Orthodontic conversations July 2022

A while ago I was talking about IOTN — the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need — and I thought I’d go a little bit deeper into the topic today.

And that means we need to go back in time

Sweden, 1974

Saab stopped producing the Draken fighter aircraft, around about the time that it became the first Airfix model I built.

Sweden was also in the middle of changing its constitution. The new arrangements would make the role of recently crowned King Carl XVI Gustav even more ceremonial — so no invading Denmark unless it goes to a vote. 

Olof Palme was Prime Minister. Twelve …

Had a young patient in for the first time last week, accompanied by her mum. They both knew what needed fixed - a top tooth biting inside the lower teeth instead of outside them: a crossbite.

I went through my usual orthodontic assessment for a new patient, measuring this and that, but I also asked “would your teeth stop you smiling for a photo?”

“Yes.”

I could see her mum’s face change tone, and she said “you never said that, you never told me you didn’t smile.”

At the end of the appointment, after she’d left the room her mum said the same thing to …

It was something like a scene from Derry Girls or The Inbetweeners, but last week we actually had a teenage patient phone the practice pretending to be his own father to cancel the appointment he was meant to attend that day.

So…. his parents would think he was taking time …