Top AOS Courses You Shouldn’t Miss

Every success requires effort and energy, and becoming a successful orthodontic provider is no exception. If you are looking to make it big in the orthodontic community, you need to put in the time and education to get a grasp of all the challenges and how to overcome them. How can you become successful at orthodontics? Think about taking orthodontic continuing education that has endless benefits for both your career growth and patients. 

The American Orthodontic Society (AOS) offers orthodontic courses for dentists of all levels, but there are definitely a few AOS courses that attendees rave about. If you are interested in getting your orthodontic practice off the ground, consider one or more of the following AOS courses. 

1. The Basic Comprehensive Straight Wire Orthodontics Course

The Basic Comprehensive Straight Wire Course is one of the most popular AOS courses because it combines both didactic and hands-on experience to get your orthodontic career started. In a series of six sessions that take place over many months, you’ll learn from enthusiastic and experienced instructors like Dr. Brad Williams. Instructors at AOS share a goal: to teach general and pediatric dentists how to become competent, successful orthodontic providers. 

The material you learn in the Basic Straight Wire course teaches you everything you need to know about treatment from start to finish, including diagnosis, treatment planning, and record keeping. You will go home feeling motivated to use straight wire orthodontics to treat more than 70% of all your patients’ Class I and II malocclusions. You can learn about more challenging cases in more advanced orthodontic AOS courses, where you get exposure to adjunct appliances, surgery, and implants. 

Dr. Williams is known for being exceptionally supportive of attendees as they start their orthodontic careers. So when you leave the course, you always have a mentor. It is this professional network that has dentists coming back year after year for more education and camaraderie. 

2. The Orthodontic Assistant Training Course

In order for you to be successful at orthodontics, you need your team behind you every step of the way. Think about crown and bridge or dental implant procedures. Can you do the treatment completely independent of an assistant? Maybe, but it is a lot harder on you both time-wise and physically. 

The Orthodontic Assistant Training Course, taught by Susan Coffey, RDA, is beneficial for your staff because it gives them the background knowledge needed to assist you and support your patients. Your patients will feel more confident signing those larger orthodontic treatment plans when your team can answer questions and help guide them throughout treatment. Plus, when you have a cross-trained team, it frees up your time so that you have staff doing administrative work, diagnostic records, and treatment planning. Having a team who can assist you in all areas of your practice is invaluable. Ideally, if one person is out, the next person can jump in so that there is no lost production. 

Throughout the assistant course, your team will learn about orthodontic verbiage and diagnostic record taking, including taking impressions, intraoral photographs, and radiographs. The course objective is to have your team feel ready to assist and get cross-trained in this highly advanced dental speciality. 

3. The Digital Aligner Bootcamp

AOS proudly keeps up with the latest orthodontic trends, including aligner therapy. The Digital Aligner Bootcamp is a perfect course for dentists who want to learn about all orthodontic treatment options. Aligner therapy is popular among adolescents and adults because they are discreet and removable. It is a major practice builder in both pediatric and general dental practices, which is why this course is invaluable.

Throughout the Digital Aligner Bootcamp, Dr. Matthew Standridge offers an orthodontic foundation for all areas of diagnosis and treatments and teaches you how to use digital tools to create orthodontic aligners that actually work. 

Digital technology in dentistry is without a doubt the future of oral health care. Sign up for the Digital Aligner Bootcamp so you can improve your knowledge about creating aligners and increase productivity. The AOS is confident that you’ll be getting the best education because its instructors are passionate about helping general and pediatric dentists who want orthodontic continuing education. 

Making an Impact Through Orthodontics

If you are looking to make an impact in orthodontics, you need to push yourself by getting a solid foundation and then learning all the challenges and troubleshooting from reputable AOS courses. Orthodontics is not a dental specialty that you can learn overnight, but the AOS makes it attainable for general and pediatric dentists looking to become successful, competent orthodontic providers. If you’re ready to introduce orthodontics into your practice and enjoy all the challenges and benefits that come with that, sign up for a course with the AOS today!