Expand your practice with clear aligner therapy

Demand for clear aligner therapy is growing as an alternative to as well as a “finishing tool” for traditional orthodontia. Clear aligner therapy, the orthodontic treatment where a series of clear removable aligners gradually moves the teeth to improve aesthetics and bite function, is in fact becoming a hot growth area for doctors looking to add services and grow their practices.

Since patients have an ongoing relationship with their doctor, it makes sense to add services where it can help patients. Here’s how a growing number of doctors are expanding their dental practices and profits with clear aligner therapy.

Earn what you’re worth

While doctors are medical professionals, they’re also business professionals. That means adding services where they make sense. It also means keeping a sharp eye on the bottom line and charging enough to cover overhead and up-front costs. Since clear aligner therapy isn’t an exact science, doctors must leave enough profit margin to cover unexpected treatment challenges and potential re-work.

How much should doctors charge patients for clear aligner therapy? A good rule of thumb is to charge a minimum of 4 times the lab fee, which is typical of most dental services.

To hold those profit margins, however, it helps to minimize lab fees. Toward this end, it’s best to work with a lab with no refinement, final retainer, or midcourse correction fees when possible.

“With ample margins, I can focus on providing the best patient care,” says Thomas Swonke, DDS, a dentist with two practices in the Houston, Texas area. “By switching aligner products, I was able to lower my patient price while greatly increasing profits,” explains Swonke who turned to ClearCorrect, an innovative Houston-based manufacturer of clear aligner therapy. Companies like ClearCorrect can help to lower doctors’ costs as much as 40% while eliminating the add-on fees that can erode profit margin and peace of mind.

Patients are responding to Swonke’s approach. He finds that he’s getting more referrals and that more patients start treatment at the more affordable price points.

“The clear aligners are opening up new markets of patients, particularly adults, who may not otherwise consider traditional braces,” says Swonke. Even some of Swonke’s traditional wire and bracket orthodontic patients now have the option to remove their braces for clear aligners during the last 6 to 12 months of treatment.

Make good choices

Since patient non-compliance can throw off the treatment schedule and require clear aligner refinements or midcourse corrections at added cost, it’s a good idea to avoid having aligners made too far in advance. For instance, instead of having a whole course of aligners shipped at the beginning, it’s often better to have the aligners made and shipped in several phases. Phase-based delivery makes it easier to do mid-treatment corrections without wasting a bunch of previous aligners that no longer fit; this minimizes cost and storage space as well.

“Like many offices with space constraints, we wanted to avoid having to store a complete course of aligners when midcourse treatments might be necessary,” says Swonke. “What’s worked for us is receiving the aligners in phases. This makes them easier to store and handle, and minimizes the potential waste if midcourse corrections are needed.”

To keep clear aligner therapy on track, it’s also a good idea to have some form of compliance indicator built into the system, something that tells you if the patient is wearing the aligners and complying with treatment instructions.

“Compliance Checkpoints are a great innovation,” says John Hackbarth, DDS, a general dentist with a practice in Texas City, Texas, of the ClearCorrect compliance indicator system. “They help give the doctor certainty that the patient is wearing their aligners as prescribed, and that the case is proceeding correctly. If there’s a problem, they allow the doctor to take corrective action to get the treatment back on track.”

Sooner or later, patients will lose or break an aligner or retainer. This can throw off the treatment schedule by several weeks and add cost when it requires taking a new impression and sending it to the lab to make a replacement. Instead, it can be better to consider a dental lab, such as ClearCorrect, that provides clear aligner patient models for every step of treatment with each shipment. This allows doctors to immediately fabricate replacement aligners and retainers at their practice, avoiding extra lab fees; some actually make a nice residual profit by offering a retainer replacement program. The aligner patient models can also be used to track treatment progress over time.

“When my patient broke his aligner, I was able to make him a new one in-house without any loss of treatment time or any extra lab costs,” says Jensen. “With the models, making a new aligner or retainer is simple to do, helps the patient, and can be quite profitable.”

ClearCorrect, a brand created by doctors for doctors, does not charge for midcourse corrections, refinements or final retainers. They offer two aligner products: a Full, a 32-step clear aligner program for $995, and a Limited, a 12-step program for $595. Both products give the ability to focus on treatment outcomes without worrying about price. This makes treatment more affordable and profitable.

For more info, call 888-331-3323 toll free; visit www.clearcorrect.com.