Prof.ssa Simona Tecco

Italy

Prof.ssa Simona Tecco, a graduate of the University G.D’Annunzio, Chieti/Pescara (Italy), received her orthodontic education at the University "Cattolica del Sacro Cuore", Rome (Italy), a Doctorate in Oral Sciences from the University G.D’Annunzio, Chieti/Pescara, and a Doctorate in Physiology of Masticatory Function and Dental Materials from the University of Turin (Italy).

She serves as Associate Professor of Dentistry in the Dental School at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University of Milan, and Scientific Consultant at the I.T.C.C.S. San Raffaele Hospital, Milan.

She teaches primarily in the graduate orthodontic program. She is the course director for the fifth-year course In Orthodontics for dental students.

She also supervises patient care in the I.R.C.C.S. San Raffaele Hospital orthodontic clinic.

Prof. Tecco has a long history of both experimental and clinical research in orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics. She has published over 120 scientific articles in refereed journals, has written, edited, or contributed to 3 books, and has presented courses and lectures in national and international congresses.

Prof. Tecco also has maintained a private orthodontic practice in Pescara since 2000.

  • Abstract

    Mandibular Kinematic Analysis and Clear Aligners in the Treatment of TMDs


    Clear aligner therapy is an innovative treatment that pairs particularly well with a digital workflow that starts with the diagnosis and can involve a multidisciplinary team. This association can be useful in the treatment of dysfunctional patients that suffer from TMDs. 

    Temporomandibular joint disorders (TMDs) have always been the subject of studies due to the difficult management of symptoms and the complex stabilization of the so-called therapeutic position. In this effort, digital technologies open new opportunities for such planning, allowing the clinician to digitally support the diagnosis and verify the stability of the new position from a functional point of view. 

    The lecturers will present a series of examples of how treatment in TMDs patients is 

    handled with a digital workflow, that begins with the preliminary evaluation of the 

    kinematic activity of the mandible through a digital device (Tech in motion™, ModJaw, Villeurbanne, France). They will describe how a personalized treatment for each case is digitally planned on the base of proper kinematic tracings recorded, and intraoral appliances are digitally customized. 

    In complex dental treatments, a preliminary virtual plan (VP) can minimize the probability of errors and increase the predictability of the achieved result. Digital technologies and artificial intelligence open more opportunities for such planning, as they can be applied at the early stages of clinical examination to develop a simultaneous VP of all stages of treatment. 

    They will then show how the challenge lies in finalizing through orthodontics, once the position in which the condyle is in a correct relationship with the disc has been found and there are symptoms, in order to maintain the same position over time without relapses.

    This kind of finalization treatment is performed with clear aligners, gradually "discarding" components of the advancement device so as to get as close as possible to the position sought.

    Thanks to new digital technologies it is now possible to plan the mandibular repositioning that needs to be reached, and each dental movement that needs to be performed in order to achieve an occlusal configuration that allows to keep the condyles and the mandible in that position. It will be explained how is possible to store and transfer information to the technician or company responsible for the production of orthodontic clear aligners and how to manage the appliances during the treatment.

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