Embracing a New Era
October 2-3 marked our 5th Annual Case Finishing Program and what an incredible weekend we had! So many people are responsible for the success of the meeting and we extend our heart felt gratitude to everyone involved. It was such a pleasure to see so many of our friends from past ortho courses as well as the opportunity to meet and make so many new friends too. Our objectives for the weekend were to present an inter-active educational program that was informative and enjoyable for our students, and to have some fun along the way, encouraging our students to share their experiences and knowledge with each other as we strive to carry on the orthodontic teaching of Big Bob Gerety. We achieved each of these goals and had an absolutely remarkable weekend!
In order to accommplish our weekend goals, it took the dedication and passion of an absolutely stellar team. We want to recognize and give huge high-fives to our spectacular group:
Dr Debra Ettle-Resnick
Dr Damon Huffman
Dr Joseph Schmidbauer
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Our mission is to carry on the orthodontic teachings of Big Bob, who is one of the most respected instructors and clinicians in the orthodontic industry. The Gerety Orthodontic Education program is based on straight wire mechanics and on the principles and theories developed by Big Bob. It was very rewarding for three of our long time students to take the podium: Dr. Ettle-Resnick, Dr. Huffman, and Dr. Schmidbauer, each sharing their version of Big Bob's teachings with others who have the desire to continue their orthodontic educations. The topic for this weekend was "Learning Predictable Steps to Case Finishing at the Beginning of the Case" and Kay Gerety kicked off the weekend with a brand new presentation of Big Bob's 7-Steps to Case Finishing. What an amazing job Kay did detailing and explaining each of the steps:
1. Establish the lower arch - Level, Align and Rotate
2. Establish Class I posterior occlusion - Molars and Premolars
3. Begin individual root torque as needed - Cuspid to Cuspid
4. Establish Class I cuspid relationship - Independent of the anterior teeth
5. Anterior retraction, final bite opening and segmental root torquing
6. Reposition brackets, finish IRT, posterior finishing elastics
7. Retention - Upper and Lower
Big Bob established these steps to coincide with the 6-Keys to Optimal Occlusion as prescribed by Dr Larry Andrews. These 7-Steps are the actual treatment mechanics, procedures and sequencing to achieve the 6-Keys that we strive for with each case. Big Bob's 7 Steps to Case Finishing is a systematic, definitive and predictable outline as well as the clinical instructions for achieving the goals you have established for your orthodontic results.
This year we kicked it up a notch and added a whole day of hands-on projects to reinforce the mechanics and techniques that Kay presented. Before each project Kay gave a short lecture on the technique and mechanics and proved again her successful continuation of the Gerety programs. Together, she and Dr. Schmidbauer teach the Gerety Comprehensive Orthodontic Education Program in Tulsa. If you are considering joining a Comprehensive Orthodontic seminar or know of a colleague that is, the Comprehensive course is one not to miss!
Kay did an outstanding and thorough job of explaining Big Bob's case finishing mechanics and setting the stage for Dr. Debra Ettle-Resnick to show how she has applied these steps in her practice. Dr Ettle-Resnick is a multiple recipient of the Robert G. Gerety Case of the Year Award which is presented by the AOS as recognition for the highest level of clinical achievement in orthodontics, and the cases that she shared with us were just phenomenal! Dr Deb took us beyond the 7-Steps and shared with us new techniques and new products that she incorporates. Her presentation was thoroughly researched and documented and she presented outstanding cases that were initially challenging but the outcome of each case was finished to Big Bob's highest standards. We appreciate her dedication and contributions to making this weekend so outstanding for us!
During this weekend we were excited to welcome Dr Damon Huffman as a new member of our lecturing team and he shined in his lecturing debut! Damon took Big Bob Gerety's course in 1994 and incorporated orthodontics into his family dental practice in Houston. Over the last 20 years he has completed over 700 ortho cases following Dr Gerety's straight wire techniques. Damon is currently assisting Kay Gerety and Joe Schmidbauer to present the Robert Gerety Comprehensive Course in Tulsa and is doing an incredible job as the Forum Master of our website. If you haven't visited The Forum yet then you are missing out on tremendous information added by Damon and our students! During his lecturing debut Damon presented a predictable indirect bonding technique that was the talk of the weekend. We welcome Damon to our team!
It is always fulfilling for us when we see our students reaching out to each other and sharing their experiences, their successes, as well as their challenges. We were thrilled to have Dr Joe Schmidbauer join us again and present a couple of cases that he treated using the techniques he learned from Big Bob as one of our students. Joe has a family dental practice in Oregon, OH and is currently teaching the Gerety Comprehensive course in Tulsa with Kay Gerety. Joe did a great job of using his cases to reinforce the concepts that we discussed throughout the weekend.
After class each day we offered small table clinics with the instructors. This was a fun and rewarding experience for all of us! We had the opportunity to work in small groups and spend quality time demonstrating techniques and seeing the cases that our students have in treatment.
Thank you to all who attended our Case Finishing ortho course and for all of the kind feedback that we received!