3 ms·

Orthodontics is simply “making a retainer” the same way orthopedics is simply “putting screws in a leg”. The difficult part is not the manufacturing, but knowi

Orthodontics is simply “making a retainer” the same way orthopedics is simply “putting screws in a leg”. The difficult part is not the manufacturing, but knowing how to do it properly so you don’t harm the patient.

joe_mamba 7mo ago
>The difficult part is not the manufacturing, but knowing how to do it properly so you don’t harm the patient. And yet I read plenty of horror stories of bad orthodontic results. Ask me how I know. Went to 3 different orthodontist to fix what a bad orthodontist did to me when I was a kid, and each gave me a completely different treatment plan. I feel like being an orthodontist is just eyeballing and patching your way as you go to an acceptable resolution.
- jmalicki 7mo ago
  Given that, shouldn't you be even more concerned about people YOLOing it, if even highly trained orthodontists are regularly screwing this up?
  - joe_mamba 7mo ago
    Absolutely. I'm sure some high-IQ high-functioning autists like John Carmack or Palmer Luckey could fix their teeth at home with some alligners they 3d printed in their garage better than a sloppy orthodontist, but that obviously doesn't scale to gen-pop.
    - jmalicki 7mo ago
      It's not even just 3d printing skill, but understanding the physiology of how the bone and teeth will restructure themselves over time to know the right amount of pressure to apply to encourage that remodeling, without so much pressure to cause damage - there is a huge amount of scientific research there! (That I'm sure some orthodontists probably pay more detailed attention to than others). I don't doubt a high-IQ high functioning autist could self-teach this, but there's a ton of background there.
roughly 7mo ago
As the joke goes, $10 to tighten the bolt, $90 to know which bolt to tighten.
hattmall 7mo ago
Sure, but it's a more or less a formulaic process. There's not on the fly decision making or emergency responses like in orthopaedic surgery or any other surgical design. You make a mold or scan of teeth. Calculate the adjustments, make the retainer, repeat. With a more widely available tooling the process could be even more monitored. i.e. Bi-weekly instead of monthly molds for faster and more precise results.

joe_mamba 7mo ago

>The difficult part is not the manufacturing, but knowing how to do it properly so you don’t harm the patient. And yet I read plenty of horror stories of bad orthodontic results. Ask me how I know. Went to 3 different orthodontist to fix what a bad orthodontist did to me when I was a kid, and each gave me a completely different treatment plan. I feel like being an orthodontist is just eyeballing and patching your way as you go to an acceptable resolution.

jmalicki 7mo ago
Given that, shouldn't you be even more concerned about people YOLOing it, if even highly trained orthodontists are regularly screwing this up?
- joe_mamba 7mo ago
  Absolutely. I'm sure some high-IQ high-functioning autists like John Carmack or Palmer Luckey could fix their teeth at home with some alligners they 3d printed in their garage better than a sloppy orthodontist, but that obviously doesn't scale to gen-pop.
  - jmalicki 7mo ago
    It's not even just 3d printing skill, but understanding the physiology of how the bone and teeth will restructure themselves over time to know the right amount of pressure to apply to encourage that remodeling, without so much pressure to cause damage - there is a huge amount of scientific research there! (That I'm sure some orthodontists probably pay more detailed attention to than others). I don't doubt a high-IQ high functioning autist could self-teach this, but there's a ton of background there.

roughly 7mo ago

As the joke goes, $10 to tighten the bolt, $90 to know which bolt to tighten.

hattmall 7mo ago

Sure, but it's a more or less a formulaic process. There's not on the fly decision making or emergency responses like in orthopaedic surgery or any other surgical design. You make a mold or scan of teeth. Calculate the adjustments, make the retainer, repeat. With a more widely available tooling the process could be even more monitored. i.e. Bi-weekly instead of monthly molds for faster and more precise results.