Expansion Unlocked: Complex Cases. Clear Strategies. Confident Treatment

“I’ve taken the courses. I know the appliances. But when the case gets complicated, I still don’t know what to do.”

You're already placing expanders. The straightforward cases have stopped scaring you.

Then one walks in that doesn't fit. The transverse clearly needs correcting, but teeth are missing and there's nothing where you'd normally anchor. Or the molars need distalizing first and you're not sure what order to do anything in. Or there's an ectopic molar and you genuinely do not know what to attach the appliance to.

Those are the cases this course is about, including the complex children and adolescent cases that most expander courses skate past.

Expansion Unlocked: Complex Cases. Clear Strategies. Confident Treatment is a once-only, two-day course on expander treatment planning for complex cases with Dr. Courtney Lavigne and Dr. Tracey Nguyen. It is for clinicians already doing early expansion in their practice who want to take it further and troubleshoot the more complex cases. Not an introduction. Not a review of what you already do well. Two days of real cases: what works, what doesn't, what we would have done differently, and what went seamlessly, so you can look at the next hard case and know how to manage it.

People have asked for this for years. We are finally delivering it, and we are not planning to run it again.

What we'll work through

• Correcting the transverse when teeth are missing and conventional anchorage isn't available
• Distalizing molars: when it belongs in the sequence, and how it changes your expander plan
• Ectopic molars, and what to attach an appliance to when the obvious answer isn't there
• Bone-borne versus tooth-borne: where the current thinking actually sits on age and indication in younger patients
• Real appliance designs, real treatment timing, and the results that followed

How the two days run

Roughly two hours on diagnostic review to get everyone working from the same framework. Everything after that is cases. Actual patients, actual records, the reasoning behind each design decision, and what happened.

Seats are capped at 30 so this stays a conversation rather than a lecture.

Who this is for

Practitioners already placing expanders / doing early expansion in their own practice. This is a firm prerequisite, not a suggestion. We start where most expander courses finish, and if you haven't placed one yet you will spend two days underwater. If that's you, get in touch and we'll point you toward the right starting place.

Continuing education

14 CE credits. AGD PACE approved.

Your instructors

Dr. Courtney Lavigne, DMD is a board-certified orthodontist and an Accredited Member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, a distinction held by fewer than 1% of dentists worldwide. She practiced restorative and cosmetic dentistry for ten years before orthodontics, is former visiting faculty at Spear Education, and lectures nationally and internationally on airway orthodontics and early intervention. She founded Anchor Academy and practices at Anchor Orthodontics in Providence and Wakefield, Rhode Island.

Dr. Tracey Nguyen maintains a private practice 30 minutes outside of Washington, DC in Northern Virginia. She is known for her social media presence, literature reviews and support for the dental profession to intervene in managing sleep related breathing disorders. Named one of the "Top 25 Women in Dentistry," Dr. Nguyen's passion is comprehensive restorative and cosmetic dentistry. She is accredited by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, a visiting faculty mentor for the Airway Pros Workshop at Spear Education, a scientific advisor for the Kois Center, a Diplomate of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, a co-founder of ASAP Pathway, an educational platform on airway management and the founder of Nguyen Education, a dental mentorship program.

Both are Accredited Members of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, an unusual pairing for a course on expander mechanics.

Details

• Dates: Friday December 11 and Saturday December 12, 2026
• Time: 8:00am to 4:00pm both days
• Location: The Conference Room in the Amenities Center, 11790 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA 20191
• Seats: capped at 30
• CE: 14 credits, AGD PACE approved
• Pricing: $2,950 through September 30, 2026; $3,250 after

Cancellation policy

• 60 days or more before the first day of the course (written notice): full refund minus a $500 administrative fee.
• 30 to 59 days (written notice): 50% of the course registration may be transferred to a future live course designated by the attendee.
• 29 days or less: no refund or credit, due to expenses already incurred in planning for the course.

Please note: we're not planning to run this one again. It exists because people kept asking for it, and the intention is that this is the only time it's offered.