'UNBREAKABLE'
The Annual Protrusive Gathering 2026
Optimum Dental 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 with reduced risk of pain without cutting back your clinical output: Learn how to recognize and change 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 using joints and muscles not designed to do so: Learn what to do and not to do with your neck and back, shoulders, arms and hands, legs and feet during treatment to ensure career longevity.
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—without overloading your shoulder, arm and wrist, avoiding 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 more stable, lighter and controlled at the chairside: Apply Alexander Technique principles adapted specifically for dentistry to reduce excessive muscle tension, pressure on joints and transform harmful habitual work postures.
Reduce shoulder, neck and wrist fatigue, and discomfort/pain—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 you learn to use the correct joints and muscles during treatment, there will be 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 shoulders.
Sit and stand with strength, not stiffness: Learn how to maintain optimal work postures whether seated or standing—without “sitting up straight” or locking yourself into rigid positions.
Future-proof your career: Learn to reorganise your body so that it 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 neuromuscular 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 have had back issues before, or know many others in our profession plagued by this. The global incidence of occupational chronic pain in dentistry is alarming.
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, 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.
A highly restorative procedure, the Active Rest, will be demonstrated and taught, to decompress the spine, release excessive muscle tension and pressure on joints.
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 twisting or 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
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 occupational chronic 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
Two Ways to Attend
Not everyone can jump on a train to Heathrow.
Some of you have kids.
Some of you have clinics the next morning.
Some of you simply don’t want the 4am alarm and M25 traffic.
So we're offering you two options.
Option 1: Join Us In Person
If you love the energy of a room full of clinicians who get it…
If you want to watch Anikó move around a real dental chair setup in front of you…
If you want to chat over lunch about that shoulder pain you’ve been ignoring for 3 years…
If you want to try ergonomic chairs and loupes and actually feel the difference…
Then come in person.
You’ll get the full Protrusive Annual Gathering experience — the learning, the networking, the laughs, the “ohhh THAT’S what I’ve been doing wrong” moments.
And if you book during Early Bird (until the 13th of May), you’ll also receive lifetime access to the professionally edited replay — so nothing gets lost after the day ends.
Option 2: Livestream + Lifetime Replay (for Early Bird Ticket Holders)
Or…
You can learn in your hoodie.
From your couch.
With your own lumbar cushion.
We’ll have a professional cameraman capturing the event properly - not just a shaky laptop feed from the back of the room.
You’ll see:
• Close-up demonstrations
• Exactly how Anikó sits, moves, and positions herself
• Chair setup and body positioning
• Slides and visual explanations
You can ask questions during the day through the chat, and they’ll be answered live.
Within 72 hours, you’ll receive the professionally edited lifetime replay. Our team will clean it up, sharpen the footage, and make sure it’s easy to revisit properly.
With the livestream option, you can pause. Rewatch. Replay the extraction positioning section three times if you need to.
Go back to the “arm weight” segment next week when you’re at work thinking, “Wait… how did she do that again?”
How the Livestream Works
• You receive your Zoom link 48 hours before the event
• You can ask questions during the session
• A dedicated WhatsApp Business support line is available on the day
• Replay access arrives within 72 hours
Early Bird Bonus
If you secure your Early Bird In-Person ticket before 13 May, you’ll also receive:
Full Lifetime Access to the Livestream Replay
So even if you attend in person, you can:
- Revisit key demonstrations
- Rewatch posture breakdowns
- Implement properly at your own pace
- Refresh your memory months later
Early commitment = permanent access.
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.
Early bird pricing is available until 13 May, or until all places are filled.
We’d like to thank the partners supporting this event and helping bring the Protrusive community together in person.
