Just say no to DIY braces

Do Yourself a Favor and Don’t “Do it Yourself Braces” 

By Alan D. Shoopak, D.M.D.

You read that correctly. There are companies out there that are selling products and services that enable unsuspecting patients to “Do it Yourself” or “DIY” braces at home.  As a medical professional with over 30-year years of practice experience, let me be very specific as to WHY this DIY is a very, very bad idea. In a day when apps seem to fix everything with a touch of a smartphone, straightening teeth is not something you want take lightly. There is a reason the average Orthodontist has over 10 years of education and training, in addition to multiple years of real-patient practice. Straightening teeth safely, correctly and effectively takes a special professional—your neighborhood Orthodontist. 

Dr. Shoopak’s Reasons Why DIY Braces is a bad idea: 

-If you move teeth inappropriately you can severely damage the bone and soft tissue that can lead to gum disease and tooth loss. 

-Your home space is not regulated by the Department of Health, nor equipped and maintained by trained medical professionals and technicians to perform the necessary procedures. 

-By law, Certified Orthodontic Technicians aren’t even allowed to place Orthodontic brackets into your mouth without direct supervision of a licensed dentist.  

-Without proper training and real world experience the impression material can be aspirated into the lungs and be lethal. 

-The molds needed to determine what adjustments your teeth might need with the use of braces, wires etc. are only “usable” if they obtain all of the soft tissue and teeth surfaces. Only a trained technician would know what a proper and “usable” impression is. 

-Bad impressions could lead to improvements that will cause an irregular bite, and result in irregular or “uneven wearing of teeth”. This can also affect speech and chewing. 

This is a DIY Braces case that was presented by the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics  (Warning: Graphic Images) http://ajodoblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/editorial-comment_28.html 

About Alan D. Shoopak, D.M.D.

Dr. Shoopak is the founder of Orthodontic Specialists of Florida, with more than 34 offices throughout Florida. Dr. Shoopak attended the University of Tampa where he received his Bachelor of Science degree. He graduated from Tufts School of Dental Medicine in Boston in 1982, and earned his Orthodontic Certificate in 1984. Dr. Shoopak is a member of the American Association of Orthodontists, the Southern Association of Orthodontists and the Florida Association of Orthodontists as well as other local, regional and national Dental Associations. 

The real return from strong business processes and automation

On a regular basis, we discuss the importance and usefulness of good business systems and automated processes in the orthodontic and dental practice.  We talk in general terms about time savings, accuracy and ability to direct people to the most productive tasks, but how does that actually translate into dollars in your pocket?  Lately, as I have spent time with practices that do not utilize these systems versus those that embrace them, I have been absolutely amazed by the dollar value added by implementing technology in the orthodontic practice.

Let me give you a simple example of a stark difference created by automated systems: refunds.

Invisalign: Is it right for my practice?

One question we deal with regularly from clients relates to Invisalign.  Questions arise because the cost for Invisalign cases does not flow in the same way as the cost for a standard treatment case.

As a quick background, Invisalign offers a series of clear retainers to help straighten teeth.  Put in the first retainer and after a period of tooth movement, you pop that retainer out and put the next one in your mouth.  For us, this has proven popular with adult patients who want straighter teeth, but appreciate the aesthetic component of having the clear retainers instead of metal brackets.

We don’t comment on treatment so none of this post relates to the efficacy of treatment under this method.  Rather, the issue at hand is the payment for the Invisalign product. 

The #1 practice killer

On a regular basis, we have seen practices suffer –and sometimes die—because of one of the great practice killers out there: lack of communication.  In fact, it may be the top practice killer that I know of since so many negative situations have no communication or miscommunication at its heart.

In our own practices, this has come up a lot recently.  For example, in Mexico, we made the very difficult decision to close one of our offices.  Since that time, the closure has been an absolute comedy of errors (without the funny part) because at the time we told our staff about the closure, the people involved all went in their own direction and no one spoke up to coordinate the closure.  Some staff showed up at the office as if nothing had been announced.  Some immediately left and some patients were left in the middle – that vast majority of whom were concerned and upset because no one had spoken to them.

Over time, the reasons for poor communication emerge and most often it is linked to fear.  People in key positions are afraid to get sued, afraid to make a mistake, afraid to show weakness or something similar.  On countless occasions, I have had doctors tell me that they do not want to share bad results with the staff because if they do, the staff might quit or rebel.  Then, that would throw the practice into chaos.  

What throws a practice into chaos is no one knowing what is going on.  Then people take action that may or may not be beneficial to the practice.  Here’s one example:

In a practice in Oklahoma, the doctor initiated a promotion to give roses to all of the new female patients and their mothers.  The thought was that the practice would become known around town as the one that gives out roses to their patients and that would become a hook or keystone for that practice.  As you might expect, this promotion was less-than-successful.   Getting roses does not influence people to go to a dental office and the plan was so poorly promoted that hardly anyone knew that it was a promotion.  The doctor didn’t communicate with the manager that the program would have to be shuttered or reworked so the manager placed a bulk, fixed monthly order for roses to save on the per-unit cost.  After some time, the office began to look like a florist shop with all of the roses in there.  Or, a funeral home given the lack of patients from that promotion.

While a number of people have successfully employed the strategy of “ignore it and the problem may go away (or the person with the problem will forget about it),” that doesn’t seem to ever work for the rest of us. In countless situations, no news has not been good news.  It’s helpful to be the initiator and director of communication.  The results will be surprising.

If you ever have any questions about your practice including how to improve communication or correcting a situation caused by a lack of communication, please contact us.

Evaluating a practice management company

We have been away for several months because we took advantage of an opportunity to get deeply involved with a group practice that had some needs for which our services were a good fit.  

Far more interesting are the reasons that the opportunity came about.  This practice had been affiliated with a practice management company (also known as a MSO or DMSO).  At some point in the middle of last year, the management company encountered some financial issues and stopped paying a number of bills.  What started as a delay to pay for what I will term “luxury” type services – services that could be eliminated in difficult times – evolved into failure to pay the most basic of invoices on things like supplies and rent (rent!).  

If you are a practice looking for an organization to handle the business management of your practice, you obviously need to look first at the financial arrangement and time commitment laid out in the contract, but here are some areas of concern/potential red flags:

We've moved!

As part of our effort to improve our service offerings to you, we have partnered with Diversified Practice Solutions to add new solutions and improved pricing for your dental and orthodontic practice.

Please visit us at www.DiversifiedPractice.com for updated content and solutions for your practice.

UPDATE: We haven't moved.  We're going to hang out right here for the time being.

Staff training: Reps, reps and more reps

One of the final staff training tips we mentioned in our post from last month involves ensuring that someone learning a role actually has a chance to perform that function.  

Here, the theory is quite simple and obvious: if you do something 100 times, you should expect to be better at it on the 100^th try than you were on the first.  Unfortunately, the simple theory and ostensibly simple practice becomes difficult to execute because various roadblocks keep popping up.  

Here are some of the most common reasons we hear when we find out that a person doesn’t get the repetitions that he or she need to improve: