Dr. Ramón Mompell
• Dr. Mompell completed his dental studies at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), completing his last year of training at the University of Coimbra in Portugal (UC). He completed various training courses at the University of Sao Paulo (USP).
• Full orthodontic specialty as a resident at the Jiménez Díaz Foundation University Hospital (FJD)and Master’s degree in clinical research at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) in Madrid.
• He obtained his international doctorate at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he is now part of the research team in the Division of Craniofacial Growth and Development, Department of Orthodontics.
• He is now presenting his work in many international conferences. He became invited professor advisory Professor at Ajou University of Seoul and at European University of Valencia.
Dr. Mompell is an orthodontist and clinical speaker for Align Technology/Invisalign. He was posed these questions by Pablo Malo, a journalist at iSanidad.
How has orthodontics evolved with new technologies and digitalization?
Orthodontics is a sector or specialty within dentistry in which we are experiencing a revolution in the use of mechanical and digital technology. But health also demands a scientific demonstration that the protocols we use work. What is happening? That all this new technology that is coming in to serve us and support us is forcing us, so to speak, to be more agile in demonstrating new protocols.
What benefits is digital orthodontics bringing to the daily work in the practice in relation to diagnosis, follow-up and treatment outcome?
On one hand, we have the technology that helps us in diagnosis and supports us in digital planning. On the other hand, it is helping us when it comes to communicating with the patient, who will be able to understand where we want to go in a much more dynamic and much more real way, easier for us. It is no longer enough to tell the new generations the result they will obtain; we have to show it to them. Moreover, we can do it with a precision that today is almost total. Internal communication with the team has also improved because, with the new technologies, we have digitalized the patient.
For me, there is no doubt that anyone who does not have digital tools in his or her clinic is losing the power to adjust the entire treatment, which translates into predictability. In addition, it allows us to be faster, in a matter of seconds we can do what used to take hours. To give an example, taking alginate impressions is not the same as taking them using an oral scanner. On the other hand, because the files are better, we see more things we didn’t see before and we can decide how to proceed accordingly. It also allows us to open the door to remote consultations, thinking of those patients who value their time more and place less value on the face-to-face figure of the dentist.
In what specific areas does Artificial Intelligence (AI) offer the greatest potential in orthodontics?
AI, which is very much in vogue, can help us a lot in giving treatment proposals that we validate. Let me explain: with the Invisalign system, Align Technology has launched a service called Invisalign Personalized Prescription (IPP) plan: I implement or enter all my patient’s files in the computer and with just one click the computer understands and knows, thanks to AI, what I am going to ask for or what I want the final result of my patient to be like. What happens? On many occasions, AI is not 100% effective. In that case, we professionals have to know the traditional prescription process where we used to do everything.
If you don’t know the traditional process you are just sold out to the new technology, you are an orthodontist who doesn’t really know about planning. We hit a button, add new commands and comments, and based on our knowledge and expertise, treatment plans are becoming more and more accurate. Our knowledge is put at the service of all these patients who want a perfect outcome. And I’m not going to say that our service is not important, but I think in the end it’s the great planners, the ones who know about diagnosis and treatment plans, who are going to survive. AI is going to help us make these processes faster and more predictable.
“Digital technology is helping us communicating with the patients, who will be able to understand where we want to go in a much more dynamic and realistic way.”
What types of technology do you use in your practice to perform digital orthodontic treatments?
We have, for example, the intraoral scanner – in my case I use the iTero scanner. I think it is an essential tool in every clinic in the world, because it allows us to digitally capture the patient’s mouth in 3D, which will help us to diagnose, plan and communicate with the patient. Then, on the other hand, technology is adapting to integration with X-rays. CBCT, for example, allows us to capture three-dimensional bone structures and this can be superimposed on the intraoral scanner recordings. One of the big changes is that we can now perform three-dimensional imaging of the patient’s face, with soft tissue and bone in 3D and the results of the intraoral scanner. So we have the patient digitized. The patient comes to my office, I create a digital scan of his whole mouth, and when I want to communicate with my clinical team, the patient does not have to be present.
What are the newest developments in the field of digital orthodontics and where is the future going?
It is a very good question. But the important thing is not how we think the world of orthodontics will be in a few years, but how we would like it to be. I think that the specialty of orthodontics within dentistry is one of the most advanced at the digital level. I do believe that in the future we will be even more efficient in treatment times. The new materials that will emerge associated with the new technology will allow us to be more predictable, which will reduce treatment times, although the biological times will have to be respected, that will not be able to be changed. And I believe that having to see me in the office is going to be less and less important. And we as professionals have to know how to accept that. That does not mean that the patient will not worry about his orthodontic treatment. In short, I personally believe that in the future, treatments will be shorter, more efficient and with fewer appointments.
