I had an amazing conversation with my extremely impressive colleague, Dr. Steffen Decker. Steffen is a prominent orthodontist in the UK who started his career treating adults with Invisalign and lingual braces and has since developed a passion for helping younger patients with interceptive orthodontic treatment. We discuss:

• How Dr. Soroush Zahgi inspired Steffen to focus more on interceptive treatment and airway.
• How restorative dentists such as Dr. John Kois and Steffen’s wife helped Steffen understand the detrimental long-term impacts of an extraction/retraction approach to orthodontic treatment.
• The role of an oral habit in the aberrant craniofacial growth and development of one of Steffen’s twin sons.
• The importance of a thorough diagnostic process, including listening to your patients, in order to determine the etiology of the presenting malocclusion.
• Why so many orthodontists remain opposed to treating patients earlier/younger.
• A recent debate I had with a colleague on social media about determining and treating the etiology of malocclusion.
• The difference between left-brained and right-brained individuals, and how that can determine who is more open to changing their approach to patient care.
• The logistical challenges associated with having randomized controlled studies on the benefits of early treatment, especially as it pertains to airway.
• Why CPAP was originally approved based upon a study with only 5 patients, yet studies showing the benefits of expansion on airway of hundreds of patients are deemed insufficient evidence of its efficacy.
• The influence of environmental factors on the development of malocclusion and the fallacy that the etiology of malocclusion is completely genetic.
• Why Steffen has parents film their child sleeping with a baby monitor and send it to him.
• That once you see and feel what you can do to change the lives of younger children, you will never be the same regarding your approach to early treatment.
• The need for all those who have had the privilege of changing a patient’s life through early treatment to share that message with others.

LINKS:

-To contact Dr. Decker: Steffen@theorthodonticspecialist.co.uk

-Tuncay & Schiffman article: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11794785_Maxillary_expansion_A_meta_analysis

-Papadopolous Review of Tuncay & Shiffman article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3111736/

-Link to episode w/parents of a 6yo patient Dr. Mike treated: https://youtu.be/wJFP_9NFnv0?si=0QhYGPAQ3HV0G2dn

-To contact Dr. Mike: DrMike@TheOrthoCoach.com