Finished IAADent Orthodontic course

 I recently finished the orthodontic foundation course with IAADent run by Dr. Kenneth Lee and Dr. Jonathan Low. The focus is on diagnosis of airway, sleep, TMD and facial balance and managing these patients primarily with orthopedic development and the orthodontic alignment at the appropriate time. 

The course is run by very experienced clinicians and it does seem that there is some level of ongoing support after the course. There is an online forum where you can post case records and have an opinion from one of the faculty members (this is not straight away and you won't be babied. You need to provide comprehensive, good quality records and formulate a diagnosis and plan. They won't plan the case fully for you, but will comment on your progress). There is also study clubs they run in the larger cities throughout the year where cases can be presented for feedback (a fee is involved). 

This is truly a foundation course though and although there are some hands on aspects, I would feel that the majority of the cohort would have difficulty with translating the theory aspects to their clinical practice. Diagnosis will be well developed by the end of the course but treatment planning and clinical skills won't be. For the time taken in the sessions, the course is fairly economical but most of the morning of the first day of each session is spent revising previously learned concepts. To be fair, I think most people benefited from the recap. They advertise further courses branching from this foundation course. The problem with the course is that it is just a window into their philosophy and you need to do lots of further learning to put together pieces of the puzzle. They offer diplomas and masters in orthodontics, implants and TMD/sleep through a Spanish university. Short courses in phlebotomy/CGF and pain management (trigger point injections, dry needling). And another foundation course in periodontics and implant dentistry.

I do believe that a majority of the concepts that they teach would work in my hands. I do need to start tiptoeing my way towards applying them clinically. They are certainly more comprehensive albeit difficult compared to traditional orthodontics which would focus on tooth alignment. 

This can certainly be your first course in orthodontics, it would be a good introduction to airway, TMD, sleep and orthodontics but I don't think it can be your last. I am unsure which way I will go in terms of further education in this area. It is certainly a worthwhile endeavour but it would be very time consuming in terms of study and clinical practice to implement what I've learned. 

Watch this space.