How minimally invasive orthodontics can improve your patients' dental experience
Dental health awareness among the general public is growing. More and more people appreciate the need for prevention, avoiding the potentially intrusive and expensive treatment that some cosmetic treatments may require. This approach goes hand in hand with the concept of minimally invasive dentistry, which is quickly becoming a higher priority for patients.
“Fantastic results can be achieved with less traumatic methods”
Through easily accessible platforms like social media, many patients are seeing that the perfect smile doesn't always require destroying healthy, natural teeth for the placement of veneers or crowns. Instead, they can be achieved fantastic results through less traumatic methods, which the vast majority of clinicians are more than happy to provide.
In many cases, the minimally invasive techniques we use can also provide results in a painless manner, which can be a absolute game changer, in particular when treating patients with dental phobia. The various benefits offered by minimally invasive dentistry led me to change the focus of my clinic (Love Teeth Dental Practice).
“Absolute game changer”
We started as a clinic that performed full smile makeovers with veneers and crowns every week, due to our lack of confidence in the long-term durability and prognosis of resin materials. We have now changed the dynamic to the complete opposite and perform multiple minimally invasive mini-smile makeovers every day.
The huge increase in demand for treatment is primarily the result of word-of-mouth recommendations from patients who have achieved their desired results quickly, painlessly and in an affordable way. They also greatly appreciate the fact that they do not lose a large volume of natural tooth structure just for aesthetic reasons.
How to illustrate the benefits of short-term orthodontics
How to effectively communicate what short-term orthodontics (e.g. Invisalign) can do for the patient plays a huge role in the success of a mini smile makeover, as teeth in ideal occlusion and position lead to less resin use for an improved long-term prognosis. In the event that we needed to place a crown or veneer on a tooth that was significantly misaligned and resin would not have been possible, Invisalign offers a quick and treatable alternative.
In just seven weeks, the tooth could be moved into the desired position safely and precisely. This time frame is acceptable to patients, as long-term teeth whitening procedures take an average of six weeks, with a two-week break before resin build-up can occur. Therefore, I inform the patient that the tooth alignment will be performed simultaneously with the teeth whitening, which does not extend the treatment time and still allows them to achieve the desired results.
This treatment speaks for itself – I simply tell my patients that “I can achieve your goal of loving your smile with white, straight and attractive teeth.” This without the aggressive loss of healthy teeth, in just two to four months, through discreet, painless treatment with a strong long-term prognosis – all for just £X.
For informed consent, it is important to ensure that patients understand what they could be getting. At my clinic we have the iTero element dental scanner, which allows us to scan a patient's dentition and instantly show them the necessary dental alignment.
This is a indispensable element, because we can effectively show the patient what they can achieve with the treatment, instead of simply describing it.
However, we advise him that teeth alignment might just make the patient happy with his improvement, which of course is what we strive to achieve, but if he wants the world to say “Wow, look at your smile,” then we inform him that teeth whitening treatment and a mini-smile makeover may also be needed.
This makes people ask, “Where did you get your teeth done?”, so it’s important consider the value of word-of-mouth recommendations from each patient, when you consider the price of the treatment. Therefore, we offer every patient who undergoes OTS an Enlighten whitening treatment and a mini-smile makeover using Renamel composite (Cosmedent), and all of these aspects are taken into account in the price.
This treatment approach is simplified by the concept of ABC: A – alignment B – whitening C – cosmetic bonding. We display posters with basic information about the ABC concept on the walls of the office so that patients begin to develop their knowledge before attending a consultation.
I present the combined treatment as follows: A – alignment using Invisalign (one of the best alignment systems in the world) B – whitening using Enlighten Whitening (guarantees a Vita B1 shade) C – cosmetic bonding using Renamel (award-winning composite resin material).
How to know how much to bill
Still trying to keep things simple for our patients, at Love Teeth Dental we charge a flat fee for both single arch and double arch treatments. When we charge patients based on the difficulty of the case and length of treatment, etc., in the past we have had some unhappy patients who couldn’t understand why someone else they knew got a cheaper quote. As word of mouth is integral to our practice, this wasn’t ideal. So we decided to standardize our pricing and have found that the cases are financially balanced by the easier ones. Plus, we’ve seen a big increase in revenue since we did this, so it’s definitely working for us!
How can you find out more?
For anyone interested in learning more about mini-smile makeover, Dr. Dipesh Parmar teaches a very thorough course, as well as a simulator, on this topic. For this practitioner-sensitive technique and concept, hands-on training is invaluable. In addition, the course will teach you how to confidently use Cosmedent's award-winning Renamel resin material, helping you achieve results that will differentiate you from the clinician ahead. After listening to feedback from dentists, the course now includes a marketing module, which discusses in more detail how you can communicate the benefits of the product to your patients. There is a realisation that a high quality resin like Renamel needs to be sold to patients as a completely new concept compared to the previous standard resin used in the past. I have included a link to the course below:
Final thoughts
The benefits of minimally invasive dentistry are clear and are being appreciated by more and more patients as time goes by. For the clinician, successful treatment no longer simply means achieving an aesthetic result – it's about achieving aesthetics and function in the least destructive way possible for the best long-term prognosis. Using concepts and products that you can work with competently will be essential, as it will give you the confidence to take on new cases and encourage you to complete them with a portfolio-worthy finish.
The advantages of minimally invasive dentistry using effective composite resins include:
- Results are achieved faster than with veneers/crowns
- Subtle improvements can be made to smiles
- It is more financially accessible
- It is painless – LA is rarely necessary
- Adjustments can be made easily
- The restoration can be replaced/removed in the future, if necessary, without significant loss of healthy teeth
- Composite restorations can be refinished as a general maintenance plan every 24 months. The disadvantages of minimally invasive composite bonding dentistry are:
- There is an increased rate of fractures/failures if an inferior resin material is used
- Success is sensitive to technique and practitioner
- Only one long-term clinical appointment is required
- The long-term prognosis is unpredictable in certain cases (e.g., patients with bruxism).
Source: enlightensmiles.com
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