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In November 2024, our team joined Glidewell at their beautiful facility in Irvine, CA, for their annual Glidewell Aligners Symposium. This two-day event included presentations by luminaries like Jacqueline Patterson, DDS, Brian Gray, DDS, and our Vice President of General Practitioner Clinical Education, Ben Miraglia, DDS. The sold-out event offered participants an incredible opportunity to learn how to build successful clear aligner practices and covered clinical skills, workflow efficiencies, and much more.
Day 1: Diagnostics, workflows, and complications
The first day of the Symposium kicked off with a warm greeting from Rob Brenneise and Jim Glidewell, CDT, welcoming participants to the event. Once everyone was settled in, Dr. Miraglia was the first to take the stage with sessions to help providers integrate clear aligner therapy into their practices and how to take effective diagnostics. Dr. Miraglia covered a wide range of topics, including approaches to treatment planning, methods for increasing patient conversions, and the general philosophy he uses for his clear aligner cases.
After a short break for lunch and a tour of the impressive Glidewell Clinical Education Center, participants returned for sessions led by Dr. Gray and Dr. Patterson. Dr. Gray began with an in-depth exploration of refinements and adjustments, covering his methodologies for optimizing outcomes with minimal impact on treatment duration. Dr. Gray then addressed common and uncommon complications that may arise during treatment and methods for troubleshooting that he’s found effective.
Following Dr. Gray, Dr. Patterson led an insightful session dedicated to workflow and practice implementation. She had several valuable insights about making clear aligner therapy a seamless part of the dental practice experience for patients and teams alike.
The first day closed with an engaging Q&A session with Dr. Miraglia, Dr. Gray, and Dr. Patterson. Afterward, attendees and panelists joined the Glidewell team at Jim Glidewell’s Mesa Manor for an unforgettable cocktail party and dinner.
Day 2: Getting started, monitoring technology, and more
The second day of the Glidewell Clear Aligners Symposium brought all attendees back together at the Glidewell Clinical Education Center for three more engaging sessions.
Dr. Patterson opened Day 2 with her recommendations for getting started with Glidewell Clear Aligners: Powered by ProMonitoring. She provided a clear roadmap for practices of all sizes and experience levels so they could begin offering clear aligner therapy confidently and efficiently when they returned home.
Following Dr. Patterson, Dr. Miraglia returned to discuss patient monitoring with a focus on using ProMonitoring’s remote monitoring technology to get more oversight at every aligner change. Dr. Miraglia covered how he uses remote monitoring for his clear aligner cases and how to efficiently manage this powerful technology without interfering with existing workflows.
Finally, Dr. Gray closed out the Glidewell Clear Aligners Symposium with an in-depth discussion on Interproximal Reduction (IPR) and attachments. This session focused on methods of efficiently performing IPR and placing attachments, but the real takeaway was how ProMonitoring’s leading aligner technology helps reduce the need for IPR and attachments from the start.
An unforgettable event
It was an honor to join the Glidewell team at the 2024 Glidewell Clear Aligners Symposium. Our team had an incredible time sharing best practices for clear aligner therapy and introducing an engaged group of clinicians to ProMonitoring technology.
The environment at the Glidewell Clinical Education Center was perfect for this intensive CE event, and the attendees were engaged with the material throughout. Team members, new dentists, and dentists with two decades of experience all came away with valuable insights on how to provide excellent care to their patients with Glidewell Clear Aligners: Powered by ProMonitoring. We hope to join the Glidewell team again this year to continue educating general dentists on how to deliver state-of-the-art clear aligner care to their patients.
