Early orthodontic treatment is transforming how practitioners approach phase one treatment for growing patients. In this episode of the Golden Age Of Orthodontics, hosts Dr. Leon Klempner and Amy Epstein welcome Dr. Don Spillers, a board-certified orthodontist and leading voice in Invisalign First therapy. Dr. Spillers shares how clear aligners for kids are revolutionizing pediatric orthodontics, offering superior compliance, better hygiene, and remarkable arch development without traditional metal appliances. The conversation explores the business impact of treating patients at age seven versus only offering observation, the role of digital orthodontics in the growth of modern practice, and the best age to start orthodontic treatment for children.
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
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GAOO-Ep 77 Dr. Don Spillers Transcript
(00:00:00) Dr. Leon Klempner: If you bring five orthodontists into a room, talk about early treatment, you're gonna get five different opinions. Uh, as long as I could remember, it's been a debate in the profession, and as of late, phase one treatment with aligners are becoming more popular, so. Is it worth the extra time and expense?
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(00:01:42) Narrator: The future of orthodontics is evolving and changing every day, but although the way to achieve practice growth has changed, there's never been a better time to be an orthodontist.
(00:01:53) Let's get into the minds of industry leaders, forward-thinking, orthodontists and technology insiders to learn how they see (00:02:00) the future of the orthodontic specialty. How will digital orthodontics, artificial intelligence, clear aligner therapy, remote monitoring, in-house printing, and other innovations change the way you practice?
(00:02:12) Join your host, Dr. Leon Klempner and Amy Epstein each month. As they bring you insights, tips, and guest interviews focused on helping you capitalize on the opportunities for practice growth. And now welcome to the Golden Age of Orthodontics with the co-founders of People and practice, Dr. Leon Klempner and Amy Epstein.
(00:02:34) Dr. Leon Klempner: Welcome to the Golden Age of Orthodontics. If you don't already know me, I am Leon Klempner, a retired board certified orthodontist, director of ortho at Mount Sinai Hospital, part-time faculty at Harvard in Montefiore, and the CEO of people in practice. I practiced for about 40 years before co-founding people in practice marketing with my partner, with my daughter, and with (00:03:00) my podcast host Amy Epstein.
(00:03:03) How you doing, Amy? Same person.
(00:03:04) Amy Epstein: I'm good. All the same. It's three different
(00:03:06) Dr. Leon Klempner: people. Three different people. Three different
(00:03:08) Amy Epstein: people. Yeah. All wrapped up in one. I'm good. Um, I'm Amy Epstein and I'm, uh, the other half of the founders of People in Practice, and we do this show together and, uh, our work here is to bring thought leaders.
(00:03:24) To our audience of orthodontists, people who are at the forefront of their field, people who can help other practices to grow or to see things in a different way, and that's what we hope to do today.
(00:03:37) Dr. Leon Klempner: And, you know, before we jump into our interview, um, I want to just give a quick shout out to our sister Podcast Practice Talk.
(00:03:46) It's hosted by our very own Lacey Ellis, one of our senior growth consultants here at People in Practice. So, um, Lacey brings decades of real world experience in every (00:04:00) episode. Uh, it's really useful for staff, so I would highly recommend, um. Subscribing, uh, and you get a lot out of it.
(00:04:09) Amy Epstein: Yeah. And she's extremely experienced in both, uh, on the clinical set, she's worked in orthodontic practices in almost every role.
(00:04:19) She has, uh, worked at other consultancies. She's been with people in practice for a number of years as well, so she's incredibly knowledgeable and very. Um, and, and a trustworthy voice because of all of her experience, uh, both within the practice and outside of it.
(00:04:35) Dr. Leon Klempner: So, um, Amy, um, let me let listeners in a little bit on our personal lives 'cause we're gonna talk about early treatment and I have, I wear a hat as a grandpa.
(00:04:51) Amy wears a hat as a mom. So one day. Amy says to me, grandpa, take a look at Kayla. My (00:05:00) 7-year-old granddaughter, by the way, he's constantly
(00:05:02) Amy Epstein: like pulling down lower lips and looking at crowded lowers of all the grandkids. He's, every once in a while he just walks up to a kid and has a look. Alright, bite.
(00:05:10) Okay. Open. Okay. Bite again. Anyway, but you,
(00:05:13) Dr. Leon Klempner: you, you really identified this. You said to me, there's no room for these teeth to come in. That she's having a hard time cleaning it. There's stuff, yeah, hygienes buildup, you know,
(00:05:23) Amy Epstein: you can see the buildup and you know, no amount of flossing can get to these little spots and anyway.
(00:05:29) Dr. Leon Klempner: Well anyway, so I said, okay, you know, let's get a consult. And um, I recommended my friend Barry Glaser and, um, now Kayla's wearing aligners. So how is our 7-year-old granddaughter doing with her aligners?
(00:05:48) Amy Epstein: Um, you know, I was unsure at first. She, she, she's actually a pretty organized kid, so, uh, if we were talking about my older, I would've had some more reservations, but, um.
(00:05:59) (00:06:00) Actually, she's doing really well. And, um, you know, she, she goes from aligner to aligner pretty quickly. I was surprised for four days or so. And so there's a bit of like progression, gamification going on there that makes her, she's sort of like checking boxes that she's moving on. And, um, well, I mean, from a, it's only been a couple of months and sh I, there's room, there's more room.
(00:06:24) I mean, hygiene is already better, so that's, that's great. Um. And actually Dr. Glazer is. Uh, he's close, but not that close. But with a remote monitoring tool, it makes it a little bit easier to be able to, um, you know, go see him and, uh, and of course you know him, which is, which makes things great. Very comfortable for us.
(00:06:49) And, and Kayla, that, that this orthodontist is friends with Grandpa. Um. But anyway, yeah, she's just a long story short, she's, she's doing really well. She wears it when she's (00:07:00) supposed to wear it. She takes it out when she's supposed to take it out, and she's really good about putting it in the bath in the evenings and in the mornings to get it clean, as we say.
(00:07:09) Uh, you know, it gets left here and there sometimes, but for the most part she's doing really well and she only just turned seven, so, um, she's kind of little. Um, but yeah, it's so far, so good, and it's really. Fixing the problems.
(00:07:25) Dr. Leon Klempner: Mm-hmm.
(00:07:27) Amy Epstein: We were wanting to go after. So anyway,
(00:07:29) Dr. Leon Klempner: you know, I, you know, I did a lot of early treatment when I was in practice and, um, I'd much rather have a seven or 8-year-old in terms of compliance than a 13 and a 14-year-old.
(00:07:42) Wearing rubber bands. I mean, that is like banging your head against the wall. The, the young kids to me were, were the most compliant in my practice. So, and Kayla is perfect. She's got the personality, I see her cleaning the stuff and soaking it and things like that. So, you know, in my day it (00:08:00) was acrylic appliances.
(00:08:02) It was, um, you know, brackets, sometimes headgear. This is a whole new game. Oh, I remember the
(00:08:08) Amy Epstein: headgear.
(00:08:10) Dr. Leon Klempner: I remember
(00:08:10) Amy Epstein: that headgear didn't like that. Headgear.
(00:08:12) Dr. Leon Klempner: Yeah. Well anyway, you have no, you don't have an overbite anymore, do you?
(00:08:16) Amy Epstein: This is the truth.
(00:08:17) Dr. Leon Klempner: Okay.
(00:08:17) Amy Epstein: This is the truth anyway. So clearly, at least in our life, aligners have changed the game for us, allowing Kayla to get some of that space that she needs.
(00:08:30) Um, and I imagine it's changing the game for other little patients too. So we've got the. Perfect guest to talk about this topic. Dr. Don Spillers is a board certified orthodontist. He's an educator and he's a leading voice in early aligner therapy. He's the founder of Spillers Orthodontics in Warner Robbins and Macon, Georgia.
(00:08:52) He's put a practice. He has built his practice. Around innovation as its mission, (00:09:00) digital workflow, and an aligner first approach to phase one treatment. He's a faculty member with Align or uh, technology, and Dr. Spillers teaches orthodontists around the country how to successfully implement Invisalign.
(00:09:12) First, he is passionate about clinical excellence, team education, and advancing the future of orthodontics through thoughtful. Tech Forward Care, Dr. Spillers, Don, if that's okay. It's wonderful to have you here. Thank you for joining us.
(00:09:27) Dr. Don Spillers: Hey, good morning. Uh, glad to be here. Thank you for the invitation to talk about something that I am very passionate about.
(00:09:35) Dr. Leon Klempner: So, um, Don, um. You heard, you know, I do a lot of teaching. Uh, I know you do a lot of teaching, so tell the audience a little bit about, you know, how you got started with Align and what pulled you into the educational side of the profession.
(00:09:55) Dr. Don Spillers: Yeah, so, um. I guess it's probably been (00:10:00) almost, uh, nine years ago now.
(00:10:02) Um, one of my reps came by and said, Hey, can we, can we go to lunch? And I was like, sure. And um, so the lunch was set up to talk about what we were doing with aligners. He, the company had seen what we were doing and he's like, you know, you're really doing some stuff that. Not a lot of people are doing at this point.
(00:10:20) Uh, you're doing surgery cases, you're doing impacted canine cases, you're doing extraction cases and you know, you gotta roll back nine years ago. And, you know, there was a lot of, lot of talk about aligners don't work and you can't finish cases and, and all those things. And so. I was just doing my thing and learning how to use this tool.
(00:10:43) You know, it's, it's no different than I would say switching to a different bracket system. You, you know, you've gotta get yourself back up to, to, to what you're know that you're doing with it, with those different type of appliances. And so I had never really thought about teaching other doctors how (00:11:00) to do Invisalign.
(00:11:00) I was focused on, you know, what I was doing and, and my learning curve. I'm, I'm like you Leon. We, this was not in nothing digital 32 years ago when I was in orthodontic school. Um, this was nothing, nothing like what we're do today. And so. I said, sure, I'll, I'll, I'll, I would do that. And so we set up a study club and, um, I went to Atlanta and gave a talk and really, you know, enjoyed it.
(00:11:29) I've always enjoyed teaching. I love teaching my staff, you know, I, I always tell them, you know. We're lucky that we're, we're getting to change people's lives and you guys are changing people's lives, and I don't like staff to be, I always tell 'em, you're not a robot. You, you're not just tying and untied wires or you're not just seating aligners around, you know?
(00:11:50) Um, I want you to understand why we do what we do. And so I've always enjoyed, you know, sharing and, and teaching my staff. And so now, (00:12:00) uh, I've been very lucky to. Really travel all over the world and speak, you know, from, from Dubai to Spain to, I mean, all over the world and so, and, and all over the United States.
(00:12:13) And the topics ranged from first that we'll talk about today, um, ign first with some of these growing kids to complex cases. So it's just really been, um, it's been very gratifying and, and honestly it's been, um, uh, very exciting for me, um, at a point in my career where. A lot of people may be winding down.
(00:12:37) Um, I, I, I'm winding up and, um, and very involved with a lot of things that are happening with behind the scenes with a line and been very fortunate to, to test a lot of the things that we'll talk about today and, um, before anyone else even got to see them. Right. And so it's just, it's just amazing. Um, the field of orthodontics, I (00:13:00) think.
(00:13:00) I think we are. We're on the verge of some really big changes that are coming and, um, and it's a digital world and it's all you hear about every day, right? Is all the stuff that's digital. And, and, and I felt like for a long time, orthodontics, we, we, we fought that. I was one of those guys, right? I mean. You can talk to a line and tell.
(00:13:25) I, I literally told them, don't ever come back to my practice. I don't wanna see you. Your stuff doesn't work. Right. And now here I am teaching this because I, I was unwilling to learn at that point. I, I only knew what I had been taught previously. And so, you know, and, and, and I think. I think, I know that we are going to be setting some new precedents on some things, and a lot of the data that we have is based on, you know, 40, 50, 60 years ago.
(00:13:58) And (00:14:00) you know, I can just tell you clinically a lot of the things that we're seeing, especially in these growing kids. It's is not what I was taught. Right. Yeah. And so it is just been really exciting to, to teach this and share this with other, other people. And I also teach at, uh, UAB in Birmingham at the orthodontic department there.
(00:14:20) Um, me and my son teach there. We're there every six weeks and. You know, that's been really amazing too, because we can be there and cover clinic, but yet we can also, you know, use Zoom and talk about cases and go over cases. So again, that's the digital world, right? And right. So,
(00:14:39) Dr. Leon Klempner: so Don, let me, let me, let me interrupt just for a second.
(00:14:42) 'cause I know Amy, Amy was asking me, you know, some business related questions. So what, what was on your mind, Amy?
(00:14:49) Amy Epstein: So. You know, I, I, my question for you has, so as not, not as an orthodontist, um, okay, so not as a (00:15:00) clinician. My, my questions come from the dual vantage points of being a business owner and being a mother.
(00:15:08) So let me ask you this question in two ways. So as a, as a business owner. What has the impact been of implementing a significant amount of phase one aligner therapy in your practice? That's the first bit. And then if you don't mind also addressing, uh, so, so more like efficiency and, and clinical outcomes and things like that, but then also in terms of the patient experience.
(00:15:33) So as a mother of a 7-year-old who's in treatment, like how, how has that impacted your, uh, how do you think that it's impacting the patient experience?
(00:15:43) Dr. Don Spillers: Well, absolutely. I know it's impacted the patient experience in, in a very positive way. Um, uh, you know, think about. What we did in the past, me and Leon, we, you know, we were fitting bands on molars, we were putting lip bumpers in, we were doing, uh, (00:16:00) headgear.
(00:16:00) We were doing rapid palatal expanders, which all that works, right? We we're not saying that it doesn't, um, I always tell 'em, my patients, the telephone that hangs on the wall with a cord, it works also right? But we have something better. Um, and so with, with these growing impatience. Um, honestly, in the very beginning I was very hesitant to to treat these young kids, and I always found it very interesting while we as a profession say, Hey, make sure you visit your orthodontist at seven.
(00:16:33) Right? And then we would see them and. Sometimes we'd put an RPE and do those kinds of things, but most of the time we just watch them grow and watch them get more crowded and then we, you know, would extract primary teeth and then, you know, set them up to extract permanent teeth later. And so I can tell you.
(00:16:51) 100%. If we can get these kids while they're growing, um, the majority of the time we do not have to take teeth, (00:17:00) even primary teeth, we wanna use them. So that's been a big change in our practice because I was the guy, if you came and you were crowded, you were gonna get primary teeth extracted for sure.
(00:17:11) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, and so that's been a big change. And for the patients, think about it, I mean, if you have a 7-year-old. All, all you have to do is scan. And now we have these, the new scanners with Illumina, literally in a minute and a half. Mm-hmm. We can have a digital, um, you know, set of, of models that we can work off of.
(00:17:31) So the hardest thing that we have to do for these kids is scan them. Honestly, um, it's the hardest thing that we have to do for them. So it's very easy on their end. It's fun. They get to play with their teeth on the screen and so it's totally 180 degrees from fitting bands on teeth and, you know, cement in and expander in.
(00:17:53) And truly, it's less responsibility for the kids. I know we all get hung up on, they're not gonna wear them. These are your best. (00:18:00) Best patience for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Compliance wise, she's definitely
(00:18:03) Amy Epstein: wearing hers like, you know, 22 hours during the day she eats lunch. Absolutely. Eat dinner ly. And while she's looking for is, she was like, you know, she wants to know her cases nearby and she is re, it's part of her very few responsibilities that she takes care of on her own.
(00:18:20) She's pretty proud of it. Yes. And she wants to deliver. And most
(00:18:24) Dr. Don Spillers: of them will remind you that it's time to change. That's true. Um, we hear that from parents all the time. Yeah. Yeah. But the exciting thing for me is that it, they're, they're not in any pain. It doesn't hurt. Yeah. Um, they, it doesn't change their life.
(00:18:38) They can take them out. They can eat whatever they want. Yeah. Place sports, there's whatever, no restrictions. Mm-hmm. They can clean better. So less decalcification. Then when we were placing brackets on a two by four and, you know, all those things. So less gum, tissue problems. Um, I, it's just, it's just amazing.
(00:18:56) And,
(00:18:57) Amy Epstein: and from a, from a business perspective, (00:19:00) Don, what have you seen that has changed and I'm, remind me when, when you really ramped up, uh, yeah. And, and from that point, what you've seen.
(00:19:09) Dr. Don Spillers: Yeah. So once we really. Um, ramped up as far as treating, um, early treatment. We started sharing a lot of these cases with our referring doctors and showing them, Hey, look at the bone change because.
(00:19:21) One of the things that we do that I think makes a huge difference for the parents is every patient that comes in, we have the ClinCheck on a second monitor on the chair, and we do a comparison of where the patient started and where they are. Mm-hmm. Six, eight months down the road where whatever aligner they're wearing that day.
(00:19:40) And what's unique about that is you can actually see the arch shaping. You can see the change in the arch, you can see the space being created. And parents can't see that in the mouth. They just see the front teeth getting straighter. Right? And so same with the dentist. When we show them our referring doctors, Hey, look what we're (00:20:00) doing.
(00:20:00) And the reality came to me one time when I thought, well these young, these kids aren't gonna wear them. And people are saying, well, you can't really change their bone. You know, you all these things. And I thought, well. I don't know if I buy that because I see these kids come in, they've been sucking their thumb for, you know, two or three years and what have they done?
(00:20:20) They've changed their bone. They have an anterior open bite. They have a posterior crossbite that they created. Mm-hmm. By creating suction. So that's pushing inward on the upper jaw, if I have something that I can push outward, which we can with an an expander. Um, but the aligners also do that and, and.
(00:20:40) That's what's unique. We have them on the inside, we have them on the outside, on the occlusal, and so we can actually shape that bone. And as that kid is growing, we only get spaced two ways and, and. Leon is on board with that. I'm sure everybody, every orthodontist, you either change the bone or you pull teeth.
(00:20:59) Amy Epstein: Mm-hmm. (00:21:00)
(00:21:00) Dr. Don Spillers: You gotta have space. And if you need a lot of space, those are the two big ways that you're gonna do it. And so that's what we've seen in our practices grown. Um. Our, our early treatment was about 30% of our practice now. So Dawn, you mentioned
(00:21:16) Dr. Leon Klempner: something early. If I could just interrupt you for a second, that that stuck with me and you know, when I was in practice, I treated adults.
(00:21:25) All of my adults, pretty much with aligners. So I had a lot of experience with aligners. But there was, it was just the beginning of, uh, hearing about, uh, you know, aligners first, you know, this was, I, I, I stopped practicing 10 years ago, so it was just kind of like beginning, so I didn't have a lot of experience with it.
(00:21:46) But you mentioned something about innovations and, and, and, uh. Technological developments with this. So what, what, tell me exactly, you know, what, what is going on with, with, uh, aligners. First, (00:22:00) what are the things that you can do and what, what's, what, what's happening with them?
(00:22:05) Dr. Don Spillers: So, Leon, it's actually. Pretty amazing.
(00:22:07) We, we like to say now we have the complete set of tools. We have everything from the InVision Palatal Expander, which we actually, um, did the first round of trials on that almost over five years ago now. And so we've treated a lot of those patients. Um, I don't know exactly where we are on numbers of patients, but in the hundreds, um, with InVision Pal Expander, and now we also have.
(00:22:32) The ma wings, if we wanna put position the mandible forward. And we also have the occlusal blocks. Now it's kinda like a twin block, but it's built onto the aligners. Um, that appliance is amazing also, and it's just been released earlier this year. And, um, so we, we really have the complete set of tools. Um, the InVision Power Expander now will be able to wear with a, a reverse pull face mask.
(00:22:59) Um, (00:23:00) so. We pretty much have every, every set of tools that we would need to treat these growing kids. Um, aligners, coupling that with all the different appliances that we talked about, and a complete digital workflow from scanning all the way through to, to retention. Um, and there's some really big things coming with direct printing and, and all those things that, that will be, add even more options to us with these growing kids.
(00:23:27) So. Honestly, there's not a, a, a growing kid at this point. Um, with first that, that we feel like we can't treat. I mean, we can, we can treat, if we can treat them with traditional appliances, we can treat them with aligners for sure. With Invisalign first. Wow. So that's, that's, that's a big, bold statement, but it's true.
(00:23:51) Amy Epstein: So do you think that, um, so it traditionally when before there was digital media and digital marketing (00:24:00) and everything, it was kind of word of mouth was the way that, um, we heard about. Orthodontists in our area who were good and trustworthy, and now there are lots of different ways that we can promote orthodontic practices and build trust and gain awareness.
(00:24:17) But it doesn't mean that that word of mouth isn't still happening, right? Like that's one component of the equation. It sounds like you do a lot of work. Um. Uh, educating and partnering with the pediatric dentist so that they understand the type of work that you're doing for their patients too, which is great.
(00:24:35) That's another, um, way of course to attract patients. Um, I'm always thinking of things from a marketing. Angle, of course. 'cause people in practice is a marketing company. Do you think in your area, are you one of the few that are implementing Invisalign first or do you feel like this is a differentiator for your practice?
(00:24:56) Something that makes you stand out among other (00:25:00) orthodontists that are practicing in your area, and does it help you attract families to your practice?
(00:25:07) Dr. Don Spillers: Yeah, that's a great question Amy. And it absolutely is a differentiator for us. We are one of the few practices that are treating, um, growing kids with Envison first, and.
(00:25:18) Listen, parents, the, the best marketing is parents at the ball field, parents at school. Um, that is the best marketing. And you know, we have parents that come in and say, well, you know, I talked to my best friend, her kid's seven, and she's wearing aligners already. Mm-hmm. And she told me. I, I needed to get checked up with my kid to see mm-hmm.
(00:25:40) If it's something that needs to happen. And so that word of mouth. Absolutely. And that's why truly we take the time chairside to educate the parents and show them what we're doing. Mm-hmm. Right. And show them the expansion of the arches, show them the development of the arches. And, and the cool thing too, I'm gonna drop back on, I know we're talking (00:26:00) about the marketing part, but we, we also do CBCT integration, um, on.
(00:26:05) These kids. And so we can actually see the bone before and after. We have, before and after. And hopefully we'll be releasing a really good study at UAB, maybe in December or January we should be finished with that. Um, that is showing what actually happens with the development of these arches. And so we're able to to, to promote that with the parents.
(00:26:27) And you know what's really surprised me is. We are very aware of airway, but parents are super aware of airway now. There's a lot of stuff in, in, in, in the, you know, growing kids' books and, and stuff that parents are looking at. Um, talking about airway. And when we start developing these arches, we're definitely helping airways.
(00:26:52) Um, the, the research, the data shows that if we expand and we make these arches what they need to be, it helps the airway. And (00:27:00) so parents are super excited to to, to talk about that. And so that's another differentiator that we feel like we can help them with, with the Invisalign first. And I, and I truly believe we're just scratching the surface of this, and I think there will come a day where.
(00:27:22) All parents will expect treatment to start at seven or eight years old, right? So that we're not removing teeth in the future and we're not maybe negatively affecting airways instead of positively affecting things. So that, those are some of the really, honestly, things I've had to wrap my head around, because again, I've been doing it for 32 years and you know, a lot of the things that I thought maybe we couldn't do.
(00:27:50) We are doing and we're doing it very safely and we're doing it, uh, with great results and, uh, you know, have the data to show it. So,
(00:27:59) Dr. Leon Klempner: yeah. So you know, (00:28:00) Don, you know, Amy and I we're marketers, right? So we're always looking at the marketing angle of it. So, um. You know, as an orthodontist, I wear that hat, so I'm gonna take that hat off right now and I'm putting my marketing hat on.
(00:28:17) And one of the things that I do at People in practice is I meet with our clients and I go over their KPIs, I go over their numbers. We're data driven, so we need to know what's going on in the practice. And one of the, uh, surprising things that I found that most orthodontists are not aware of is what happens when you put a patient into observation and recall, like how many of them actually come out and how many do we actually lose?
(00:28:47) And you know, Amy as a mom, she's, I, she identified the crowding in Kayla's mouth, not me. Moms are very aware of problems that are developing and they want it (00:29:00) fixed. Excellent, and I'm not here to convince any orthodontist to change their philosophy or how to treat patients, but. As a marketer, I can tell you that when you put a patient on recall that you're gonna lose a significant number of them to your competitors over time.
(00:29:20) Moms don't wanna wait years until all the permanent teeth come in. They just don't. They see other. People at the bus stop. Other moms, other kids in the class that are being treated and their kid has crooked teeth, they don't like it. They want something done. That's why they came to your office. And if you're not doing it, unfortunately somebody else is gonna do it.
(00:29:41) So, you know, from a marketing standpoint, uh, your philosophy is your philosophy, but my job is to point out what it's costing you in dollars. And, you know, the, the number of observations that come out are not equal to the ones that go in and, you know, this is, this is the (00:30:00) dynamics of what's going on. So, having said that, getting off my, uh.
(00:30:05) Speech. Your soapbox. You're, you're a Yeah. Soap business development soapbox. Yeah, exactly. Um, I, I, before we go, 'cause I, I see times running out. I do wanna ask you this question if things are happening so quickly, right. The, the, the, the, the technology's developing so rapidly, I wanna know. From you, what you think things are gonna look like five or 10 years down the road and, and what should we be doing as orthodontists to prepare ourselves for what's coming down the line?
(00:30:40) Dr. Don Spillers: Yeah, Leon, I think definitely it's, it's all going to be digital and just think about, just think about the teenagers and the kids in early 20 years old or so that we're treating with aligners now. And then they have kids. They're not gonna come to your practice asking for braces most of the time, and they're not gonna come (00:31:00) asking for a metal expander or a herps appliance or all those things.
(00:31:04) When I can show a mom, here's the traditional expander and here's the InVision paddle expander, and 100% of the time they will choose that removable expander. So I do think. 30 year in 2030, um, it's all going to be digital. Um, how AI will affect a lot of this stuff. Who knows? Right? Um, I, I'm not worried about that.
(00:31:30) I think that's just another tool that maybe helps me get to a decision faster instead of taking me longer to get to a certain treatment decision or a diagnostic um, decision. So I think there's two different sides of that. I really do believe. Going forward, if you're not treating patients while they're growing, I think you're, you're not going to have that pool of patients, um, to choose from later (00:32:00) because people like us.
(00:32:02) Um, and, and the side of that is why, why make a kid go from seven years old to 12 years old with severe overjet and, and, and feeling bad about how things look right? You, you, you can't buy self-esteem. It, they develop that and you can't go back. So we see it as an opportunity to change how they're growing, change their self-esteem and make and truly change their life, right?
(00:32:30) Mm-hmm. Um, better than we could ever do it before. So I think 20, 30 maybe everybody's, all kids are getting treated at. Seven years old, um, maybe, you know, there's no two phase treatment stuff. We just get in, correct some stuff here. Um, and the two phase term just goes out the window and we just talk about orthopedic orthodontics, where we get in, we change the bone, we let the teeth come in later, and we go back and, and, and line what we (00:33:00) need to align.
(00:33:00) Mm-hmm. The amazing thing is, is some of these kids, we, we treat them early, we get the bone right, the teeth come in. They hardly need any treatment in in the next part, so. You know, that's gonna learn, be a learning curve from us too, is from an orthodontic. Let's talk about you, you talked about marketing and you know, how do you charge for that?
(00:33:19) You know, how, how do we, we're not, we're not doing two phases of treatment. We're fixing the big things in the first phase. You know, it's an orthopedic change. It's not just an orthodontic change. So how do you charge for that? What's that look like 10 years from now? So I think we have a lot of things that we'll be wrestling with, maybe from a business model.
(00:33:40) But I do believe that, and we're seeing it in our practice more and more, more and more mops. I mean, we have honestly, a hard time a lot of times fitting in these 5, 6, 7 year olds. Um. Because the dentists are on board, they see there's an airway problem or uh, you (00:34:00) know, a crowding problem or crossbite issue.
(00:34:02) So we are already seeing that change in our office and working towards how do we handle that. And so I think it's exciting, you know?
(00:34:12) Amy Epstein: It is, and we'll, we'll want to follow you in your practice and have you back to be able to tell us how you're dealing with these changes from a business model perspective, from a clinical perspective, from a, an education perspective.
(00:34:24) And we really appreciate you being here today. Um, if our listeners would like to reach out with any questions, is there a good way that they could reach out to you?
(00:34:33) Dr. Don Spillers: Sure. Um, you can email me at Don. At Dr. spillers.com. [email protected].
(00:34:41) Amy Epstein: Perfect. Well, thanks very much. It might take me a little bit
(00:34:43) Dr. Don Spillers: to get back to you, but I will.
(00:34:44) Amy Epstein: Yeah, well, you're a busy guy. We know. We've heard you have a lot going on. Well, we very much appreciate your time today and look forward to having you back on the show.
(00:34:52) Dr. Don Spillers: Thank you for having me. Thanks Don.
(00:34:55) Amy Epstein: You can subscribe or download other episodes of the Golden Age of Orthodontics or (00:35:00) Practice Talk on Apple Podcast, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube.
(00:35:03) If you wanna see our faces or wherever, get your podcasts. And if you enjoyed it, we'd appreciate it if you would tell a colleague. For more information about PPL People in Practice, you can visit our [email protected]. For more information about people in practice, visit our website, ppl practice.com.
(00:35:26) Dr. Leon Klempner: And if you have a question for me, you can reach out at [email protected]. Mm-hmm. Um. You're hearing a lot about digital. Uh, it's a digital world. We talk about it almost on every podcast. Uh, our sponsors are digital, KLON and grin. And if you want a special deal, you know where to go. PPL practice.com, uh, our partner page.
(00:35:52) Uh, so thanks for listening. Thanks, Don. Um. And finally remember for forward-thinking (00:36:00) orthodontists. It has never been a better time to be an orthodontist. We are in the Golden Age, so take advantage of it. See you next time. Bye.
(00:36:12) Narrator: Thank you for tuning in to the Golden Age of Orthodontics. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify. Or visit our website at the golden age of orthodontics.com for direct links to both the audio and video versions of this episode.
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