Ep 81 - How KLOwen Helped Dr. Kristen Knecht Cut Visits and Boost Revenue

On the Golden Age of Orthodontics, hosts Dr. Leon Klempner and Amy Epstein welcome Dr. Kristen Knecht to discuss how to revolutionize practice efficiency through indirect bonding. Dr. Knecht shares how her Houston startup practice grew 40-50% annually, forcing critical decisions about patient care delivery. Rather than hiring more staff, she redesigned her clinical orthodontics workflow with KLOwen custom brackets. The results were dramatic: reduced appointment scheduling burdens, eliminated bracket placement bottlenecks, and cut average case length by 40%. Learn her strategies for successful staff training, managing lab fees, and why partial technology adoption fails.

What you will learn in this episode:

• How implementing indirect bonding completely transformed Dr. Knecht’s practice efficiency by freeing up hours of doctor time and reducing emergency appointments through superior bracket placement accuracy and isolation protocols.

• Why partial adoption of custom bracket systems fails and how Dr. Knecht's all-in approach with KLOwen enabled her team to master bonding technique, eliminate pan and repo appointments, and achieve consistent results across all cases.

• Strategic timing for practice management changes, including how Dr. Knecht planned her technology rollout during slower seasons to ensure successful staff training and avoid the common pitfalls that derail orthodontic practice growth.

Subscribe to the Golden Age of Orthodontics and our sister podcast, Practice Talk, hosted by Lacie Ellis, wherever you listen to stay updated on orthodontic innovation and real-world practice strategies. Visit People in Practice for more insights and to connect with our team for practice growth solutions.

TIMESTAMPS: 

• 00:00 Dr. Kristen Knecht discusses practice growth challenges and schedule management struggles

• 08:50 Discovery of indirect bonding through a colleague's experience with KLOwen custom brackets

• 12:08 Strategic implementation timing and preparing staff training for technology transition

• 16:16 Measurable results: reducing visits from 21 to 12.5 and improving revenue per visit

• 22:01 Why full commitment to the custom bracket system matters more than partial adoption

• 27:03 Advice for startup practice owners on adopting orthodontic technology early

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

• Indirect bonding requires complete commitment to realize benefits. Dr. Knecht emphasizes that dabbling with one case per week prevents staff from achieving proficiency in the bonding technique and fails to demonstrate the system's true time-saving potential.

• Strategic fee adjustments offset lab fees while delivering superior value. By raising fees by $200-250 and eliminating one visit through improved treatment planning and digital setup, practices can justify the investment while improving the patient experience.

• Early technology adoption in a startup practice prevents staffing challenges. Mastering systems like KLOwen, when schedules allow, enables easier clinical orthodontics workflow changes and reduces dependency on expanding teams as practice growth accelerates.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

What follows is an AI-generated transcript. The transcript may contain errors and is not a substitute for watching the video.

GAOO Ep 81 v1-Dr. Kristen Knecht

(00:00:00) Dr. Leon Klempner: I practiced, uh, clinical orthodontics for 38 years, and I could tell you practice growth feels like success until the schedule starts running. You. Today's conversation explores how one orthodontist regained control and built a more predictable practice. Stay tuned.

(00:00:20) Welcome to the Golden Age of Orthodontics.

(00:00:37) One thing we know is that the future of orthodontics is digital for me. The KLOwenN custom solution checks off all of the boxes, takes the guesswork out of treatment planning, reduces treatment time and appointments, and lets the team best support the orthodontist. If you haven't already, I suggest you check them out.

(00:00:57) You can get more information as well as a special (00:01:00) offer on our website. Just go to ppl practice.com and click our partner tab. Welcome to the Golden Age of Orthodontics. I'm Leon Klempner, retired board certified orthodontist. I am the director of orthodontics at Mount Sinai Hospital here in New York, part-time faculty at both Harvard and Montefiore Ortho programs.

(00:01:22) And I currently serve as the president of the New York State Society of Orthodontists. And when I'm not doing that, I'm the CEO of people in practice. So I practice, as I said. About 40 years before co-founding people in practice with my daughter and my partner and my podcast co-host Amy Epstein. Welcome Amy.

(00:01:43) Amy Epstein: Thank you. Great to be here. As always, my background's marketing and public relations, and we got together to be able to bring those high level strategies and tactics to the business of orthodontics where it works really well. Uh, about 15 years ago, we (00:02:00) started the business and it's been going.

(00:02:01) Wonderfully since, um, so, you know, he, my dad mentioned he's a retired orthodontist. Um, and you spend a lot of time teaching now, right? I do. And I heard that at Mount Sinai you have some additional project that you're, you're doing now, kind of outta scope of the usual. 

(00:02:22) Dr. Leon Klempner: Yeah. Yeah. So, um. You know, I have a faculty position at the medical school, Mount Sinai, uh, medical school here in, uh, in Manhattan.

(00:02:32) And one of the things that I've learned is that there's very little dental education to the medical students and the way it. The manifest itself here in New York is that we take a lot of kids to the OR for early childhood cares. So I've been pushing some sort of just education in order to get our medical colleagues knowledgeable so they could provide some of that.

(00:02:57) In any event, uh, I got a lot (00:03:00) of stuff on my plate and a lot of projects going on, and so I use a project manager. To help me manage it. I'm using OmniFocus basically, but mm-hmm. I think without that I'd be lost. 

(00:03:12) Amy Epstein: Yep. First of all, so much for retirement. Um. Second of all, um, you know that, you know where I am on the board of a nonprofit, um, daycare center essentially.

(00:03:27) And we can see that in the kids that the project that you're working on or the grant that you're writing, um, for the study that you're looking to do, we can see that in the kids that come and they, they will often ha, will often have to raise funds to get these kids emergency. Dental treatment, um, you know, to, because they have to go to the OR and, um, it's all preventable.

(00:03:53) And it's, yeah, it's sad that, that these kids have to go through that when this is really about education. So anyway, (00:04:00) going back to your, um, you have a lot on your plate and you do always really, you, you're very good at looking at systems and tools. That make life better. My calendar actually is the one that you recommended.

(00:04:12) I don't know how many years ago I used Fantastic Health to like integrate all my calendars and all that stuff, but you are always looking at, uh, systems and tools so that you can do the things that you actually wanna do, which is a great segue to today's conversation. Because like you mentioned in the, uh, open, we're, we're unpacking how one orthodontist redesigned her care delivery to make her practice more manageable.

(00:04:42) So today we're thrilled to have Dr. Kristen Knecht on the show. Dr. Knecht is a board certified orthodontist, and she's a key opinion leader for KLOwen, and she's known for combining. Clinical precision with a holistic airway focused approach to care. She's trained at Yukon and now she's (00:05:00) leading a rapidly growing practice in the Houston area.

(00:05:03) She's completed more than 500 KLOwen and custom cases and brings, uh, a lot of real world data on how customization improves not only, uh, the treatment for the patient, but also the practice performance. So thank you for being here. Kristen. Welcome to the show. 

(00:05:19) Dr. Kristen Knecht: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

(00:05:22) I. 

(00:05:23) Dr. Leon Klempner: So, Kristen, you went to Yukon? I went to Tufts and Nice years ago. Yeah, when I, when I was in school, we had some lectures with Charlie Birthstone, you know, one of the icons and what, what, yeah. What comes, what comes to mind when I, when I think about Yukon, uh, versus Tufts, which gave me a great clinical education, but you know, the Yukon students.

(00:05:48) You know, the tough students in their pocket. We had maybe a, maybe a pen with our ID and maybe a ruler. The Yukon students had like gauges to measure, you know, (00:06:00) ounces and they, they had like data that was like, you know, beyond, we, we didn't know what was going on. When Charlie. Was speaking, to be honest with you.

(00:06:10) But, um, uh, anyway, I appreciate you being here, but you opened your practice in 2020, right? An interesting time. And, but you scaled pretty quickly over the first few years. And, and as I said, once you scale, sometimes, you know, the, the schedule could take control over you. And particularly for our residents that are listening or those that are just starting out, um.

(00:06:36) Tell us, you know what, what were the most challenging things that you had to deal with about running your practice? 

(00:06:45) Dr. Kristen Knecht: Yeah, so I mean, I opened a startup, so in general there's a lot of challenges with, you know, just trying to figure out like the size of the practice, how many chairs do I place? Like how big is it gonna grow?

(00:06:57) Can I afford to put all these chairs and (00:07:00) you know, am I gonna start to fill them in a reasonable amount of time? So I kind of settled on like a middle number. I put five treatment chairs and two consult room chairs in the office. And it just started to grow much faster than I expected. And so, you know, as that happened, I was, especially with a startup, you're used to like this really slow build.

(00:07:23) So you can really tinker with your cases. You can focus on all the details. You can make sure that your bonding's perfect and you have extra time. So you're not really focusing on how to be efficient. I wasn't even considering how many times I was seeing patients. It like wasn't even on my radar. Well now fast forward three years in, and if you're growing at like 40 or 50% every year, it starts to catch up to you pretty quickly and you start to notice a lot of bottlenecks and you're like, oh my gosh, how do I have all these patients over extended treatment time?

(00:07:58) I thought that I was more efficient than I (00:08:00) actually am, and it's not until you really start to analyze your own data. That I think that you start to see all of the, the issues that are arising. And for me, the biggest thing was like, how do I continue to grow but provide the same level of care if I'm seeing 60 patients or I'm seeing 20 patients, and I wanted to make sure that as I grew, that that level of care and attention to detail didn't falter at all.

(00:08:31) Dr. Leon Klempner: So. When you were evalu, when you realized that you needed to evaluate things, um, based on your growth h where, how did you start identifying where you could make meaningful change and, and have, uh, you know, enough impact from those changes? 

(00:08:50) Dr. Kristen Knecht: Yeah, so I knew, um, I mean, one of the things that. That I saw firsthand is I had a friend that we went to residency together.

(00:08:58) He ended up buying a practice in (00:09:00) Connecticut and the guy was retiring and so he was gonna have to absorb ultimately a two doctor practice and he didn't wanna hire another associate. So him and I were at meetings one year and we. The whole focus was like indirect bonding and seeing how could we free up doctor time.

(00:09:17) And I was kind of helping him in the research part because I knew that I was just like a few years behind pretty much. Right. And so watching him do that and see that he was able to ultimately phase out his partner, not hire someone else, and what he was spending on a lab bill. And a huge practice was still much less than what he would pay an associate was really impressive.

(00:09:42) And when you start to think about some of the bottlenecks, or at least for me in practice, the biggest problem was my bondings, especially because I had developed this habit, whether it was, you know, good or bad, but one, I came from corporate dentistry, so. Same day starts were a (00:10:00) huge thing. And then when you open a startup, you have nothing but time.

(00:10:04) So if it's, if a case is just a simple class one crowding case, like of course I'm gonna put braces on right then and there, I have no one else in the clinic. But as the office gets busier, your staff wants to kill you when you do that. Mm-hmm. So being able to just do a scan and send that off. To Kayla Owen to do my digital setup and schedule the bondings.

(00:10:29) You know, these hour blocks of time now don't require me because that was where I would struggle. Like I would get stuck in a consult or I'd have another appointment that doesn't go as well. I can't go check the brackets in time, and then it's just like dominoes where everything gets off track. So by standardizing that whole process.

(00:10:50) It frees up tons of time. Mm-hmm. I could have, I've done mornings where I just went in and did like six or eight KLOwen and bonds, and I (00:11:00) have not gotten that much admin stuff done, you know, on any other day because they didn't need me. I just went over at the end and checked everything. 

(00:11:09) Dr. Leon Klempner: Yeah. That's great.

(00:11:10) Yeah, so, so Kristen. Talking about staff wanting to kill you. I've been there many, many times and, um, you know, I'll come back from a meeting, you know, with an idea about integrating some tool or making some change, and I'd always get like some pushback because staff typically, mm-hmm. In my experience, they're in a routine.

(00:11:33) They know what they need to do, they come and they do it. And then anything that. Shakes that up is gonna in, in my experience, I get pushback or I get resistance. Now you, you, you introduced indirect bonding. I mean, going from direct bonding to indirect bonding, that is a monumental change. So I, I'm just curious, like, what was it like.

(00:11:57) Bringing your staff on (00:12:00) board and, and how is, how did they adapt and adjust to it in terms of, of how you moved forward? 

(00:12:10) Dr. Kristen Knecht: So I think my staff handled it extremely well, but at the end of the day, I think it's all how the provider positions it to them. So, you know, I told them, look, we've got a great team. We have plenty of runway for growth if we switch to this.

(00:12:25) So we don't need to hire new staff. We don't need to even start considering hiring someone else to help me in the practice. So everything gets to stay the same way that it is, and then it gives you more autonomy Instead of having to wait for me to come over, the parents are awkwardly staring at you like, when is she coming to check these brackets?

(00:12:46) They're putting like a paper towel or something over it so the lights don't cure them. They can complete the appointment, start to finish without meeting me. And I think if you. Position it in a way that empowers them (00:13:00) and they buy into it, then they're excited. I also didn't give them the option. I wasn't like, Hey, by the way, we're just gonna try this new thing.

(00:13:08) I said, this is what we're gonna do so that we can continue to provide the best care possible for our patients. It's more accurate, it's more efficient. This is what we're doing, you know? And I did tell them like, don't get frustrated. It's something new. Of course there's gonna be a learning curve, but I promise once you get the hang of it, you're all gonna thank me and be thrilled with this.

(00:13:31) And now they would never go back. Like if there's a random direct bond case on the schedule, they're, they're not thrilled about it. They don't wanna do it. 

(00:13:42) Dr. Leon Klempner: Yeah. So. Let me ask, let me rewind for a second. And you were, you know, in your storyline where you're evaluating ways to enhance efficiency and you're, um, you know, there's somebody that, that is a friend who's kind of ahead of you (00:14:00) and you're seeing his decision making.

(00:14:02) Was there a specific time or milestone or that. Were you decided to make this change or was it organic for you? Tell us about that, you know, from research to implementation. What, what was going on? 

(00:14:20) Dr. Kristen Knecht: Yeah, so I, the first year and a half, I wasn't full-time in my practice. I was splitting my time. Between my corporate job and my private office, and so the amount of growth I saw in my first full year of being there was a little bit, I mean, it was beyond exciting, but also a little bit alarming in the sense that I was like, okay, if this happened in one year, if.

(00:14:44) Me devoting all my time, what's gonna happen in five years or three years? And I was trying to get ahead of it a little bit because I kind of saw the direction and I was hoping that my practice continued to grow at that rate. (00:15:00) But I knew that it was only gonna get harder to implement change the bigger my office was, the busier we were.

(00:15:08) So I, I kind of found a sweet spot where I waited until the summer. Went past the summer went by because I didn't think implementing a new system in like the heart of the summer when it was super busy, was gonna set my team up for success. So I waited until the fall of 23. So I plan, I mean I did plan it.

(00:15:30) I was, it was on my radar for probably six months where, you know, I told the rep, I was like, I'm a hundred percent in, I'm just timing this, where I think that I'm gonna be successful and my team is gonna be successful. Mm-hmm. And I knew that I needed things to just die down a little bit and, um, for the schedule to calm down.

(00:15:51) And that would be a better time to implement something new. 

(00:15:55) Dr. Leon Klempner: That makes sense. And so. You know, so then when you did that, what, did you see what (00:16:00) I mean, what were, what were some of the, um, benefits? I mean, you're, you're, you clearly went all in and, and you're, you're, you've done 500 cases and so it's working for you.

(00:16:11) Right? So what were some of the benefits that you saw in the practice? 

(00:16:16) Dr. Kristen Knecht: So the way that my schedule opened up was amazing. I kept, you know, going out to my front desk. I'll have this list that we print from the practice management software that's like needs appointment. So it's, I have one person that's designated to that and I kept thinking that she was dropping the ball and she wasn't following up on the needs appointment list because within six months my schedule was starting to change and open up a ton.

(00:16:42) And what was interesting is. I wasn't even utilizing the system to the full extent at this point. I was still doing like a mix of what I was doing with my traditional brackets, and by that I mean I wasn't spacing out the appointment intervals quite how I should have been. (00:17:00) And I was still just noticing so much more time in the schedule.

(00:17:05) Um, and that came from a couple things. We were having less emergencies, less broken brackets. Um, I think I attribute that because we were really well isolating, like following a very clear system. Everyone was really thoroughly trained, like using enola because with indirect bonding, if, if you don't follow like a very specific system, it can go awry quick.

(00:17:30) And, you know, so we were seeing less broken brackets. Um, the adjustment schedule was improving a ton, and then just the time in my schedule was changing substantially. I was having more time to spend with the consults, which was important to me to make sure that I was making a thorough diagnosis and connecting with my patients without having to feel like I had to run out of the clinic to go check brackets.

(00:17:56) Dr. Leon Klempner: Mm-hmm. So, um, (00:18:00) Kristen, Amy and I started people in practice and, you know, we, we pride ourselves on data. I mean, it's just that, that, that's just our, particularly Amy, she's like. Data, data, data, and, and it's important in, in all areas. So I don't wanna put you on the spot, but, so if I'm, you know, a, an ortho, listening to this, thinking to myself, well, that's a big change, number one.

(00:18:28) Number two is. A lab fee here compared to just putting brackets on. That's a significant impact on my p and l. So, um, could you share with us, I mean, know you saved some time in the clinic, you're saying that it freed up some time. Is there any data that you could share with those orthodontists at, at, are, are considering moving towards a indirect bonding system like KLOwenN.

(00:18:56) Dr. Kristen Knecht: Yeah, for sure. Um, so, you know, a big one is (00:19:00) everyone always talks about the lab bill, right? Like, you know, you're gonna spend four to $500 on this indirect bonding case. But prior to using K Owen, I was. Finishing cases in 20 to 21 visits, looking back, that is insane to me. But if you actually look at the gauge data, that's pretty comparable, I think we all seem to think that we're a lot more efficient than we really are in the grand scheme of things.

(00:19:26) But then when you pull the numbers, they don't lie. So I went from, you know, 20 to 21 appointments to about 12 and a half. And I mean, that to me is a huge savings. So I've more than covered my lap bill. And you know, that was a huge thing, or like a mental thing that I told myself going in because I knew that it was gonna be more expensive, right?

(00:19:51) So, 

(00:19:51) Dr. Leon Klempner: mm-hmm. 

(00:19:51) Dr. Kristen Knecht: I pretty much decided I'm gonna raise my fees. 200 or $250, so almost half the lab bill. And then if I (00:20:00) shave off one appointment, it's paid for itself. But if it makes my life easier and my work life better, then it's kind of a no brainer. Like I didn't go into it thinking that I was gonna increase my bottom line as much as I did.

(00:20:15) But I think anyone that's contemplating it, like if you approach it that way, like I'm just gonna. Increase my fees a tiny bit and then all I have to do is shave off one visit. And it's now we're, it's very easy to justify. Um, the other thing that was pretty huge for me is, um, repos. So I would repo, you know, three or four brackets per case.

(00:20:38) I would schedule a pan and repo appointment and it was this like 40 minute appointment. I would take the x-ray really analyze and I always felt like I. Had plenty to repo and then now that's another huge schedule savings. I don't schedule that appointment anymore. I just have a quick like, um, pan and (00:21:00) adjust and I maybe move one bracket on a case.

(00:21:04) Especially even it's going down even more the more that I've used, um, CBCT root integration because it's so accurate. But I mean, that's a huge time savings, you know, to not have those pan and repo appointments. We used to only allow those to get scheduled in a certain column because they required more doctor time.

(00:21:23) And so just all of these appointments that you're now shortening starts to give your schedule, you know, a ton of room. Hmm. And then, you know, another big one, just from a numbers standpoint, you know, my revenue per visit was just under 300, and then with KLOwen and now it's just under 500. Wow. Yeah. So I mean, that's a, a pretty huge jump.

(00:21:49) Dr. Leon Klempner: Yeah. Yeah, I was gonna mention that, you know, for those data-driven orthos out there that are measuring, you know, profit, you know, per visit, that that, that, that's a (00:22:00) significant change. But, you know, I, I talk to orthos all the time about, um, incorporating, uh, indirect bonding into their, uh, system. And, and many of them have told me that, yeah, you know, I tried it on a couple of cases, but I didn't see, you know, how that was really.

(00:22:18) Saving me visits or whatever. But it sounds like unless you are committed and go all in on this, that you're, you're not gonna see the benefit, is it? Do you feel the same way? 

(00:22:32) Dr. Kristen Knecht: 100%. Um, I dabbled in light force and my experience wasn't great because it's not, I didn't do enough cases to get over the learning curve and like over the hump of the bonding, like just the bonding technique for my staff.

(00:22:48) Like you can't do one of them a week and expect your staff to be proficient at something. It's gotta be something that they start to do over and over and day in and day out. Now they're (00:23:00) faster at doing a KLOwen and bond by far than they would be at doing a direct bonding case. But they have the system down and so you have to get past that learning curve.

(00:23:10) Um, and then the other aspect of it is. It takes time, I think, as an orthodontist to kind of rewire your brain and trust that this system is very accurate and it is more accurate than you putting the brackets on there. So you know, you should space out the intervals, you, the appointment intervals. You need to let the wires work and kind of not try to overdo things.

(00:23:36) Honestly, like I was seeing people too frequently and. Not really doing anything meaningful at the appointments. So until you get to those points, you're not gonna really see all of the benefits. So it's, I think it's very hard to have a schedule that's like partially indirect and then partially traditional.

(00:23:57) I saw the biggest change when (00:24:00) most of my traditional cases, you know, had been deep bonded, and I could really just work on honing in all of the systems and efficiencies for an indirect bonding system. 

(00:24:09) Dr. Leon Klempner: Yeah. And you, you mentioned, you know, there are choices when going with indirect bonding and, and you've, you've chosen KLOwenN it sounds like you're very happy.

(00:24:18) I'm just curious, like, why, what is it about KLOwenN that, you know, uh, attracted you in the first place, or, or keeps you a client? 

(00:24:30) Dr. Kristen Knecht: So for one, I liked that, you know, compared to like using Dibs AI or a 3M system, you still have a semi-custom bracket system. So it's not fully custom like light force. But I also.

(00:24:46) Don't feel like you need that. There's ways that they make it, I think just as custom with like changing the angle at the base of the bracket with glue and you know, more details than we need to go into. But, um, you also (00:25:00) have all options. So I'm thinking for me, the next step to really hone in my efficiencies is switching to self ligating.

(00:25:07) So now you've got the option of having this custom system that. It can either be self ligating, metal, traditional twin. They have a great ceramic bracket, and when you compare it to just light force, it's only ceramic. Personally, I hate ceramic brackets. So the last thing that I want is an entire practice of ceramic brackets.

(00:25:30) Um, so that was a huge deciding factor for me. I knew that even when I was trying light force, that it was never gonna be something that I put like every teenager in. I was thinking more of like, let me test this out for my ceramic cases, but I just wasn't happy enough with. The support and then the bonding that I was having a lot of like breakages of the actual brackets.

(00:25:54) So for me it just, it wasn't the right fit. And when I found Kay Lowen and (00:26:00) you know, could switch to Twin, that was to me a no brainer because my patients don't know any different. I felt like if you tried switching a whole practice to light force and in a year. You decided you didn't wanna do that anymore?

(00:26:13) How do you explain that to the parents that had one kid that started and you were like, oh yeah, we don't offer that one anymore. Now we're back to the medal. But to all the parents and patients, it's a twin bracket, so. They couldn't tell the difference and I wasn't, I didn't give people options either.

(00:26:31) I've heard of some people saying like, you can have your traditional way or you can have a custom bracket. I just pretty much was like, this is how we, this is our bracket system. Because it's custom, it's gonna take, you know, three to four weeks to get your custom case back from the lab and then we'll put your braces on.

(00:26:50) Dr. Leon Klempner: So as we close up, I wanted to ask you, I mean, you, um. Out of startup mode, you know, on the (00:27:00) tail end of, of, uh, the hump of startup mode. What, do you have any advice for, um, orthodontists who are just starting out and, you know, whether they're buying a practice or specifically if they're starting from scratch and get to spec their own, uh, technologies and, um, vendors and everything themselves, what would you say to them?

(00:27:24) Dr. Kristen Knecht: I would tell them to not be afraid to utilize these technologies early on, mainly because we're seeing how quickly, you know, things are changing. But the other piece of it is I know people that have opened startups and kind of gone all in with KLOwen and are all in with an indirect bonding system and it actually allowed them.

(00:27:46) To continue to grow but meet a lot less staff. And as I think most practicing orthodontists will tell you that staffing is one of the biggest challenges. So if you can find a way to rely on humans (00:28:00) less, there's, that's a huge benefit. So if by mastering an indirect bonding system, you could, you know, keep one assistant for substantially longer and not have to keep adding staff.

(00:28:13) That itself is very valuable because I think we've all had staffing struggles. Like if you've practiced long enough, you've dealt with them, and I think that the more time that you have, the easier it is to learn and implement systems and train. 

(00:28:29) Dr. Leon Klempner: Mm-hmm. 

(00:28:30) Dr. Kristen Knecht: I felt like I could have implemented mine earlier once I started, and I definitely did not wanna wait any longer because it would've just been a lot more chaotic, you know, unnecessarily.

(00:28:41) Mm-hmm. 

(00:28:44) Amy Epstein: Well, great. So, well, thanks for sharing your story with us today. If, uh, we have listeners who would like to learn more about you, your practice, k Owen, or your experience, is there a way that they can reach out? 

(00:28:57) Dr. Kristen Knecht: Yes, they can definitely email me. Um, my (00:29:00) personal email is kette, so K-K-N-E-C-H [email protected].

(00:29:08) Amy Epstein: Okay, that sounds great. And for those, uh, listening today that might be interested in learning more about KLOwen, you can visit ppl practice.com, our website and go to the partners tab and you'll see that there's an opportunity for our podcast listeners to receive a special offer from KLOwen. If you fill out the form there, somebody will get in touch with you.

(00:29:30) Kristen, thank you. Much luck to you moving forward as you grow your practice. We'll keep our eye on you. We appreciate you being here today and sharing your story. 

(00:29:41) Dr. Kristen Knecht: Thanks for having me. 

(00:29:43) Dr. Leon Klempner: Yep. Thanks, Kristen. You can subscribe or download other episodes of the Golden Age of Orthodontics on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

(00:29:53) And if you enjoyed it, we appreciate you telling a colleague. And for more information about people in practice, you can visit our (00:30:00) [email protected]. So I'm gonna take off my orthodontic hat. I'm putting on my marketing hat. If you're using, uh, indirect bonding like KLOwen, you need to market it. You need, it's a benefit to your patients to be coming less often.

(00:30:21) This is a big issue, giving them back their time. So we're moving to a point where this will be the standard of care. So, you know, you hear me talk about the digital practice you hear. Chris Benson talking about it. You hear most people that are in the know are telling you that the, the profession will be moving in this and those practices that are incorporating these types of technologies that are of benefit to the patients are going to grow.

(00:30:48) So, um, keep that in mind and if you'd like help doing that, shoot me an [email protected]. And remember. Always remember this for (00:31:00) forward thinking orthodontist. It is never, and I mean, never, ever been a better time to be an orthodontist. We're in the golden age. Take advantage of it. We'll see you next time.

(00:31:10) Bye.

(00:31:18) Thank you for listening to the Golden Age of Orthodontics podcast. Subscribe to our podcast on YouTube. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or visit our [email protected].