Ernest M. Jones Memorial Lecture 2026

The Healthy Face: Understanding Growth Patterns and Creating Harmony

Rebecca Bockow, DDS, MS - Board Certified Orthodontist and Periodontist

Lecture

Course Description

The healthy face depends on harmony between the lips, tongue, joints, periodontium, airway, and teeth. When that balance is disrupted, the results are skeletal and dental compensations that influence function, esthetics, and long-term health.

This full-day course explores why we see the malocclusions we see in our practices from early childhood through adulthood and how to design treatment plans that restore harmony and function. Through four interactive segments, participants will review early skeletal growth and development, vertical, anterior/posterior, and transverse discrepancies, and modern interdisciplinary treatment planning for adults, including custom MARPE (expansion) and surgical collaboration.

Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of skeletal growth, airway health, and the role of interdisciplinary collaboration in creating long-term, stable, and beautiful outcomes.

Overall Course Objectives – As a result of attending this course, you will be able to:

Understand how breathing patterns, soft-tissue posture, and function influence skeletal growth.
Diagnose and differentiate vertical, sagittal, and transverse skeletal patterns in growing and adult patients.
Formulate interdisciplinary treatment plans that restore balance and harmony across all ages.
Apply surgical and non-surgical treatment options for growing and non-growing patients.
Integrate airway, esthetic, and functional principles into comprehensive, patient-specific treatment plans.

Course Schedule

8:00am – 8:30am Registration and Continental Breakfast
Start the day with coffee, light refreshments, and networking opportunities.

8:30am – 8:45am Course introduction and announcements

8:45am – 10:00am Segment 1: Growth, Development, and the Foundation of Facial Patterns

Review early skeletal growth and development.
Recognize how dysfunctional habits and compensations lead to skeletal imbalances.
Describe how soft-tissue posture and breathing patterns influence growth.
Identify interdisciplinary strategies for prevention and early intervention.

10:00am – 10:30am Morning break
An opportunity for informal conversations with Dr. Bockow and colleagues.

10:30am – 12:00pm Segment 2: Vertical Growth Patterns: A Fresh Look at the Gummy Smile and the Enigma of the Open Bite

Appreciate factors contributing to gummy smiles and open bites.
Understand compensatory behaviors resulting from vertical skeletal growth patterns.
Differentiate skeletal and dental components of vertical malocclusions.
Explore treatment planning strategies for patients across the age spectrum.
Recognize the interdisciplinary approach to achieving vertical balance and stability.

12:00pm – 1:30pm Lunch break
Optional Alumni Luncheon in Walker Ames Room by reservation, or enjoy a meal at your leisure.

1:30pm – 3:00pm Segment 3: Maxillary Deficiency, Underbites, and Transverse Discrepancies in Growing Patients

Identify diagnostic markers of maxillary and mandibular skeletal discrepancies.
Understand optimal timing and modality selection for orthopedic correction.
Apply interdisciplinary collaboration to harmonize function and facial form.
Utilize 3D planning tools for accurate diagnosis and predictable results.

3:00pm – 3:30pm Afternoon break

3:30pm – 4:00pm Segment 4: Innovations in the Transverse Dimension and Interdisciplinary Management of Complex Malocclusions

Understand how expansion supports periodontal health, occlusal stability, and TMJ function.
Recognize systemic benefits of expansion, including improved nasal breathing and increased space for the eruption of the adult dentition.
Identify diagnostic criteria for transverse discrepancies, especially those recognizable by hygienists and general dentists.
Examine how CAD design, CBCT imaging, and 3D workflows enhance treatment planning and outcomes.

4:00pm – 4:30pm
Q&A with Dr. Bockow
A dedicated session for attendees to ask questions and reflect on the day’s key insights.

4:30pm Adjourn

Instructor

Dr. Rebecca Bockow received her dental degree from the University of Washington School of Dentistry. Upon graduation, Dr. Bockow practiced as a restorative dentist in Seattle, WA. In 2013, she completed her dual training in both Orthodontics and Periodontics from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, where she also earned a Masters in Oral Biology.

Dr. Bockow is a board-certified orthodontist and periodontist. She is a resident faculty member at Spear Education, and lectures to audiences internationally on topics including interdisciplinary treatment planning, airway and sleep disorders, skeletal growth and development, surgical treatment planning, and skeletal expansion with MARPEs.

Dr. Bockow maintains a private practice in Seattle and Bellevue, limited to orthodontics.

Disclosures:

Dr. Bockow discloses that she is a paid consultant for The Aurum Group – a dental lab located in Canada.
The staff of the University of Washington Office of Continuing Dental Education have no relevant financial relationships to disclose.

Course Logistics

DATE:
Friday, March 27, 2026

LOCATION:
University of Washington
Kane Hall, Room 130
Seattle, Washington 98195

TARGET AUDIENCE:
This course is designed for dental practitioners.

TIMES:
Registration and Continental Breakfast: 8:00am – 8:30am
Course: 8:30am – 4:30pm

TUITION:
Until March 25, 2026 (after, $25 more)
$150 for CDE credit*
Complimentary for no CDE credit**

* This fee helps to cover the costs of this event that exceed the available annual funds of the Ernest M. Jones Memorial Lectureship Fund.
** If you plan to attend for no CDE credits, you still need to register.

CREDITS:
7 hours

PARKING:

For parking in the Central Parking Garage directly below Kane Hall, you can pay by smart phone with the PayByPhone app. This course takes place during spring break, so there should be plenty of parking space available.

Parking by the PayByPhone app is $21.00 for each vehicle.

You can also use public transportation – multiple buses and light rail come to campus throughout the day.

OPTIONAL LUNCH:
$25 per person – chicken, fish or vegetarian entrée available – reserve by Friday, March 20, 2026, please – space is limited.

An annual alumni meeting will convene over lunch, but you are welcome to attend the lunch whether you are alumni or not!

CANCELLATION, TRANSFER AND REFUND POLICY:
No refunds will be given for this course. If you must cancel your registration, tuition credit will be given for the course that must be used at a UW CDE course by June 30, 2026; or the registration can be transferred to another person for a $10 processing fee. Cancellations and transfers must be made by 5:00pm on March 25, 2026 to dentalce@uw.edu. After that, no transfers are available.

Conflict of Interest
In accordance with the ADA CERP Standard V., everyone involved in planning or presenting this educational activity will be required to disclose any relevant financial relationships with commercial interests and this information will be made available to participants at the start of the course.

As a continuing education provider, University of Washington Continuing Dental Education is responsible for ensuring the content, quality and scientific integrity of all continuing dental education activities for which credit is provided. The School is also responsible for taking steps to protect against and/or disclose any conflict of interest of the faculty/instructors presenting those courses.

By providing my information, I consent to receive communication via mail, email, fax, and phone from the University of Washington Continuing Dental Education office. The Continuing Dental Education office will not share your information with anyone.

Dental education institutions have an obligation to disseminate new knowledge related to dental practice. In so doing, some presentations may include controversial materials or commercial references. Sponsorship of a continuing education course by the University of Washington does not necessarily imply endorsement of a particular philosophy, procedure, or product by this institution.

The University of Washington Continuing Dental Education cautions continuing dental education participants that there are potential risks of using limited knowledge when incorporating new techniques and procedures into the practice of dentistry, especially when the continuing education course has not provided supervised clinical experience and/or competency tests in the techniques or procedures.

Contact Us

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Local: (206) 543-5448
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Email: dentalce@uw.edu

University of Washington
Continuing Dental Education
Box 357137
Seattle, WA 98195-7137

The University of Washington is an ADA CERP Recognized Provider.
ADA CERP is a service of the American Dental Association to assist dental professionals in identifying quality providers of continuing dental education. ADA CERP does not approve or endorse individual courses or instructors, nor does it imply acceptance of credit hours by boards of dentistry.

This continuing education activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the standards of the ADA Continuing Education Recognition Program (ADA CERP).

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The University of Washington is a member of the Association for Continuing Dental Education.

University of Washington designates this activity for 7 continuing education credits.