Orthotown March 2021 - 27

office visit

interproximal decay, I can refer back to
the dentist, who knows that I care about
the patient's oral health-and they also get
treatment out of it.
The live intraoral color images also
allow me to identify and educate about wear.
The simulation and time-lapse features are
important tools to help encourage patient
starts, and keeping patients motivated
throughout as they visualize their progression.

You've had two practices since
2014 but recently made the Santa
Barbara office the flagship location.
What went into that?

You were the first orthodontic
practice in the U.S. to adopt a
5D scanner into your practice.
Tell us about it, how it's changed
your clinical capabilities, etc.
The iTero 5D. It's very impressive and
an indication of where our industry is
headed from a digital diagnostic aspect.
I'm now able to use the newest technology
to identify interproximal caries on every
patient I scan. This is important because
it shows the patients and their parents that
as their orthodontist we're not only there to

diagnose and treat crooked teeth; we also
care about their overall oral health.
Many parents, particularly in California,
are sensitive to the idea of exposing their
children to radiation via an X-ray. They like
knowing that we're using the most innovative
technology to minimize patient exposure.
This has helped to further differentiate us
from other practices and created a " wow
factor " for our patients. It also has been
beneficial in working with our restorative
dentists, because referrals are no longer
a one-way street; now, when I see any

I think the new practice is incredible-
state-of-the-art from the ground up. It's
rare to do a new build in a town like Santa
Barbara, so it was quite a process and a
learning experience. I was a finance and
real estate major in college, but that didn't
prepare me to deal with all of the permitting
that accompanies raising a new building and
all of the nuances that come along with it.
Fortunately, I had a great team, which
included JoeArchitect and my contractor,
Jimmy Poucher, owner of Velocity Design
Builders.
Our space isn't the only thing that
changed; we took this as an opportunity to
refresh our brand. We changed our practice's
name, designed a new logo and launched a
brand-new website. The thought definitely
crossed our mind that with the new location,
perhaps this was too much change all at
once, but ultimately we decided it was
important for us to design a space that fit
my personality as a clinician and a person,
and this required a shift in the brand, which
had been inherited from my late partner.
I really wanted both our brand and
our space to display our attention to detail,
aesthetics and technology while exuding a
bit of the beachy, California vibe of Santa
Barbara.
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Orthotown March 2021

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