I was delighted to receive an invitation to spend some time at the well respected London Lingual Orthodontic Clinic in Wimple Street last week. During my time there, I met the team, experienced some amazing scanning technology and spent time talking to Dr. Asif Chatoo about the approach taken at his practice to providing the best possible care to their patients by using the most up to date orthodontic technology available.
My visit started with an opportunity to try the digital scanning system they extensively use throughout a patients treatment and I was most impressed by the ease by which they obtain incredible 3D scans of your teeth. These scanned images are then digitised into models that are used for treatment planning and subsequent design of the custom formed arch wires.
Dr. Chatoo explained to me the power of the software they use to plan treatment and I was able to see that each tooth could not only be moved and repositioned by the software but also the impact this was having on the surrounding teeth. The detail that could be obtained was down to fractions of a milimetre with rotations and torque also tightly controlled. The software allowed for a variety of brackets to be virtually placed on the teeth and then for custom made transfer trays to be fabricated to allow very precise indirect bonding of the brackets.
Once the brackets have been bonded, another scan is taken to allow the fabrication of the arch wires using the ‘SureSmile’ system which is an incredible precision robotic method of placing tiny bends in the arch wire to achieve the desired movement. Throughout treatment, further scans are made and the software is updated to record the patients progress along with the manufacture of further arch wires as may be required.
I had a strong sense that attention to detail is forefront in the service they provide to their patients and the approach Dr Chatoo explained demonstrated that by using this technology, they can provide the very best possible care for their patients to achieve excellent outcomes.
The principle service provided by this clinic is lingual braces and I was able to see first hand the excellent results achieved by using this type of treatment. Each bracket type has their own merits and it’s not hard to see why patients choose lingual braces not only for aesthetic reasons but also as it allows them to clearly see progress throughout their treatment without the wires and brackets getting in the way. I will be exploring lingual braces more fully in future articles and I must admit to being extremely interested in this type of treatment given the huge technological advance in bracket design and the outstanding results that can be achieved.
We also spent time talking about patient engagement, the future of orthodontics and much more and I will be writing some further articles about this great practice over the coming months.
I’m hugely grateful to the team at the London Lingual Orthodontic Clinic for making me feel so welcome and to Dr. Asif Chatoo for inviting me to visit his impressive practice. If you are thinking about lingual braces, they are well worth contacting, you won’t be disappointed.
