Aligner Therapy With SureSmile® Beneficial for Oral Hygiene

Jeffrey Rohde, DDS, was in residency at a Veterans Affairs Hospital when he came to realize the importance of a multidisciplinary mindset when diagnosing and treatment planning. "The integration of technology also was crucial to providing the latest in care that dentistry had to offer," he says.

Since then, in his more than 20 years of dentistry, Rohde's Santa Barbara, California, practice has integrated digital impressions, CBCT, 3D printing, in-office milling, laser dentistry, and more while providing restorative, orthodontic, surgical, and endodontic solutions to its patients.

Rohde advocates utilizing innovative products "that can address more than one oral care issue at a time, and SureSmile^® Clear Aligners from Dentsply Sirona, which our practice incorporated 4 years ago, fall into that category," he says. For patients who are in what he calls "destructive occlusion," where chipping, abfractions, and failing restorations from misalignment of teeth are present, clear aligners help "stop these trends of restorative failures and make oral hygiene easier."

"Clear aligners offer patients an effective option to achieve a functional, healthy smile," Rohde says. "SureSmile's customized trimlines are a beneficial feature. The straight trimline allows the aligner tray to better adapt to the tooth for more predictable pressure and movement," he says. "By improving the adaptation, fewer attachments are needed because the tooth receives more complete pressure across its entire surface. Further, the system combines certain synergistic tooth movements to allow for multiple types of correction at the same time. This shortens treatment timelines and reduces the need for refinements."

Dentsply Sirona's SureSmile treatment planning software allows clinicians to upload digital impressions, x-rays, and patient photos from any source. "Our office first switched to SureSmile because it would accept a digital impression from any manufacturer," Rohde notes. "I also liked how each case was set up in the digital prescription by an actual person, not an algorithm. Plus, the mechanics of movement and trimline allow for more predictable moving."

"Since incorporating SureSmile Clear Aligners, our team has definitely seen a hygiene improvement in patients who have had SureSmile treatment," Rohde suggests. "As patients with moderate to severe lower anterior crowding get older, the crowding will only worsen and eventually cause traumatic occlusion, inflammation, and bone loss. Why not fix this years before it happens and set the patient up for a lifetime of oral health success?"

Rohde "strongly recommends" that restorative practices consider integrating SureSmile clear aligner therapy into their daily routine. "It can add a whole other dimension to your practice that will help to embrace a multidisciplinary mindset that says, ‘we have solutions other than the drill' for the long-term health of our patients."

Jeffrey Rohde, DDS
Private Practice,
Santa Barbara, California

Dentsply Sirona
844-848-0137
suresmile.com