Orthotown September 2020 - 38

office visit
patients have been treated and still appreciate
the experience and care that they've received
so much that it becomes second nature for
them to refer their friends and family to
our practice. My goals as an owner are to
treat my work family as my second family,
and to take care of them and grow together.

How do you market your practice
and how is it going?
Our main marketing dollars go to Yelp
and Google Ads. As a new startup, we find
that most of our patients are searching for
us online. We are slowly growing, and our
internal referrals are also increasing.

Tell us your favorite patient story.
It happened when I was doing a consultation for a 19-year-old Hispanic male at
a different multispecialty office in which I
was working. After I reviewed the treatment
findings and started to discuss the treatment
options, he very quickly stops me and says
with the straightest face, "Doctor, if I buy
my own set of braces off eBay, can you
install them for me?"
I looked at him and responded, "I'm
sorry, my man, but braces are not tires.
There is much more to it than that!"
He then responded, "I know, I know, but
I'm not trying to buy the ones from China;
I'm only looking into the German ones!"
Let's just say he did not end up starting
treatment with me.

What's your approach to educating
patients? What advice would you
give to orthodontists who'd like to
improve this area of their practice?
Along those lines, you love the
ability to pick your starts. What
sort of cases get you the most
excited, and which kinds do you
postpone or turn down?
The cases that get me the most excited
are the ones where the patients are the
most excited and passionate about their
treatment. It is such a cool energy when
a patient trusts you completely with their
care and is excited and dedicated to move
forward with the process.

38

Cases that I tend to postpone or turn
down are cases where the patients are not
motivated or do not have trust in my care.
Infrequently, I will have consults with parents
who are "dictating" what is required for their
child. These are definitely cases I avoid.

Where do you see your practice
10 years from now?
My goal is to realize our office vision:
to create a "brand" of orthodontics and
pediatric dentistry where thousands of

My approach is to explain things in
layman's terms. When speaking to patients
and parents, instead of using "overjet" I will
use the more colloquial "overbite," because
they understand this concept more easily.
Another example: When explaining
"impacted" third molars, I will simply say
that there just is not enough room for them
to fit. My goal is to make sure that the patient
and parent understand the point that I'm
trying to make and to not overwhelm them
with jargon. My advice: At the end of an
appointment, always ask if they have any
questions or concerns.

SEPTEMBER 2020 // orthotown.com

OT0920_Chu_Office_Visit_MM.indd 38

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Orthotown September 2020

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