I look forward to working with Korean orthodontists to advance the future of orthodontics by innovations in interceptive treatment and functional therapy. I would like to set up a study with the Korean Orthodontic Society of these new techniques.
Q Please let us know your future plan in your researches shortly.
I am working with three universities in Scotland, in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow to set up a program of clinical testing of a range of new minimalist appliances designed to promote mandibular advancement and palatal expansion. This work has not yet been published, but has great potential to change the way we practice orthodontics and dentofacial orthopaedics.
