By Sue Seboda, Dental Part 19
During my own dental saga, I began to notice a good number of women in my age group considering Invisalign. Let’s call us the over 50 gals. A friend of mine, who had just started Invisalign, wondered aloud if they were coming after us. Yup, I reckon they are.
It’s not just us. Align, the company who owns the Invisalign system, is on the hunt for market share wherever they can find it and doing a brilliant job. They are a billion dollar a year public company with approximately 80% of the clear aligner market. They have a big bottom line to feed and shareholders to keep happy. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. But there can be unintended consequences if a company’s emphasis is weighted more heavily on the bottom line and less on the ultimate end user, the patient. And if that is the case with Align, the patient must be vigilant.
Align markets directly to the end user (patients) and the providers (dentists and orthodontists). Very smart. Build demand from the bottom up especially in a dental industry that is probably slow to change. They market to teens and their moms. Good idea. They have simplified orthodontics so dentists with minimal training can handle patient cases. Also very smart. This increases the number of providers which will ultimately increase the number of end users, fattening up that bottom line nicely. Therein lies the rub. And why patients in general and the over 50 gals in particular need to be careful. Let’s dig in.
On https://www.invisalign.com, plug-in your own zip to find a doctor. I did this using a 5 mile radius and came up with 29 providers, 22 of which were dentists and 7 orthodontists. Interesting… Note there is a rating system from VIP down to bronze based on the number of Invisalign cases each provider has handled. The more cases, the higher and more visible the provider. Great information for the public, right? Yeesss, but… Also providers pay Align a lab fee for each Invisalign patient. The more patients, the lower the fee. Sounds logical? Yeesss, but… Also Align has attempted to set quotas for providers but so far has failed I believe. Hmmm… Because we humans are incentive driven to the max, these incentives do wonders for Align’s bottom line.
You know what is coming. The potential downside for patients:
- Incentives may encourage general dentists with only a superficial understanding of orthodontics to manage Invisalign cases that should be referred to an orthodontist.
- To get numbers up, providers will tap into undersold markets such as us over 50 gals. This is fine with a provider who understands the complexities of orthodontics at this age. It could be disastrous otherwise.
- Incentives may also result in a provider recommending Invisalign when another orthodontic appliance may be more appropriate.
- Providers with little experience may be unable to properly navigate the side effects of Invisalign.
Stay with me a bit more, especially the over 50 gals. I am all in favor of orthodontics and Invisalign at any age. And, yes, there are general dentists who have an in-depth knowledge of orthodontics. But as compartmentalized as the dental field is, I seriously question whether the typical general dentist falls into this category. So what’s my problem with hiring any ole dentist to manage your orthodontics? It’s simple, SHIT HAPPENS. As we discovered, moving teeth can be an unpredictable business. I want a top notch orthodontist and periodontist who know a lot about tooth movement, bone loss and a healthy bite to AVOID shit happening and who know what to do when it does (it will).