Want to grow your dental practice? Offer clear aligner therapy. It’s that simple! In today’s digital world of social media and video chats, people desire to look their best, which includes a beautiful smile. However, most teens and adults prefer clear aligner treatment over traditional metal braces. In fact, they may only consider treatment if clear aligners are an option.
If the thought of adding aligners to your practice is overwhelming, it shouldn’t be! Orthosnap makes it easy to integrate clear aligner therapy by providing constant support, an easy-to-use doctor portal, and efficient treatment planning.
When it comes to treatment planning, our team takes care of the bulk of it (with the doctor’s approval and assistance, of course!). In this blog, we’ll explain what we need from dentists to create a proper treatment plan and explain our comprehensive treatment plans.
What We Need from Our Partners
The key to creating an effective treatment plan is the pre-evaluation, which involves taking clinical photographs, and taking proper PVS impressions.
The Pre-Evaluation
Taking and submitting good patient photos are the first step in opening a case. This first treatment plan will be an estimate and hypothetical plan. To create the most successful treatment plan, we require eight angled photos: full face smiling, full face not smiling, occluded buccal view of the right and left lateral, occluded buccal view of the anterior, profile, and the occlusal view of the lower and upper. These photos should be well-lit, clear, and focused.
Here are some tips for taking good clinical photographs:
- Invest in the right materials: a good digital camera, intraoral mirrors with lateral view and full arch, cheek retractors, a solid white background, an adjustable chair, a wall-mounted backlight that has a “slave flash”
- Use proper positioning: patients should be at a 90-degree angle to the camera for extra-oral pictures; lower or raise the patient as needed
- Find a well-lit area: if you don’t have a ring flash, make sure to take the pictures in a room with good lighting, especially for intraoral photographs
- Focus: use the automatic focus on your camera to avoid blurry pictures
- Don’t get too close: rather than getting physically close to the patient, stand back and zoom in for a better picture
Use the doctor’s portal on our website to submit these photos.
Tips for Taking and Sending Impressions
Our technicians will create the final treatment plan based on the impressions taken by the dentist. Therefore, the quality of impressions is of the utmost importance. Here are a few suggestions for taking high-quality impressions:
- Use VPS, PVS, or polyether impressions, not plaster models
- Send impressions of both arches
- Use the proper-sized trays
- Remove engagers from teeth
- Use wax to fill in undercuts
- Add the light body material before the putty dries
Check out this article to learn how to identify good impressions for clear aligner therapy.
Once the dentist is satisfied with the impressions, he will send them to our technicians at Orthosnap.
Orthosnap’s Comprehensive Treatment Plans for Clear Aligner Therapy
Our detailed and efficient treatment plans provide dentists with all the information they need to carry out the clear aligner treatment process. There are three main sections in the treatment plan document:
- The Top Bar: the patient’s and doctor’s information, the treatment plan consultant’s name, the cost of treatment, and the length of treatment
- Case Mark-Out: outlines the vectors of movements for each tooth in the upper and lower arches
- Tooth Movements: identifies the types of tooth movements during each step of the treatment process
All of our treatment plans are custom-made to provide the dentist with clear instructions and guidance and ensure the patient achieves his desired smile.
To learn more about our treatment planning process or how Orthosnap can help grow your dental practice, schedule a time to meet with one of our experts or call (516) 506-7606 today.