StraightSmile Solutions®

The response to my blog post from last week about the future of Align Technology® has been quite overwhelming. Doctors and industry professionals from around the world have been messaging me with words of support and asking if I’ve finally buried the hatchet with Align Technology®. Mostly, everyone wants to know if Joe Hogan called me. I am excited to let you know that he did reach out! Although I am not able to give more information on the details of the call, I did want to give a big “Hi-5” to Align® for being proactive.

So how did this epic beef start?

Let me tell you a little story that I’ve never really shared with my followers.

Most people know I was on the initial team that launched SmileDirectClub. Love me or hate me for this journey, I am proud to have been an integral part of the disruption that brought down a monopoly, fundamentally changed an industry and provided more access to care. Although I haven’t been with SDC since 2016, a part of me will always be with what I helped to create. Heck, even my own 86 year old mother-in-law knows what a clear aligner is now!

After I left SDC in 2016, I was at a crossroads. I knew the orthodontic profession was rapidly sinking and I feel in love with the freedom of being an entrepreneur. I decided to launch a company that wouldn’t compete with SmileDirectClub but would support dentists and industry professionals wanting to learn more about orthodontics through training and educating doctors and teams. I wanted to learn and teach about all kinds of orthodontic products, not just aligners.

Fast forward 3 years: I now have over 20000 followers on my various social channels. When I first started I only had a handful. I wrote a post about Invisalign® being like the brand Kleenex, eg: it’s the brand name of an industry. It was initially meant to be a compliment, but once I published it, the phone calls started coming in from various contacts from Align Technology® threatening me and demanding me to take it down. My own TM (who I won’t name, because ultimately she was a super-nice individual and I think she was set-up by the powers at be) took me out to lunch, effectively told me I was a “nobody” and gave me an ultimatum: either take it down or she would “cut me off” from the support and collaboration we’d had for years. She left the lunch in a fury and stuck me with the bill. Revenge is best served on a cold platter.

The prophecy was fulfilled. For the past 3 years, I’ve had no collaboration from team Align®. I’ve had to get creative to stay educated and I move on to other systems to educate and support my customers and clients.

So yes, I appreciate Mr. Hogan reaching out and attempting to hopefully bury the hatchet.

That’s the end of the story.  I’ve got a few other bullies to tackle in the industry now!

What’s next?  Stay tuned!

Is your Invisalign®, ClearCorrect® or generic, clear aligner treatment as productive as it could be? I recommend that all of my StraightSmile Solutions® clients run this basic test to calculate the efficiency of your orthodontic services:

1. Run a report of the last five orthodontic cases you’ve completed successfully (D8050-D8090). Calculate the collections and average them. Write the number here: _________

2. Calculate the overhead on each case. The overhead includes:

· The sum of lab fees for all the appliances, aligners, refinements, revisions and retention

· The sum of all supplies used

· The sum of the overhead on the chair time throughout the lifetime of the case (from consult to retention) for both doctor and staff chair time.

· Average the overhead on the 5 cases. Write the number here:____________

3. Subtract 2 from 1. Write the number here:______________

If the margin isn’t at least 50% on each case, you aren’t doing it efficiently. You should be profiting at least $1500-$2000 on each case. If you aren’t, stay tuned. I’ll be posting a series of articles over the next few weeks highlighting some tricks and tips about about ways to take back control of the profitability of your orthodontic cases by leveraging technology to reduce chair time and lab fees.

Looking to scale ortho? You can click here to schedule a call: https://calendly.com/straightsmilesolutions/20min

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!

Let’s meet up! Click here for our social links so you can stay up-to-date on future lectures and trade shows to meet our team!

Click here to watch our video

Is your Invisalign®, ClearCorrect® or generic, clear aligner treatment as productive as it could be? I recommend that all of my StraightSmile Solutions® clients run this basic test to calculate the efficiency of your orthodontic services:

1. Run a report of the last five orthodontic cases you’ve completed successfully (D8050-D8090). Calculate the collections and average them. Write the number here: _________

2. Calculate the overhead on each case. The overhead includes:

· The sum of lab fees for all the appliances, aligners, refinements, revisions and retention

· The sum of all supplies used

· The sum of the overhead on the chair time throughout the lifetime of the case (from consult to retention) for both doctor and staff chair time.

· Average the overhead on the 5 cases. Write the number here:____________

3. Subtract 2 from 1. Write the number here:______________

If the margin isn’t at least 50% 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. I’ve also included some of the existing DM® programs and features so you can fully understand the scope of this system.

1. SmileMate®:

This product will be a game-changer in GP (general practice) and DSO orthodontics. You’ll be able to use this tool to take initial diagnostic photos and have the technology screen the complexity of the case. It will prompt you to refer to an orthodontist, as needed. Each doctor can customize the variables. It’s a great way for an orthodontist to work symbiotically with GPs in their area and to increase the rate and value of their referrals.

2. DM Vision®

This is basically like an iOSim/iTero® product, but it will actually simulate the look of aligners with or without attachments (or braces) on the patient’s actual teeth and face. I can see this being a very powerful tool to help the patient pick the right orthodontic product. We’ve all done Invisalign® cases where the patient was mortified to recognize the reality of how incredibly unattractive a smile full of attachments is. It will also replicate the color and morphology of the actual teeth of the patient so it will look very realistic, unlike other options out there on the market. I believe this is a critical took for explaining the R/B/A of each product (risks/benefits/alternatives) and allowing the patient to make the most educated decision.

3. 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.

4. DM Live®

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.

5. 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?

6. Hybrid Treatment

There is nothing new about hybrid treatment but DM® makes the process more streamlined. This is one of the first products on the market that will allow the doctors to transition a case from braces to aligners without that mid-course scan, as long as you had the initial STL file and the weekly AI from DM®. This is a game-changer. The ROI of hybrid treatment is still pretty much an unknown in the GP and DSO arena, but it is the best way to scale your operations and everyone reading this blog can get a head start! Start with a scan and IDB. Use self-ligating braces and an initial 16 NiTi to idealize all the challenging movements like extrusion and rotations over 30 degrees. These mechanics are notoriously difficult to do with aligners. It’s also a great way to open a deep bite and level the arches. Once the wire is passive, as determined by the DM®-AI, you can schedule the patient for debonding and the delivery of the aligners to finish the case.

As a DM® hybrid case, you’d need only three chair side appointments:

1. Initial IDB Scan and records

2. Bonding

3. Debonding/Aligner Delivery (attachments and IPR aren’t likely needed since the difficult movements were already completed in the braces)

Looking to scale ortho? You can click here to schedule a call: https://calendly.com/straightsmilesolutions/20min

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!

Let’s meet up! Click here for our social links so you can stay up-to-date on future lectures and trade shows to meet our team!

Click here to watch our video.

As an orthodontist and dental consultant who has been around the block a few times, most people know me as someone who speaks the truth about the orthodontic industry. I pride myself on throwing punches on where they are due and standing-up for the little guy. Inexplicably, I find myself actually feeling sorry for Align Technology and I wanted to write this blog piece to throw them a small bone.

Joe Hogan, if you’re reading this blog, I truly do like your product and I enjoy having it in my portfolio of services for StraightSmile Solutions®. Nobody holds a candle to the ease of use of your platform or the rapid turn-around times.

There are two main reasons that people doctors are turning away from your product:

1. The culture and snotty attitude of your team

2. How you invoice your lab fee

If I can subscribe to Amazon Prime® yearly and get small shipments on demand, why can’t I pay for my Invisalign® case the same way? The reason why Invisalign® is losing its market share is because of that $1800+ lab fee that has to be paid upfront. Doctors are having to give the average, middle-class patient a personal loan in order to close the case and get it started. The average American doesn’t have $1800 to put down for a deposit. This seems like a no-brainer for Invisalign® to change its billing policies and procedures and allow doctors to start cases with just a set-up fee of $99 and pay for the aligners as you go along. The aligners could be shipped in smaller, more frequent packages on demand and the case could be cancelled at anytime without penalties. A DSO would love this new fee structure because it would allow them to charge the same way they do for braces and would also allow more control over non-compliant patients.

You’re welcome Align Technology®.

Looking to scale ortho? You can click here to schedule a call: https://calendly.com/straightsmilesolutions/20min

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:https://www.youtube.com/straightsmilesolutionsortho to check it out and subscribe!

Let’s meet up! Click https://www.straightsmilesolutions.com/where-is-dr-amanda/media/ for updates on future lectures and trade shows to meet our team!

Click here to watch the video.

The contents of the aligner take-home kit is critically important for your branding for any Invisalign®, ClearCorrect® or Your Own Brand Aligner® case.

The following are the items I suggest in creating a kit:

1. Retractors. You may want to consider an OptraGate™ or single unit retractor instead of dual. Have your patient take photos in the mirror at regular intervals and use Dental Monitoring® or your own HIPPA-Compliant messaging app to review tracking.

2. A Case. Extra bonus if it has a mirror or your branding on it.

3. A flosser. Make sure it fits in the case. It’s very handy.

4. An “outie”. This sample is from Gestenco™.

5. A designated aligner cleaning brush.

6. Chewies

7. Chapstick

8. A nail file for edges

9. Cleaning tablets

10. Take home instructions

If you have questions about orthodontics or launching aligners in your office, please visit StraightSmile Solutions.