Category: Clinical Notes

“3D Diagnosis and Treatment Planning in Orthodontics: An Atlas for the Clinician” :: A New Practical Textbook for the Next Evolution in Orthodontics.

~ Shadi Samawi ~ Leave a comment

Study the Science of Art and the Art of Science.

Leonardo Da Vinci

It is with great pleasure that we announce the publication of the new textbook 3D Diagnosis and Treatment Planning in Orthodontics: An Atlas for the Clinician (published by Springer) which is the fruit of a lengthy, dedicated effort by Editors Prof. Jean Marc Retrouvey (Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City) and Dr. Mohamed-Nur Abdallah (Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry) to create a practical, science-based tome for orthodontists to navigate the new 3D technological frontiers we are embarking on as a profession today -especially in the post-pandemic era to come – and to which I’ve had the honor to be a contributor.

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Are We Adapting Technology to Treatment, or Treatment to Technology?

~ Shadi Samawi ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes technology is a better way to do the wrong thing. Be careful!

Dr. Bill Arnett | FABKnoweldge

With the recent growth and explosion of important technologies in 3D printing and scanning, we are also seeing a concomitant quantitative “explosion” of cases – mostly shared through social media – that are being treated through adapting these technologies to the manufacturing of customized appliances. This is an excellent and most welcome advancement for sure, yet it does seem – at least to me and a number of like-minded colleagues – that we are going through a period of initial hyper-excitement over the capabilities we have at hand at the moment, and that many seem to be using them practically on every patient they treat, simply because they can! The above quote from Dr. Bill Arnett is a real philosophical eye opener. Although he is an avid user of new technologies in the field of Orthodontics, he is very much aware of the potential pitfalls.

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Is Piezocision Effective in Accelerating Orthodontic Tooth Movement: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

~ Shadi Samawi ~ Leave a comment

Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.

Zora Neale Hurston

This is a short blog post announcing the publication of our latest research article; a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis entitled: Is Piezocision effective in accelerating orthodontic tooth movement: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Birthed through the enormous collaborative efforts of colleagues Dr. Samer F. Mheissen (Syria) – the instigator and review coordinator – and Dr. Haris Khan (Pakistan), I’ve had the great pleasure of being a co-author on this project.

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Diagnostics-Driven Orthodontics: The Real Driver for Progress

~ Shadi Samawi ~ 9 Comments

There is nothing so useless as doing, efficiently, that which should not be done at all.

Peter Drucker

The concept that mere technological innovation in a certain field can drive rapid progress within that field is not a new concept; and this has certainly been accepted as “the norm” in this era of rapid – or shall I say rabid – pace of technological innovation in both the medical and dental field in general, and Orthodontics in particular.

That’s all well and good, and is much appreciated and needed, of course. However, it seems that – despite all the advances in dental technology over the past decade or so – many practitioners seem to be suffering from what we can only term: Diagnostic Paralysis. This lack of diagnostic skills in this era of rapid technological advancement is alarming!

Let’s have a closer look at this in this blog post.

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DPC 2019: dentist.camera – An International Dental Photography Event Worth Attending

~ Shadi Samawi ~ 1 Comment

I learn by going where I have to go.

Theodore Roethke

I just recently came back from a trip to Seville, Spain where I had the pleasure of attending the first International dental Photography Conference of its kind; DPC 2019: dentist.camera, Organized mainly by Dr Alessandro Devigus from Switzerland, along with a host of the best dental photography experts and speakers in the world of dentistry today, and it was an event worth attending by all measures.

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Enlightenment In Orthodontics : Entropy, Evolution & Information

~ Shadi Samawi ~ 5 Comments

WARNING: This Blog Post Will Make You THINK!

We start the new year with a mind-provoking, philosophical Guest Blog post by Prof. Dr Anmol Kalha, Professor Emeritus, Distinguished Professor and Advisor / CIDS, Associate Director & Advisor / Max Health Care, and Chief Architect and Cofounder of Smart Health.ai. He is also widely known among his contemporaries as The Orthodontic Philosopher. 

“Dare to understand : one age cannot conclude a pact that would prevent succeeding ages from extending their insights, increasing their knowledge and purging their errors.” ~ Immanuel Kant

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The “Big Picture Approach”: Orthodontic Problem Solving From a Bird’s Eye View

~ Shadi Samawi ~ 3 Comments

“When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail.” ~ Abraham Maslow

When facing critical problems and difficulties in our case progression and mechanics during orthodontic treatment, we sometimes struggle with finding the right solution and seem to be going deeper into complexity, and often, nothing seems to be working! In such situations, it’s always useful to remember to see the big picture of the situation first, before drowning further in the little details.

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There’s Something About MDP (Mobile Dental Photography)!..

~ Shadi Samawi ~ 3 Comments

“Every photograph is a battle of form versus content.” ~ Garry Winogrand

As many of you probably know, Mobile Dental Photography (MDP) has been gaining track in recent years as smartphone technology advances in terms of sensor quality, resolution, and lens sophistication, leading to much improved image quality over the last few years. MDP has also caught on mainly due to smartphones being relatively smaller and lighter than a Digital SLR camera and so many clinicians prefer the “lighthearted” nature of it.

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