WESC – Adult Jaw Growth – Don’t Believe Everything You Hear!

This course provides an evidence-based evaluation of the Anterior Growth Guidance Appliance. This appliance was marketed to general dentists as a solution for airway issues, TMJ problems and the resolution of some facial esthetic problems. A closer look at the appliance and its “evidence” that it can successfully grow the adult maxilla and mandible will be undertaken so that the provider considering deployment of this device in his/her practice can make a sound decision on what to expect with treatment outcomes. The device is currently marketed under the ORA (Osseo-Restore Appliance) or the Anterior Remodeling Appliance (ARA) but the principles of design are based on the AGGA appliance.

1. The attendee will be able to determine what is normal growth and what can be evaluated clinically to determine if growth has ceased.

2. The attendee will appreciate why the opening of space in a dental arch does not constitute growth.

3. The use of CBCT imaging and the location of roots within the alveolar processes will be used to demonstrate tooth movement rather than jaw growth

4. Prognosis of roots out of bone will be made apparent after evaluation of the patient’s records.

5. The fallacy of the AGGA (Anterior Growth Guidance Appliance) and the Controlled Arch Braces will be illustrated for the audience.

6. Audience members will enhance their evaluation skills of what will work in orthodontia and what is not supported by scientific evidence in relationship to the AGGA appliance.

Ricky E. Harrell, DMD, MA

Dr. Ricky E. Harrell is a 1979 graduate of the University of Alabama School of Dentistry. After serving as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service in the Navajo Area Indian Health Service for three years, he returned to the University of Alabama and completed his residency in orthodontics in 1984. He was in the private practice of orthodontics in Westminster, CO from 1984-2006. Upon leaving private practice in 2006, he became a commissioned officer in the US Army Reserves, 919th Medical CO (DS) in Aurora, CO and joined the faculty at the University of Colorado. He earned an MA in education from the University of the Pacific in 2014.Dr. Harrell most recently served as program director and professor in the Department of Orthodontics at the Medical University of South Carolina. His clinical teaching interests include temporary anchorage devices, diode laser treatment, the role of extractions in orthodontic treatment, and surgical orthodontics. Dr. Harrell de-commissioned from the US Army Reserves as a Lt. Colonel in the medical corps in August 2016 after 10 years of service in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras and two deployments to Camp Bucca, Iraq, and Bagram Airbase, Afghanistan.

Dr. Harrell is a member of the American Association of Orthodontists (1984) and the Southern Association of Orthodontists (2015). He is also a certified Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics (2010).

When out of the office, he enjoys music, fishing, skiing, hiking, yard work, reading, and spending time with his wife, Melanie, and their family.