A One-Day Interdisciplinary Clinical Experience

by ORTHO INSTITUTE® & ORTHO FACE Foundation® in collaboration with The Breathe Institute

Areas of Clinical Exploration

  • Early developmental recognition
  • Medical history and early functional indicators
  • Facial growth and functional adaptation
  • Breathing, posture and systemic compensation
  • TBI Red Flags for Pediatric Sleep-Disordered Breathing
  • TBI Red Flags for Adult Sleep-Disordered Breathing
  • Interdisciplinary screening concepts
  • Referral pathways and collaborative care
  • Clinical cases, Q&A and interdisciplinary discussion

Sanda Pinkerton, COM®, RDHAP

International educator focused on airway development, oral function and interdisciplinary patient care.

Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy Director

Co-Founder, The Breathe Institute — Los Angeles

Dr. Ela Bănică

Focused on early facial growth, functional development, breathing and interdisciplinary clinical care.

Orthodontist

Founder, ORTHO INSTITUTE

Founder, ORTHO FACE Foundation

The Breathe Institute Ambassador for Romania.

Bucharest, Romania
20 June 2026
09:00 – 15:00

Participation intentionally limited.

Who This Experience Is Designed For ?

Designed for interdisciplinary clinicians working at the intersection of:

airway, craniofacial growth, oral function, posture, pediatric development and collaborative care.

Relevant for professionals in:

orthodontics, dentistry, ENT, pediatrics, speech and myofunctional therapy, physiotherapy, osteopathy and allied health disciplines.

Why This Experience Matters ?

Most clinicians do not miss disease.
They miss early dysfunction.

The signs are often visible early — but rarely connected together.

The child who compensates before symptoms appear.
The patient referred from specialist to specialist without coordination.
The clinical signs that are seen, but not always interpreted as part of a larger developmental pattern.

This interdisciplinary clinical experience was created to support:

  • earlier recognition
  • smarter referrals
  • better interdisciplinary communication
  • more coordinated patient-centered care

09:00 – 09:30 - Registration & Welcome

09:30 – 09:50 - Opening Session

Why Early Identification and Assessment Matter
Dr. Ela Bănică & Sanda Pinkerton

10:40 – 11:00 - Coffee Break

09:50 – 10:40 - COMPREHENSIVE INITIAL PATIENT ASSESSMENT AND ANALYSIS

Integrating medical, oral, developmental, functional, postural, respiratory, and adaptive aspects in the early identification of orofacial myofunctional disorders and dysfunctional breathing.
Sanda Pinkerton

11:00 – 11:50 - DEVELOPMENTAL PATTERNS AND EARLY CLINICAL INDICATORS IN PEDIATRIC OROFACIAL MYOFUNCTIONAL DISORDERS

Sanda Pinkerton

12:30 – 13:15 - Lunch Break

11:50 – 12:30 - CRANIOFACIAL GROWTH, OROFACIAL FUNCTION, AND RESPIRATION

Clinical perspectives on structural and functional development.
Dr. Ela Bănică

14:00 – 14:35 - Interdisciplinary screening and the integrated patient pathway

Dr. Ela Bănică & Sanda Pinkerton

14:35 – 15:00 - Clinical cases and final integrative discussion

Dr. Ela Bănică & Sanda Pinkerton

It is about helping clinicians understand earlier and work together better.
Patients do not develop in isolated specialties.
Breathing, facial growth, oral function, posture, sleep, adaptation and compensation are often interconnected.
Yet in daily clinical practice, they are frequently observed separately.
This experience creates space for a more connected clinical conversation.