Gen4 Virtual Ortho Program Case Study: 10x growth in 60 days

Like many general dentists, Dr. Bryan Shanahan has always wanted to offer clear-aligner orthodontic therapy to more of his patients. But he faced a couple of hurdles: He didn't know enough about clear aligners to feel confident taking on complex cases, and most of his patients are adults with, well, complex cases.

Then he learned about the Gen4 Dental Partners Virtual Ortho Program under the guidance of Dr. Tom Chamberlain. "Tom is a very respected, well-known orthodontist whose work is fantastic," Dr. Shanahan said. "And so for me, to have that backing, now we are able to look at cases that we would have never done before.

The result: After only 60 days in the program, Dr. Shanahan's orthodontic caseload has grown ten-fold. And it has grown in unexpected directions, such as using orthodontics to set up a full-mouth crown restoration and help alleviate sleep apnea.

Shanahan, DDS, leads Peak Family Dental Care, which has thriving offices in Flagstaff, Sedona and Cottonwood, AZ. As a founding partner in Gen4 Dental Partners, he was the first to volunteer for Gen4's new Virtual Ortho Program. The program has several components:

• Consultation with Dr. Tom Chamberlain, a nationally recognized orthodontist and managing partner of Pony Express Dental in suburban Salt Lake City, UT.
• Use of Ormco's Spark™ Clear Aligner System. Using Spark, the clinician digitally plans an orthodontic case, 3D prints the required trays, then digitally tracks a patient's progress with routine scans through the course of the therapy.
• A bonus incentive program to reward office staff for taking on the challenge to implement the program.

"We've been in the program for 60 days now, and already I've gone from maybe 12 cases a year to 10-12 cases a month! That's 10X growth!" Dr. Shanahan said. "For me, clinically, it's something that I now can offer my patients even better care, more convenience. And my associates are also seeing significant growth because their confidence has increased. So for the office as a business, it's been a really great addition."

Why such success so soon?

"Tom has made all the difference," Dr. Shanahan said. "For me, as a longtime experienced practitioner, having the addition of Tom's brain really is what makes this amazing, because he's got such deep expertise in orthodontics and specifically clear liners, whereas I've got a breadth of knowledge because I'm a general dentist."

"And what's really neat is, I am learning a ton. I mean, I've been 32 years in practice, taught all over the country – and I am learning so much in this area that it's amazing. So that part's been great for me personally."

Adding Spark clear aligner therapy has empowered Dr. Shanahan to solve difficult cases in innovative ways, he said. He cited a recent case:

• Male, 55 years old, with healthy teeth with two problems:
• • Severe case of bruxism. He had ground his molars down through the enamel and into the dentin. For several teeth, there was not enough base to mount a crown.
• • Crowded teeth. He had reduced space in his mouth for breathing, aggravating sleep apnea.

"I looked at the case and thought 'Well, I need to create some room so I can do a proper restoration.' I thought that would be impossible with aligners, but I thought 'Let's see what Tom says.' And so we worked through the case together. After a few iterations of planning, we came up with a plan using some pretty complex tools to help intrude his teeth. It will give this patient an excellent bite. While we're at it, I'm going to give him more room in there so he can breathe better as well."

The result: "He is in week six of aligner therapy and he's doing really well. In three months we'll check his progress and see if he's ready for crowns. And he's like 'This is great!' We were able to give him a solution to a problem that no one else could. So he's very happy with it so far."

Dr. Shanahan said the Gen4 Dental Partners Virtual Ortho Program has been well received by the teams in all three locations.

"I'm blessed," he said. "I have three really good teams that believe in our philosophy of care, and they immediately bought into the program. So I am lucky that way. Plus, our staff has embraced the aligner program partly because Gen4 included staff bonus incentives."

"Now that our staff is seeing more (aligner) cases and talking about more cases, even our hygienists are now looking at the patient differently, thinking 'OK, how can aligners help this patient?' So the way the Gen4 program was set up has really brought it front of mind for the whole office. That's a huge success."

"You know, in dentistry the dentist goes off to a conference and learns a new procedure, and then we come home and say 'Yeah, I really want to do this.' And the team's like 'Oh, that seems like a lot of extra work.' So it can feel like pushing a boulder up a hill. But in the Gen4 program, everybody's involved and enthusiastic. And that's critical because once I plan the case, the staff does almost all the work."

In a traditional orthodontic case, Dr. Chamberlain explained, the patient typically would come in for 25 appointments with the dentist over the course of the therapy. But with Gen4's digital clear aligner therapy, the dentist does the initial consultation, then the staff handles the rest. An assistant can scan the patient's mouth, compare the scan to the digital plan, and alert the dentist if the patient's progress veers off course.

That frees up chair time for the dentist to treat other patients, Dr. Chamberlain said. Thus, the office can take on 10 times more orthodontic cases with little increase in workload. For Peak Dental, they saw 21 more cases in the first half of 2023 compared to the second half of 2022, boosting revenue by $90k.

Patient acceptance has been remarkably easy, Dr. Shanahan said.

"After we work with Tom to finalize an aligner plan," he said, "we have a digitized representation of the entire process week by week. We go over that with the patient so they can see everything that's going to happen. They look at it and go 'That's great! Let's go!' It's remarkable – I'm just stunned at how many patients say yes because they can see their own treatment map and the difference it's going to make inside their own mouth at the end."

"Plus, they're doing it in an office they're used to with people they trust." Studies have shown referrals out to specialists go unfilled half the time. "The patient just never makes it there. And so by doing everything in house, it really limits the hassle for the patient."

Would he recommend the Gen4 program to his peers? "Absolutely! A lot of dentists won't add new procedures to their repertoire because they're worried they don't have enough knowledge." He grinned. "Well, now they have it."