2022 AAO Winter - Web Access

Data driven decisions have become the force required to achieve competitive advantage. Differentiation in a competitive market stem from the difference between thinking and knowing and the courage to identify and solve the challenges we face as business owners. Join Mary Beth Kirkpatrick and Ryan Moynihan to gain an understanding of the foundations of business success. From your vision to your values to your daily management, learn how your practice can thrive in a changing and evolving market.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify strategies for establishing business foundations and the tools to help effectively run an orthodontic business.
• Cultivate practice metrics, what really matters to your business and why.
• Evaluate the evolution of the new patient journey from call to close.

The way orthodontists practice today is vastly different from the past. That much you already know. But just how much has it changed, and more importantly, how might it continue to evolve in the years ahead? In this presentation, we will review the history of orthodontists’ distribution across various practice modalities, examine current practice modality data and trends, and reveal forecasts for how orthodontists may practice in the future. Moreover, we will present additional demographic data that impact how orthodontists choose to practice, as well as how their chosen practice modalities impact them.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand how orthodontists’ distribution across various practice modalities have changed over time.
• State high level statistics regarding orthodontic practice modalities and other demographics.
• Project how orthodontists’ distribution across various practice modalities may change in the future.

Join Dr. Fishbein as he discusses the 6-year practice journey of Fishbein Orthodontics.

Learning Objectives:

• Evaluate the benefits of joining a DSO.
• Review why Fishbein Orthodontics partnered with Smile Doctors.
• Implement Fishbein Orthodontics’ best practice management and marketing tips to go from a 6-person team to a 90+ person team over a 6-year period.

Join Dr. Blevins on a journey of how two friends merged their practices and grew from four locations to thirteen. She will discuss how they leveraged their individual talents, thought outside the bracket and became one of the leading aligner practices in North America.

Learning Objectives:

• List 3 key areas that drive increased profitably.
• Stay more connected to patients utilizing virtual care.
• Create a strategy for allowing the office and clinical team to help the practice create a wow patient experience.

Join this interactive discussion with Drs. Anil Idiculla, Jamie Reynolds, Damon Barbieri and Scott Law along with Elizabeth Campbell, MBA. Each participant will contribute to an informal discussion about their practice modality, touch on their own experiences and engage with moderated audience Q&A.

Learning Objectives:

• Assess various practice modality options from experienced peers.
• Outline the advantages and disadvantages of various practice modalities.

Drs. Herb & Justin Hughes will share their experiences and wisdom spanning 3 orthodontic generations. They will openly discuss how over the past 6 decades they have maintained a thriving practice through many challenging times. Tried and true as well as brand-new techniques, appliances and philosophies will be discussed so that participants will have practical take home pearls that can be easily implemented into their practices. Whether you’re just starting your career or a seasoned practitioner you will find this presentation both worthwhile and magically entertaining.

Learning Objectives:

• Entice prospective adult patients with an aesthetic treatment area that offers clear choices.
• Acquire practical lessons learned that will help build a successful orthodontic business that can last for many decades.
• Perform “The Magician’s Choice” and develop the mindset of a magician to solve your problems.

As our industry continues to evolve, many doctors are taking a hard look at their practice model. Many are considering selling to a DSO, buying up more local practices, or considering a partnership with another specialty. 

Learning Objectives:

• List pros and cons of multiple practice models.
• Understand why the next generation of orthodontists cannot afford to buy our practices.
• Identify several advantages as well as challenges of an ortho/pedo partnership.

If you would have asked him a year ago about his future in orthodontics, Dr. Frost would have told you that it didn't include being a part of an OSO. In this lecture, he will share with you his thought process and journey to where he is today, a partner in an OSO. He will also clear up any misconceptions and myths about OSO's and provide a clear understanding of their value. Dr. Frost believes that our profession is still the best specialty in dentistry and no matter if you are a solo practitioner, associate or working in a large organization the future is bright as you want to make it.

Learning Objectives:

• Debunk the myths and misconceptions of joining an OSO and be able to see the benefits vs cost to join such an organization.
• Understand what an OSO is and how they operate in the space of orthodontics.
• Comprehend how these organizations can help reduce stress to a practitioner and help them concentrate on the patients and beautiful outcomes.

In today's changing environment, sometimes thinking outside the box and taking a risk can be rewarding. Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontic combined practices are abundant and profitable, but most are created from the ground up or by having one service and adding the other as a start-up. In this lecture, Drs. Cooper and Dyer will discuss their journey in merging existing orthodontic and pediatric dentistry practices to create a combined ortho-pedo practice.

Learning Objectives:

• Determine if combining your orthodontic practice with a local pediatric dentistry practice is a viable possibility.
• Evaluate how the dental community in your area will respond to such a merger.
• Consider different human resource, benefits, accounting, and retirement roadblocks that may be encountered.

Orthodontists everywhere are exploring the best path forward for them and their practices during this pivotal moment in dentistry. Disruptions are constant and inundating their lives in unprecedented ways. The only wrong choice in our current climate is no choice at all. In this lecture, Dr. Greg White will share a transition model that truly works for the practitioner, their team, their patients, their community, and their legacy.

Learning Objectives:

• Outline the current transition models available to practitioners.
• Assess how private equity investments have changed practice valuations in dentistry in general, and orthodontics specifically.
• Understand the after-retirement passive income component to a unique practice transition model.