The AAO has selected Alfred Griffin, DDS, and his company LightForce, as the 2022 Ortho Innovator Award winner.

The American Association of Orthodontists announced that LightForce and its founder and chief executive officer Alfred Griffin, DDS, were the winners of the 2022 Ortho Innovator Award.

LightForce is a digital platform providing orthodontists with customized, 3D-printed tooth-moving tools.

LightForce brackets are manufactured via a proprietary ceramic 3D printing process. Treatment plans are designed within the company’s cloud-based LightPlan software, enabling doctors to control the patient’s case completely.

Griffin and LightForce were selected to receive the 2022 Ortho Innovator Award by the AAO Committee on Technology (CTECH). CTECH evaluates entries by their uniqueness, originality, functionality or feasibility, and value for the orthodontic practice. The committee reviewed 35 entries to this year’s Ortho Innovator competition.

“LightForce’s mission is to apply modern technology to help orthodontists create a bite and smile that is as unique as the patient being treated,” said Griffin. “Our LightPlan software is designed to customize every bracket around a doctor’s treatment plan for each patient and provide full bracket customization. We remove tooth anatomy as a variable for bond strength, allow for placement of brackets anywhere on the clinical crown, and in the process elevate the indirect bonding (IDB) experience.”

Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, with more than 300 employees, LightForce received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for its products in 2019. LightForce was officially launched at the 2019 AAO Annual Session in Los Angeles.

The AAO Ortho Innovator program, now in its fourth year, is part of an ongoing effort to support innovation among orthodontists and partners in the industry. Companies offering new products or services for orthodontic treatment or orthodontic practice management are eligible to enter the competition.

CTECH members will present the Ortho Innovator Award to Griffin at the 2022 AAO Annual Session, May 21-24 in Miami Beach.

Photo: Randy Litzinger