Advances in precision medicine portend similar progress in orthodontics and will be increasingly harnessed to achieve customized treatment approaches and enhance treatment efficiencies. Our goal is to provide a background on emerging advances in computer technologies and biomedicine and highlight their current and likely future applications to precision orthodontics. A review of orthodontically relevant technologies and advances in pertinent biological research was undertaken. Innovations in computer hardware and software, and 3D imaging technologies offer the ability for customized treatment and biomechanical planning that will be more fully realized within the next few decades. These technologies combined with 3D printing are already being applied to customized appliance fabrication such as aligners and retainers. The future prospects for custom fabrication of orthodontic brackets of appropriate material properties and smart devices are highly desirable and compelling goals. Within biomedicine, the fundamental understanding of cartilage growth and bone biology is currently being tested in animal models to modify mandibular growth and modulate tooth movement, respectively. Some of these discoveries will ultimately have clinical applications in orthodontics including for growth modification, accelerating orthodontic tooth movement, and enhancing anchorage or retention of teeth. Additional genomic and proteomic information will add to further customization of orthodontic diagnosis and treatments. Over the coming decades, precision orthodontics will continue to benefit from advances in many fields and will require the integration of advances in technology, and biomedical and clinical research to deliver optimal, efficient, safe, and reproducible personalized orthodontic treatment.
Keywords: biomedicine; genetics; precision orthodontics; smart appliances; virtual treatment planning.
© 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.