PILLARS OF THE ORTHODONTIC - SURGICAL COLLABORATION: WHAT EXACTLY WE AIM TO TOGETHER

Since W R Proffitt’s recognition of the fundamental benefits of close surgical-orthodontic collaboration about 50 years ago, it was a constant upgrade and structural build up of the one and only way of correctly manage the complex skeletal maxillo-mandibular deformities - through a joint interdisciplinary orthognathic team work.
In many countries, such teams are the essence of the good medico-dental practice in performing orthognathic treatment per se, but in others (like Bulgaria for example) - the treatment approach to the skeletal maxillofacial and dentoalveolar deformities has been somehow deeply fragmented and both the orthodontists and the surgeons have been following their own way of not only managing patients, but even training on a specialty pathways which have a negligible insight on the interdisciplinary collaboration and the details you need to bear in mind to build up a comprehensive treatment plan.
This lecture will focus on the main aspects of the practical orthognathic collaboration from a surgical point of view and is a part of a more general effort to widely promote joint orthognathic team practices, in areas of Europe and the world that they have not been adopted yet.

Nikolai Yanev, DMD, MD, PhD, FEBOMFS

Dr Nikolay Yanev is an associate professor, consultant maxillofacial / head and neck surgeon and head of Maxillofacial Unit at the UMAH Pirogov hospital, in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

He is a formal Clinical Fellow at the UK’s University College London Hospital and the Royal Derby Hospital between 2012-2015, and in the latter he has also undertaken a Consultant post between 2015-2017.

He has completed his double medical and dental degree and his main maxillofacial specialty training in Sofia, following which, he moved to the UK to subsequently complete 3 subspecialty fellowships – Head and Neck Cancer and Reconstruction, Orthognathic surgery and TMJ surgery and the first 2 clinical directions comprise a major part of his current practice in Sofia.

One of his main objectives after returning to Bulgaria in 2018, has been the establishment of contemporary interdisciplinary orthognathic collaboration and formation of regular joint clinics, alongside an upgrade of both the orthodontics and maxillofacial surgery specialty training programs, particularly in the orthognathic field.

Fields of specialty interest:

Head and neck oncology surgery and reconstruction
Orthognathic Surgery
TMJ Surgery
Complex dentoalveolar surgery
Pain Sciences
Pain Management