john.8.32

Dear Doctors,

As I enter my tenth year of StraightSmile Solutions, I feel very blessed. I have enjoyed getting to know all the doctors I have consulted with over the past decade. This business has given me the freedom to be BOTH the “present” parent I needed to be and also fall in love with orthodontics again.

This year, I am launching a new program. Did you know dentistry has the HIGHEST rates of suicide of all professions? I’ve concluded that quite a few dentists and healthcare providers have suffered trauma and abuse in their educational and employment journey to be a productive oral-health provider. Subsequently, many feel TRAPPED in this industry because of high-interest, predatory student loans. Realistically, it is NOT possible anymore to make a living wage as a dentist if you have exorbitant student loans without selling your soul for volume or relocating to a very undesirable city away from family and friends.

I am also a survivor of this. Although I am grateful that there have been reforms and perhaps the next generation will not endure what I did, I want others out there to know that I am here for anyone who wants to talk openly. Email me if you want to chat. You can bring JOY back to dentistry again, one smile at a time! All doctors or healthcare professionals are welcome. All we ask is that if you’re helped, you “pay it forward” to someone else once you’re healed.

Truth be told, I’ve realized that the orthodontic industry is essentially “unnecessary” to some degree. If you parent properly from birth, it’s actually quite rare that your child will NEED major orthodontics (e.g., braces), unless there is a severe genetic problem. Of course, “need” is defined by me as having a severe orthodontic oral health problem like AP, vertical or transverse deficiencies, traumatic occlusion, shifts, or impactions of teeth outside third molars.

Proper feeding, diet, and behavioral training is a full-time job for one parent that can’t be outsourced to a school or daycare. The VAST MAJORITY of SEVERE orthodontic problems can be almost completely ELIMINATED if the right steps are taken from BIRTH. It may take a generation or so to see the effects, but if primary care dentists and pediatricians educated parents who were interested, it would dramatically change the oral and systemic health of the next generation. That is my CORE value and that is why I make all my education FREE on my YouTube channel so every single dentist around the world can learn and help their community, one little smile at a time!

There’s always a place for cosmetic dentistry, but I don’t think this should be in-network or a “right” through insurance. Preventive issues should be covered like any other healthcare, but primarily in the Phase 1 age (under age 10). Most of the healthy, preventive Phase 1 interceptive orthodontics are removable, not fixed, and require good parenting and compliance.

Also, I want to apologize and humbly ask for forgiveness to the entire community for being the orthodontist “brain” that launched SDC. I was told by my program director in residency that I “would never succeed in orthodontics” and that braces were the only way to move teeth; Phase 1 was “nonsense” and primary care dentists had no business in orthodontics. Another doctor told me to stop coaching primary care dentists because I was single-handedly “destroying” a profession. I’ve even received more than one death threat over the last twenty years.

For a long time, I stayed silent but I have come to see that silence is not only unhealthy, it is, in my faith, a kind of sin. In Scripture, we are reminded that “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). I believe God has called me to speak truthfully about what I’ve learned, even when it is hard.

Ten years ago, I was naive and trusting—this is often one of the challenges and gifts of a neurodivergent brain. I was told that if I helped launch SDC successfully, this telehealth platform would expand into affordable healthcare for all Americans. I knew nothing about this industry outside being a healer and provider. Once I realized that our core values weren’t aligned, we parted ways after 20 months in early 2016 and I subsequently launched StraightSmile Solutions. Since then, I have vowed to use my orthodontic skills only for the greater good and not support any more venture capitalists in the industry. I am also expanding my understanding of neurodivergence and how it affects us in our careers in dentistry—and how, in the light of my Christian faith, I see every unique brain and ability as part of God’s design for the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12).

Yes, I still charge for my 1:1 orthodontic consulting—my time is valuable and I still have two kids to put through college—but the resources are ALL FREE. Here’s how you access them.

Finally, I want to share something more personal: my faith in Jesus Christ is at the center of all I do. My values as a coach, a doctor, and a mother are rooted in biblical principles of honesty, service, and compassion. I currently worship at NHHK (New Hope Hawaii Kai), and if any of my clients ever visit, I would love to welcome you to join me. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). That truth shapes how I live, love, and serve.

Love,
Amanda