'Short-Face' Patients

Introduction Adisyn was 13 years old when her mom brought her to our office (Fig. 1). Their chief complaint was the very mild crowding of her anterior teeth. On its surface, if our orthodontic diagnosis and treatment plan were strictly “inside” focused, this is an exceptionally simple case—a case that could be easily managed in well under one year of treatment with braces or aligners and some limited Class III elastics or IPR. And given their simple chief complaint, they would likely have been thrilled with the result of that treatment. This is where I’d like to take a short tangent on the distinction between orthodontists as “tooth straighteners” and orthodontic and dentofacial orthopedic specialists. The truth is that most of the general public views us as the former. When they come to our offices for treatment, they see us through that lens and often state their concerns within the same limited scope. Admittedly, it is sometimes much easier to meet them at that same level of concern and simply be tooth straighteners for them. We assume that is all the patient really wants anyway. Even if a more comprehensive diagnosis and treatment plan could pose additional benefits, we may further assume that treatment might be too complicated, expensive, lengthy or otherwise unfavorable enough to turn them off from treatment altogether. They often have no idea what is possible until we show them. This is why great effort in communicating, educating and showing patients what is possible is so vital to how we best serve them.