Orthotown October 2020 - 29

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intervals is the new SmartArch wire from
Ormco (Fig. 2). This is the first innovation
I've personally seen in wires since copper
nickel titanium was invented. SmartArch
customizes the force level for each individual
tooth along the wire. This allows me to
skip wires in my archwire progression and
get into finishing wires in much less time.

The difference is clear (aligners)
The biggest change in our practice is
that we've been doing more and more new
patient treatments in clear aligners. There
are many reasons for this: Patient demand,
of course, is one of the main factors, but I
am finding my life is just so much better
with more patients in clear aligners than
braces. How many broken brackets did
you have to repair after your shutdown, or
convince patients and parents they weren't
going to die from a broken bracket during
the shutdown? The appointments with clear

aligners in our office are easy and quick.
The hygiene is night and day better in my
patient population. The hygiene of our braces
patients after our shutdown? Let's just say that
was a wake-up call to my desire to increase
appointment intervals. The shutdown made
me realize how much more efficient and
easy to manage clear aligner patients were
compared with our braces patients. Now, if
the quality of the treatment wasn't as good
as braces, I would not be heading in this
direction. The quality, though, is excellent.
I changed over to Spark Clear Aligners
(Fig. 3) from Ormco in December 2018. In
my hands, this product was far superior to
what I had been using. I was not a very good
clear aligner practitioner before, but Spark
changed that for me. I found the software
much easier for me to use, and the teeth
tracked much more predictably. Again, this
was just my experience, in my practice. I
only use products if they work well for me
regardless of what company makes them.
I went from a practice treating less than
10% of our patients with aligners to more
than 50%, and my intention is to continue
increasing that percentage. I would only do
that if my treatments were being completed
successfully and on time.
The pandemic's shutdown and the
subsequent reopening showed me how
important this trend toward aligners was
for my practice (and my personal sanity).
These patients kept progressing along with
their aligners without missing a beat. I was
able to monitor their treatments virtually
with the web-based OrthoScreening virtual
consult tool-I have no affiliation with the
company, I just like the product-to ensure
teeth and aligners were tracking along
together. Upon the return to seeing patients,
I decided to continue using OrthoScreening
to monitor our aligner patients virtually,
rather than schedule them in the office.
I am able to see clear pictures taken from

home and monitor the fit and tracking of
their aligners or elastics. Patients have loved
this during the continued restrictions in my
town. I truly believe more teledentistry is the
future of our practices. And clear aligners
makes this easier to achieve, in my opinion.

Looking ahead
to more of the same
When I learned I was required to shut
down my office for 12 weeks (which eventually turned into six weeks, thankfully),
I was in a complete panic for 12 hours. I
then caught my breath and got to work on
game-planning the future. Working on a
strategy allowed me to push aside my fears
and worries and focus on the process of
making this work. Through that process and
the subsequent shutdown and reopening, I
was forced to evaluate my entire practice.
I chose to change and innovate. To look to
improve. To look to the future.
In my opinion, the future involves
more treatments utilizing Spark aligners,
more virtual visits with the web-based
OrthoScreening virtual consult tool and
a sleek, efficiently run office. Braces are
not going away, so those cases need to be
as efficient as possible to keep up with my
aligner cases. Damon Q2 passive self-ligating
brackets and SmartArch wires have helped
my practice with that.
I am an optimist by nature. For those of
you who know my father, Terry Dischinger,
you know where I learned that from. I truly
believe the future of orthodontics is very
bright, but only if we learn to adapt and
change to a new world that is looking for a
different way of doing things. For those of us
who embrace that rather than feel threatened
by it, I believe we will thrive and take this
great specialty to even newer heights. This
has always been the best profession in the
world. We have the chance to make it even
better. Stay safe! n
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Orthotown October 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Orthotown October 2020
