The impact of integrating Acceleration Technology into your practice

Dr. Lou Shuman discusses the benefits of Ortho Acceleration

Orthodontic Acceleration is on the threshold of forever changing how orthodontics is provided. The benefits of acceleration far outweigh any perceived barriers, and soon the consumer population will demand it as part of standard orthodontic care, as was the case with Invisalign®. The clinical literature demonstrating the efficacy of micro-osteoperforation abounds (for Propel clinical articles and case studies go to www.propelorthodontics.com), as well as studies that show patients are interested in accelerated treatment and willing to pay extra for reduced treatment time.1 This month’s column moves in a different direction — first, a personal opinion on Propel technology and then practice management tools that can accelerate practice growth in addition to clinical acceleration.

To start, what sets Propel apart as the most viable Accelerated Orthodontic option?

• It is doctor controlled and NOT patient controlled.
• That means you have a significantly better chance of more predictable results and promised time outcomes.
• It has the ability to target difficult movements and treat just one arch, which is critical for those with adult patients.
• As an orthodontist specializing in adults for many years, lower adult onset crowding was the single most common case I treated. After reviewing other orthodontic acceleration systems, I have difficulty accepting technologies that impact the entire dentition when the treatment plan calls for treating only one arch.
• Many times, it only takes one visit or application to provide 3-6 months of acceleration. This is far more efficient than relying on patients to be compliant on a daily basis and, in many cases, while also attempting to be compliant with aligner wear simultaneously.
• It is by far the most cost-effective treatment available today2 with pricing as low as $100 per patient. Similar to all Acceleration Technologies, your gross production per hour can easily double.
• Your annual production is significantly increased as you have more open chair time for new patients by finishing cases so much faster.

The opportunity to create significant practice differentiation is there for the taking, and there are many directions a practice can take to bring success to this initiative.

• Place the word Propel and Acceleration in your title tags.
  ° Title tags help the search engines understand what your home page and other pages are about. The title tag is listed at the top of your Internet browser and consists of 140 characters. It is many times the first place the spiders, web-ranking programs, go in looking for relevancy and ranking your website on Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
• Add the word Propel and Acceleration to your meta description
  ° A meta description provides the search engines with a description of your website. It is your listing or essentially your elevator pitch in the digital context, giving a prospective patient more information about your practice.
• You have control of both areas above when working with a social media company. If you don’t create the words important to you and your practice, Google will do it for you, which is not a good idea, since it will not reflect your personal perspective of what is important to your practice.
• Make your existing and prospective patient base aware that you have introduced a groundbreaking procedure that can cut their time in braces or aligners in half.
  ° Introduce a section or dedicated page about Propel on your website including a Patient Q and A to improve your ranking for anyone searching in the area.
  ° Send an eblast to your whole patient base.
  ° Utilize your social media to spread awareness — create a contest where the winner receives one Propel application at no extra charge.
  ° Ask patients to share their Propel experiences on your preferred social media property. This grows your reach and provides your practice with referrals and testimonials which are powerful tools.
  ° Send a direct mail piece within a 10-mile radius of your office.
  ° Send an educational piece to your referring GPs and their hygienists.
  ° Have a lunch and learn with your referring GPs and a separate one with their hygienists.
  ° Take advantage of the marketing and promotional tools provided by Propel. With every first purchase, Propel sends a Starter Kit to set up your practice with key advertising and sales pieces.
  ° Reach out to your local print and broadcast media with a press release to optimize your visibility in the surrounding community.
  ° Create custom-branded t-shirts for your patients with memorable slogans such as “I Excellerate faster than you do!”
  ° Sponsor a soccer team with soccer shirts with the Excellerator logo with slogans like “Better, Faster, Stronger.”

Just as I witnessed in the early days of Invisalign, the early adopters reaped significant practice growth and maintained those positions because of their added experience. For years, the last slide of my lecture presentation expressed this single take-away that still resonates today — “There are those who walk the path and those who follow the path.” The Propel bullet train is pulling out of the station — time to jump on before it is too far down the track.

References

 1. Uribe F, Padala S, Allareddy V, Nanda R. Patients’, parents’, and orthodontists’ perceptions of the need for and costs of additional procedures to reduce treatment time. Am J Orthod Dentofacial Ortho. 2014;145(4 Suppl):S65-73.
 2. Pobanz JM. Orthodontic Acceleration: PROPEL Alveolar Micro-Osteoperforation. Orthotown. May 2013;22-25.

This information is sponsored and provided by Propel Orthodontics.