By Dr. Ryan Swain
Ortho is Voodoo?!
Most of us don’t learn much about orthodontics in dental school. We are taught how to diagnose malocclusions. Some of us might even get to bend some wires. Beyond this, we are essentially taught how to pick up a referral pad and refer orthodontic patients out of our practices. Does this sound familiar to you?
Because of the limited amount training and knowledge we receive, orthodontics is not a part of most general practices. Dentists tend to think that ortho is complicated and involves a lot of wire bending and a huge inventory of “ortho stuff”. Terms like “voodoo” and “enigma” are often used by General Dentists when referring to ortho. Many Dentists have taken thousands of hours of continuing education and added many new procedures to their practices but ortho is the field that has remained an untapped mystery for most. That is changing fast due to a relatively new orthodontic treatment method called Short Term Orthodontics.
Short Term Orthodontics
If you haven’t already heard about Short Term Orthodontics, it’s time to listen up! Let me introduce you to the fastest growing profit center for General Dentists. Ortho is no longer off limits! Short Term Orthodontics is simple. Clear composite braces and tooth colored wires are used to give adult patients great looking smiles in an average time period of just six months.
The term “braces” has always implied “metal mouth for at least two years”. Short Term Ortho (STO) completely squashes this conventional thinking. The treatment philosophy is very similar to orthodontic treatment with clear aligners. The focus of treatment is to give adult patients great looking smiles by straightening their crooked teeth but not make large changes to the posterior occlusion. However, since STO utilizes clear brackets, tooth movement is much faster and more predictable than orthodontic movement with clear aligners. In fact, Dr. Kent Smith of Irving, TX has reported that his STO cases run three times faster than similar aligner cases done in his office.
The short treatment times are a result of a shift in focus away from complete orthodontic correction and towards solving the patients’ chief cosmetic complaints. With traditional orthodontics, most of the treatment time is spent correcting the angle classification and perfecting root positions. With STO we are letting go of these time consuming goals and focusing on giving patients what they want (a nice smile) in a timeframe that is acceptable to them. “Straight teeth in six months” is an enormously attractive option for both patients and Dentists!
It’s Not Complicated!
At Six Month Smiles, we make it amazingly easy for dentists all over the world to add STO to their practices. Our 2 day hands-on seminars provide Dentists with the knowledge and ability they need to start cases the following Monday…guaranteed! Most dentists that attend have little or no ortho experience. Many are frustrated with the high cost and unpredictable nature of aligner therapy. Some Dentists are looking for something spice up the monotony of bread and butter dentistry while others are looking for a powerful new profit center.
Regardless of the reason that Dentists attend a Six Month Smiles seminar, they all leave with excitement and valuable new knowledge. Our goal is to demystify orthodontics by breaking it down to basics. With a sharp focus on case selection, patient communication treatment steps and marketing, our training provides dentists with all of the information they need to get started with STO and to market it effectively.
One of the aspects of STO treatment that makes getting started especially simple is the use of our Six Month Smiles Patient Tray Kits™. The kits allow for streamlining the entire procedure and greatly simplifying starting cases. The Dentist simply sends PVS impressions and a lab script to the Six Month Smiles lab and the Patient Tray Kit™ is returned. The kit includes all of the orthodontic items that the Dentist needs to treat that particular patient. Some of the items in the kit include: a full set of clear composite brackets, six tooth-colored NiTi wires, orthodontic adhesive and much more.
Indirect Bonding-does it get any easier than this?!
Perhaps the most innovative part of the Patient Tray Kit™ is the Six Month Smiles Indirect Bonding Trays. If you’ve never heard about indirect bonding for ortho, prepare to get excited! Indirect bonding trays are fabricated by the lab. A lab technician will pour the PVS impressions that they receive from the Dentist and then draw bracket placement lines in precise positions on the models. The technician will then use the lines as guides and position the composite brackets in the appropriate positions on the models. Once all the brackets are placed, the technician then constructs a two layer tray that envelopes the brackets. One tray is made per arch being treated. The trays are then removed from the models and inserted in the Patient Tray Kit™ with the other materials (wires, ties, adhesive etc.). The kit is then sent to the Dentist and the case can now be easily and efficiently started.
In essence, the trays make placing the brackets almost as easy as seating bleaching trays. The teeth are etched, rinsed and adhesive is placed. A small amount of flowable composite is extruded onto the brackets in the trays and then the trays are seated. Each bracket is cured for about 3 seconds and then the trays are peeled off. Voila! It’s that simple. The indirect bonding trays greatly reduce the stress of placing brackets and make the bracket placement appointment mostly delegable.
Once the brackets have been placed and the wires are secure, the patient is sent home. Patients return for adjustment appointments once per month. These appointments are relatively simple and usually require about 25 minutes of chair time (mostly assistant time). As mentioned previously, cases are usually finished in about six months. The changes made to the smile can be very dramatic and is tremendously rewarding for everyone involved-Dentist, patient and staff.
Profitable from Day 1
The average fee for STO cases is approximately $4000. The procedure can be very profitable considering that the costs involved for the Dentist are around $500. Consider that most Orthodontists charge around $4000-$5000 for comprehensive orthodontic cases that typically endure for more than two years. The similar fees but significantly shorter treatment times associated with STO make for a powerful profit center.
With the time savings and delegation that the Six Month Smiles Patient Tray Kits™ allow for, hourly production numbers over $1000/hour are easily achieved. Since most of the procedure can be done by assistants, the whole office benefits. Assistants usually enjoy orthodontics and Dentists delight in offering a new and simple procedure. Startup costs are minimal (around $1500 for the needed pliers, tools etc.), especially when compared to the $60,000-$100,000 costs associated with other new profit centers such as CEREC® or Laser Periodontal Treatment.
Our certified Six Month Smiles dentists have reported tremendous success after learning the procedure. It is very typical for a dentist with no ortho experience to leave one of our seminars and immediately add 10-25K to their monthly production. We’ve even had dentists add over $500,000 to their yearly production within the first year of learning STO. The results are truly awe-inspiring.
A “No Brainer”
How many CE courses can you take in two days and leave with the ability to add huge numbers to your production? Well that is exactly that happens at the Six Month Smiles Short Term Orthodontic courses. As Bruce Baird of the Productive Dentist Academy has said, “This is a no-brainer for dentists who are looking to increase their productivity.” The seminars are inexpensive (less than $2500) and the startup costs are insignificant. The technique involves no wire bending and involves a very systematic approach. If you want to decrease stress, heighten production and offer a life changing option to your adult patients, learning STO is the best way to accomplish all of these goals. In this tight economy it is a perfect time to add a straightforward and high dollar procedure to your practice.
Six Month Smiles is devoted to training dentists how to competently provide STO and how to effectively market it and implement it. Orthodontics doesn’t have to be voodoo. In fact, it can be intuitive and commonsensical. Thousands of adults in your community are currently “stuck” living with crooked teeth. We can now help these people while growing our practices rather than ignoring their predicament because we don’t offer orthodontics. The STO train is leaving the station…don’t be left behind!
Dr. Swain is the Clinical Director for Six Month Smiles® as well as the author of Short Term Orthodontics: The Complete Training Manual for General Dentists. Six Month Smiles provides Short Term Orthodontic training, case support, and marketing support for general dentists … www.6MonthSmiles.com.
