Our Orthodontic Update course ROCKED at the Hard Rock!

Highlights Of Our Case Finishing Ortho Course At The Hard Rock Tulsa

Thank you so much to all who attended and helped to make the weekend a truly special one for us. It was such a pleasure to see so many of our friends from past ortho courses, and also to have the opportunity to meet and make so many new friends too.  Our missions for the weekend were to present an inter-active educational program that was a benefit to our students, to create an enjoyable experience and  have some fun, and to encourage our students to share their experiences and knowledge with each other as we strive to carry on the orthodontic teaching of Big Bob Gerety.  With the goal of achieving these missions in mind, we stepped up to the plate and kept our eye on the ball and swung for the fences and knocked the ball right out of the park!  It was an incredible weekend for us and we can't thank everyone enough for their participation!

We know that to accomplish our goals for the weekend it took the dedication and passion of an absolutely stellar team.  We want to recognize and give huge high-fives to our spectacular team:

Dr Debra Ettle-Resnick

Dr Joseph Schmidbauer

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

John's Dental Lab

Ortho Organizers

Space Maintainer Labs

Straight Wire Seminars

It is so important to us to carry on the orthodontic teachings of Big Bob, who became one of the most respected instructors and clinicians in the industry. The Gerety Orthodontic Education program is based on straight wire mechanics and on the principles and theories developed by Big Bob, and it was so fulfilling for both of us to have two of our students, Dr. Ettle-Resnick and Dr. Schmidbauer, share his teachings with others who have the desire to continue their orthodontic educations.  The topic for this weekend was "Identifying the Particulars of Detailing" 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 for achieving the goals you have established for your orthodontic results.  

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 has had great successes with.  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 so appreciate her dedication and contributions to making this weekend so outstanding for us!

This year we kicked it up a notch and added a whole day of hands-on projects to reinforce the mechanics and techniques that were presented on Friday.  Before each project Kay and Dr Joseph Schmidbauer gave a short lecture on the technique and mechanics and proved again why they are so successful at teaching the Gerety Comprehensive Orthodontic Education Program together in Tulsa.  If you are considering joining a Comprehensive Ortho seminar or know of a colleague that is, their course is one not to miss!  We deeply appreciate Dr Joe's support and enthusiasm for carrying on Big Bob's teachings.

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.

Our weekend at the Hard Rock happened to fall on the 4th anniversary of the launch of the Gerety Orthodontic Seminars website.  We are so glad that we had the opportunity to celebrate our birthday and say thank you to all of our friends who have supported our efforts, who have joined our membership, and who have helped us keep Big Bob's material available online!  We enjoyed our celebration and hope that it was fun for our students, too.  We had special birthday cupcakes, everyone got special party favors that included a set of Maestro brackets, and we had drawings for birthday presents that we gave to our students.  We gave away gift cards to the Hard Rock, Toby Keith's Bar & Grill, iTunes, movies and to social media sites.  Our grand prize was an Apple Ipod Touch!

Congratulations to our winners of the $25 gift cards:

Michael Auld from McAlester, OK

Bryan Bishop from Greenwood, AR

Paul Bishop from Decatur, AL

James Borengasser from Fort Smith, AR

Amy Gonzalez from Kingsville, TX

Christy Harpring from Savannah, GA

Freddy Platt from Tyler,  TX

Gary Smith from Tulsa,  OK

Sarah Stovall from Loves Park,  IL

Blake Vincent from Athens,  TX

Congratulations to our Grand  Prize winner:

Jamison Padgett from Greenville, NC

Thank you to all who attended our Case Finishing ortho course and for all of the kind feedback that we received!

"I always get new info and special tidbits that improve my orthodontic case finishing."

"Great review and great hands-on!"

"Highly recommend."

"I always learn something new and reinforce what I already know.  Very informative as usual!  Thanks so much!"

"Dr Deb and Kay are fantastic teachers, they focus on practical solutions and I can trust everything they teach."

"This class was fantastic!"

"Dr Deb was a wonderful teacher.  She has a very practical approach to ortho.  I like her teaching ability.  Kay and Deb have the same great teaching style."

"Thanks again for having such a practical update course.  It is always good for me as it builds confidence in my 'newly' acquired ortho skills."

"Just wanted to thank you for a great weekend in Tulsa and for all the work that went into the seminar."