Have all Orthodontists bought "in" to something?

Message

#1 Post by **leftyme** » Fri May 02, 2008 11:26 am

My Orthodontist is big on SureSmile. The screen savers on every computer has the word "SureSmile" bouncing across it and his website has lots of links to SureSmile. The Orthodontist I didn't go with had Invisalign pens, post its, etc... everywhere. He swore he could fix me with it (when the two others I saw swore it would only fix 50%.)

I looked up my old Orthodontist I had while growing up and the Damon system is all over his website.

Are these guys getting incentives from these companies or what?

I went with the SureSmile guy but I'm not doing the SureSmile treatment. It just seemed too new to me and it was a huge extra cost.

Anyone with inside knowledge on this?

Fri May 02, 2008 1:19 pm

somebody on this board has posted that they are having suresmile done
its not available in my country but looking at the technology i would have loved to have it done
how much more does it cost u for sure smile?
when i went to my ortho consult i knew i didnt want ligs, so i told her i wanted self ligating brackets, and she said the only one she uses are 3m unitek smartlips, i had read everyone here uses damons, but she didnt like them
so i went with the smartclips
they were slightly more expensive than traditional ones with ligs

#3 Post by **sauerkraut** » Fri May 02, 2008 2:33 pm

Probably not quite the same thing, but as a student many years ago I had a summer job working as general dogsbody in a doctors surgery (=office). We often had drug reps come round, i.e. salesmen for the pharmaceutical companies trying to get the doctors to buy their pills and potions rather than the competition's. It must have been a tough job because they weren't very popular people and they often didn't even get to speak to the doctor, let alone sell him their product. But they always left goodie packages with pens, notebooks, etc etc proclaiming the name of their medicine. Seeing us using these things, the patients might have thought the doctor was promoting that product, but it didn't necessarily mean he even used it at all. It was just free advertising for the company.

As for what you've seen with your orthodontist, leftyme, and whether the orthos get incentives, I really don't know but I'd be interested to hear the answer as well

.

Like Meryaton, my ortho doesn't seem to promote a particular product as such. I only knew I was getting InOvations when I found the name in the small print on my bill! (And his office isn't high-tech enough for a website

)

#4 Post by **Luella** » Fri May 02, 2008 2:52 pm

At my office, we use a particular brand of implant, so we have brochures and stuff in our office for that brand- they're educational to the patient, and we give them to the patient before the Dr sees them so thay have some idea of what an implant is, what it looks like, how it works, etc. The implant company provides us these materials for free. We also get reps coming around from time to time and they do leave free post it notes, pens, coffee mugs, etc. They also bring donuts and cookies! I'd think thats the reason for the 'advertisements' in the offices- it's free, and it's educational.

#5 Post by **leftyme** » Fri May 02, 2008 3:47 pm

Â¤sabrinaÂ¤ wrote:how much more does it cost u for sure smile?

It's over $750 more than without. It would have cut my treatment time by eight months, but something so new and not knowing the results after many many years, it made me nervous. I'll probably be kicking myself in my last eight months though... I'm one day in and already "over it."

#6 Post by **DrBill** » Fri May 02, 2008 4:08 pm

Boy would a "kickback" be nice! I certainly don't know anyone getting them. What you're seeing is simple marketing - orthodontists trying to differentiate themselves by promoting a particular technology. And multiple exposures certainly increase awareness.

#7 Post by **swede** » Sat May 03, 2008 5:56 am

I am using the suresmile treatment option. I drive an hour to my ortho since he is the only one in the area that does it. My original estimate was 12-14 months with suresmile and 24-30 without. I think that the 24-30 was a little overestimated. Anyway, I am paying $500 dollars extra and I will probably save about 6-8 months. My deband date is June 18th and I will actually go 2.5 months over the estimated 14 months. I had a couple of teeth that didn't want to rotate so they had to put me back in "normal" thin wire for a couple of months. I do feel like I could have been done back in March but I don't feel like it had anything to do with the suresmile system, just som decisions made by my ortho plus I guess that you can't always predict the eaxct movement of teeth. I think that one advantage with the suresmile is that the roots move along with the teeth somehow so you save time that way.

I have had doubts along the way, but for me it was worth every penny of the $500. Even if it only saved me 6 months, I just can't wait to be done

.

#8 Post by **ldbraced** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 4:59 pm

I just had my braces put on last week. I will wear normal archwires for a bit before moving into the SureSmile archwires. I received estimated time quotes from several orthodontists in multiple cities before deciding to go with my current treatment plan. Other orthodontists said I would have to wear braces for between 2 to 3 years (estimates varied). My current othodontist has quoted 16-18 months with the Suresmile archwires. I find it hard to believe that they will be off that fast (especially since I have a super anal cosmetic dentist that doesn't want me to remove them without his approval) but I was willing to spend the extra cash, even if it saves me 6-8 months! I do know a few other people who have gone to my ortho, used Suresmile ,and had them come off on schedule so I am hopeful.