Toshi’s Blog

From April 2nd to 4th, the World society of Lingual Orthodontics Meeting was held at the Osaka International Convention Center.
 

 
I was invited for this congress as a lecturer of Pre-congress　course and the very last speaker of April 3rd.
 
The opening ceremony was started with a one minute silent prayer to the people killed with Tsunami.
When I imagine the people who lost their family and have never seen them since the earthquake, they nevertheless never give up their lives and believing their families are still alive somewhere, I became so sad and could not stop my tears.
It is hard to imagine the hardships and the horrors that people have endured from the earthquake and the tsunami.
I do not believe I could endure such trauma with such grace as I have seen and I hope the best psychological care will be provided for victims, and a fast recovery from the stricken area will be done.
 
As for the congress, most participants from abroad had canceled their attendance due to the Nuclear power plant accidents.
However, some of them attended the meeting, and whenever they said “Ganbare-Nippon, Makeruna-Nippon” or presented such slides, tears streamed down my cheeks.
 

On April 2nd, the day before the congress, pre-congress　courses were held.
There were speakers who had just a few participants in their classes, however I was fortunate to have around 90 attendants so that the main congress room was used for my course.
 

 
I deeply appreciate all the participants around the world who chose to attend my course.
 

 
My course consisted of three kinds of wire bending and the Key Points Lecture of Lingual Orthodontics.
 

 
These three kinds of wire bending exercises were linked to each other.
The “Breakfast menu” is a training that enhances the wire bending skills in our practice.
 
The second one helps us understand how the posterior section affected by anterior bends, or its opposite, and master how we can bend the rectangular wires precisely, without making any distortions.
 

 
The third one is a clinical exercise, how to bend the closing arch, how to add the Labial Crown Torque in the anterior section.
Using 1725 Beta Titan wire, fabricate a Lingual mushroom　arch, and put the Labial Crown Torque in the anterior area, then to adjust the Gable Bend.
The completed wire was the same wire as I use for Space Closing in my practice.
 
These 3 exercise took much longer than I had expected, so I the lecture of  Key points was done in a hurry.
 
I was afraid that I might get some complaints from attendants because I made the lecture so quick, however, so many doctors came to me and shared their appreciation for such torqueing techniques.
 
Detailed information is not written on this website because to attend the classes is better than reading about them.
I am sorry for any inconvenience that may cause.
Please look forward to the next chance that we may meet.
 

As for the main congress, an ”Incident” that will change the future of Orthodontics in Japan happened.
That is, Dr.Goto, the Professor and Chairman of Aichi　Gakuin University, and many other professors and chairmen attended the Congress.
This is Dr.Inami’s effort, which I really respect along with his great work.　
Outside of Japan, a lot of Professors and Chairmen routinely attend Lingual meetings, however no Japanese Professors or Chairmen had ever attended the Lingual meetings before.
 
There are some reasons for it, but I think the biggest ones are the negative images against Lingual Orthodontics, such as “Lingual orthodontists are money　collectors” or “the poor results of Lingual orthodontics” kept them away from Lingual orthodontics.
 
All Lingual Orthodontists must think about them, and review what you/they did in past days.
Even though she/he has few thousands cases of Lingual but only a few excellent cases, it is quite natural to be treated as above.
 
Therefore, whenever I treat Lingual, I always concentrate every thing be better than Labial treatment, not only for treatment results but also records, diagnosis, treatment process, treatment results, treatment terms, post-treatment stabilities, etc..
 
For my presentation, I emphasized that Lingual is not Fashion, Lingual is not a tool to get more patients, but there are doctors who are practicing Lingual quite seriously, and doing quite excellent work.
I hope all the people in the Congress can understand my opinion and that we can continue a positive dialogue concerning Lingual orthodontics.
 

He is Dr Arima, from Brazil.
I heard that his board cases were the best among the candidates.
 
 
At the congress, Dr.Svitlana Babii asked me if she could visit my Clinic after congress, and I was happy to accept her offer.
 

 
She stayed at my clinic for two days, so that she learned the laboratory procedures of the Hiro Technique.
 

We had a Dinner at the Japanese Kitchen. 
 

Say Vdoka!
 
 


 
The next Lingual meeting will be held on June 28th to July 1st, at Frankfort.  
I hope I will be able to see everyone who attended this WSLO at the next ESLO meeting.