ABO Sample Case Tx plan vs Objectives

[Chad Carter (Course Director)]

Donna, good thing to question staying on track!

“Retracting incisors” is one of this I can think of as an objective and a treatment plan where I need to consider mechanics. Same thing with “reduce deep bite”. I would be thinking about treatment that “reduces deepbite” to get to my objective of ideal overbite.

Treatment plans in the big view will be “extraction vs. non-extraction” and “surgical vs. non-surgical” but in the plan there will also be considers about management of the skeletal/dental objectives with anchorage / space closing / or vertical. So headgear, TADs, TPAs, LLHAs, Nance with Biteplates …. those things will be part of my rough treatment overview.

Keep on working this tough questions! The test needs laser focus on the questions and you will crush it!

[Nicolas Freda]

Could you please elaborate on when a treatment objective becomes a treatment plan. I understand when a treatment objective (reduce deep bite) influences a treatment plan/mechanic (level arch post-surgery), but when does a treatment objective become a treatment plan? Why wasn’t correct cross-bite or maintain mandibular incisor angle also a treatment plan? Those also require mechanics to accomplish. They are reasonable treatment objectives. Where is the line?

[Chad Carter (Course Director)]

Nicolas, deep thoughts here! Kind of boggles the mind doesn’t it?

I don’t think every sample case shows a “perfect” 100% scenario. That is absolutely why this test is graded by orthodontists and not a computer. There is a lot of flexibility on answering. So treatment objectives we can be very clear on… when it comes to treatment I honestly match up every treatment with an objective. So I may have more than what are put on the sample cases.

Does that sound like a deal to match up a treatment plan (appliance or mechanic) to cover every treatment objective?

[Nicolas Freda]

I’m officially more confused. Matching a treatment plan (mechanic) with each treatment objective makes perfect sense. However, what mechanic is retract upper incisors? I would have assumed that’s a treatment objective? Using this example case, if you wrote level the arch post-surgically (a mechanic and important part of the treatment plan) and assumed that covered reduce deep bite (an objective); you failed that question because you didn’t write retract upper incisors or reduce deep bite. So again, how do you know if something is a treatment plan or a treatment objective? Is it best to just write all four domains on every question. I feel like I’ll run out of time.

[Chad Carter (Course Director)]

Sorry for making it more confusing! We are on good ground with matching up the plan and objectives.

For mechanics we use archwires to retract upper incisors everyday! Spacing in an arch and we slap on 6-6 powerchain then there is retraction [Some of my faculty even made me specify if I would use Frictionless or Sliding Mechanics!] Sometimes we want even more retraction so we bolster anchorage. If you did not want retraction then a maxillary TAD with a T-Bar would be a way to get around it.

Definitely stick to the domains but feel free to list out things a plenty! (I targeted 8-10 items per question just to cover my bases – not every more than 12 or so I think) There may be overlap. Also if you absolutely did not Fail the question by missing “reduce deep bite” or “retract incisors”. These questions are a range of options – it’s not an all or nothing thing. It says that “Fully Proficient” is “5 out of 7 responses”… this is because we all have different ways of accomplishing these goals. So in this case the BIG item is the surgical man advancement. After that point some items overlap to give folks the freedom to answer and describe their treatment methods.

Does this help more? I think you are going to be rock solid because you have the eye for detail.