About Our Office

Last April, I blogged about our desire to provide digital impressions in our office for ALL of our patients. Digital imaging has been around for years in the orthodonic world. Our delay in providing these impressions in our office was our hopeful anticipation of a scanner and program that would also allow us to retrieve pictures of the soft palate of infants. We worked with one of the major digital companies, Sirona, to try and achieve this goal. We were waiting for a software update to their current scanner. Often, we wait and good things come to fruition. However, In this situation, the waiting did not produce the results we needed.
Thus, I moved on to find another company who could assist us. 3M is a major manufacturing company in the United States and around the world, famous for their sticky notes and thousands of other products we use on a daily basis. They happen to own a dental and orthodontic company. They have developed a Dental True Definition Scanner. Erin from 3M and Christian from New England Orthodontic Lab enabled us to achieve something BRAND NEW.  And I am proud to say, "Kelley Orthodontics is the first orthodontic practice in the United States to deliver a dental obturator for a patient born with a cleft lip and palate using 3M’s Digital Scanner!"  This is a dream come true and something I have prayed for and waited nearly 2 decades to see invented.
We took a digital scan of the roof of the mouth of a 3 week old baby boy and fabricated his appliance utilizing digital technology and a 3-D printed model. For the past eighteen years, I have taken the impression of all of our cleft babies at Cook Children’s Hospital due to potential risks involved using alginate materials with infants. The process has been challenging and heart wrenching  on the patients and their parents. Because of this breakthrough, we will now be able to skip this step and take a digital scan of the babies’ palate during their new patient appointment right here in OUR OFFICE. This will spare our youngest patients much discomfort and tears. The obturator (or appliance) will be delivered in a more timely manner, allowing our babies to begin feeding more effectively and thus thriving. This process will save the parents an additional set of costly hospital charges. AND the best part about the obturator made from the digital impression is that it actually fits BETTER than the appliance created by the alginate impressionl. (I am so excited, I can't stand it!)
The picture above is of Matthew on the appliance delivery day. I am holding the 3-D model we used to make the obturator in my left hand. I can't begin to express how long I have waited for this day.  We have taken many failed digital scans so the object in my possession is like an invaluable trophy in the hands of the underdog. I am so humbled and grateful for this monumental success.
So...how does this affect the rest of our orthodontic family? (Thank you for asking.) We will be soon be purchasing the digital scanner and begin taking digital impressions for fabricating retainers and orthodontic models. We will be sharing this incredible news with craniofacial teams around our nation and thus impacting the lives of those born with cleft lips and palates in the most positive way. I am confident you will be thankful to say good-bye to alginate impressions for several of our regular procedures. We are extremely excited to bring new technology into our office and help make your orthodontic experience even better. Thank you for your patience and for supporting the babes of our Kelley Orthodontic family through this journey. We could not have done it without YOU! #inthistogether

(Learn more about our heart for these special ones and what Kelley Orthodontics is doing through its mission: Created -4- Compassion.)

Dr. John Kelley

We live in a virtual/digital world so I am not surprised when asked, “Dr. Kelley do you use digital scanning when making impressions?” My answer is usually, “not yet, but for a very good reason.” I then proceed to explain why.  Well my “why” is the very reason I blog today. And I am excited to share some new developments on this topic.

My team would love to be able to utilize a digital scanner instead of alginate impressions.  There actually are several digital scanners on the market today. We have always been committed to bringing the most innovative approaches and technology to our practice.  So why haven’t we introduced digital scanning? Unlike most orthodontic offices, our team specializes in the care of a diverse group of patients, patients ranging from birth to senior adults.  We gladly embrace and consider it a privilege to treat the most complex and challenging of orthodontic cases. Thus, Kelley Orthodontics is waiting to invest in a digital scanner that can meet the needs of all our patients (babies born with cleft lip/palate, traditional orthodontic patients, and patients wearing Incognito or behind the teeth brackets.) Unfortunately, as of today, accurate digital scanning is only available to traditional orthodontic patients. However, we believe we are on the verge of a technology break through and Kelley Orthodontics is at the forefront of this discovery! I could not be more excited about this development.

Currently, we take traditional impressions of our cleft babies at Cook Children’s Hospital in an operating room.  The cost incurred by these families is astronomical, not to mention the discomfort and emotional strain caused to both baby and parents. Thus, the ability to take a digital scan in our office would be a gigantic step in the right direction.  Because there is no scanner on the market able to accomplish this task, we are partnering with Sirona, an amazing company that has a reputable presence in medical and digital imaging, in hopes of making this happen.

A couple of weeks ago, our representatives from Henry Schein dental company brought the Sirona scanner to our office to try on one of our cleft patients.  We attempted to take the scan utilizing the current scanner and software.  We were extremely pleased that we were able to get a significant portion of the scan. However not all of the critical areas were accurately recorded.  Thus, we are requesting the software engineers at Sirona Germany to rewrite a portion of the software to allow us to retrieve the data we need from the scan.  Since we are the first orthodontic office in the country to attempt this, we are breaking new ground.  I believe the wait and effort is worth it.  Cleft lip and palate families around the globe will greatly benefit with this new technology along with the specialties of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Plastics, and Otolaryngology.

The potential ripple effects of this type of development are indescribable. Babies failing to thrive because they are unable to eat could be orally scanned and fit for an orthodontic feeding appliance days, instead of weeks, after they are born. These little ones, with lengthy roads of surgeries and therapies, could begin eating sooner, leave the hospital earlier and begin their long term treatment and healing process; all while deterring major medical costs and emotional and physical discomforts.

So how does this affect you, our general population, our mainstream and most encouraging orthodontic patient-group?  Once a scanner and software are developed that will meet the needs of our entire patient population, we will invest in it. We will be able to scan all patients here in our office!  Thank you for waiting this out with us.  Thank you for having hearts for those born with special differences. Thank you for sacrificing the good today in order to possess the best tomorrow. I have no doubt this will happen in the near future and we as an orthodontic community are all a part of making it happen.  That is exciting! Kelley Orthodontics will indeed throw a party when this day arrives.

I am very thankful for families like yours who are willing to partner with us.  I have included a couple photos from our first attempt of getting a scan of a baby born with a cleft lip/palate.  The success of this appointment will be the springboard to success for our office and offices around the world.  We are making history. You are making history. #inthistogether!

Stay tuned.  The best of orthodontics is in our future.

Thank you for taking the time to visit our blog. Please check back often for weekly updates on fun and exciting events happening at our office, important and interesting information about orthodontics and the dental industry, and the latest news about our practice.

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