BCO key terms

A prioritized inventory of a patient's active diagnoses and functional concerns, each stated specifically enough to justify a treatment objective and to allow measurement of change over time.

Explicit, measurable goals for skeletal, dental, functional, and esthetic outcomes that guide appliance choice and are used later to judge whether treatment succeeded.

The sequenced strategy that converts objectives into mechanics, appointments, and contingencies, including extraction decisions, anchorage requirements, timing, and criteria for changing course.

The standardized data set, including photographs, radiographs, models or scans, and functional examination findings, collected before treatment and repeated when needed to document change.

A line drawing of identified skeletal and dental landmarks on a lateral head radiograph, used to quantify jaw position, incisor inclination, and change with growth or treatment.

A method of staging growth by the shape of cervical vertebral bodies on a lateral cephalogram, used to estimate whether a pubertal growth spurt is impending, active, or finished.

The degree to which a child's skeleton has completed growth, inferred from hand-wrist or cervical vertebral indicators and used to time growth-modifying treatment.

Treatment that changes the direction or amount of facial growth, such as headgear to restrain the maxilla or a functional appliance to advance the mandible, during active growth.

A removable or fixed device that uses muscle forces and mandibular repositioning to influence dental and skeletal relationships, most often in growing patients with Class II malocclusion.

The difference in combined mesiodistal width between the primary canine and molars and their permanent successors in each quadrant, space that can be used or lost during the transition.

The difference between the space available in an arch and the space required by the teeth, usually measured in millimeters and used to decide whether extraction or expansion is needed.

Resistance to unwanted tooth movement, provided by teeth, oral tissues, or skeletal devices, that allows a planned force to move only the intended teeth.

The point in a tooth or group of teeth where a single force produces translation without rotation; its location determines how a force system will move the tooth.

The ratio of applied moment to applied force at the bracket, which predicts whether a tooth will tip, translate, or rotate under a given load.

A force directed along the long axis toward the alveolar bone that moves a tooth apically; it must be light and controlled to avoid root resorption and loss of anchorage.

The resistance to sliding between archwire and bracket or tube, influenced by surface roughness, ligation, and angulation, which reduces the force actually delivered to the tooth.

The planned progression from flexible, round wires to stiffer, rectangular wires, chosen to deliver appropriate force levels as alignment, leveling, and torque control are achieved.

A twisting moment applied to a tooth, often through a rectangular wire in a rectangular slot, used to control labiolingual inclination of incisors and canines.

The use of miniscrews, plates, or other bone-anchored devices to provide absolute resistance to reaction forces, allowing movement of teeth that would otherwise be limited by dental anchorage.

A small temporary implant placed in alveolar or palatal bone to serve as an anchorage point for orthodontic forces, removed after treatment and requiring attention to root proximity and hygiene.

Surgical repositioning of the maxilla, mandible, or both, usually combined with orthodontics, to correct skeletal discrepancies that cannot be resolved by tooth movement alone.

A congenital defect in fusion of the facial processes that leaves a gap in the lip, alveolus, or palate, requiring staged surgical and orthodontic care from infancy through adolescence.

Bone placed into a cleft defect of the alveolar ridge, usually before eruption of the permanent canine, to provide bony support for eruption and to close an oronasal communication.

A presurgical orthopedic technique using a molded plate and nasal stents in infants with cleft lip and palate to approximate alveolar segments and reshape the nasal cartilages before repair.

A group of conditions affecting the temporomandibular joint, masticatory muscles, or both, producing pain, limited or asymmetric movement, and joint sounds that may or may not require treatment.

Pain perceived in the face, mouth, or jaws from dental, musculoskeletal, neuropathic, or referred sources, requiring a systematic history and examination to identify the origin.

Use of a removable occlusal appliance, often a stabilization splint, to reduce masticatory muscle activity and protect the dentition in selected patients with temporomandibular disorders.

The phase after active treatment in which appliances or fixed retainers are used to hold teeth in their corrected positions while periodontal and muscular adaptation occurs.

Loss of achieved tooth position or correction after treatment, caused by periodontal recoil, growth, habits, or inadequate retention, and the main reason retention protocols are individualized.

The long-term maintenance of treatment results, assessed by comparing post-treatment and long-term records and influenced by original malocclusion, growth, and retention.

An index that scores malocclusion from study models and records, producing a weighted score used to measure the severity of a case and the improvement achieved by treatment.

Clinical decision-making that integrates the best available research evidence, clinician expertise, and patient values rather than relying on tradition or anecdote alone.

A structured synthesis of all relevant studies addressing a focused question, using explicit search, selection, and appraisal methods to reduce bias in summarizing evidence.

A study in which participants are randomly assigned to interventions, the design most able to support causal claims about treatment effects when properly conducted and reported.

A patient's voluntary agreement to treatment after receiving and understanding information about diagnosis, options, expected benefits, risks, alternatives, and the consequences of declining.

A foundational standard such as autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, or justice that guides professional decisions when obligations conflict or when a patient's preferences are unclear.

The limit that separates a clinician's professional role from personal or financial interests, protecting patients from exploitation and preserving trust in the therapeutic relationship.

Loss of root structure, often apical, associated with orthodontic force, trauma, or prolonged treatment, monitored by radiographs and considered when planning heavy or lengthy mechanics.

The typical order and timing in which primary and permanent teeth emerge, used to detect deviations such as ectopic eruption, impaction, or space loss during the mixed dentition.

A sagittal discrepancy in which the lower dental arch or mandible is positioned posterior to the upper, often managed by growth modification, extraction, or surgery depending on severity and age.