The video captures a round‑table discussion among six dental clinicians (Speakers A‑F) reflecting on their experiences with Bill Hang’s BioBlock orthotropic therapy after attending his 2013 Mini‑Residency. The participants recount initial skepticism or confidence that they already knew orthodontic appliances, only to discover substantial gaps in their understanding once they met Bill. They describe how BioBlock addresses previously undiagnosed oral posture problems, offering a comprehensive, airway‑focused approach that differs from conventional appliances. Clinicians highlight the therapy’s ability to intervene early in children (ages 6‑8) to prevent later‑life issues such as temporomandibular joint dysfunction, sleep apnea, and facial imbalance, emphasizing the importance of incisor advancement and maxillary expansion for both aesthetics and airway health. Bill Hang is praised as an exceptional, approachable teacher who shares real‑world case insights, patient‑selection strategies, and practical troubleshooting, which many participants found lacking in other lectures. The discussion also touches on how the residency reshaped professional identities—turning general dentists into practitioners who can manage cases traditionally referred to orthodontists—and sparked a “rabbit‑hole” desire for continual learning. Overall, the clinicians convey strong enthusiasm for BioBlock’s clinical benefits, its distinct philosophy, and the mentorship they received.
Chapters
Well, I met Bill Hang probably about 3 years ago, 4 years ago in Phoenix, Arizona. And it was recommended to me by John Burford, who I work with in New Zealand, that I should spend some time with this guy and look at doing the mini residency. And I thought at that time, I thought, well, I'll go along and do it. I didn't think there was much more for me to learn. I thought I sort of knew everything. And as soon as I— first time I met Bill, I knew that I didn't know much at all. So, and, you know, the treatment he does is phenomenal, and it was the way forward for me, really.
It was the patients that had poor oral posture that I never diagnosed, and then I found that even though they had straight teeth, there was something missing when they grew up or when they went through a growth spurt. Because I see a lot of kids when they're 7 or 8, and I do my corrections early, and then when you watch them grow, When you have a general practice, you can see them every 6 months and you see some changes in the face and you're just wondering, they have straight teeth, but why do they look so less attractive than when they were when you treated them in Phase 1? And so when I saw Bill, we, we connected the dots and then it seemed like everything made sense. And he had an answer, a common sense answer for all the problems that I was experiencing in my general practice, which I couldn't find answers. from any of the professors or any of the textbooks that I consulted.
Well, I've heard Bill speak at one of our Academy of Craniofacial Pain meetings a few years ago, and the first time I heard him speak, I knew he was talking about something different. Before I had heard him speak, I had been exposed to so many different appliances and have used many different ones, and I had my little bag of tricks of appliances I like to use. And I kind of figured I knew about all appliances. They all have minor design differences, but I figured I understood the concepts behind all of them. But it didn't take me long to realize what Bill was talking about with the BioBlock therapy was very different, and I, I had to learn what it was, and I really wanted to incorporate it into my practice.
I was a newbie. I was, I was wet behind the ears. I was just getting started with dentistry. You know, you come from dental school with this model of Being a molar mechanic, you're there to drill and fill, and somebody has decay, you take care of the decay. And within the first 2 months of me having my license, I was at my first session with Bill. And I have yet to write a referral to an orthodontist. I've tackled these— I've taken on cases I never thought I'd be taking on, and when I talk to my colleagues, realize that not many people are taking them on. And It has just totally redefined the way I saw, the way I thought my dental career would unfold in a very positive way, in a very positive way.
If you don't treat the kids with BioBlock early on, then you end up with these nightmare cases as adults that have the temporomandibular joint problems, they've got the sleep apnea problems, they've got faces out of balance. So you see both ends. You kind of have the beginning of the story seeing the kids in BioBlock that really need it, But we're already seeing the end of the story by the adult patients that we're treating. Things that we've learned about from Bill, how to open the extraction spaces. Why wait till you have such a huge fire to put out? If you can treat them at the earlier stages, you can really change their life, help them live longer in a more kind way of treating them.
I always knew that somehow through my own orthodontic treatment that things weren't quite right. What's great about BioBlock is that it takes into account the airway and the facial proportions. So it's looking at your face and your airway.
First of all, he is the best teacher I have ever encountered on this earth, and I have traveled to different places in North America to learn different— from different lecturers, but Bill is the best. Why? Because he's approachable and he would tell you his real clinical experience, not just in theory, and he will show you why some cases are successful and some are not. And whereas in some— from some lecturers, what I get is why they are always successful and And when I do it, why am I not successful? And I thought the problem is always me, but then Bill revealed that, you know, in the real world, the real patients, you're dealing with some— he basically taught us as a good teacher that why would— how would you select your patients when you are doing the cases, and why some cases work and some don't. And I think that's wonderful. That's what we need, practicing in the real world.
From the beginning, just the way that he approached things, the way he thinks, he's an exceptional practitioner, but he's also an entertaining speaker and dynamic. He can engage you in the way he teaches, and it made sense. You know how you have school teachers that are good teachers and some that are not good teachers, and the ones that are good you can just learn from? So I just keep coming back for more, and every time I hear him, I learn something.
My dad and I always talk about it being a rabbit hole. We— when we took Bill's BioBlock mini residency, it was like falling down a rabbit hole. I mean, all of a sudden you realize how much you, you don't know, and really the ability you have to negatively impact somebody's health if you don't know what you're doing, and really all the positive things you can do if you do know what you're doing. So it just It moves you forward. You want to keep learning more and more and more.
Well, in my practice, I treat a lot of adult orthodontics, TMJ dysfunction patients, and sleep apnea patients. There wasn't a lot, and there isn't a lot of therapies that are available for kids, but we do see kids as early as 6, 8 years old that have clicking joints, clenching and grinding problems, and airway problems. There wasn't a lot of good comprehensive preventative type of based therapies that were available, but that is exactly what BioBlock is, and it's the best available type of a therapy in order to prevent kids from growing up into adult Pain and sleep apnea patients.
You have to undo the structural problems that have resulted from bad posture all their life, and doing that is near impossible with the other techniques that are out there. There are appliances that make you think you're bringing the lower jaw forward, but compared to the BioBlock, they really aren't doing the same thing. So I just saw the results that John Mew got, the results that Bill Hang got, and I thought, oh my gosh, this is— this blows away anything we've done. with any other technique. I've got to learn how to do that.
We, we knew that treating patients early was a good idea. We never had the correct appliances to maximize the aesthetics and the airway the way the BioBlock does. We never advanced the incisors as far as I see that the Phase 1 BioBlock therapy advances the incisors But it is the way to do it after I've seen the research and I've seen the cases being done. You need to do it that way to get the best cosmetic result of the face, the way that we relate the teeth to the face, the way we expand the maxilla and maximize the airway. It's much superior to any other method.
I have to relearn this. For my children. So I can treat my own kids.
