'UNBREAKABLE'
The Annual Protrusive Gathering 2026
Optimum Posture with
Dr Anikó Ball (from Australia)
Saturday 13th June 2026 | Sheraton Skyline Hotel, London Heathrow
6 Hours Verifiable CPD
Calling ALL Dentists, Hygienists, Therapists and Nurses - THIS is the event your body has needed! This is a RARE event dedicated to Dental Ergonomics, with the world's most renowned expert on Dental Ergonomics.
What You'll Gain From
UNBREAKABLE
Work pain-free without cutting back your clinical output: Learn how to eliminate the hidden postural habits that silently destroy your neck, shoulders and lower back—without changing your dentistry or slowing you down.
Stop “powering through” dentistry with fragile joints: Discover how to organise your body so dentistry is driven by your hips and legs, not overloaded shoulders, elbows and wrists.
Extract teeth without wrecking your spine: Master extraction techniques that use your body’s largest, strongest muscle groups, allowing you to generate force safely and efficiently—no twisting, bracing or spinal compression.
Prevent cumulative trauma before it ends your career early: Learn how tiny daily postural errors add up over years—and how to neutralise them before they become chronic musculoskeletal disorders.
Feel instantly more stable, lighter and controlled at the chairside: Apply Alexander Technique principles adapted specifically for dentistry to reduce tension, improve balance and increase precision during procedures.
Reduce shoulder, neck and wrist fatigue—especially on long clinical days: Learn how to correctly manage the weight of your arms, instead of unconsciously holding them up using overworked neck and shoulder muscles.
Make dentistry feel easier, not harder: When your postural system does the work, your movement muscles can relax—resulting in less effort, less strain and more endurance.
Improve fine motor control without gripping or bracing: Use finger rests and positioning properly to increase stability and accuracy—without overloading your hands, forearms and elbows.
Sit and stand with strength, not stiffness: Learn how to maintain optimal posture whether seated or standing—without “sitting up straight” or locking yourself into rigid positions.
Protect your body without expensive ergonomic equipment: This is not about buying stools, loupes or gadgets—it’s about how you use your body, every single day.
Future-proof your career: Build a body that supports decades of dentistry—not one that forces early retirement, reduced hours or chronic pain management.
Finally understand why ergonomics advice hasn’t worked for you before: This course explains why generic posture tips fail—and replaces them with principles your nervous system actually understands and adopts. This is the APPLICATION of the Alexander Technique in Dentistry!
If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’ve had back issues before, or know many others in our profession plagued by this.
Your neck by Wednesday. Your lower back after a full day of patients. That spot between your shoulder blades that never quite releases, no matter how much you stretch.
And you’ve probably normalised it.
You tell yourself it’s just part of the job. That dentistry is hard on the body. That everyone feels like this. That it’s the price of admission for a career you otherwise enjoy.
But what's actually happening is, your body is quietly keeping score.
Every day you lean forward in that same position, every patient where you twist just a bit too far, every time you brace through your shoulders to stay steady - it's all adding up.
Sure. Right now, it’s manageable.
You take the odd ibuprofen. You book a massage or Pilates class. Maybe you’ve seen a physio a few times. You feel better for a bit… and then you're back at work doing exactly what you were doing before because nobody ever showed you WHAT you were doing wrong!
This is not a sustainable way to practice dentistry, my friend.
Dental school (just about) taught us how to diagnose, plan, prep and restore clinical situations.
What we don’t learn is HOW to use our bodies safely while doing all of that, day after day… year after year.
Most of us figure out our working posture by trial and error. We copy what we see around us. We adjust the chair, lean in a bit closer, twist slightly to get better access, and over time those positions become automatic. No one ever really stops us and says, “This might work today, but it won’t work for the next 20 years.”
So habits form. Leaning forward for long periods. Collapsing through one side of the body. Twisting instead of moving. Locking joints because it feels stable in the moment.
Then you add the mental load of dentistry. Working with anxious patients. Managing time pressure. Trying to stay calm and precise when the person in the chair is tense or fearful. The body responds by bracing, holding, and tightening.
This is what happens when smart, capable people are never given better tools.
About This Workshop
An AI simulation of the event!
Just to be clear, this is not a yoga day.
It’s not a vague wellness talk.
And it’s definitely not about being told to “sit up straight”.
This is a highly practical, demonstration-heavy course.
You'll Discover How To:
Sit and work at the dental chair without compressing your spine
Position patients properly so you don’t have to contort
Move efficiently instead of twisting and locking joints
Reduce neck, shoulder and lower back strain immediately
Understand which joints are designed to bend — and which are not
Ultimately, you’ll learn how to protect your body so you can still be doing this work in ten, twenty, even thirty years, without pain being the thing that decides when you have to stop.
But This is More
Than a Workshop
It’s the Protrusive Annual Gathering!
Once a year, we get everyone in the same room for something that actually matters to people who do this job day in, day out.
This year, we’re focusing on the one thing that quietly limits more dental careers than clinical skill ever will: the body you rely on to do the work.
And yes — it’s a chance to step out from behind the screen, see familiar virtual faces in real life, meet new ones, and spend a day learning together without rushing off between patients.
If you’ve ever wanted to experience Protrusive properly, in person, this is that day!
Side note: If you’re new to Protrusive, think of it as a home for the nicest and geekiest dentists worldwide.
If you care deeply about doing things properly, love understanding the “why” behind the work, and want to fall back in love with dentistry, welcome, welcome!
Meet Your Instructor:
Dr. Anikó Ball
Dr. Anikó Ball has practised dentistry for over thirty years and lived with chronic neck, back and shoulder pain herself. Like many of us, she was treated for symptoms without anyone identifying the real cause or connecting it properly to her work.
Everything changed when she learned the Inner Ergonomic principles of the Alexander Technique. By recognising and changing harmful work postures, she recovered.
Instead of keeping that knowledge to herself, she went on to complete over 1600 hours of formal training and founded Optimum Dental Posture, with one clear mission: to stop dental professionals suffering needlessly.
This work is evidence-based. The Alexander Technique has been clinically proven for back pain with NHS-funded gold standard randomised trials, published in the British Medical Journal, and is recommended by backcare.org.uk
Dr. Anikó Ball has spent decades helping dental professionals address the real cause of their pain, not just managing symptoms.
On the day, you’ll see her demonstrate everything live using a proper dental chair setup.
There will be a camera projecting onto a large screen so you can clearly see what she’s doing, how she’s sitting, how she’s moving, and how she’s positioning both herself and the patient.
It’s much easier to understand when you can actually watch someone do it properly, rather than trying to translate abstract concepts into your own surgery later.
There will be an opportunity to try ergonomic chairs and loupes, with guidance on how they affect posture and movement. A small number of special on-the-day offers will be available for those who are interested.
You’ll also have time to connect with other dentists, hygienists and therapists who understand the physical realities of clinical work.
After This Workshop,
You’ll Leave With:
The relief of understanding why your body hurts at work, instead of guessing or blaming yourself
A clear sense of what to stop doing immediately because it’s quietly making things worse
Simple changes that make a noticeable difference to how you feel at the end of a full clinical day
More physical ease during treatments, especially longer or more demanding appointments
Less tension carried home after work, both physically and mentally
Confidence that you’re no longer ignoring something that could shorten your career
A renewed sense of control over your long-term career and health
Get 6 Hours of Verifiable CPD
London - Saturday 13th June 2026 | Sheraton Skyline Hotel, Heathrow (Includes Hot Buffet Lunch and Networking)
You only get one body.
Dentistry shouldn’t be the thing that breaks it.
If you want a long, enjoyable career, this day really could change everything.
Got a question we haven't answered? Please email manager@protrusive.co.uk.