Align Technology has awarded a total of $220,000 in new funding to five universities in North America and seven international universities for projects seeking to better understand orthodontic treatment with clear aligners and use of orthodontic scanners.
The new clear aligner therapy research award recipients in North America for 2013:
- Universite de Montreal in Montreal, Quebec, $25,000
- University of Alabama in Birmingham, AL, $25,000
The new clear aligner therapy international research award recipients for 2013:
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Thessaloniki, Greece, $25,000
- Universita degli Studi di Milano in Milan, Italy, $25,000
- University of Seville in Seville, Spain, $25,000
- Sichuan University in Sichuan, China, $25,000
- University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong, China, $25,000
- University of Insubria in Varese, Italy, $25,000
The eight new research study proposals approved for funding in 2013 consist of a comparison of predicted tooth movement of ClinCheckin the middle and at the end of treatment to the actual outcome; a comparison on clinical outcomes of periodontal regeneration of infrabony defect in combining orthodontic treatment after surgery; a study of pain perception; an evaluation on oral health-related quality of life among patients in orthodontic treatments; an analysis of bacteria concentration using different aligner cleaning methods; an evaluation on the duration of treatment, quality of outcomes, and patient satisfaction of combined orthodontic-surgical treatment with Invisalign; a retrospective study analyzing Invisalign treatment outcomes using indices; and a study on the association of aligner therapy with the dramatic reduction in the prevalence of external apical root resorption secondary to orthodontic treatment.
This year, Align also introduced a new scanner research award component to recognize the increasing use of intraoral scanning technology. The following are the scanner award recipients for 2013:
- University of Washington in Seattle, $5,000
- University of Rome Tor Vegata Fatebenefratelli Hospital Department of Orthodontics in Rome, $5,000
- Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine in Boston, $5,000
- University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, $5,000
The four scanner award proposal topics include methods and training techniques for intraoral scanning efficiency; iTero's capability of reproducing the 3D dental anatomy accurately compared with desktop laser scanners; the reliability and accuracy of the intraoral scanner; and the use of 3D extraoral and intraoral imaging as a substitute for cephalometric radiography in orthodontic treatment planning.
