Straight Smile Solutions

click here to watch the video.

Today I had the honor of meeting with Mr. Raphael Pascaud, SVP of Business Development at Align Technology. ® His team has granted me permission to blog to my followers about the new Invisalign GO® product which, after some initial beta testing in Europe, is now being launched globally to general dentists.

I would like to thank Mr. Hogan and Mr. Pascaud for taking the time to listen to my feedback and to tell me more about their new program. Ultimately, their goal is to support the general dentists in their network and to encourage collaboration between orthodontists and general dentists. Since this goal is also one of the core values of StraightSmile Solutions®, it’s great to be in some synergy with their team finally.

In a nutshell, doctors can elect to be a part of the Invisalign GO® program. It’s a separate program than the traditional Invisalign Fundamentals™ course. There are a few key benefits to this program that are not available to traditional Invisalign providers:

1. You’ll be able to receive immediate feedback on cases through the Invisalign® Photo Uploader App. (Note- StraightSmile Solutions® already offers this feedback service to our clients through our own proprietary platform.)

2. If your case is accepted to Invisalign GO®, you’ll receive a customized treatment plan that only involves “green” (predictable) movements.

3. If a case is not accepted to Invisalign GO®, you’ll have the option to refer the case to an orthodontist in your network automatically.

4. Immediately, you’ll be able to toggle the set-up without sending the Clincheck® in for a modification to see the Clincheck® with/without attachments or with/without IPR. That’s four Clinchecks® at the beginning. This saves you at least a week of modifications and quite a lot of time.

If you are interested in opting into Invisalign GO®, please visit check with your TM or call Invisalign to sign-up. The pricepoint is similar to a Lite® pricepoint and is hundreds less than Invisalign Assist.®

StraightSmile Solutions® supports doctors with all orthodontic treatments, including but not limited to functional appliances, braces, hybrid treatment, habits, lab selection, airway and of course- aligners! Our goal is to find you the right solution for your case and your treatment philosophy and budget. We support you with everything you need: case selection, treatment planning, team training, staging, compliance, operations, outcomes, and retention. We also help to train doctors and teams with hands-on courses that are both digital and destination. For more information visit www.straightsmilesolutions.com. Disclaimer: StraightSmile Solutions® is unable to support any direct-to-consumer operations or doctors at this time.

Click here to watch a video from our digital education series.

DIGITAL COURSES- TURNKEY, CUSTOMIZABLE ORTHODONTIC EDUCATION IN-A-BAG™!

As StraightSmile Solutions® celebrates its third anniversary, we are proud to announce our first hands-on course! This is a low-cost, customizable alternative to Six Month Smiles® and Fast Braces®. 

Click here to register DigitalCourseTOS or email us at [email protected] and we’ll send you an electronic version via Docusign® Please complete and return the signed document with your preferences and registration for the course. Following the completion, we will send you an invoice through Stripe® which can be paid by Debit or Credit. Once the payment is processed, we’ll assemble your custom course bag and ship it. Since the bags are totally customized, we appreciate your patience. This can take up to 14 business day for the US and 21 business days for international. We will notify you with the tracking once it’s shipped. Please email us at [email protected] with questions.

The world’s first customizable, digital, orthodontic education. Just pay for what you need!

* Basic Straightwire Mechanics

* IPR

* IntraOral Elastics

* Orthodontic Photography

* Case Selection and Treatment Planning

Customized, learn as you go, on your own time with a built-in feedback and accountability loop for team members. Please email us for details and for a customized proposal. Discounts for group practices.

Click here to watch the video.

I had a disturbing conversation today with Dr.Sherif Kandil (K-Line Europe GmbH) about aligners, aligner fabrication and the environment. I was not aware that neither aligners, nor the models that are utilized to create the aligners are recyclable. I didn’t know that this wasn’t a sustainable manufacturing process and is potentially leaching plastics into the soil and oceans. I encourage those of us the the aligner and orthodontic community to work together as “one team” to develop more efficient and more eco-friendly products for the orthodontic industry and reduce our global thumbprint. Sharif gave me permission to share this this article with my Linkedin followers. If you are interested in joining our mission, please e-mail me for next steps.

Click here to watch the video about SmileSnap.

My inbox is suddenly inundated with inquiries about the concept of the “orthodontic virtual consultation”.

VCs are nothing new for me. I’ve been doing them for years and helping orthodontic offices all over the world learn how to screen their patients more efficiently.

This is NOT DIY/DTC treatment at all. This is simply a tool to open communication with a prospective orthodontic patient more efficiently in a HIPPA-compliant matter.

With SmileSnap® in Beta release this week, I’ve been honored to be chosen to be a Beta Tester. If you want to play with this customizable widget, please visit www.straightsmilesolutions.com

For more information, please sign-up for one of our complimentary webinars by visiting www.straightsmilesolutions.com/media or schedule a complimentary phone call by clicking here.

Click here to watch the DM video.

I posted an article about measuring orthodontic efficiency in your practice. If you haven’t taken my challenge, please click here before you proceed with the rest of the blogs in this series.

If your margin isn’t at least enough on each case, you aren’t doing it efficiently. You should be profiting at least $1500-$2000 on each case. If you aren’t, read on. I’ll be talking about ways to take back control of the profitability of your orthodontic cases by leveraging technology to reduce chair time and lab fees.

I’ve been preaching remote consults and remote aligner check-ins for years with my StraightSmile Solutions® clients. This is not at all DIY or DTC dentistry. It’s actually quite the opposite. It’s just reducing unnecessary chair time and increasing efficiency in your practice.

Dental Monitoring® (DM) is launching a myriad of programs to increase the ROI in your aligner, braces and functional appliance patients. I attended their symposium in Las Vegas this month, and we previewed some of the new products and features that will officially be launched at AAO in May. Today we’ll be focusing on DM AOD®

AOD™ (Appointments on Demand)

Those using DM® most efficiently are using the AOD™ feature. Gone are the time-consuming and often unnecessary, pre-booked orthodontic appointments. AOD™ patients are only scheduled an appointment when determined by the AI through the DM Scan Box. They have weekly, virtual check-ins from home. We all know that if an aligner treatment design or bracket placement is idealized, the cases just track as-planned. Revisions, refinements, mid-course corrections, wire bends, and bracket repositioning are now a thing of the past.

Many speakers at the DM® Symposium said their revision/refinement rate had dropped from 80-90% down to below 10% in their patients who were fully using DM®. This helps your bottom line immensely and also patient satisfaction. Their average aligner case duration also dropped by 50%. This frees up chair time and allows you to see more production patients. Again, I want to circle back to the quiz you did at the beginning of the blog. How much more production could you make from your orthodontic cases if you were more efficient?

If you’d like to learn more about DM AOD®, be sure to visit AAO in Los Angeles in May or connect with the Dental Monitoring® team. You can email me for an introduction.

Looking to scale ortho? You can click here here to schedule a call.

Check out some of the new services we’ve launched in 2019, too! www.straightsmilesolutions.com/services/

Don’t forget to check out our free webinars and digital classes here: https://www.straightsmilesolutions.com/media

Our YouTube site has a ton of great information on all kinds of orthodontics and tip to save money on lab fees, click here to check it out and subscribe!

I posted an article about measuring orthodontic efficiency in your practice. If you haven’t taken my challenge, please click here before you proceed with the rest of the blogs in this series.

If your margin isn’t at least enough on each case, you aren’t doing it efficiently. You should be profiting at least $1500-$2000 on each case. If you aren’t, read on. I’ll be talking about ways to take back control of the profitability of your orthodontic cases by leveraging technology to reduce chair time and lab fees.

I’ve been preaching remote consults and remote aligner check-ins for years with my StraightSmile Solutions® clients. This is not at all DIY or DTC dentistry. It’s actually quite the opposite. It’s just reducing unnecessary chair time and increasing efficiency in your practice.

Dental Monitoring® (DM) is launching a myriad of programs to increase the ROI in your aligner, braces and functional appliance patients. I attended their symposium in Las Vegas this month, and we previewed some of the new products and features that will officially be launched at AAO in May. Today we’ll be focusing on DM Stability®. DM now allows doctors to track not only their aligner patients but also their braces and functional appliance patients with DM®. Patients will scan at home at a regular, predefined frequency of 4-8 days. It will detect everything that could unravel or slow down a case using A.I. (artificial intelligence). You’ll be able to pick from a comprehensive list which has over a hundred different conditions for DM® to screen. Here are just a few:

· aligner unseats

· broken attachments

· poor OH

· inflammation

· passive archwires

· broken brackets

Doctors will receive a daily report on their patients with alerts they can follow-up on with their patients. They can also create a “master monitoring protocol” as a template to personalize communication and preferences. There are turn-key protocols for braces, aligners and phase 1 treatment.

If you’d like to learn more about DM Live®, be sure to visit AAO in Los Angeles in May or connect with the Dental Monitoring® team. You can email me for an introduction.

Looking to scale ortho? You can click here here to schedule a call.

Check out some of the new services we’ve launched in 2019, too! www.straightsmilesolutions.com/services/

Our YouTube site has a ton of great information on all kinds of orthodontics and tip to save money on lab fees, click here to check it out and subscribe!

Introducing the world’s first customizable, hands-on, turnkey, orthodontic digital education in-a-bag experience for both doctors and teams.

Includes one, optional 50 minute session for treatment planning and case selection.

The world’s first customizable, digital, orthodontic education. Just pay for what you need!

* Basic Straightwire Mechanics

* IPR

* IntraOral Elastics

* Orthodontic Photography

Customized, learn as you go, on your own time with a built-in feedback and accountability loop for team members. Please email us for details and for a customized proposal. Discounts for group practices.

To attend our launch webinar, please visit www.straightsmilesolutions.com/media to register.

Registration limited to the first 100 participants.

I am very excited to announce that StraightSmile Solutions® will be collaborating with the best and brightest orthodontist, pediatric dentists, industry professionals and dental labs in the business to present a series of customizable, hands-on GP ortho courses, which will include IDB, straightwire, 3D printing, IOS scanning,  hybrid treatment and Phase 1.

These courses will be held quarterly in Phoenix, Arizona starting November 15th and 16th, 2019. The courses will be limited to 30 doctors and their teams. Unlike any other GP ortho course in the industry, you’ll be working 1:1 with the best and the brightest doctors and labs in the industry.

If you are interested in long-term support, please visit www.straightsmilesolutions.com/services/ to subscribe or visit www.straightsmilesolutions.com/media/ to attend one of our free webinars.

Industry professionals interested in applying to teach? Please email [email protected]

Click here to watch the video.

The retention phase of orthodontic treatment is one of the most important steps but often one of the most overlooked. Near the end of the treatment, you may want to present your patient with their options for retention. These are explained, along with the risks, benefits, and alternatives. There is no “one size fits all” option for retention. There are four basic types of retainers which we will review in this post.

The Essix®-Type Retainer
Essix®-Type is a classification for clear, thermoformed retainers. There are many other brand names within this classification: Zendura®, Invisacryl®, Vivara®. An Essix®-type retainer lasts on average 1-2 years. If your patient bruxes or has parafunction, you may need to replace it every few months. It’s important that patients understand that retainers are for a lifetime so the patient and doctor need to prepare the workflow and costs for proactively replacing broken or worn-out retainers before a relapse occurs. For this reason, it is not uncommon to sell Essix-type® retention in sets.

The Hawley
The Hawley retainer is an old-school, traditional retainer with acrylic in the middle and a metal wire across the front teeth. Hawleys are durable and can last on average 10-20 years. There are many variations of Hawleys, but my favorite is the wrap-around or circumferential Hawley. This design is helpful to balance and close bites after orthodontic treatment, especially in aligner patients. They aren’t as aesthetically pleasing as the Essix®-type and they do need to be worn 24 hours a day initially.

The Fixed Retainer (aka, Permanent Retainer or Lingual Retainer)
There are dozens of types of fixed retainers but the best ones are 3D-printed or custom-bent in a lab. These are metal wires, bars, zirconia or magnets that are glued onto the lingual of the incisors. Hygiene, caries, and breakage are all an issue with these retainers. If they are improperly placed, they can cause the teeth to move so I encourage custom-made, bonded retainers so that they are totally passive when placed.I like to say if you place a bonded retainer, you should plan on “marrying the patient for life” because the liability is always present. Be sure you’ve worked this into your recall flow and have a compliance and breakage contract in place with the patient. If the fixed retainer breaks without the patient’s knowledge, it can go undetected until the next appointment and hence cause the teeth to relapse. Ultimately, unless you had those compliance contracts in place, the dentist is responsible for treating the relapse.
If you have to wear a permanent retainer, the patient really does need to floss daily in order to maintain proper dental hygiene. Pick your patients carefully for bonded retainers to reduce liability and mitigate risks unless you integrate some kind of virtual recall app into your workflow, like Dental Monitoring®.

The Positioner .

Positioners have been around for 50+ years and are the most overlooked but most effective retention solution. They can either be custom or semi-custom and are excellent retention not only in the Phase 1 to Phase 2 period but also long-term, comprehensive retention. Although they are bulky, they are very effective and can only be worn at night. If a minor relapse occurs, the positioner will correct it. Positioners also help to guide unerupted teeth between Phase 1 and Phase 2 (eruptive guidance) and encourage nasal breathing and proper airways.

Looking to scale ortho? You can click here here to schedule a call.

Check out some of the new services we’ve launched in 2019, too! www.straightsmilesolutions.com/services/

Our YouTube site has a ton of great information on all kinds of orthodontics and tip to save money on lab fees, click here to check it out and subscribe!

I posted an article about measuring orthodontic efficiency in your practice. If you haven’t taken my challenge, please click  https://www.straightsmilesolutions.com/blog/challenge/ before you proceed with the rest of the blogs in this series.

If your margin isn’t at least enough on each case, you aren’t doing it efficiently. You should be profiting at least $1500-$2000 on each case. If you aren’t, read on. I’ll be talking about ways to take back control of the profitability of your orthodontic cases by leveraging technology to reduce chair time and lab fees.

I’ve been preaching remote consults and remote aligner check-ins for years with my StraightSmile Solutions® clients. This is not at all DIY or DTC dentistry. It’s actually quite the opposite. It’s just reducing unnecessary chair time and increasing efficiency in your practice.

Dental Monitoring® (DM) is launching a myriad of programs to increase the ROI in your aligner, braces and functional appliance patients. I attended their symposium in Las Vegas this month, and we previewed some of the new products and features that will officially be launched at AAO in May. Today we’ll be focusing on DM Stability®.

This is a new retention-for–life program that is being supported by DM®. Retention is low-hanging fruit for doctors and the opportunity is often dismissed and patients are neglected. Doctors can pay extra for this optional program, but it creates an additional revenue stream. You’ll be able to use the existing DM® services to monitor your patient during the retention period and intervene as soon as the retention starts to need intervention using the app and the doctor dashboard. Doctors may or may not access an additional fee to the service for their patient.

If you’d like to learn more about DM Vision®, be sure to visit AAO in Los Angeles in May or connect with the Dental Monitoring® team. You can email me for an introduction.

Looking to scale ortho? You can click here here to schedule a call.

Check out some of the new services we’ve launched in 2019, too! www.straightsmilesolutions.com/services/

Our YouTube site has a ton of great information on all kinds of orthodontics and tip to save money on lab fees, click  here to check it out and subscribe!