As growing numbers of Australians search for more affordable and aesthetically pleasing alternatives to traditional metal braces, the clear aligner market is poised for a huge wave in the years ahead.
 
By Danny Chan
 
Recent market research estimates that the Australian clear aligner market will reach nearly three quarters of a billion dollars (AUD $739M) by 2028. This translates to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.7% from 2021 to 2028.
 
The growth projection sits well with recent reporting from Orthodontics Australia that finds more than half (55%) of the population is self-conscious about their teeth, and 62% are willing to fix their misaligned teeth.
 
However, this double-digit swell will simply crash over the heads of most general dentists in the country, according to the founders of Clear Aligner Excellence (CAE).
 
Doctors Geoff Hall and Jesse Green believe that aligners are currently being under-utilised by general dentists to treat patients and their associated malocclusion.   
 
The reasons for the underutilisation, as they see it, include:
 
1.Lack of clinical confidence to offer treatment to the types of malocclusions presenting in their practice every day.
2.Lack of business and practice management processes to effectively integrate aligner therapy into their practice.
3.The impact of aligner lab fees on profit margins.
 
You say you want a revolution...
 
Using a monthly subscription and membership model, CAE was set up to help members overcome these barriers through:
 
1.Providing online clinical and practice development training and education.
2.Driving patient traffic through internal and external marketing campaigns.
3.Access to an exclusive buying network.
 
Regarded as one of Australia’s pioneers in modern-day orthodontics and education, Dr Geoff Hall is a specialist orthodontist that also runs MP Orthodontics in Cheltenham, Melbourne, as co-owner and principal Orthodontist.
 
“Most aligner companies charge Australian dentists about double than what they charge dentists in America.  We have been royally screwed over from the aligner lab fees,” Dr Hall says.
 
“Our goal is to level the playing field for CAE member dentists and in turn reducing cost as a barrier to patients accepting treatment,” Dr Hall says.
 
“What we’ve done is develop commercial relationships with major aligner companies to negotiate preferred pricing for CAE members,” he shares.
 
“The buying network will offer heavy discounts and preferential rates covering lab fees for all major aligner systems including Invisalign®, SmileStyler®, ClearCorrect®, SureSmile®, and AngelAlign®.  The resulting savings in aligner lab fees can be as much as AUD $900 per case, and additional reputable aligner brands are on the way.”
 
“Based on what we now offer, the treatment is more commercially viable. We are going to revolutionise the way aligner therapy is done in Australia.”
 
The negotiated savings, they add, will also cover non-aligner and complementary services.
 
Strength in unity
 
The overriding goal of CAE is to drive the uptake of aligner therapy – or as Dr Hall puts it, increase the ‘aligner pie’ by expanding clinical applicability and increasing case conversion rates. 
 
He believes this can be achieved through CAE’s Aligner Accelerator Program (AAP). The AAP delivers eight training sessions on clinical orthodontics with a particular focus on aligners and another eight training sessions on integrating clear aligners into the practice.
 
In addition, CAE will provide ongoing monthly training and education to members to further drive clinical confidence and practice integration.
 
In applying the aphorism that ‘a rising tide lifts all boats,’ the purpose of CAE is not simply to get more general dentists onto the aligner bandwagon, but to equip them with the clinical, business and commercial skills, in a bid to raise the overall quality of the aligner market.
 
The ‘E’ in CAE
 
Author, speaker and entrepreneur, Dr Jesse Green is the dental business coach behind Savvy Dentist, which is a dental training and consultation outfit that helps dentists develop financial intelligence, create high performance teams, and master the art of patient flow.
 
According to Dr Green, the word ‘Excellence’ should be viewed from different angles, with clinical training and education being only one aspect of it. 
 
“Dr Hall will train the dentists to become clinically confident CAE-accredited doctors, giving them the ability to perform aligner treatments to the highest standards of excellence,” he says.
 
“However, in my experience,” Dr Green shares, “successful integration of clear aligners for dental practices is challenging because of the perceived “elective” nature of aligners, and the lack of systems designed to effectively present and close those cases.”
 
“Therefore, the training that I provide will help them become excellent from a practice management point of view – to become more profitable, scalable and valuable.”
 
Through the CAE, member dentists will learn how to optimise their internal patient databases to generate leads and convert patients. This includes additional training for front desk staff and treatment coordinators. CAE also runs a direct-to-public marketing platform that will help drive patient traffic to all members and their practices.
 
Leveraged income
 
Dr Hall believes clear aligner therapy to be the only area in dentistry where you can delegate the time-consuming aspects of the work to a hygienist or oral health therapist.
 
“This is the most leveraged form of income a dentist will ever make,” Dr Green adds.
 
“We will show them how to diagnose a clear aligner case, but ultimately have the treatment delivered by others.”
 
“Compared to scaling and cleaning that earns $200 an hour,” he continues, “when it comes to aligners, your hygienist can make over $1,000 an hour for you. And it’s totally scalable.”
 
Catching the wave
 
Says Dr Green: “My experience in working with dental practices across Australia has shown that most dentists are starting about one new clear aligner case per month.  However, we have seen success in full integration of aligner therapy in the practice resulting in starting a new clear aligner case each week, on average.”
 
“Going from one case a month to one case a week can add as much as AUD $270K in annual revenue to the practice.”
 
With the Australian dental aligner marketplace projected to grow by double digits, both Dr Hall and Dr Green say CAE membership is a no-brainer for a vast majority of general dentists in the country.
 
Based on their calculations, it takes the dentist roughly 1.2 aligner cases a month to cover the costs of CAE monthly membership.
 
CAE also has special enterprise pricing for those dentists who are already doing over 50 cases a year, so they too can benefit from all the ongoing education and great ancillary value which is exclusively offered to CAE members.
 
“A veritable tsunami wave for clear aligners is coming,” Dr Green emphasises, “and CAE network providers will be uniquely positioned to ride that wave faster and further than their peers.”
 
If you require more information about Clear Aligner Excellence call 1 300 002 239 or visit https://clearex.com.au/

Andent’s pressure laminated mouthguards are designed to fit better and last longer.

By Danny Chan

“To be perfectly clear, the main advantage of wearing a mouthguard is to protect one’s teeth or jaw bone from harmful impact,” says Matthew Smith, General Manager and Group Director for Production at Andent.

With that comment, the experienced leader of the Melbourne-based dental lab derailed my thought locomotive.
I had just cited a study conducted at the University of Pittburgh which found that pro athletes wearing a custom-fitted mouthguard – as opposed to wearing a boil-and-plate guard or not wearing one at all – helped them project a higher degree of force and power.

Other research exploring the same correlation applied to taekwondo athletes and pro golfers also suggest similar findings – of boosted performance when the custom-made device was worn.

Of course, Smith would be right in choosing to tread cautiously. None of the research has concluded any physiological relationship between donning the device and the wearer’s performance.

Don’t be distracted

Andent is one of Australia’s leading purveyors of Proform mouthguards, the lab-processed professional grade mouthguards used by both pro and amateur athletes.

You would be hard-pressed (pun intended) to find another mouthguard blank in the world that could rival in the area of softness, tensile strength, shape-retention and density.

It’s the same product elite athletes playing contact sports at the highest level count on to protect their pearlies. Some of them would even go as far as to claim performance boosting attributes, real or imagined.
 
As far as Smith is concerned, that’s a hearsay benefit that detracts from the real issue. Concussion, knocked out teeth, broken jaw, cut cheeks, split lips, cuts to the face... now these are the primary reasons why athletes wear a mouthguard.

And only a custom-fitted mouthguard, Smith maintains, can comprehensively protect an athlete from these injuries.
“The most important aspect of a custom-fitted mouthguard is exactly that – because it’s made and crafted precisely for that individual patient,” he says.

“It’s moulded to their dentition so it’s a perfect fit.”

Achieving a perfectly fitted mouthguard, the technical honcho would have you know, is a major preoccupation at Andent.

“If it's loose and moving around, it's not really adding any comfort or any sort of protection,” he asserts.

“The comfort and robustness of the mouthguard primarily depends on how well it fits in the mouth, then followed by the proper use of impact material.”

Play it safe, sport

You don’t have to be an athlete to know the importance of playing it safe. The mouthguard is one of the most important pieces of safety equipment for both pro-level and amateur athletes – imperative for protecting one’s teeth, jaw and even neck.

With so much at stake, Andent is not mucking around. Their Proform range of mouthguards, night guards and snore appliances are recognised for being competitively priced and living up to their stated purpose.

In the case of the sports mouthguards, the manifest goal is maximum protection for high-contact sports. Boil-and-bite mouthguards, in Smith’s estimation, simply do not cut it.

“There are so many things that could go wrong with a boil-and-bite,” he adds, “for example, if they are not heated or fitted properly.”   

With a custom-fitted mouthguard, Smith says every element, material and process are controlled for optimum efficiency and accuracy.

“We're using all the thermoplastic materials designed for mouthguards. We're working off the correct stones and everything else to make sure that we get it clean and accurate. It's all temperature controlled and pressure controlled,” he explains.

“This controlled process is what keeps everything as consistent as possible. The mouthguards are also moulded and cut by skilled technicians to ensure they conform specifically to each user’s dimensions.”

Impacting your decision

Andent offers three different types of mouthguards according to size and case use.

PROFORM Professional Mouthguard: Suitable for ages 13 to adult, the advanced features including triple layer coverage of the dentition, offer a professional level of protection suitable for high impact sports including boxing, karate, kickboxing and taekwondo.

PROFORM Double Laminate Mouthguard: Suitable for ball players aged 11 and above, this style offers dual coverage of the dentition. It is designed for all sports with medium-low impact such as AFL, rugby and hockey.

PROFORM Single Laminate Mouthguard: Designed for ages 5 -10, this single layer mouthguard is suitable for all low-impact sports such as basketball, soccer and Auskick.

All the above are professional grade ProForm mouthguards prescribed for different users, but offering a high level of protection, retention, comfort and fit.

The additional layers (double or triple) of laminated sheet vinyl significantly reduce the incidence of tooth breakage by distributing the stress of impact to the entire length of the tooth.

Matter of form

Offering the highest level of dental fit, Andent’s pressure laminated guards are thermoformed to provide outstanding protection. The layering of mouthguard material (known as lamination) helps to achieve a specific thickness under a high heat and pressure environment.

According to Smith, this type of mouthguard fits tighter and last longer than vacuum formed ones.

“Many dentists believe the vacuum formed product will do the job, but it tends not to have a tight fit that is suitable for sporting use,” he says.

“We use the vacuum product for an occlusal split when a super tight fit isn’t required – but we insist on pressure formed units when it comes to Proform mouthguards.”

Perform with Proform?

The design of the custom-fitted mouthguard has shown to have practically zero effect on breathing.

“Users are able to talk, breathe and focus on their game,” Smith adds,  “instead of worrying if their mouthguard will slip out.”

Athletes often talk about having the confidence to make a play when it matters or the ability to focus during matches as crucial but sometimes elusive commodities.

Whether the factors are physiological or purely psychological, you would think they matter less than the perceived benefits from the player’s point of view.

So if a mouthguard helps athletes perform or focus better because it gives them a firmer clench or the ability to breath normally, would it be fair to say the custom-made option enhances the athlete’s sporting output?  
​
Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m still a little fixated on the performance benefits.

Ever since she first laid eyes on the unit at ADX 2014, Dr Pervinder Kaur’s commitment towards the Diplomat dental chair has remained unshaken.
 
By Danny Chan
 
Six years ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr Pervinder Kaur, a dynamic NSW dentist and entrepreneur. At the time, Dr Kaur had just set up the second branch of Minto Family Dental, then an up-and-coming practice she founded just a year prior.
 
It was particularly memorable as I had never, or since, spoken to someone as enthusiastic about a dental chair purchase. Dr Kaur had just bought her second Diplomat DA 370 model dental chair from Australia’s lone manufacturer of dental units, William Green. She had purchased the same exact unit two years prior after testing it during the ADX 2014.
 
Recalling that initial encounter, she once gushed: “It was love at first sight!” She even went as far as proclaiming the Diplomat dental chair to be “the one” made just for her practice, and calling it “the best deal on the market”.
 
Be safe, not scary
 
To be clear, Dr Pervinder Kaur wasn’t an immature rookie easily wowed by newfangled technology. The full-fledged dentist had by 2016, already notched more than a decade of clinical experience, and knew her way around the most sophisticated equipment.
 
Relocating to Sydney from India in 2008, the alumnus of King Georges Medical & Dental College (India) completed her Masters in Public Health (UWS) and ADC to practise dentistry in Australia. Despite her vast experience, she continued working for others until committing to start Minto Family Dental in 2015.
 
“I finally decided to set up my own practice,” she enthuses, “in order to create a dream practice that captures my aspirations for dentistry!”
 
From the get go, Dr Kaur was on a mission to counter misleading notions that cast dentists as “scary masked people”. The goal is to make all her patients, especially the little ones for whom she has affinity, feel completely safe and comfortable during every visit.
 
Of course, the centrepiece equipment complementing her vision are those dream chairs she bought six years ago from William Green.
 
Dr Kaur’s enduring brand loyalty can be seen writ large in her purchasing three more models of Diplomat chairs over the years – the most recent of which is the Diplomat Pro 500, which she bought this year.
 
“Since I needed another chair,” she says, “I thought might as well pamper myself by upgrading to ‘Business Class’.”
 
Love at first seat
 
Reminiscent of Dr Kaur’s ebullient description of her Diplomat DA370 encounter, the marketing tagline of the Model Pro series is ‘Love at the first seat’.
 
Just like its standard counterparts, the Diplomat Pro 500 comes in a holistic package deal of advanced ergonomic features, convertibility, stability, and compatibility.
 
The Diplomat Dental chair is designed for occupant comfort. It boasts a small footprint, which makes it perfect for small practice rooms. The robust body is layered with UV resistant paint. It has an articulate and foldable armrest, multi-functional and programmable foot, controller, and a 3-D headrest with manual and pneumatic adjustment.
 
The Dental unit is equipped with a movable bowl that provides an ideal rotation up to 120 degrees to the patient and out.
 
Of course, the Pro version takes things to a sophisticated level.
 
Pro has its pros
 
The synchronized chair movement of the seat and backrest, for example, allows the patient to remain in a fully relaxed position throughout the entire procedure.
 
Operators are not left out either. The dentist`s and assistant`s element include tray tables that always position the instruments within a comfortable reach. For added comfort and well-designed ergonomics, in addition to the versatile 3-D-headrest, you also get articulated and foldable armrests, as well as a multifunctional, programmable foot controller.
 
On that ergonomic note, you can convert from left- to right-handed configuration in about 30 seconds – no tools or additional parts required. This feature is also suitable for left-handed users.
 
“I had previously lost two very skilled dentists, just because they were left handed but all I had were right-handed chairs,” Dr Kaur reveals.
 
“This conversion feature actually gives me an advantage when advertising for new positions!”
 
For a touch of modernity, the dental chair can be connected to your portable device for seamless operation. You can make a preventive appointment, prepare white filling, convert the configuration, or change the inclination of the seat and backrest, all from your tablet. Even odd jobs like bowl rotation, cup filling and bowl rinsing can be easily managed through the device.
 
Dr Kaur says the tablet connectivity allows the team greater flexibility. This includes the ability to save unique user profiles to the Cloud from her iPad, so her dental team can access training by the technical support team at William Green.
 
When it comes to connectivity and upgradable options, Dr Kaur believes the Diplomat Pro 500 shows the dental make has come a long way.
 
Ahead of the game
 
As someone who has put several of the Diplomat chair models through their paces over the years, and experienced firsthand the different iterations and upgrades for both hardware and software,” she attests: “I can safely say that the chairs are way ahead of the game.”
 
Impressed by their “sleek design, clear finish lines and other aesthetic enhancements”, Dr Kaur says emphatically: “It has all we can ask from a chair, really!”
 
Ownership of five Diplomat chairs attests not only to the value and quality of the chairs themselves, but also a credit to the after sales and support services rendered by the team at William Green, she says – giving mention to Simon Green, Ryan Green, Chris Jones and Bob Hockey.
 
“They are all wonderfully professional and reliable people. Their support is really just a phone call away – Bob, the easy going one, seems always the fastest to respond,” Dr Kaur beams.
 
“One time, Ryan came out after work at 6pm, just to accommodate my busy schedule that day, to check and fix up some issues.”
 
Among the compliments, what is perhaps most remarkable is that Dr Kaur’s effusive appraisal of the first Diplomat chair she ever bought hasn’t shown any signs of waning.  
 
“It's still working as well as when I first bought it,” she enthuses.
 
“It’s actually my favourite chair and still the one I’m most comfortable working on for all my difficult cases!”