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Orthodontic Assisting Classes
In addition to helping you as a dentist incorporate comprehensive orthodontics into your practice, we also want to help ensure that your team knows the best ways to help. We want your assistants to know best practices for orthodontics assisting to ensure efficient implementation. That’s why we provide orthodontics assisting classes for your team.
Robert LaRosa, DDS, MAGD
Our Instructors
Dr LaRosa has been a member of IAO New England since 2003. He has been a board member since 2006 serving as AGD Coordinator and currently serves as President of IAO New England. He has his Master’s degree in the Academy of General Dentistry, a Fellowship in the International Congress of Oral Implantology, and a Certificate Degree in Orthodontics from NYU from their international program. While orthodontics represents approximately 10% of his private practice, he feels that the knowledge he has gained from the study of orthodontics has helped him greatly in treatment planning and caring for his general dentistry patients.
Dental Auxiliary Course
Get your auxiliary team ready and excited to provide orthodontics at your practice with our five-class dental auxiliary course. Orthodontics assisting will become second nature to your team, allowing you to provide care that is complete, comfortable, and efficient.
Class 1
This class focuses on the initial orthodontic visit. You will be taking photos, taking radiographs of a model, and sitting chairside preforming an orthodontic examination. If possible, we encourage you to bring the camera your practice uses to ensure that the skills translate easily to your office. We'll address the important questions to ask parents and patients about medical history and daily habits that may affect their treatment plan.
Class 2
In the second class, we join the doctors in our orthodontic training program for the morning. During this class, we will also learn how to trace cephalometric X-rays and discuss software programs for cephalometric analysis.
Class 3
Emergencies happen, even in orthodontics. This class focuses on some typical emergency situations you'll see, how to treat emergencies, and tips for preventing some emergencies in the first place. Come equipped with cases you've seen, how they were handled, and what could have been done differently. Real-world cases help everyone get a true feel for what treating an orthodontic emergency is like. In addition to emergencies, we'll review bending and ligation techniques. We will also discuss the phases of orthodontics, hygiene protocol for patients with poor oral hygiene, and products that can reverse the effects of bad hygiene. Topics include appliances, spacer placement, band seating, bracket placement, cements and other bonding materials, wire types, wire placement, wire bending and ligation techniques, and more. We also want to help you feel comfortable giving patients instructions on how to use their elastics; how to care for their teeth and orthodontics; and what to do about broken wires, brackets, or bands.
Class 4
The focus of this class is the detailing phase of orthodontics, removal, retention, and relapse issues. For retention and minor tooth movement, we teach essix fabrication and go over the pros and cons of the materials used in this technique. We also go over other post-op retention appliances, reversing demineralization, whitening techniques, and protocol for band and bracket removal.
Class 5
As the course wraps up, we go over final record taking and the importance of accurate record-keeping. Please bring your practice's camera if you can. We'll go over non-conventional orthodontic technology, debracketing technique and fixed retention, and the fabrication of retainers.
Get excited about orthodontics!
By enrolling your team to our orthodontics assisting course, you can save yourself time, as well as make your practice more productive and profitable. Have questions? Contact us to learn more!
