With all of the new technology and resources available to us, orthodontic practices have changed quite drastically over the last couple decades.

Not all that long ago, the standard for care was much different in orthodontics. Standard ‘one-size-fits-all’, procedures brackets and wires that were all too big, and frequent tooth extractions were all common occurrences.

Now many orthodontists are adopting the new technology trends to keep their customers happy with their treatment results, and also to make their own lives a whole lot more simple. This is also an essential criteria for dentists, when suggesting orthodontists in the area to their clients for future treatment. They’re looking for orthodontic practices which are using the latest technology and treatments and proving good outcomes.

The recent modern technologies in orthodontics have allowed practices to achieve far greater results, with less discomfort to the patients, and with much greater ease to the orthodontist performing the treatment as well. Check out these ortho technologies that can make your job a whole lot easier.

Cone Beam CT Scanners

Talk about a revolution. Ever since the introduction of the cone beam CT, the diagnosis and treatment planning for patients today has been changed completely. The 3D images of a patient’s full skull, jaw, and underlying bone structure gives the orthodontist a much clearer and full picture of everything that’s going on to reveal more detail about the patient’s symptoms.

With this newfound ability to manipulate and view these images from any particular angle, the CT scanners are a great tool to plan and evaluate treatments. While there’s been debate recently about the risk of radiation with in-office CT scans, studies have shown that a typical 5-second Cone Beam CT Scan actually exposes the patient to the equivalent radiation as two conventional X-rays. That being said the benefits, of the CBCT greatly outweigh the potential risks in nearly every situation.

Custom Smile Design

Custom Smile Design is one of the newer and more exciting orthodontic technologies of the bunch, consisting of a rather unique method to indirectly bond custom-designed brackets and wires. The system uses 3D treatment planning software and actual brackets and wired which are customized personally to each individual patient.

This technology takes an average set of impressions and places it into a 3D virtual model of the patients teeth. Once it’s in this form the orthodontist can them make any modifications necessary to create the patient’s ideal smile. The brackets and wires are manufactured according to this 3D model by using precision placement guides (aka jigs). Not only is this treatment much easier and efficient for the orthodontist to perform, but much more comfortable for the patient as well.

Clear Brackets

Since the invention of clear brackets, braces usage has sprung greatly. Today, many people are desperate to improve their smile, yet not desperate to the fact that they’ll put up with a metal mouth full of wire to get there. Up until lately products like invisalign, clear aligners have been popular on the market to resolve this issue.

The problem with clear aligners is that they’re ineffective for achieving great tooth movement, and they take a much longer time to see results than regular braces. Innovative technologies like Damon Clear uses an invisible bracket system that doesn’t stain or discolor. This allows orthodontists to provide their patients with a comfortable alternative to braces that still works speedily and effectively without sacrificing your looks.

As many orthodontic treatments are evolving to become more innovative and modern, orthodontic practices must keep up to date with the latest management technologies as well. Many practices are moving all of their storage and dental images into the cloud for convenience, and better access. CephX provides solutions for cephalometric analyses and image storage, giving you complete and accurate analyses, photos, and x-rays available anywhere you can access the cloud.

What other ways have orthodontic innovations and new technology trends made your job easier?

Starting your own dental office really is essentially starting off with a brand new business. In the professional lives of a dentist this decision, while you may have had a vision or it may have been one of your goals for awhile, is one of the biggest career steps you may ever take.

For this reason it is all the more important to begin setting these goals early, and analyzing the costs and benefits of going into the dental business beforehand. Unfortunately these days it’s all too common to see dentists opening a new practice without a basic understanding of what they need to start and make their business fulfill the vision and become successful.

While many dental professional are focused purely on patients and other dental costs right from the start, their business foundation is clearly missing to get the practice on the right foot. Successful practices know the majority of the hard work takes place before you’ve even obtained your first patients. This guide on how to start a dental office should help highlight the key areas you should focus on in the beginning when starting your own dental business.

Decide who’s on your team

In the dental setting that we’re currently living in today, dentists have infinite resources available to them to help get off to a good start. Right off the bat, it’s important to assemble this team of valuable resources to ensure you’ve got all of the bases covered for your future practice.

This team could consist of future employees looking to help with the business foundations; other business with a similar vision that we could learn from, finance specialists to help you evaluate your costs, maybe even a mentor etc. This way you don’t have to feel like all of this weight and pressure is purely on your shoulders. Once you have a team to rely on, you can divvy up the tasks amongst teammates, and most importantly utilize their knowledge, experience, and insight in the field to ask great questions and propel yourself forward.

You never know who on your team could come up with a great lead for quality real estate, or inspire great ideas when goal setting. Each team member is a great asset in their own unique way, but make sure you keep the discussion open to everyone because you might not always know where the best vision may come from within the practice.

Develop your business plan

Now that you’ve assembled your top-notch team filled of expertise, and swimming with experience, it’s time to put all of these minds to good use through the development of your practice’s strategic business plan.

If you remember just one thing from this guide in starting your own dental practice, remember this: the five components that fuel every dental practice behind the scenes. Each of these components should be highlighted respectively in your business plan to find funding.

Capacity

In this section it’s important to talk about how many treatment rooms your facility will obtain, in which hours you will work, and how you plan on retaining your patients over a long period of time. These are important for funders to see that you have a plan for the long run, not just the initial startup of your business.

Revenue

Your revenue section will include your estimated number of patients, the rate of growth you expect amongst new patients, as well as dollars per hour. This is where your financial expertise from your power team will come into play helping you assess your financial policy.

Managing Expenses

Predicting your overhead and at which point you’ll break-even is essential for funders to see their payback. Make sure to emphasize how much healthy cash flow you’ll be seeing in order to pay for any bills acquired and debts along the way.

Patients

While we may have discussed number of patients, this section will delve more deeply into demographics of patients. Depending on your location your demographic may differ greatly. The technology you invest in, and the type of periodontal program you implement will all be dependent upon this demographic so it’s important to establish this in the business plan.

Team

Future employees are obviously a vital part of your dental practice, but where will you find them? What specific personality traits are you looking for in the hiring process? These are all important questions to ask yourself before obtaining team members.

Through this business plan your lenders get a more thorough idea and further understanding of your goals and vision. This process also shows them that you’ve done your due diligence and research. The more information you show i.e. demographics, location, specific equipment costs etc., the better and more professional your business plan looks which can assure you more financing to get your dental practice off the ground.

Defining your goals

Defining your goals consists of both goal setting, and goal writing, two steps which are often times very overlooked in the scheme of things. However overlooked, this is still a fundamental part in establishing a successful practice.

To give you some perspective, imagine all of the big decisions that need to be made when starting any business. You must decide where you want to live, who’s your main clientele, how much you would like to earn etc. All of these major decisions need a premise in which to be made off of.

Your goals are a perfect outlet in which to base these decisions. Your goals give you an indication of where you will be in the coming years of your career, in order to guide and measure that you’re growing in the right direction.

So before you start your dental business, do yourself a favor and write down these goals. Try out goal setting exercises that line up with your vision. Make sure they’re measurable, easy to obtain, relevant to your business, and something you can keep track of. While you’re making these tough decisions at the start of your practice you can use these goal setting practices to help guide your decisions and make sure you wind up where you want to be.

Revenue Drivers

Without a doubt when it comes to your dental practice, your patients are going to be your #1 factor in driving your revenue. Every businessman knows without clients it doesn’t matter how good of a facility you have or how strong your team is. In order to drive new patients you’ll need to spend a majority of your team’s efforts in the marketing realm.

Not only effort and energy but also financially, external marketing is a chunk of your budget that deserves a fair concentration. The most successful practices see cash flow in the beginning right up front and begin to meet payroll. For many practices it’s beneficial to find an outside patient financing partner who can help you to make the most out of your resources without putting you at risk for your non-paying patients.

It’s also important to remember as a new dental clinic you’ll need to be bringing in about 50-60 new patients every month to keep up with those goals you set and grow optimally.

Once you’ve thought about and put into practice all of the above, in theory you’re ready to hop right in and start your own dental practice. Now in reality, nothing works that easily and it will take your full will and effort to make these dreams become that reality. What other tips would be helpful to assess before starting your own practice? We’d love to hear your experiences!