Digital Orthodontics: A New Era for Improved Diagnosis and Treatment Options

Dear Colleagues,

The recent introduction of digital tools in orthodontics dramatically changed treatment planning and therapeutic approaches.

The spread of cone beam computer tomography (CBCT) offers a three-dimensional evaluation of malocclusion with a dose reduction exposition for the patient. This aspect enlarged the appropriate indication of 3D computer tomography evaluation in orthodontics, allowing significant improvements in the diagnosis of specific conditions such as impacted teeth, skeletal asymmetries, root resorption conditions, mandibular condyle dysplasia, and severe skeletal malocclusion.

Recently, the introduction of facial scanners and intra-oral scanners has allowed a more precise evaluation of facial and dental arch deformities, improving the evaluation of treatment results in orthodontics and dentofacial deformities treatment of adult and growing patients.

Moreover, the widespread use of intra-oral scanners allows the registration of dentoalveolar anatomy by the acquisition of a 3D model that can be saved as an STL (standard triangle language) file. These files can be processed by CAD (computer-aid design) software to generate a virtual set-up of the occlusion. Virtual set-up represents a virtual correction of the malocclusion and can be used by orthodontists to pre-visualize occlusal treatment objects and plan orthodontic treatment strategies.

Virtual set-up is a fundamental step of orthodontic treatment with clear aligners. Recently, the use of clear aligners to correct malocclusion is becoming very popular especially for adults. Specific CAD software can create intermediate models that represent intermediate steps from the original 3D model of dental arches to the virtual set-up representing the corrected malocclusion. These intermediate models are usually 3D printed, creating physical models that can are used for aligner creation by a thermoforming process performed on the 3D printed models.

Three-dimensional printing technology is used in orthodontics not only during aligner fabrication but also during orthodontic indirect bonding, surgical guide creation for guided orthodontic miniscrew insertion, and during autotransplantation.

The therapeutic options offered by new digital tools need to be scientifically validated and evaluated to quantify the real benefits offered by new technologies. Moreover, new digital tools allow the evaluation of treatment outcomes, which was not possible 10-15 years ago. This Special Issue collection aims to group scientific contributions that evaluate digital tools in contemporary orthodontic diagnosis and treatment.

Dr. Riccardo Nucera
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Oral is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.