Wooden nickels for incentives / prizes ?

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#1 Post by **allasmom** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 1:40 pm

At least two of the orthos here in my town give wooden nickels for having good checkups, being on time, no broken brackets, wearing the ortho-issued t-shirt (free advertising for them), etc. You can earn up to 4 wooden nickels per normal visit. At the end of your treatment, you redeem your nickels for prizes. Some of the prizes are pretty good, including gift certificates to nice restaurants. Needless to say, I'm wearing my t-shirt to every visit!

Is this kind of thing pretty common among orthodontists? What kinds of prizes does your ortho offer?

#2 Post by **SDFD TSchott** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:30 pm

My ortho doesn't give out prizes, well at least thats what I assume since I don't get anything as your progress is doing good, or any other freebies and all I got was the wax how to brush my teeth and stuff at the beginning of treatment.

~Tim~

#3 Post by **Boolajoojoo** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:32 pm

Hehe, they do exactly that with the wooden nickels at my orthodontist's office too... I got 5 wooden nickels when I had spacers put in... and i was told you got more every time you came back... but I think they kinda neglected to give me any wooden nickels, or goodies, or special instructions when I got my braces put on last Monday. I will probably have to say something when I go back for my first adjustment... because now that you mention it... I want my goodie back and my wooden nickels... some of the "prizes" are pretty nifty. Okay... so you KNOW that it's all incorported into the price of treatment.... so that's probably why I want my wood nickels now.

(In retrospect... I guess I shouldn't have been in such a hurry to get out of there, and asked a lot more questions... but I was told I was all set they sent me on my way... I was kinda dazed and wandered off...)

#4 Post by **cowlypso** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 10:24 pm

My ortho doesn't have any sort of prizes or drawings or anything on a regular basis. You get your goody bag, and then you get as much wax and interdental brushes as you want. I think around Christmas they had a candy cane guessing jar filled with small candy canes, and if you guessed right you got maybe a $20 gift certificate or something. But that's the only promotion I've seen so far.

And they don't have all the fancy stuff in the waiting room, like SPAMS and all that. Just your standard selection of magazines, which is just fine with me because I'm usually not even in the waiting room for more than 5-10 minutes anyway (the last two times, I was still brushing my teeth when they said they were ready for me).

I actually was choosing between two orthos. They were pretty much equal in treatment options, but the one was a couple hundred $ more expensive. I noticed that in his office, they had lots of signs up for contests and such, including one that had a video game system as a prize. I opted to go for the one with fewer frills. I certainly don't want to pay extra in my treatment to get a t-shirt or entries into prize drawings.

#5 Post by **Pepper** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 10:34 pm

Yeah, my orthodontist does basically exactly that.

#6 Post by **Stich** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 1:38 pm

My ortho's office is very big on the wooden nickel thing, except they print up these "bucks" with a picture of the ortho on them. They have a cabinet filled with prizes that you can buy with your "bucks". YOu earn the bucks by wearing their t-shirt, practicing good hygiene, getting dental cleanings, and following directions with your applicances. It is mainly geared to kids. The prizes are things like frisbees, mugs, movie tickets, etc., and big things like an i-pod. I always refuse the bucks. I am a teacher and burnt out by all the extrinsic reinforcement we do to kids (if you are interested in this topic, check out the book Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn), but everytime I go for an adjustment kids are standing outside the cabinet planning out what they want to earn, so maybe it is helpful getting them to follow their plan.

Becky

#7 Post by **shoshiaf** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 2:14 pm

At the checkout window, my ortho has a bowl set up for the patients to place their appointment slips. Every couple of weeks, the staff draws a name from the bowl; the person's whose name they draw wins dinner and a movie. Then there is a separate, monthly drawing from the same bowl for a larger prize. This month, my ortho is giving away a spammer spammer, hey I'm a spammer so please report me spam!! as a prize for the drawing.

#8 Post by **chlorine23** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:31 pm

Yep, my ortho does the same thing. Wooden coins. Extra if you wear their t-shirt. I feel silly as an adult wearing the t-shirt to every visit when the kids never do (they're too cool), but I'm working towards a Starbucks gift card. I figure for how much I'm paying these guys to inflict pain on my mouth, I should at least get a few cappucinos out of it.

#9 Post by **allasmom** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:41 am

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one wearing my t-shirt!

Just had to add a postscript to this topic -- last time I went in for an adjustment, I forgot to collect my coins upon checkout. I stopped by later that afternoon and they kinda gave me a hard time about it! A different woman was at the desk, and she kind of scolded me and told me that they'd give them to me just this once, but next time, if I left the office without them, I was out of luck.

I guess they are used to dealing with kids who lie about it to get more coins, rather than a 37 year old mom who was too busy talking to the desk clerk about a black bean lasagna recipe to remember to ask about the coins. Besides, shouldn't it be their responsibility to give them out, not my responsibility to ASK for them? I mean, I was wearing my shirt and everything.

#10 Post by **skibunnie29** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:55 am

My ortho is a young hottie, I guess that's my prize. I get nice eye candy when I go.

#11 Post by **WiredforSound** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 7:12 am

Wow, that is cool.

I am going to suggest this idea to my Ortho!

#12 Post by **chlorine23** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 7:20 am

Haha, my ortho is a hottie too. When I went to the oral surgeon, all the ladies in the office were talking about him. Even the oral surgeon commented that the ortho is better looking than he is. Then the surgeon mentioned the ortho was single. Woohoo! Ha, not really. Although he's good looking and a great guy, he doesn't seem my type. He's a bit of a masochist.

#13 Post by **Betty Bat** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 10:08 am

The hottest doctor I ever went to was the one who did my colonoscopy.

#14 Post by **Cor1** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 11:35 am

Hi all, ya my ortho gives out incentive (goodie) gifts, if you are one time, not much equipment failure in between check-ups and some other things, but I can't remember.....my next check-up will have me recieving a couple of free movie (theatre) passes!!! And they have some dinner ones, and some to get $$ off at certain stores!!! Good ideas for helping people and children to take care of their braces/retainers and any extras, that go along with their treatments!!

Cor1

#15 Post by **PrincessMelody** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 4:01 pm

No incentives from my ortho, but they do give you a goodie bag with a toothbrush, wax, threaders, and the no-no list of foods on the day you are braced.

Haha, my ortho is a hottie too. When I went to the oral surgeon, all the ladies in the office were talking about him. Even the oral surgeon commented that the ortho is better looking than he is. Then the surgeon mentioned the ortho was single. Woohoo! Ha, not really. Although he's good looking and a great guy, he doesn't seem my type. He's a bit of a masochist.

Now while my ortho isn't good looking my oral surgeon is REALLY good looking. I was very distracted while he was talking to me before my extractions... can't believe I managed to get all my questions out. I'm also glad I managed to keep my mouth shut as I was a bit loopy coming off the anasthesia

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Wooden nickels for incentives / prizes ?

Wooden nickels for incentives / prizes ?

Incentives are a gooood thing!!