Orthodontic Technicians Association

Orthodontic Technicians Association
OTA logo
Formation	1971
Type	professional association
Headquarters	12 Bridewell Place, London EC4V 6AP
Location	United Kingdom
Membership	232 (2010)
Official languages	English
President	Les Joffe
Affiliations	British Orthodontic Society
Website	http://www.orthota.co.uk

The Orthodontic Technicians Association (OTA) is the professional body that represents orthodontic technology specialists in the United Kingdom affiliated with the British Orthodontic Society.

1 Offices
2 History
3 Logo
4 Current activities
5 Membership
6 Publications
7 Awards
8 External links

Offices

The OTA shares the offices of the British Orthodontic Society at 12 Bridewell Place in the City of London, which opened in 2006, and occupy two floors of the Victorian building. The exterior of the building has been restored to its original Victorian style.

History

At the initiative of Bert Aldridge (Great Ormond Street Hospital) and Len Bradshaw King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry, a group of London orthodontic technicians began to hold meetings in 1971 to discuss the regulation of orthodontic technology and the ways in which standards in the profession could be improved. This resulted in the first conference, held in April 1973.

Logo

The OTA logo is circular in shape and depicts the letters OTA with an otter, the mascot of the Orthodontic Technicians Association. The otter is the association's mascot because of the possible pronunciation of OTA as "otter." The perimeter of the logo is encircled with the words "Orthodontic Technicians Association." Previously, the logo was based on the base of a maxillary Angle’s trimmed study model

Current activities

The aims of the association are to encourage the study, promote the highest standards of practice, and advance the knowledge of orthodontic laboratory and clinical techniques for the benefit of the orthodontic team and patient. The OTA advises institutions and individuals on the use of all orthodontic laboratory techniques and the service that is provided by orthodontic technicians.

The association organizes an independent annual meeting, as well as an autumn meeting at the British Orthodontic Conference. OTA is also represented at the biannual Dental Technology Show in the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

Membership

The association has the following grades of membership:

Associate Members: Students and persons supporting the association that do not meet the requirements of full membership.
Members: Persons who hold a current UK General Dental Council registration as a Dental Technician or equivalent.
Licentiates: Members who have shown distinguished ability or originality in the science of orthodontic laboratory techniques, or who have been of service to the orthodontic profession.
Fellows: members or past members recognized either for many years of service to orthodontic technology or distinguished ability or originality in this field.
Honorary Members and Life Members: Any member of long standing who has made a notable contribution to the association’s affairs or to orthodontics, including members who have reached retirement age, but still wish to be involved with the affairs of the Association.
Retired Members
International Members

Publications

Since 1998 the OTA have published conference proceedings to accompany the association's conference, containing full articles relating to the lectures presented at the conference. It is edited by OTA council member John Brown. The association also publishes a quarterly newsletter to keep members up to date with news relating to orthodontic technology.

In addition, the newsletter of the British Orthodontic Society, BOS News, contains four pages of news relating to OTA.

Awards

Together with the British Orthodontic Society, OTA recognizes promising students (British Orthodontic Society Technicians Award) and honours distinguished service of orthodontic technicians (British Orthodontic Society Award to an Orthodontic Technician for Distinguished Service). The British Orthodontic Society Award to an Orthodontic Technician for Distinguished Service is awarded annually to an orthodontic technician who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of orthodontics. The Aldridge Medal for the best lecture given at the conference was launched in 2007.