S. Jay Bowman

• DMD MSD
• Professor (Associate) at Saint Louis University

Molar distalization is a popular method of achieving correction of a Class II malocclusion. Surprisingly, little difference in the end results of treatments featuring distal molar movement have been noted compared to other methods of Class II correction in growing patients. In fact, those methods addressing the mandibular arch seems to produce near...

Letter to the Editor

Cell phones are used by almost everyone and have become an integral part of our daily life. They are an almost universal instrument for gathering and transmitting information. The amount of bacteria crawling on a typical cell phone has been a point of contention, although studies show that they contain at least 10 times the amount of bacteria found...

Teledentistry has proven effective in practically all dental fields. It also allows access to inaccessible and underdeveloped locations. Better treatment outcomes were documented in patients treated by an orthodontist supervised by teledentistry than by a general dentist with minimal orthodontic experience alone. It may also help to focus referrals...

Obesity is a global epidemic with a reported 1.9 billion adults deemed overweight and 650 mil- lion deemed obese, with approximately 2.8 mil- lion deaths reported annually due to overweight or obesity. Alterations in diet and physical activity leading to calorie restrictions and increased energy expen- diture are the mainstays of initial treatment...

We would like to highlight the countless webinars in the past year alone that have provided dentists with a huge platform to share knowledge with others sitting on the other side of the world, mostly free of cost. In addition, many social media online 'groups', especially on Facebook, have been instrumental in disseminating information and knowledg...

Outcome: This case reports the successful treatment of a 40-year-old female with a skeletal Class III malocclusion and knife-edge residual ridges by successfully protracting the lower molars orthodontically. Objectives: On a long-standing extraction space, resorption results in a decrease in the vertical height of the bone, but more importantly,...

•The human element to patient care is multidimensional, being a combination of emotional, functional and sensorial needs. • Ethical decision making involves not only the doctor’s professional accomplishments, but also cardinal traits such as beneficence, trust and integrity. • Denigrating a colleague, no matter how bad the treatment rendered is, do...

A pseudo-Class III patient often displays the presence of premature contacts that direct the mandible to slide forward in such a manner that the posterior teeth may occlude; otherwise, in an end-on anterior position, the posterior teeth most often do not contact each other. Early intervention, apt diagnosis, and formulating a case-specific treatmen...

The Choluteca Bridge is an amazing feat of architecture that survived the deadly hurricane ‘Mitch’, while everything around was wrecked. Unfortunately, the river that flowed under this great bridge, changed course after the hurricane, rendering the bridge essentially useless. The lessons from this event are very relevant to our specialty. Are we we...

In the case report showcased, we describe orthodontic treatment of a female patient with an excessive gingival display on smiling and severe dental crowding, with maxillary canines positioned excessively buccal (ectopic) to and in near transposition to the lateral incisors. The treatment involved extractions and initial use of unmitigated forces le...

The current pandemic, known as COVID-19, could not have been more predictable. It marks the return of a familiar enemy. Throughout human history, nothing has killed more people than the viruses and bacteria that cause disease.

Part 1 in this pair of articles provided background on the current coronavirus pandemic and suggestions for implementing new office environmental and infection controls. (Part 1 has been published only at www. jco-online.com.) This second part will discuss orthodontic treatment considerations in the COVID-19 era.

With the advantage of hindsight when examining treatments involving the use of miniscrew anchorage, it appears in a parallax view that moving from buccal interradicular alveolar insertion sites to the palate often affords more reliability and versatility for orthodontic biomechanics. Specifically, one specific palatal insertion site for miniscrews,...

The perpetual conflict of controlling orthodontic anchorage while simultaneously attempting to manage patient compliance with mechanics has led to the adoption of miniscrews. The application of miniscrew anchorage support for the correction of Class II malocclusions has evolved into variations on common biomechanical themes. Although orthodontists...

The increase in primary care dentists who are providing their own orthodontic care has caused orthodontic specialists to change their marketing strategy. Recently, a paradigm shift in marketing has occurred from dentist-based referrals to direct-to-consumer advertising. Orthodontists are now choosing to advertise to patients directly, rather than s...

Class IIs have been one of the most prevalent malocclusions treated in orthodontic practice. Throughout the history of the specialty, all manner of methods and devices have been employed to resolve these bad bites. Yet, after decades, there is still no consensus on the best technique or approach. In fact, we seemingly cannot even agree on the etiol...

Various treatment mechanics have been created to direct the eruption of impacted teeth, including the application of intra- and interarch forces to some type of attachment on the affected teeth. The present communication describes the use of two simple auxiliaries, the Monkey HookFNx01 and the Kilroy SpringFNx01, for the directed eruption of impact...

In a climate of on-line opinion blogs, internet puffery, proprietary advocacy, persuasive testimonials, distain for evidence and the patient’s confusion of 2nd or 3rd opinion referrals, resistance seems futile for embracing most any trend in orthodontics. No matter the propriety, utility, or evidence-basis, it seems: anything goes. In olden days a...

Dr. Jay Bowman is a renowned clinician and speaker all across the world. APOS Trends in an exclusive conversation with him discusses his tryst with Micro Implant Anchorage.

Aim: evaluate the correlation between the artificial in vitro enamel decalcification through DIAGNOdent ® laser and through optic microscopic with polarized light. Methodology: for this research, 25 bovine teeth had been exposed to an artificial decay environment during one hour, two times a day, for 35 days. Afterwards, DIAGNOdent ® laser has been...

JCO recently polled a number of editors and other prominent orthodontists who have considerable experience working with skeletal anchorage. The question was: "In your experience, what are the most important factors determining success or failure with skeletal anchorage, and why?" Here are their replies.

There is a growing schism within our profession that suffers at its core from several perpetual controversies, including those of early and expansive treatment, esthetics and ethics, evidence and expertise, and an emphasis on economics. Unfortunately, it is the public that must pay, in a number of ways, commensurate to the level of debased dialogue...

A prospective examination of 10 consecutively treated orthodontic patients was undertaken to examine the effectiveness of fluoride varnish in reducing enamel demineralization. Pairs of dental quadrants for each patient's mouth (ie, maxillary right and mandibular left; maxillary left and mandibular right) were randomly assigned to an experimental or...

An open bite is one of the most difficult malocclusions the clinician has to deal with. In recent years, interest has increased regarding mechanics that reduce dependency upon patient compliance for success. Some patient-independent mechanism for molar intrusion or vertical control is desirable. The rapid molar intruder (RMI) appliance consists of...

The soft tissue changes after the extraction of maxillary first premolars and subsequent anterior tooth retraction were evaluated for 16 Class II, division 1 patients. Pre- and posttreatment lateral head cephalograms were evaluated using superimpositions on Björk-type metallic implants in the maxilla. The patient sample was divided into group I pat...

Previous studies on maxillary molar distalization have usually concentrated on only one appliance and featured small sample sizes. The purpose of this retrospective study was two-fold: (1) to determine the skeletal, dental, and soft tissue effects of 3 molar distalization appliances, 2 of which do not depend upon patient compliance (ie, distal jet...

To test the hypothesis that fluoride varnish is effective in reducing demineralization (white spot) lesions adjacent to bonded orthodontic brackets. Two similar samples of extracted bovine incisors, with bonded orthodontic brackets, were separated into an experimental group (fluoride varnish was applied) and control group (no fluoride varnish) to e...

Maxillary molar distalization is an increasingly popular option for the resolution of Class II malocclusions. This communication describes the effects of one particular molar distalizing appliance, the distal jet, in a sample of 20 consecutively treated and growing subjects (11 females, nine males; mean starting age of 13) and compares these effect...

This study analyzed molar distalization with the distal jet appliance, its effect on the anchor teeth, and the outcome at the completion of orthodontic treatment. Pretreatment, after distalization, and posttreatment lateral cephalometric radiographs were evaluated for 21 adolescent girls and 12 adolescent boys. The mean age of the subjects at the t...

Current trends in orthodontic care emphasise alternatives to the extraction of premolars, despite a lack of support from the refereed literature for many of the non-extraction treatments. Anecdotal reports published in non peer-reviewed journals have called into question the aesthetic effects of extraction treatment. As calls for evidence-based tre...

Class II combination therapy is a method that combines orthodontic and orthopedic mechanics in a single stage of treatment. Molar distalization is followed by fixed functional mechanics to reduce the dependence upon patient compliance while seeking more predictable completion of Class II correction.

This investigation was designed to compare the esthetic effects of extraction and nonextraction treatments. Panels of 58 laypersons and 42 dentists evaluated randomly presented pre- and posttreatment profiles of 70 extraction and 50 nonextraction Class I and II Caucasian patients. The samples were similar at the outset; however, at the end of treat...

Background: Current trends in orthodontic care emphasize alternatives to the extraction of premolars, despite a lack of support from the refereed literature for many of the nonextraction treatments. Description of the situation: Anecdotal reports published in non-peer-reviewed journals have called into question the esthetic effects of extraction...