In this Ortho Marketing Podcast, Dean Steinman is joined by Dr. Amanda Wilson, CEO StraightSmile Solutions. They explore the transformative journey of integrating orthodontic services into an already streamlined practice. Discover actionable insights on balancing efficiency with growth, the benefits of adding orthodontics, and how this strategic move can elevate patient care while boosting revenue.
Ready to elevate your practice?
Contact us! https://orthomarketing.com/contact-us/
About Dr. Amanda Wilson
I’m Amanda Wilson, an orthodontist, dental consultant, and dental advisor by profession. After 10 years in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area, I created StraightSmile Solutions® as an orthodontic consulting company that directly services primary care dentists and their unique needs.
I can consult on any orthodontic service, process, vendor, or procedure but ultimately my core values are airway focused (AirwayDontics™), non-extraction, non-surgical, early orthodontic treatment (My Phase 1 Smile™). I met my husband, a general dentist, in dental school at UCSF. When he inquired about adding ortho to his menu of services, he asked which course he should take. I took a deep dive, and I was appalled by the lack of quality, airway focused, holistic, comprehensive orthodontic education for General and Pediatric Dentists. I’ve always loved to teach, and I thought I could help save lives and airways by not only teaching primary-care, oral physicians how to do ortho the RIGHT way but also make the process efficient and productive.
On a personal note, I live in Honolulu, and I love spending time with my husband and my teenage kids and volunteering as a Senior Girl Scout® Leader and for USA Swimming® as a N3 Stroke and Turn Judge. I appreciate your support with my small business as I love the flexibility of orthodontic coaching because it allows me to travel with my kids who are both nationally ranked, competitive swimmers. My eighteen-year-old son, Evan, is aiming for 2028 Olympic Trials and currently going through Division 1 recruiting and his fifteen-year -old sister, Olivia, ins’t too far behind him . You make this dream possible for our ohana. Mahalo!
Ready to elevate your practice?
Contact us! https://orthomarketing.com/contact-us/
About Dr. Amanda Wilson
I’m Amanda Wilson, an orthodontist, dental consultant, and dental advisor by profession. After 10 years in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area, I created StraightSmile Solutions® as an orthodontic consulting company that directly services primary care dentists and their unique needs.
I can consult on any orthodontic service, process, vendor, or procedure but ultimately my core values are airway focused (AirwayDontics™), non-extraction, non-surgical, early orthodontic treatment (My Phase 1 Smile™). I met my husband, a general dentist, in dental school at UCSF. When he inquired about adding ortho to his menu of services, he asked which course he should take. I took a deep dive, and I was appalled by the lack of quality, airway focused, holistic, comprehensive orthodontic education for General and Pediatric Dentists. I’ve always loved to teach, and I thought I could help save lives and airways by not only teaching primary-care, oral physicians how to do ortho the RIGHT way but also make the process efficient and productive.
On a personal note, I live in Honolulu, and I love spending time with my husband and my teenage kids and volunteering as a Senior Girl Scout® Leader and for USA Swimming® as a N3 Stroke and Turn Judge. I appreciate your support with my small business as I love the flexibility of orthodontic coaching because it allows me to travel with my kids who are both nationally ranked, competitive swimmers. My eighteen-year-old son, Evan, is aiming for 2028 Olympic Trials and currently going through Division 1 recruiting and his fifteen-year -old sister, Olivia, ins’t too far behind him . You make this dream possible for our ohana. Mahalo!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm doctor Amanda Wilson, Straight Smile Solutions CEO and orthodonist.
On this podcast today, you're going to learn a little
bit more about launching orthodonics in a GP or primary
care practice, or if you're an orthodonist, so you're going
to learn a little bit more about collaborating with your
primary care dentists.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Looking forward to talking with you.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Orthomarketing dot com three hundred and sixty degree digital marketing
solutions for your practice. Well, hold everybody out there on
podcast land. This is Dean Steinmann from Worth On Marketing
and guess what, I am back with another podcast for you.
(00:44):
So I am super stoked to be back here. It's
been coming to the end of the year of twenty
twenty four now, and boy, it's been a crazy year,
and if you are orthodontic dental practice, it's been kind
of a crazy year for everybody across board. So we're
obviously here to talk a little bit about how to
(01:05):
make your practice more efficient or effective and help your
bottom line. And I got with me a very special
guest today that I'm super stoked to have a board.
I have doctor Amanda Wilson, and we're going to talk
today a little bit about how you need to why
you need to incorporate orthodontics into your practice, and how
you can take your practice at the next level. So, Amanda,
(01:28):
thanks so much for joining. How are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Sure? Aloha helloha to you.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Thanks so much for joining and appreciate it. So before
we jump into a little bit, why don't you give
us a little bit of the background story. You know,
I always love to have doctors that come on that
you know that kind of transitioned away from that and
into being in the business world. So tell us at
about your story and how you ended up where you
are now.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Absolutely, And to be honest, if you had told me
twenty years ago when I graduated twenty three years ago,
when I graduated from dental school, that I would doing
consulting and product development and coaching as an orthodonist, I
would say you were absolutely insane. But sometimes life has
a way of guiding you in a direction that you
weren't expecting. So give you the quick one to two
(02:12):
minute story. I went to UCSF for dental school, met
my now husband of twenty one years. There we both
had last names of w so we sat we were
anatomy lab partners and everything, and after my residency he
convinced me to move back to Hawaii, where he's from.
El Yeah. So, but Hawaii has some weird licensure rules,
(02:35):
especially if you graduate after two thousand sorry, before two
thousand and four. So I ended up we ended up
working in San Francisco for about ten years and then
coming back again. So we went back and forth a
few times, but ultimately I wasn't able to practice here
without having to go back and taking the licensure of
the AdEx exam with Endo and Perio and you know,
(02:56):
Crown of Bridge.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
And I was like, oh, my goodness, I'm an orthodonis.
This is just this is just wrong. So it was
a little.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Crazy initially, having a few kids and trying to balance
our practices.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
You know, with having little ones.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
If anyone has little ones, you realize how challenged it
can be because anytime one kid is sick, it's always
you know, who's got the most production on the books today,
who's going to take off? And it just wasn't working
for our families. So he and I kind of strategized
and he said, you know, you're really good at teaching
people about ortho, maybe you can teach, and there really
wasn't anything out there for that was available for teaching remotely,
(03:32):
So I said, Okay, I'm going to start my own
company and I'm going to teach general and pediatric dentists
how to do ORTHO.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Because there was a serious lack of coaching services out.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
There that were independent and not directly affiliated with a
certain brand. I just was like, I want to teach
people an easy way to do orthodonics and have fun
with it and not be stressed out and feel confident
they can do this in their practice. Ultimately, my goal
was to educate primary care dentists on what ORTHO was,
how to do it, and even if they chose not
to do it, they could alway refer to a local
(04:00):
orthodonosy it was too complex. But I know most sentists
are not learning much about WORTHO in dumba school. I mean,
they learned maybe how to refer and maybe how to
make a retainer, but that's really not useful or though.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
So that's why I do.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
What I do, and I've been doing it for ten
years and I absolutely love it.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
That's great, don't you love being the smile business?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
You know?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
I love.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Oh, it's so satisfying.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yeah, it's a great you know, my job is to
make my clients just not to smile, and our job
is to make other people smile. And you know, it's
incredible how you know, how seeing somebody walking down the
street and just when they're the confidence that they have
just from smiling, it's it's it's you know, by somebody,
you know, busy street in New York City wherever it is,
(04:45):
and so we walk down with a puss on their
face walk but you're like, but somebody just walks by,
smiling and happy. You could tell right away, you know
how the life has changed, and you know, and it's
it's great to be in sinstreekis to be around people
that are changing people's lives. It's it's fabulous.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
It is.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
So let's let's talk a little bit more about the
industry in general. And you know, what is it what's
the main pain point that you see a lot of
dentists having these days, and you know, and how are
you helping answer that problem that they have?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I mean, for the most part, I do work with
general and pediatric dentists. I sometimes work with new grad
authors as well, who maybe just didn't get their COVID
trained and didn't get a lot of hands on or
maybe they just didn't have a lot of experience with
growth modification or aligners. But for the most part, I'd
say for aligners, it's predictability. I mean, I think people
believe that if they just roll this case into the
(05:42):
you know, set up machine, whatever we're going to call it,
they're going to get a great cling check. And I'm
calling this you know, a branded name of course by
any aligner company, and they just wear the aligners and hoof,
everything works out.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Well, that's not really how things work.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
So you really have to drive the bus on any
aligner brand, and you have to know how you want to.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Move the teeth. Let's say we have a crowding case.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
You know, there's so many there's five main ways to
treat crowding, right, how do you know which five to do?
Are you going to do expansion proclination, are you going
to do i PR? Are you going to take out
some teeth and you're going to do sequential distallization? How
do you know what's right for that patient? There's so
many things you have to take into account and each patient,
each case is a unique piece of art. Basically, you
have to take an account not only the airway, the
(06:23):
soft tissue, the hard tissue. We got to make sure
this puzzle piece is going to work together. So I
help teach them how to easily solve the puzzle. That's
really my goal.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Well, and how hard is it is you teaching an
old dog new tricks? Are you teaching an.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Old dog all the above?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
So new dogs new tricks, new dogs old tricks, old
dogs nutricks. So you know, it really comes down to
you know what their goals are, what their practice standards are,
what state they're in, so many things, maybe who they
have to refer to it. Like I said, I know
you have a lot of orthodonists who listen to your program,
and I think that that's awesome, and I also help orthodonists.
(07:02):
But in addition, I really I'm sure all of you
who are orthodonists that are out there have had these
referrals where they either just waited way too long and
you're like, oh my goodness, now everything's already impacted and
we got to pull out teeth with a nightmare. They
should have referred at age seven. I teach them, please
refer if you don't know what you're doing. Please refer early, early, early,
you know, or you know, maybe you're just not getting
(07:26):
enough referrals. And the more that this primary care dentist
understands ORTHO, the more that they can explain and qualify
that referral. Yes, they might take a few of the
easy ones in house, but they're going to refer you
even more. And most of the doctors I work with
send way more referrals than they ever did once they
go through my program.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
That's incredible to hear because so many authos are complaining
about the competition and people that were referris or now competitors.
And again, you can see the forest through the trees
and the fact that you help them understand that you
can do a basic phase or supplication, but in complex case,
you know, refer it out and you'll see you come
(08:02):
back in speeds over and over again. You know you've
referred to a complex case. They're going to just keep
They're going to open up their doors. You say, here's
here's somebody great to come to for the other side.
So it's a great you know, relationship there, But how
do you help them understand to the far again, the
forests of the trees as well. By by referring it out,
(08:22):
they're not going to get the billing for it and
not make the money on it. There, but it's not
the expertise, So how do you help them understand that
part there and where the line where that line is crossed.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
That's it's a very fuzzy line.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And I definitely have some doctors who are way more
confident and I can do this, you know, and some
that are much more timid.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Oh no, it might be a ken on exposure. Yeah,
you better refer that out. So yeah, I mean it's difficult.
It definitely hold the hands.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
But also you know, a lot of your orthodontis out there,
they can also provide coaching services. I mean you do
have to watch out with some of the terms of
service and the liability. It's a very different type of
insurance than what you have with your working with patients.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
This is B to B, not B two C.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
But I think there's I mean, I know there's so
much opportunity out there, and a lot of people would
rather work with their local orthodonists on their cases because
that way, if you help them out a little bit,
then they probably.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Will start referring you more patients, so you know, it's
a win win for both of you.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
And know that there's always problems when it comes for
billing and coding and if you're not an orthodontist, and
how do you so, how does a dentist who is
offering authough code and bill if they're not an orthodontist today,
how does that work?
Speaker 1 (09:30):
To be honest, I refer them out for that. We
have to figure out for that. I have two consultants
that help with that.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
It is. It is a bit iffy.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I mean, obviously they need to write the right summaries
and stuff like that, and they have to have the
right diagnostics in the right records. That's the first thing, right.
I can help them do that. But in terms of
the billing, yeah, it can get a little clunky, you know,
and they they a lot of times they're not they're
used to working with one procedure type of things.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Right. They get their money up front.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
This is a this is a marathon, not a sprint,
so it might comes in and drops, it might come
in quarters, you know, and if the if the insurance terms,
you know, then you're not going to get your money.
And unless you have the right paperwork, you're not going
to get your money. So yeah, I mean, don't don't
rush into things. You can always get pre offs. I mean,
as much as we all know these things and just
take all the right records.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
That's the main thing.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
What's the number one question that or objection that the
dentist has when talking to you as far as bringing
on to their practice.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Doing it in house or bringing in a in an
outside worthan honest.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Let's let's both. Let's talk about just bringing doing in
house and then bringing some bringing in a partner.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I mean bringing it in house.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I mean ultimately it's it's how to how to organize
it in the practice. I mean, you've got so many
things going on. You've got hygiene going on, You've got
a crown prep going on. So it's a matter of
I always strongly recommend that they do as much remotely
and digitally upfront as possible.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
So if they're going to do braces, we got to
do indirect bonding.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Digital place the brackets, digitally, approve the brackets, put your
digital signature on it, and now good, you're confident the
brackets will go on the right spot. That way it
can be delivered. Maybe why you're doing something else depending
on the state you're in. Of course, same thing with
the liner is having taking a lot of time outside
the practice.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
To do it.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
And there's no reason now with virtual consults and everything
like that and that scanners that you have to give
them a diagnosis right on the spot. I know us
orthodonists are really good at doing that. I mean ninety
five percent of the time if the patient's in my chair,
as long as I have the X rays, I can
pretty much. I mean, your brain works like a puzzle,
right you see it. You're like, I've done this. This
(11:37):
was Jenny's case. With some and say's case, you know
what to do, right, but occasionally we get a little
stumped and we're like, hey, I'd like to take a
little more time to study this. With primary care Denis,
they all need to take more time to study it.
They can't just guess and be like, yes, this is
a VISI line or yes we can do this with braces.
They have to take the time to go through the
records and really work out the simulation and the puzzle
(11:59):
to make sure it's going to work for that patient holistically.
So I just tell them nothing wrong with saying, hey,
I like to take my time with making a.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Treatment plan and a diagnosis. Thank you for your patients.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Let's schedule a follow up phone call or a zoom
with my treatment coordinator. What works for you, Let's schedule
it next week. I'll have the answer by then, and
that's great. Or if you use virtual consults, you can
collect the rough data.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Ahead of time.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
It's not great, but they can use chopsticks or spoons
to retract, and I see a lot of orthodonists are
doing that. If you haven't checked that out, just go
to Orthodonists near me. CALLM a virtual console and I
love to see what people are doing their synchronous and
asynchronous virtual consults. It's a great marketing opportunity, it really is.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
But you know, nobody even heard of virtual consoles before Covid,
you know, yeah, you know. And then there was some
great partners out there that we worked with, you know,
that did virtual and I wouldn't practice that while they
were closed for COVID did over a million dollars in business.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I ret so many of these webinars. Yeah, and I
was like, right on, you guys are doing the right thing. Look,
there was an entire direct consumer industry that's kind of
fallen apart in the last ten years.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
But they were doing.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Virtual consults and they sold how many millions of cases?
So I'm not saying that everything was good. But if
they can do it, you can do it too, as
long as your law is allowed.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
We'll talk about the you know, adapting and technology, virtual
consult you know, because it's very from my perspective, it's
very hard to have somebody adapt and to change into
into embrace and then you know, quote unquote embrace change.
But you have to. So what's how would you give
a little bit of advice to somebody that a has
to change the way they think when they're when they're
(13:31):
now looking at the whole picture versus just the whitening
or the you know, the bleaching or the cosmetic part.
And if you're you're reading aligning in now, so you
have the ABC is you have a line bleaching and
you know whitening and then you have cosmetic line is
big part of it. You can't get you cannot control
you the perfect smile, let's teeth, the straight So to adapt,
(13:53):
So how do you and then when you have to
embrace technologies and use automation and use you know, things
like virtual consoles. So what bit of advice would you
give somebody who's just doesn't get or afraid to make
a change. How would you help them?
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, I mean it's hard so the first time when
you make changes. But I like to say, first of all,
I like to say what do you like to do?
What kind of dentistry do you like to do? And
usually they say, you know, I love to do implants,
I love to do sleep, I love to place veneers.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
ORTHO treatment begets treatment. So the more earth that you do,
the more everything else you're going to have, and the
everything else will work out better. If we upright those incisors,
the veneers will stay on better because they have better clearance.
If we you know, upright the adjacency, the implants will
drop better, and the and they'll integrate better. So you'll
just get better outcomes, have less complaints if you just
(14:40):
finish the ORTHO first. Now, no one says you have
to do it, but you It is standard of care.
And now even the ADA is making recommendations about bite,
about occlusion, about airway, about making sure your patients are
aware what their options are. So it really is important
that you understand it. If you don't want to do it,
I don't care refer it out, but at least learn
(15:01):
to screen them, you know, and then send them the
referral if they need it before they get the cosmetic work.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
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(15:34):
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(15:55):
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you practice success with the marketing. It's not just our name,
it's what we do. Does a practice need to now
hire and bring in a TC or something that they
(16:15):
think a doctor could do themselves, because a lot of
doctors are not salespeople, and this is almost like a
sales position. You have to be able to communicate with
the person the right way and listen and understand and
help them, you know, see the journey. So how do
you help them on this? You know, go through that part? Well,
I can't afford to do this. I got to bring
in a TC and I got to buy a scanner
or blah blah blah. So let's talk about you know,
the initial part when you say, you get somebody finds
(16:37):
your website because they hired a great marketing company and
then they found you, you know, to come in. But
then what do you suggest would be the person who
meets with them, you know, is a doctor.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
I mean, honestly, I've trained orthro tcs that were I'm
sure we've all heard this before, but that were honestly
car salesman. I mean anyone, they were Starbucks people. I mean,
we hire people.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
My husband's really good about this, he carries his cards
and if he meets just an amazing person, you know,
service in the service industry, he'll hang you interested in
the job. I mean, as long as they're bright, and
they're good talkers and they're motivated, we can.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Treat train someone in a matter of weeks.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
You know, it's not that hard to train someone to
do a ORTHO if they're if they're interested, so you know,
but if you have the team members that are already.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Interested, it could be tricky.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
I think one of the hardest things is convincing your
team that we're going to add this new menu of services,
you know, something something new. But usually most team members
are thrilled about adding ORTHO because what's the benefit for them.
Hopefully you're providing them care for them maybe and maybe
eventually for their kids, you know, maybe at labbees or whatever,
but you know that helps their families as well. So
(17:44):
usually people are very motivated and you don't get a
lot of pushback. Of course, they're going to wonder what's
in it for them, so maybe have some incentives. That's
really a whole other thing. But yeah, I think it's
definitely doable.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
And no somebody does start in with the orthodontics and
they're embracing it and bring it to their practice. How
do you help them come up with pricing as far
as how they price themselves in a market because you
get just like throw.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Something secret shopping. It's all about secret shopping. So have
your team do some secret shopping. I mean, usually have
a pretty idea.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
If you're a primary care dentist. Usually your patients that
you've referred.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Ow are going to come back to say I'm getting
orthoid so and so, and you can just ask, I mean, hey,
you right, tell me how much the costs you know,
or you can even ask to see the treatment pund
you get some idea of what they're charging around you.
You need to be under what the orthodonists are charging
for sure, otherwise you're not gonna get any business. I mean,
I'm not saying it has to be okay. Let me
tell you a story about this. So back a like goodness,
Like maybe thirteen fourteen years ago, when I was practicing
(18:40):
in the Bay Area in San Francisco, there was a
guy down the street that put up a billboard right
next to our office we were working that said Dizzeligned
twenty nine ninety nine while I was charging seven thousand
or something like that. So I was like, oh my goodness,
he's totally undercutting me. But you know, I mean they're gonna,
i mean hopefully not gonna charge that much less. But
then this guy was also assessing like ridiculous extra fees
(19:01):
for retention and other stuff. And his goal, he even
told me, his goal was to do more implants.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
That's his only goal.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
He wasn't really interested in the orthough, he was interested
in doing more implants. So that's why he made his
price so low.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Interesting. And now, you know, when it comes to so
many things have changed and so much competition, you know,
what do you suggest the practice does from you know,
from an automation that's kind of what we step in
is we our job is to get people to show up,
but you have to follow up with them constantly. People
have so many different options, you know, and the staff
just doesn't get on board, you know, and they're because
(19:37):
that's they're busy. So, you know, from a new business perspective,
you know, how do you help a practice, you know,
get the name out there more? And what would you
suggest then them to do besides hire a great marketing
company like wealth and marketing.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I mean, honestly, that's not me. So I do the
clinical stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
So I mean we hire, I recommend companies like yours,
which is great now that we're partnering together.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
But I mean, like I said, you've got your own patience.
Just start with.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
It's really easy. And I'm sure you heard of wellness scan,
so if you have a scanner, I mean, of course
my preference and I have no affiliation with the line
technology at all, but there the eye tear was amazing
for wellness scans. I mean, it's just so visual and
so pretty. And if you take a wellness scan at
every other recall appointment, you know, once a year, and
just kind of show them, hey, look so like you
have some crowding, this many millimeters. Click, you have some nutrition,
(20:24):
some abfractions. Okay, you know definitely orthor would benefit your bite.
We want you to keep the last for a lifetime.
Let me just show you the plan, just so you
have an idea of what it would look like, you know,
especially if you can get it in the in face
and see it with their smile. Don't be salesy, don't
be saley. Just explain the health benefits of this and
why you think it would help their mouth and their bite.
Then you know, move on and say, you know, if
(20:45):
you're interested, let me know we do offer these services,
or we can refer you out to unarthured honest and
then just circle back one year from then. You know,
obviously if they're interested, then you can follow up. But
you'd be surprised just from doing that wellness scan, you're
going to get so many starts in me not be
that moment, but it might be a few months later
or a year later. Because people don't want their teeth
(21:05):
to you know, implants are getting new implants. It's a
lot more expensive, you know, or pera treatment than just
doing the ortho now. And what if they have coverage,
they might even.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Have insurance coverage. It's insane if you don't want to
do treatment.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
If somebody is thinking of doing this, what kind of
commitment time wise are they looking at because they're you
know both you know, sentos, some busy people. So if
they now want to like learn about your services and
then corporate it, what kind of investment time wise do they.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Have to from zero to fifty zero two hundred. So
we also we have a ton of free resources. One
of the fun things that I do is I make
YouTube videos explaining basic ORTHO concepts. I also take requests,
so a lot of times I get hey, can you
make a video about this? Can you explain this? So
it's almost like a wiki ortho page. If you go
to street Smouse Solutions YouTube channel two three hundred videos
(21:56):
to date, and they're kind of organized into buckets. So
we have like a whole braces one. We have a
whole invisiligned one. We have a whole non invis aligned.
We have a phase one in air away one. So
you can just go in and see what you're interested in.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Just watch those videos.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
It's a lot, so you know, just click around and
see what's interested, or you can search by keyword, you know,
like RPE, and then you can watch all the videos
on RPE. But that's a great way to get started,
and it's freet it doesn't cost you anything. We also
have courses that are digital courses. Sometimes we have live courses.
I post them on the website if I have them,
and then from there, if you want to move on
(22:30):
to coaching, we have coaching help with one case, one
on one, or all your cases for one month two
months three months, whatever you want. It's really there's no
real commitment. You're gonna get out of it what you
put into it. So but if you just want to
dip your toe in and try it, even if it's
a case that you're stuck on.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
It doesn't have to be a new case. It could
be some case that's like not finishing.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
You know, maybe you keep having refinement after a refinement
and you're like, what is wrong and the patient's getting frustrated.
Let me help you with that case. Well, you're gonna
learn so much. You pick a case and we're looking
at it. Let's say it's a new case, and we're like,
you know, this is not appropriate. I think you should
refer this out. We will give you a credit for
another case. So you really have nothing to lose.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
So I got two more questions for you. First one
is you're back in your in your ortho days and
you a patient comes in and sits in the chair.
You have the ability to choose one person in the
history of the world to come in and sit in
your chair and be able to look at them. Who
would who you choose them?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Wait?
Speaker 1 (23:28):
One one person to look like like phone a friend
from my autho case.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
The patient to sit in your chair and to have
a you know, X many minutes with that person. Forget
about what that teeth look like.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
But just this is going to be my patient. Patient.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Anybody in the history of the world that you would
like to have sit in your chair, you know that
you could talk to.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Oh my goodness, you didn't warn me about this question.
Oh no, anyone that I want to talk to. Okay,
I'm just going to pick something random, just because I
admire him. And this is kind of a Hawaiian thing,
but do Kahanamoku. He is the godfather of all things
water aquatics. My kids are swimmers surfing in Hawaii. He
(24:15):
was such a good person, such a likable person in
the community, and I really admire him, so I would
love to meet him.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
And he had great teath.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Oh awesome, good All right, And then I've got one
more important question that I don't know if you saw it,
but I just came across my text that a asteroid is
hitting Hawaii tonight. So you have now you have the
ability to you have one last meal you got I think.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
You're kidding, right, because we've had this missile warning. Okay,
thank you.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
You're about to eat your last meal.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Okay, well, we've actually had that happen to us before,
if you go back to I don't know what this
was twenty twenty. Twenty nineteen, we had the missile crisis
where we all everyone in Hawaii got a text saying
that we were going to die and the missile was
coming to bomb.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
So yeah, you should.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
You should check that out. So, I mean, this is
something we actually take seriously. But and it ended up
being a oop. Someone pushed the wrong button. But what
is my last meal? I guess in Hawaii, we really
we do good with luaus and we do EMUs, which
is where you build like a giant kit in the
(25:21):
ground and you roast a pick.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
I know it sounds really mean, but they're usually fresh
and they're so tasty. It's really moist and yummy and
it smells so good. So I would love to have
a luol there you go?
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Okay, cool? Good? All right, Well, I mean thank you
so much for joining. I really appreciate it. Now somebody
more information learn about you, and you know, talk to
you about potentially helping them out.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
What's the best way for the do so sure, and
actually just an added plug to any of your listeners.
I'm going to give any of your listeners two free things.
They do have to mention your podcast though, in order
to get these for free. So number one, you can
go to my website Straights Mouse Solutions, that's plural Straights
Mouse Solutions, and if you go to the contact page,
there's a button to schedule a free call. I would
(26:04):
like to definitely give any of your listeners that free
call and answer any of their ortho questions. We won't
be going over a case, per saying, but definitely get any.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Of those ortho questions out there and concerns.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
So and in addition, I also have a document store
on my website. You can find it understore, I believe,
and I would like to offer any of your listeners
a free document from my document store, or you can
go to my YouTube channel and see some of the
documents that are referenced. And usually those fees are twenty
dollars each, but it's a gift for any of your
listeners who mention your podcast. And yeah, I would love
(26:37):
to talk to anyone. You can shoot me an email
at info at straightsmas Solutions dot com or just reach
just find me on any of my socials and message
me and we'll hook up.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Awesome, man, thank you so much for joining. Everybody out there,
she's great. If so, if you're thinking of taking a
practice at the next level, have questions by implementing with
the doontics, in's learn a little bit more. Figuring out
what's the best way to also build up your referral
basis is real important.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Guys.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
You know, you're you're in the smile business and you
have to work together with everybody. You're not, you know,
competing now, but if you work smart, you could come
back and tenfold. So you know, reach out, you know,
learn a little bit more and see how you can
take your practice on the next level. So man, thanks
so much for joining. Appreciate it. Or out on podcast land,
thank you so much for listening as always, really appreciate
(27:24):
all of your your loyalty, your messages, everybody following us,
you know, and once again little shameless plug here. If
you are looking to your practice at the next level
and you need more patients, if you need auth of marketing,
we think you're gonna call weth A marketing. Thanks so much,
appreciate it. Everybody, be safe and smile. Smile Smile Worth
(27:50):
The Marketing dot Com three hundred and sixty degree digital
marketing solutions for your practice
Hi, I'm doctor Amanda Wilson, Straight Smile Solutions CEO and orthodonist.
On this podcast today, you're going to learn a little
bit more about launching orthodonics in a GP or primary
care practice, or if you're an orthodonist, so you're going
to learn a little bit more about collaborating with your
primary care dentists.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Looking forward to talking with you.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Orthomarketing dot com three hundred and sixty degree digital marketing
solutions for your practice. Well, hold everybody out there on
podcast land. This is Dean Steinmann from Worth On Marketing
and guess what, I am back with another podcast for you.
(00:44):
So I am super stoked to be back here. It's
been coming to the end of the year of twenty
twenty four now, and boy, it's been a crazy year,
and if you are orthodontic dental practice, it's been kind
of a crazy year for everybody across board. So we're
obviously here to talk a little bit about how to
(01:05):
make your practice more efficient or effective and help your
bottom line. And I got with me a very special
guest today that I'm super stoked to have a board.
I have doctor Amanda Wilson, and we're going to talk
today a little bit about how you need to why
you need to incorporate orthodontics into your practice, and how
you can take your practice at the next level. So, Amanda,
(01:28):
thanks so much for joining. How are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Sure? Aloha helloha to you.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Thanks so much for joining and appreciate it. So before
we jump into a little bit, why don't you give
us a little bit of the background story. You know,
I always love to have doctors that come on that
you know that kind of transitioned away from that and
into being in the business world. So tell us at
about your story and how you ended up where you
are now.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Absolutely, And to be honest, if you had told me
twenty years ago when I graduated twenty three years ago,
when I graduated from dental school, that I would doing
consulting and product development and coaching as an orthodonist, I
would say you were absolutely insane. But sometimes life has
a way of guiding you in a direction that you
weren't expecting. So give you the quick one to two
(02:12):
minute story. I went to UCSF for dental school, met
my now husband of twenty one years. There we both
had last names of w so we sat we were
anatomy lab partners and everything, and after my residency he
convinced me to move back to Hawaii, where he's from.
El Yeah. So, but Hawaii has some weird licensure rules,
(02:35):
especially if you graduate after two thousand sorry, before two
thousand and four. So I ended up we ended up
working in San Francisco for about ten years and then
coming back again. So we went back and forth a
few times, but ultimately I wasn't able to practice here
without having to go back and taking the licensure of
the AdEx exam with Endo and Perio and you know,
(02:56):
Crown of Bridge.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
And I was like, oh, my goodness, I'm an orthodonis.
This is just this is just wrong. So it was
a little.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Crazy initially, having a few kids and trying to balance
our practices.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
You know, with having little ones.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
If anyone has little ones, you realize how challenged it
can be because anytime one kid is sick, it's always
you know, who's got the most production on the books today,
who's going to take off? And it just wasn't working
for our families. So he and I kind of strategized
and he said, you know, you're really good at teaching
people about ortho, maybe you can teach, and there really
wasn't anything out there for that was available for teaching remotely,
(03:32):
So I said, Okay, I'm going to start my own
company and I'm going to teach general and pediatric dentists
how to do ORTHO.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Because there was a serious lack of coaching services out.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
There that were independent and not directly affiliated with a
certain brand. I just was like, I want to teach
people an easy way to do orthodonics and have fun
with it and not be stressed out and feel confident
they can do this in their practice. Ultimately, my goal
was to educate primary care dentists on what ORTHO was,
how to do it, and even if they chose not
to do it, they could alway refer to a local
(04:00):
orthodonosy it was too complex. But I know most sentists
are not learning much about WORTHO in dumba school. I mean,
they learned maybe how to refer and maybe how to
make a retainer, but that's really not useful or though.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
So that's why I do.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
What I do, and I've been doing it for ten
years and I absolutely love it.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
That's great, don't you love being the smile business?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
You know?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
I love.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Oh, it's so satisfying.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yeah, it's a great you know, my job is to
make my clients just not to smile, and our job
is to make other people smile. And you know, it's
incredible how you know, how seeing somebody walking down the
street and just when they're the confidence that they have
just from smiling, it's it's it's you know, by somebody,
you know, busy street in New York City wherever it is,
(04:45):
and so we walk down with a puss on their
face walk but you're like, but somebody just walks by,
smiling and happy. You could tell right away, you know
how the life has changed, and you know, and it's
it's great to be in sinstreekis to be around people
that are changing people's lives. It's it's fabulous.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
It is.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
So let's let's talk a little bit more about the
industry in general. And you know, what is it what's
the main pain point that you see a lot of
dentists having these days, and you know, and how are
you helping answer that problem that they have?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I mean, for the most part, I do work with
general and pediatric dentists. I sometimes work with new grad
authors as well, who maybe just didn't get their COVID
trained and didn't get a lot of hands on or
maybe they just didn't have a lot of experience with
growth modification or aligners. But for the most part, I'd
say for aligners, it's predictability. I mean, I think people
believe that if they just roll this case into the
(05:42):
you know, set up machine, whatever we're going to call it,
they're going to get a great cling check. And I'm
calling this you know, a branded name of course by
any aligner company, and they just wear the aligners and hoof,
everything works out.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Well, that's not really how things work.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
So you really have to drive the bus on any
aligner brand, and you have to know how you want to.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Move the teeth. Let's say we have a crowding case.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
You know, there's so many there's five main ways to
treat crowding, right, how do you know which five to do?
Are you going to do expansion proclination, are you going
to do i PR? Are you going to take out
some teeth and you're going to do sequential distallization? How
do you know what's right for that patient? There's so
many things you have to take into account and each patient,
each case is a unique piece of art. Basically, you
have to take an account not only the airway, the
(06:23):
soft tissue, the hard tissue. We got to make sure
this puzzle piece is going to work together. So I
help teach them how to easily solve the puzzle. That's
really my goal.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Well, and how hard is it is you teaching an
old dog new tricks? Are you teaching an.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Old dog all the above?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
So new dogs new tricks, new dogs old tricks, old
dogs nutricks. So you know, it really comes down to
you know what their goals are, what their practice standards are,
what state they're in, so many things, maybe who they
have to refer to it. Like I said, I know
you have a lot of orthodonists who listen to your program,
and I think that that's awesome, and I also help orthodonists.
(07:02):
But in addition, I really I'm sure all of you
who are orthodonists that are out there have had these
referrals where they either just waited way too long and
you're like, oh my goodness, now everything's already impacted and
we got to pull out teeth with a nightmare. They
should have referred at age seven. I teach them, please
refer if you don't know what you're doing. Please refer early, early, early,
you know, or you know, maybe you're just not getting
(07:26):
enough referrals. And the more that this primary care dentist
understands ORTHO, the more that they can explain and qualify
that referral. Yes, they might take a few of the
easy ones in house, but they're going to refer you
even more. And most of the doctors I work with
send way more referrals than they ever did once they
go through my program.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
That's incredible to hear because so many authos are complaining
about the competition and people that were referris or now competitors.
And again, you can see the forest through the trees
and the fact that you help them understand that you
can do a basic phase or supplication, but in complex case,
you know, refer it out and you'll see you come
(08:02):
back in speeds over and over again. You know you've
referred to a complex case. They're going to just keep
They're going to open up their doors. You say, here's
here's somebody great to come to for the other side.
So it's a great you know, relationship there, But how
do you help them understand to the far again, the
forests of the trees as well. By by referring it out,
(08:22):
they're not going to get the billing for it and
not make the money on it. There, but it's not
the expertise, So how do you help them understand that
part there and where the line where that line is crossed.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
That's it's a very fuzzy line.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And I definitely have some doctors who are way more
confident and I can do this, you know, and some
that are much more timid.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Oh no, it might be a ken on exposure. Yeah,
you better refer that out. So yeah, I mean it's difficult.
It definitely hold the hands.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
But also you know, a lot of your orthodontis out there,
they can also provide coaching services. I mean you do
have to watch out with some of the terms of
service and the liability. It's a very different type of
insurance than what you have with your working with patients.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
This is B to B, not B two C.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
But I think there's I mean, I know there's so
much opportunity out there, and a lot of people would
rather work with their local orthodonists on their cases because
that way, if you help them out a little bit,
then they probably.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Will start referring you more patients, so you know, it's
a win win for both of you.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
And know that there's always problems when it comes for
billing and coding and if you're not an orthodontist, and
how do you so, how does a dentist who is
offering authough code and bill if they're not an orthodontist today,
how does that work?
Speaker 1 (09:30):
To be honest, I refer them out for that. We
have to figure out for that. I have two consultants
that help with that.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
It is. It is a bit iffy.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I mean, obviously they need to write the right summaries
and stuff like that, and they have to have the
right diagnostics in the right records. That's the first thing, right.
I can help them do that. But in terms of
the billing, yeah, it can get a little clunky, you know,
and they they a lot of times they're not they're
used to working with one procedure type of things.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Right. They get their money up front.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
This is a this is a marathon, not a sprint,
so it might comes in and drops, it might come
in quarters, you know, and if the if the insurance terms,
you know, then you're not going to get your money.
And unless you have the right paperwork, you're not going
to get your money. So yeah, I mean, don't don't
rush into things. You can always get pre offs. I mean,
as much as we all know these things and just
take all the right records.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
That's the main thing.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
What's the number one question that or objection that the
dentist has when talking to you as far as bringing
on to their practice.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Doing it in house or bringing in a in an
outside worthan honest.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Let's let's both. Let's talk about just bringing doing in
house and then bringing some bringing in a partner.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I mean bringing it in house.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I mean ultimately it's it's how to how to organize
it in the practice. I mean, you've got so many
things going on. You've got hygiene going on, You've got
a crown prep going on. So it's a matter of
I always strongly recommend that they do as much remotely
and digitally upfront as possible.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
So if they're going to do braces, we got to
do indirect bonding.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Digital place the brackets, digitally, approve the brackets, put your
digital signature on it, and now good, you're confident the
brackets will go on the right spot. That way it
can be delivered. Maybe why you're doing something else depending
on the state you're in. Of course, same thing with
the liner is having taking a lot of time outside
the practice.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
To do it.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
And there's no reason now with virtual consults and everything
like that and that scanners that you have to give
them a diagnosis right on the spot. I know us
orthodonists are really good at doing that. I mean ninety
five percent of the time if the patient's in my chair,
as long as I have the X rays, I can
pretty much. I mean, your brain works like a puzzle,
right you see it. You're like, I've done this. This
(11:37):
was Jenny's case. With some and say's case, you know
what to do, right, but occasionally we get a little
stumped and we're like, hey, I'd like to take a
little more time to study this. With primary care Denis,
they all need to take more time to study it.
They can't just guess and be like, yes, this is
a VISI line or yes we can do this with braces.
They have to take the time to go through the
records and really work out the simulation and the puzzle
(11:59):
to make sure it's going to work for that patient holistically.
So I just tell them nothing wrong with saying, hey,
I like to take my time with making a.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Treatment plan and a diagnosis. Thank you for your patients.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Let's schedule a follow up phone call or a zoom
with my treatment coordinator. What works for you, Let's schedule
it next week. I'll have the answer by then, and
that's great. Or if you use virtual consults, you can
collect the rough data.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Ahead of time.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
It's not great, but they can use chopsticks or spoons
to retract, and I see a lot of orthodonists are
doing that. If you haven't checked that out, just go
to Orthodonists near me. CALLM a virtual console and I
love to see what people are doing their synchronous and
asynchronous virtual consults. It's a great marketing opportunity, it really is.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
But you know, nobody even heard of virtual consoles before Covid,
you know, yeah, you know. And then there was some
great partners out there that we worked with, you know,
that did virtual and I wouldn't practice that while they
were closed for COVID did over a million dollars in business.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I ret so many of these webinars. Yeah, and I
was like, right on, you guys are doing the right thing. Look,
there was an entire direct consumer industry that's kind of
fallen apart in the last ten years.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
But they were doing.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Virtual consults and they sold how many millions of cases?
So I'm not saying that everything was good. But if
they can do it, you can do it too, as
long as your law is allowed.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
We'll talk about the you know, adapting and technology, virtual
consult you know, because it's very from my perspective, it's
very hard to have somebody adapt and to change into
into embrace and then you know, quote unquote embrace change.
But you have to. So what's how would you give
a little bit of advice to somebody that a has
to change the way they think when they're when they're
(13:31):
now looking at the whole picture versus just the whitening
or the you know, the bleaching or the cosmetic part.
And if you're you're reading aligning in now, so you
have the ABC is you have a line bleaching and
you know whitening and then you have cosmetic line is
big part of it. You can't get you cannot control
you the perfect smile, let's teeth, the straight So to adapt,
(13:53):
So how do you and then when you have to
embrace technologies and use automation and use you know, things
like virtual consoles. So what bit of advice would you
give somebody who's just doesn't get or afraid to make
a change. How would you help them?
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, I mean it's hard so the first time when
you make changes. But I like to say, first of all,
I like to say what do you like to do?
What kind of dentistry do you like to do? And
usually they say, you know, I love to do implants,
I love to do sleep, I love to place veneers.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
ORTHO treatment begets treatment. So the more earth that you do,
the more everything else you're going to have, and the
everything else will work out better. If we upright those incisors,
the veneers will stay on better because they have better clearance.
If we you know, upright the adjacency, the implants will
drop better, and the and they'll integrate better. So you'll
just get better outcomes, have less complaints if you just
(14:40):
finish the ORTHO first. Now, no one says you have
to do it, but you It is standard of care.
And now even the ADA is making recommendations about bite,
about occlusion, about airway, about making sure your patients are
aware what their options are. So it really is important
that you understand it. If you don't want to do it,
I don't care refer it out, but at least learn
(15:01):
to screen them, you know, and then send them the
referral if they need it before they get the cosmetic work.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
This podcast is sponsored by orthomarketing dot Com. Hey, you
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(15:34):
outs of the dental orthodotic industry, and we're here to
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We're going to optimize your website. We're going to harness
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(15:55):
today and watch your patient list grow. Visit worthomarketing dot
com and learn more and think the first steps towards
you practice success with the marketing. It's not just our name,
it's what we do. Does a practice need to now
hire and bring in a TC or something that they
(16:15):
think a doctor could do themselves, because a lot of
doctors are not salespeople, and this is almost like a
sales position. You have to be able to communicate with
the person the right way and listen and understand and
help them, you know, see the journey. So how do
you help them on this? You know, go through that part? Well,
I can't afford to do this. I got to bring
in a TC and I got to buy a scanner
or blah blah blah. So let's talk about you know,
the initial part when you say, you get somebody finds
(16:37):
your website because they hired a great marketing company and
then they found you, you know, to come in. But
then what do you suggest would be the person who
meets with them, you know, is a doctor.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
I mean, honestly, I've trained orthro tcs that were I'm
sure we've all heard this before, but that were honestly
car salesman. I mean anyone, they were Starbucks people. I mean,
we hire people.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
My husband's really good about this, he carries his cards
and if he meets just an amazing person, you know,
service in the service industry, he'll hang you interested in
the job. I mean, as long as they're bright, and
they're good talkers and they're motivated, we can.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Treat train someone in a matter of weeks.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
You know, it's not that hard to train someone to
do a ORTHO if they're if they're interested, so you know,
but if you have the team members that are already.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Interested, it could be tricky.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
I think one of the hardest things is convincing your
team that we're going to add this new menu of services,
you know, something something new. But usually most team members
are thrilled about adding ORTHO because what's the benefit for them.
Hopefully you're providing them care for them maybe and maybe
eventually for their kids, you know, maybe at labbees or whatever,
but you know that helps their families as well. So
(17:44):
usually people are very motivated and you don't get a
lot of pushback. Of course, they're going to wonder what's
in it for them, so maybe have some incentives. That's
really a whole other thing. But yeah, I think it's
definitely doable.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
And no somebody does start in with the orthodontics and
they're embracing it and bring it to their practice. How
do you help them come up with pricing as far
as how they price themselves in a market because you
get just like throw.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Something secret shopping. It's all about secret shopping. So have
your team do some secret shopping. I mean, usually have
a pretty idea.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
If you're a primary care dentist. Usually your patients that
you've referred.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Ow are going to come back to say I'm getting
orthoid so and so, and you can just ask, I mean, hey,
you right, tell me how much the costs you know,
or you can even ask to see the treatment pund
you get some idea of what they're charging around you.
You need to be under what the orthodonists are charging
for sure, otherwise you're not gonna get any business. I mean,
I'm not saying it has to be okay. Let me
tell you a story about this. So back a like goodness,
Like maybe thirteen fourteen years ago, when I was practicing
(18:40):
in the Bay Area in San Francisco, there was a
guy down the street that put up a billboard right
next to our office we were working that said Dizzeligned
twenty nine ninety nine while I was charging seven thousand
or something like that. So I was like, oh my goodness,
he's totally undercutting me. But you know, I mean they're gonna,
i mean hopefully not gonna charge that much less. But
then this guy was also assessing like ridiculous extra fees
(19:01):
for retention and other stuff. And his goal, he even
told me, his goal was to do more implants.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
That's his only goal.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
He wasn't really interested in the orthough, he was interested
in doing more implants. So that's why he made his
price so low.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Interesting. And now, you know, when it comes to so
many things have changed and so much competition, you know,
what do you suggest the practice does from you know,
from an automation that's kind of what we step in
is we our job is to get people to show up,
but you have to follow up with them constantly. People
have so many different options, you know, and the staff
just doesn't get on board, you know, and they're because
(19:37):
that's they're busy. So, you know, from a new business perspective,
you know, how do you help a practice, you know,
get the name out there more? And what would you
suggest then them to do besides hire a great marketing
company like wealth and marketing.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I mean, honestly, that's not me. So I do the
clinical stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
So I mean we hire, I recommend companies like yours,
which is great now that we're partnering together.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
But I mean, like I said, you've got your own patience.
Just start with.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
It's really easy. And I'm sure you heard of wellness scan,
so if you have a scanner, I mean, of course
my preference and I have no affiliation with the line
technology at all, but there the eye tear was amazing
for wellness scans. I mean, it's just so visual and
so pretty. And if you take a wellness scan at
every other recall appointment, you know, once a year, and
just kind of show them, hey, look so like you
have some crowding, this many millimeters. Click, you have some nutrition,
(20:24):
some abfractions. Okay, you know definitely orthor would benefit your bite.
We want you to keep the last for a lifetime.
Let me just show you the plan, just so you
have an idea of what it would look like, you know,
especially if you can get it in the in face
and see it with their smile. Don't be salesy, don't
be saley. Just explain the health benefits of this and
why you think it would help their mouth and their bite.
Then you know, move on and say, you know, if
(20:45):
you're interested, let me know we do offer these services,
or we can refer you out to unarthured honest and
then just circle back one year from then. You know,
obviously if they're interested, then you can follow up. But
you'd be surprised just from doing that wellness scan, you're
going to get so many starts in me not be
that moment, but it might be a few months later
or a year later. Because people don't want their teeth
(21:05):
to you know, implants are getting new implants. It's a
lot more expensive, you know, or pera treatment than just
doing the ortho now. And what if they have coverage,
they might even.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Have insurance coverage. It's insane if you don't want to
do treatment.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
If somebody is thinking of doing this, what kind of
commitment time wise are they looking at because they're you
know both you know, sentos, some busy people. So if
they now want to like learn about your services and
then corporate it, what kind of investment time wise do they.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Have to from zero to fifty zero two hundred. So
we also we have a ton of free resources. One
of the fun things that I do is I make
YouTube videos explaining basic ORTHO concepts. I also take requests,
so a lot of times I get hey, can you
make a video about this? Can you explain this? So
it's almost like a wiki ortho page. If you go
to street Smouse Solutions YouTube channel two three hundred videos
(21:56):
to date, and they're kind of organized into buckets. So
we have like a whole braces one. We have a
whole invisiligned one. We have a whole non invis aligned.
We have a phase one in air away one. So
you can just go in and see what you're interested in.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Just watch those videos.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
It's a lot, so you know, just click around and
see what's interested, or you can search by keyword, you know,
like RPE, and then you can watch all the videos
on RPE. But that's a great way to get started,
and it's freet it doesn't cost you anything. We also
have courses that are digital courses. Sometimes we have live courses.
I post them on the website if I have them,
and then from there, if you want to move on
(22:30):
to coaching, we have coaching help with one case, one
on one, or all your cases for one month two
months three months, whatever you want. It's really there's no
real commitment. You're gonna get out of it what you
put into it. So but if you just want to
dip your toe in and try it, even if it's
a case that you're stuck on.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
It doesn't have to be a new case. It could
be some case that's like not finishing.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
You know, maybe you keep having refinement after a refinement
and you're like, what is wrong and the patient's getting frustrated.
Let me help you with that case. Well, you're gonna
learn so much. You pick a case and we're looking
at it. Let's say it's a new case, and we're like,
you know, this is not appropriate. I think you should
refer this out. We will give you a credit for
another case. So you really have nothing to lose.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
So I got two more questions for you. First one
is you're back in your in your ortho days and
you a patient comes in and sits in the chair.
You have the ability to choose one person in the
history of the world to come in and sit in
your chair and be able to look at them. Who
would who you choose them?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Wait?
Speaker 1 (23:28):
One one person to look like like phone a friend
from my autho case.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
The patient to sit in your chair and to have
a you know, X many minutes with that person. Forget
about what that teeth look like.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
But just this is going to be my patient. Patient.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Anybody in the history of the world that you would
like to have sit in your chair, you know that
you could talk to.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Oh my goodness, you didn't warn me about this question.
Oh no, anyone that I want to talk to. Okay,
I'm just going to pick something random, just because I
admire him. And this is kind of a Hawaiian thing,
but do Kahanamoku. He is the godfather of all things
water aquatics. My kids are swimmers surfing in Hawaii. He
(24:15):
was such a good person, such a likable person in
the community, and I really admire him, so I would
love to meet him.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
And he had great teath.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Oh awesome, good All right, And then I've got one
more important question that I don't know if you saw it,
but I just came across my text that a asteroid is
hitting Hawaii tonight. So you have now you have the
ability to you have one last meal you got I think.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
You're kidding, right, because we've had this missile warning. Okay,
thank you.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
You're about to eat your last meal.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Okay, well, we've actually had that happen to us before,
if you go back to I don't know what this
was twenty twenty. Twenty nineteen, we had the missile crisis
where we all everyone in Hawaii got a text saying
that we were going to die and the missile was
coming to bomb.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
So yeah, you should.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
You should check that out. So, I mean, this is
something we actually take seriously. But and it ended up
being a oop. Someone pushed the wrong button. But what
is my last meal? I guess in Hawaii, we really
we do good with luaus and we do EMUs, which
is where you build like a giant kit in the
(25:21):
ground and you roast a pick.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
I know it sounds really mean, but they're usually fresh
and they're so tasty. It's really moist and yummy and
it smells so good. So I would love to have
a luol there you go?
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Okay, cool? Good? All right, Well, I mean thank you
so much for joining. I really appreciate it. Now somebody
more information learn about you, and you know, talk to
you about potentially helping them out.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
What's the best way for the do so sure, and
actually just an added plug to any of your listeners.
I'm going to give any of your listeners two free things.
They do have to mention your podcast though, in order
to get these for free. So number one, you can
go to my website Straights Mouse Solutions, that's plural Straights
Mouse Solutions, and if you go to the contact page,
there's a button to schedule a free call. I would
(26:04):
like to definitely give any of your listeners that free
call and answer any of their ortho questions. We won't
be going over a case, per saying, but definitely get any.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Of those ortho questions out there and concerns.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
So and in addition, I also have a document store
on my website. You can find it understore, I believe,
and I would like to offer any of your listeners
a free document from my document store, or you can
go to my YouTube channel and see some of the
documents that are referenced. And usually those fees are twenty
dollars each, but it's a gift for any of your
listeners who mention your podcast. And yeah, I would love
(26:37):
to talk to anyone. You can shoot me an email
at info at straightsmas Solutions dot com or just reach
just find me on any of my socials and message
me and we'll hook up.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Awesome, man, thank you so much for joining. Everybody out there,
she's great. If so, if you're thinking of taking a
practice at the next level, have questions by implementing with
the doontics, in's learn a little bit more. Figuring out
what's the best way to also build up your referral
basis is real important.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Guys.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
You know, you're you're in the smile business and you
have to work together with everybody. You're not, you know,
competing now, but if you work smart, you could come
back and tenfold. So you know, reach out, you know,
learn a little bit more and see how you can
take your practice on the next level. So man, thanks
so much for joining. Appreciate it. Or out on podcast land,
thank you so much for listening as always, really appreciate
(27:24):
all of your your loyalty, your messages, everybody following us,
you know, and once again little shameless plug here. If
you are looking to your practice at the next level
and you need more patients, if you need auth of marketing,
we think you're gonna call weth A marketing. Thanks so much,
appreciate it. Everybody, be safe and smile. Smile Smile Worth
(27:50):
The Marketing dot Com three hundred and sixty degree digital
marketing solutions for your practice
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