Orthodontics Principles

After completing the course, you’ll be able to:

1. Understand the importance of the general dentist’s role in the overall diagnosis and treatment of malocclusions.
2. Answer the questions: why? when? what? where? and how? pertaining to orthodontic treatment.
3. Explain the importance of differential diagnosis, and determine the proper records required for each orthodontic problem.
4. Differentiate among preventive, interceptive and corrective orthodontics and how each relates to the various stages of dental development.
5. List the various purposes of orthodontic treatment.
6. List the prerequisites of orthodontic treatment.
7. Define the term “biomechanical principles” with respect to various methods of orthodontic therapy.
8. Evaluate various force systems used for orthodontic tooth movement and orthopedic application.
9. Describe the biology of orthodontic tooth movement and discuss the histologic changes that occur with various force systems.
10. List the order in which a clinician classifies malocclusions.
11. Describe and classify all of the different individual malpositions of teeth.
12. Discuss the horizontal and vertical relationships of incisor teeth.
13. Classify the different inter-arch discrepancies, and describe each of their characteristics.
14. Explain how each of the inter-arch discrepancies relates to a patient’s profile, facial and dental arch characteristics.
15. Differentiate between endochondral and membranous bone growth as they relate to the bones of the head and face.
16. List and describe the three theories of craniofacial growth.
17. Discuss the growth of various bodily tissues, and understand how they grow at different rates and times.
18. Understand the clinical role of growth and development and how it relates to orthopedic and dental considerations.
19. Describe the terms “leeway space” and “incisor liability” and how they relate to growth and treatment.
20. Describe how an understanding of cephalometric analyses aids the clinician in determining growth and orthodontic treatment objectives.

To assess the effectiveness of the course material, we ask that you evaluate your achievement of each learning objective on a scale of A to D (A=excellent, B=good, C=fair, D=unsatisfactory). Please indicate your responses next to each learning objective and return it to us with your completed exam.