Dr. Hang graduated number one in the class of 1970 at the University of Illinois Dental School. After two years in the Air Force doing general dentistry, he entered the orthodontic residency program at the University of Minnesota in 1972. After completing that program and obtaining his MSD degree in Orthodontics he was asked to stay and teach at the University of Minnesota. After teaching for a year, he decided private practice was his first love and moved to Vermont to establish an orthodontic practice in 1975.

Dr. Hang practiced traditional orthodontics often using headgears and removing permanent teeth until 1981 when he became dissatisfied with the facial appearance of many of his patients after treatment. He saw that many of his patients finished treatment with weak chins, long faces, thin and recessed lips, gummy smiles, and apparently large noses. After considering getting out of orthodontics altogether, Dr. Hang embarked on a long continuing education odyssey. Since 1981 he has traveled to 49 states and over 30 foreign countries in his quest to produce better balanced faces.

In the process, it became obvious to him that he needed to stop using headgears to push upper teeth back (since upper teeth rarely protrude relative to the rest of the face), needed to dramatically reduce or eliminate the removal of permanent teeth, and needed to treat children far earlier than the traditional time for orthodontics when all the teeth are in at age 12-13. Dr. Hang's practice flourished as people responded favorably to these changes. Hoping to make an impact on the orthodontic profession, he decided to practice in a more esthetically oriented area and moved to California in 1996 to begin another practice.

Dr. Hang emphasizes early recognition and treatment of orthodontic problems and stresses that any child whose lips are apart at rest will likely develop problems. Research over 50 years ago confirmed that crooked teeth and poor jaw growth are environmentally determined. Ultimately it is poor oral posture (jaws not together, tongue not to the roof of the mouth, and lips apart at rest) which causes poor facial balance and crooked teeth. The intermediate factor of an upset in nasal breathing often due to allergy is frequenty at fault. Consequently, Dr. Hang's practice is heavily focused on correcting these problems and not just straightening teeth.

Dr. Hang has developed a convenient screening tool for a parent to check the balance of a child's face even before most orthodontic problems become evident. A simple measurement that a parent can make on a child (even before any permanent teeth are in the mouth) can determine if a consultation is needed. The Interactive FINDER brochure (Facial INDex of Esthetic Relations) containing this measurement tool is available from this website. (Click here to download your own copy.) Dr. Hang highly recommends an examination prior to the eruption of any permanent teeth at age 6 to get the best result.

Since opening Face Focused Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics® in Westlake Village in 1997, Dr. Hang has used no headgears and no bicuspid teeth have been removed on any children for orthodontic purposes. He has patients from throughout Southern California and out of state, as well.

Dr. Hang also has a very large segment of adults who are in treatment, many of whom are doing orthodontics as part of a plan to have their mouths and smiles restored. For some adults who have had teeth removed as part of previous orthodontic treatment the spaces are actually re-opened and the teeth replaced. He has developed a network of general dentists and other specialists to work with on complex adult restoration cases.

While teaching at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Hang did research on preventing tooth eruption problems and had an article published in the Journal of the American Dental Association confirming his ideas. He has shared these ideas with other orthodontists at a meeting of the American Association of Orthodontists.

Dr Hang has guest lectured at the University of California, San Francisco, USC, the Medical College of Virginia, and Harvard University. In addition, he has also lectured to national, state, and local dental groups in the U.S. as well as in Canada, Europe, and Australia. In December 1999 he was featured on the British equivalent of "Sixty Minutes" when Channel 4 in London did a segment entitled "Tooth Troubles" on the effect of orthodontics on facial esthetics. He is currently refining his book, a consumer's guide to orthodontic care, and hopes to have it published in the future.