Journey From 0 % Aligners in 2000 to 95 % Treatment with Aligners in 2023 (My Learning Curve and My Mistakes)

The opening of the 8th Scientific Congress of the German Society for Aligner Orthodontics coincides with my first term as the President of our society. As a student of Charles J. Burstone, I intensively learned and practiced treatment with multi-bracket appliances in the 1980s. Before the year 2000, I used almost 0% aligners, up to more than 95% aligners in the treatment of my patients today. I can report on my first attempts with set-up splints, simple cases of crowding alleviation and mixed treatments with aligners in one jaw and multi-bracket appliances in the other jaw. My learning curve was then so steep that I can now treat very complex cases exclusively with aligners, sometimes in cooperation with larger prosthetic restorations. I would like to report briefly on my experiences during this metamorphosis of my treatment technique at the opening of the congress.