Dentaltown July 2017 - 67

a Combo
Adults want quick results and faster
treatment times-which means aligners
alone might not be the best option
Many general dentists have embraced
clear-aligner orthodontic therapy, which
can come with its own challenges. Whether
you provide treatment in your practice or
refer it out, I'd like to share my experiences
with an evolving approach to treating adults
more efficiently.
I was at a local orthodontic meeting,
eating breakfast before lectures began, and
was impressed by the far-ranging subjects of
conversations at the table. Topics included
everything from woodworking and aviation
to home electronics and parenting. We aren't
just dabblers in these pursuits outside the
oral cavity. In fact, I don't think self-ligating
brackets were mentioned even once.

Orthodontists like to
dig deep into specifics
Orthodontists, in my experience, are the
living embodiment of the phrase, "If you
want something done right, do it yourself."
When we discover something interesting,
we dive deep to learn everything about a
subject. We subscribe to industry magazines
and are all over the web-both learning
and posting articles. We join organizations
in these fields to learn, teach and lead.
To nonorthodontists, it may appear
that the practice of orthodontics is so easy
and guaranteed to produce wealth that

orthodontists use these outside hobbies to
stave off boredom. In my opinion, it's not
boredom that pushes orthodontists into such
disparate hobbies-it's our specialist nature.
As specialists in the field of dentistry,
we've learned the intricacies and nuances
of a specific subset of dental treatments. It
becomes our internal neural programming
to look at anything interesting and try to
discover all the subtleties of a small subset.
Thus, those conversations at breakfast
weren't about "woodworking" but about
turning wood on a lathe to create beautiful
wooden bowls. They weren't conversations
about "planes," but rather instrument
approaches in a single-engine Turbo Cessna
182 into the airport in Van Nuys, California.
Our specialist nature drives us to take what
we learn and experience in our practice-
both at the level of the teeth and listening
to our patients' needs and wants-and to
develop improved treatment modalities.
In the competitive and quickly changing
environment where my practice is, we've
been watching forces in our field playing
out. Patients' demands for quicker treatment
delivered during consumer hours, pitted
against orthodontic services delivered by
mail, have created a confused market where
consumers aren't sure where any dollars
reserved for a beautiful smile should be spent.

by Blair Feldman, DMD, MS, MSEd
Blair Feldman,
DMD, MS, MSEd,
is a graduate of
the University of
Pennsylvania School
of Dental Medicine
and the University
of Detroit Mercy
Department of Orthodontics. Feldman
divides his time among his practices in
Scottsdale and Surprise, Arizona, and the
Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health
in Mesa, Arizona, where he is an adjunct
faculty member. He recently received a
Gini Award from Smiles Change Lives for
donating treatment to disadvantaged
patients.

dentaltown.com \\ JULY 2017

67
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