In an interview, Dr. Elliott Moskowitz discusses the all-day symposium that is bringing two specialties together to help their shared patients. “Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry — Two Specialties — One Goal,” sponsored by the New York University College of Dentistry Department of Orthodontics and Orthodontic Alumni Association.

We understand that the NYU Orthodontic Alumni Society and Department of Orthodontics are once again organizing another symposium at the Greater New York Dental Meeting (GNYDM). Why have you chosen this particular meeting for another annual seminar?

This is the fourth year we have planned a joint meeting with the organizational committee of the GNYDM. We have found this particular venue to be attractive to our alumni members and many other orthodontic colleagues who have joined us at these annual seminars.

Over the past few years, the GNYDM has presented numerous programs of interest to the orthodontic specialist. In fact, this year there are approximately 58 continuing education credits of orthodontic presentations at the GNYDM during the six days of educational programs.

This increased specialist attendance has increased overall attendance at the meeting and is appreciated by the many commercial exhibitors who help to support the GNYDM each year. Additionally, New York City is particularly enjoyable at this time of the year because of the festive atmosphere, and many of our orthodontic colleagues take advantage of the many restaurants, Broadway shows and shopping opportunities available in the city.

We have been told that the NYU Ortho Seminars attract a maximum attendance. How are you able to do this at a time when most orthodontic educational programs report a decrease in attendance?

Like many other orthodontic colleagues, I have attended a fair number of live orthodontic educational programs during my career as an orthodontist. I have also been involved in postgraduate orthodontic education within the university walls and beyond.

When we plan these meetings, we ask ourselves a number of important questions: “What do orthodontists really want to hear?,” “What are the important issues in orthodontics today?”

Our selected themes or topics are not gadget or manufacturer-driven presentations. When I was involved with the Eastern Strang-Tweed group as executive director, with Jim Kerrigan serving as our president, we learned the benefit of having multiple speakers and interesting themes. Our meetings were two days.

We have tried to use many of the elements of this particular group in a one-day format. I think that many program chairs of orthodontic meetings have the cart leading the horse. They simply select their speakers and hope that these speakers will draw an attendance.

That is precisely what we avoid. We select the subjects and then seek out appropriate speakers. Some of our best presentations have been from relatively unknown orthodontic colleagues who have something significant to say about a particular subject. And we do not restrict this search to solely national speakers. One of our most popular speakers has been Dr. Roberto Justus from Mexico City. Another appreciated scholarly clinician has been Dr. Joseph Ghafari from Lebanon.

All of these speakers have been able to deliver exciting and informative presentations on topics that were recommended to them. This topic vetting process, at least in my opinion, is superior to merely relying upon canned presentations from a speaker.

What is the theme of the NYU Orthodontic Seminar this year?

The theme is something that is long overdue: “Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry: Two Specialties, One Goal.” Our aim was to explore some of the areas of interest to both the orthodontist and pediatric dentist. It is simply amazing how much valuable clinical information is not being shared by both specialties in critical areas of treatment for children and adolescents. Both the orthodontist and pediatric dentist sometimes exist in a vacuum with little input to the ongoing treatment of the same patient. We need a forum to explore our differences in perspective and concerns and learn how we can support each other’s efforts.

What are some of these areas that you feel are important to explore and share information?

There are many areas to consider. Firstly, it is important for pediatric dentists to have a more exquisite information base about the value of recognizing and referring young patients for orthodontic treatment of certain malocclusions earlier than later.

For this reason, we had asked Dr. Justus to literally “dissect” the evidence-based information that has recently been disseminated on the early treatment of Class II malocclusions. Some of the conclusions of these studies will be challenged as well as the specific inclusion criteria of these studies. His presentation will be of interest to both orthodontists and pediatric dentists as the information is new and insightful.

Another topic of critical importance is the entire subject of the management of congenitally missing teeth. Who does what, when and how and what are the long-term consequences to individual patients when future adult implant needs are ignored by either the pediatric dentist or orthodontist for these young patients who are missing teeth? Additionally, exploring the management of ectopically developing maxillary permanent canines in an effort to avoid future frank impactions will be presented.

Other areas include the management of trauma to teeth from the pediatric dental and orthodontic perspective and the latest technology in the management of dental caries. Perhaps one of the most important areas of concern is the prevention or minimizing of white spot lesions during orthodontic treatment.

Dr. Stanley Alexander, who is duel-trained in orthodontics and pediatric dentistry, will be presenting important and practical information on this subject. Trying to be somewhat even-handed in either specialist admonitions or concerns, the orthodontist needs to have a better grasp of the available modalities in reducing enamel decalcification for orthodontic patients undergoing treatment with fixed orthodontic appliances.

Finally, we feel it is important for all dentists to be aware of the ongoing research that is going on in stem cell harvesting and storing of undifferentiated stem cells from human teeth pulp tissue. Orthodontists and pediatric dentists might be playing a much larger and active role in this entire area.

Naturally, there are many other issues that will be unavoidably unexplored in any one-day seminar or symposium.

What has been the response to the publicity of this seminar?

The early response has been excellent. Considering there are numerous other pediatric dental and orthodontic programs at the GNYDM, registration has been robust for this particular seminar. We have also reached out to our academic institutions in the surrounding greater New York area and have invited orthodontic and pediatric dental residents. The GNYDM has graciously waived any tuition fee for orthodontic or pediatric dental residents. Certainly, this resident-friendly policy has indeed helped increase seminar attendance.

We want to get back to your original assertion about the compelling reasons for such a seminar. Why are you so interested in this ortho-pedo connection?

Prior to my formal academic appointment in the Department of Orthodontics at NYU, I was part of the attending faculty of the dental department at Interfaith Medical Center. There, I was involved in the teaching of residents in general dentistry and pediatric dentistry. I became very familiar with the course curriculum of formally trained pediatric dentists. But, it was not until I had been asked to join a meaningful orthodontic/pediatric dental group about 13 years ago that I appreciated how much important work had to be done in the ortho/pedo communications area.

I was then in the position of seeing patients with developing problems somewhat before the fact rather than after the fact. Ectopically developing maxillary canines was one such area that I found could be successfully managed in many instances if we had an opportunity to see these patients at 7 or 8 rather than 12 years of age.

Another area of interest was something that we all see in traditional orthodontic practice; the unilateral posterior crossbite cases with functional shifts of the mandible. Except I was seeing four of these cases per week instead of perhaps only several per month in a traditional orthodontic practice.

The thought occurred to me that we were in a position to possibly study some of these problems in a more robust and elegant manner. With the help of friends and colleagues who shared a similar interest, we are now in the process of developing an orthodontic/pediatric dental practice-based research network that promises to be able to answer some important questions that will ultimately benefit our young patients. Some of these individuals include Drs. Mark Hochberg and Marc Lemchen and academic mentors such as Drs. George Cisneros and Olivier Nicolay from NYU.

By standardizing and sharing orthodontic case records, it might be possible to design and implement potentially more powerful studies with hundreds of individuals rather than only a small sample size that has characterized many orthodontic clinical trials.

However, this orthodontic/pediatric dental collaboration also opened my eyes to many traditional pediatric dental problems that sometimes go largely ignored by orthodontists. Oral hygiene issues, caries, management considerations, etc., are just some of these issues that we have dealt with in our group. We are looking forward to sharing the benefits of this collaboration with pediatric dental and orthodontic colleagues.

To attend the ortho/pedo session

The all-day orthodontic specialty program, “Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry — Two Specialties — One Goal,” sponsored by the New York University College of Dentistry Department of Orthodontics and Orthodontic Alumni Association, will be held Wednesday, Dec. 2, from 9 a.m.–noon and 2–5 p.m. in Exhibit Floor Aisle 6000. The Cost for dentists is $115. Students can attend for free.

About the speaker

Dr. Elliott Moskowitz is a clinical professor in the Department of Orthodontics at NYU College of Dentistry and is president and educational director of the NYU Orthodontic Alumni Society. He has been active in dental and orthodontic journalism and has served as editor of the New York State Dental Journal, is a contributing editor to the Journal of Clinical Orthodontics and is on the editorial board of several other orthodontic publications. Moskowitz is also a member of the advisory board of Ortho Tribune and has received several awards in dental journalism.