Ahmet Murat Artuç

We had just completed a rather difficult course of clear aligner treatment for a child patient and we were in the final session. When it was all over her father looked at the result and asked me whether he could have the same treatment. I answered naturally that of course we could assess him as well.

I assumed that was a sentence for another day. Without waiting at all he sat down in the chair his daughter had just left and said we should start on him there and then. He did not even have an appointment.

We come across situations like this more often than you would think. Parents who follow their child through treatment see the change up close, and they also see that the process is easier than they had imagined. Sometimes the change in a child's smile becomes the courage a mother or father needs for the treatment they have been putting off for years.

A patient who was 38 weeks pregnant came to the clinic and said she wanted to start clear aligner treatment. She explained that ever since childhood people around her had told her she should get braces, but that she had never wanted fixed appliances. She had put it off for years; once she learned she could be treated with aligners she decided to begin.

With so little time left before the birth I suggested that we could start afterwards, as it would be more comfortable for her. Her answer was clear: she would have given birth before the aligners even arrived, so I should go ahead. It turned out she had already worked it out and wanted to get through most of the treatment during her six months of maternity leave. The period I was counting as a reason to postpone was, for her, exactly the right moment to begin the treatment she had delayed for years.

And that is how it went. She gave birth while the aligners were being made, then we started treatment and completed it successfully. It reminded me of something: in orthodontics we have to understand not only the teeth but the person in front of us. Sometimes what stands in the way of a treatment postponed for years is not the treatment itself, but the fact that the right alternative for that patient had simply never been put in front of them.

If I think the planned treatment will not bring the patient a real benefit, or that the result to be gained is not worth the effort the process will demand, I prefer not to recommend it.

The aim of orthodontic treatment is not to make small changes to the teeth; it is to contribute meaningfully to oral health, to function or to the aesthetic expectation the patient came with. Sometimes patients focus on very small details that need no treatment, or hold expectations about a method that is not suitable for them. In such cases I explain openly why I am not recommending treatment.

Being technically able to carry out a treatment does not mean it has to be done. If I do not believe the patient will gain a meaningful benefit, I see saying so plainly as part of my professional responsibility.