Looking at orthodontic meeting offerings makes me think that AI will propel the orthodontic profession to success! I’m no better at predicting the future than anyone else, but I’m a skeptic. Will pouring in tons of data into a computer, pressing the button and waiting for the answer help resolve our patients’ problems? I seriously doubt it since the profession has not unshackled itself from its primary goal of aligning teeth and making them fit like gears. AI may be helpful when the profession stops focusing on teeth and Airway Optimization becomes its primary and most important goal (as I’ve been saying for 25 years now in articles and lectures). Until that time, I remain a skeptic.
If we rely on what most in the airway arena are saying, we would soon find that lateral expansion in its various forms is the answer. The technique to get there might well differ, but the goal is the same – “Expand, and then expand some more.” For the last 9 years I’ve been writing and lecturing with a mantra which says, “You cannot expand your way out of an Anteroposterior Problem”. Let us make this pretty easy to understand. Airway Optimization success requires Anterior Optimization! If treatment plans coming from our AI inspired software don’t tell us to move teeth forward, I suspect we will continue to have many cases which have less than desirable outcomes.
Anterior Optimization doesn’t necessarily guarantee Airway Optimization success. However, lack of Anterior Optimization will almost certainly deliver less than ideal Airway Optimization no matter the computer program we use for our answers.
