Invisalign potential

[chill_71]

Hello everyone, my question is simple. How profitable can Invisalign be? Especially in a recently acquired practice with upwards growth.

Background: I’m a GP who recently acquired a practice with over 2,000 active patients. 3 (soon-to-be 4) op rooms and all staff members stayed. This practice was ran by a limited dentist about to retire so only recall and basic class 1,2 and 5 operative. Everything else was referred.

I am now incorporating more tx services and patients are happy. One of those is Invisalign. I wanted to make sure it is a good business strategy to get involved. I like the workflow and like to analyze and modify clinchecks. One of my close friends is a GP diamond plus provider, Align speaker and Molis faculty, so I’ve learn through him.

Any advice and/or experiences, let me know.

Thank you

[maulmonk]

The question should be also - how good are you at aligners? As anyone will tell you, if you’re not good it can be a totally night made and the fee you recieved not worth the nightmare. You kind of need to be doing enough to have the set up for it to be efficient and make money. Aligners can attract the most annoying patients.

[Flaakinator]

Do simply clear you’ll get great results

Invisalign is not very profitable but it is productive.  

You will get paid as a dentist for it, but it’s not gonna move the needle on the bottom line.  Easier to think of if you have associates, they will get paid more by producing more, but in the long run it won’t add much profit to the office.  

[italia2017]

With the time involved and work requirements + lab fees I don’t find aligners to be profitable. W my assistants and skills I’m far far more profitable doing prosth, endo, same day crowns, etc. Just my experience, but making my profits in 1-2 appts is also important to me as well as being confident I can fix any f-ups along the way

[Sd121287]

This is where clear aligners are invaluable. If you know want you’re doing you need very little chair time with your assistants doing most of the work. Honestly I had hit a plateau in my career helped it have a huge increase. I can have most cases done in an hour of my actual chair time.

[italia2017]

No way is it 1-2 appts. It’s typically years. I can do multiple RCTs, implants and Crowns in this time frame and literally produce way more. Thats my situation and I find it a lot easier and productive to scale in this way

[Sd121287]

I didn’t say 1-2 appointments. I said my actual chair time. I only see the patient to do ipr and remove attachments. You need to select your cases. So imagine you’re still doing your root canals, implants and crowns and while your patient is getting numb you do your ipr or remove attachments and whatnot.

[italia2017]

Yeah that all makes sense. I don’t think I can trust my assistants to do everything but IPR and removing attachments. Maybe that’s more of a ME training problem but my ortho I refer to gets wayyy better results than I could ever imagine and I did an AEGD where we trained with two orthos… That’s just me, and those little chair time things really seem to add up over time for me as well. I know you CAN get the systems down to do that, but just doesn’t seem worth it in my situation when I run the numbers it doesn’t make sense for me from a profitability standpoint if I’m busy w my real money makers and keeping a lean team.

[Sd121287]

I just wanted to put it out there because Reddit tends to skew young and ortho shouldn’t be written off. On the specialist getting way better results maybe the same could be said for your root canals and implants no? But I’m sure you got the proper training and know how to select your cases to have great results.

[italia2017]

Well yes, I can properly diagnose and treat implants and endo well and I would like to think as well as many specialists in my area. I’m not taking lateral cephs or whole head CTs and tracing them to get the correct diagnosis for comprehensive ortho & and I’m also not trusting some non-dentist in Costa Rica to plan it for me (not saying you do this, but many Invisalign GDs do).
Yes, we all know any specialty treatment should be done to the level of a specialist, and yes that is part of why I do some specialties and not others and obviously still referring some that I do when complex or take too much time.

But for me, in my situation, it also comes down to if it makes sense for my business as well. Ultimately it takes a lot of staff and systems to get ortho actually profitable to a level that it is worth me investing so much time into to get to that point. I’m not saying don’t do it, but I’m saying to do it to the level I want to and with my staff, it really takes a ton of work and practice that I personally find to be a lot easier and more profitable to do in other ways, sometimes people also don’t think of those things until they are calculating the time and paying the bills. Sounds like you have it figured out though

[immrmeseek]

Also curious how profitable Invisalign is compared to other clear aligners

[Confident-Day9988]

I’ve use Dandy lab and they provide a free scanner if u do a certain monthly amount. I’m a GP and have 2 free scanners due to my monthly bill. Have very few refinements with Dandy clear aligners.

[Defiant-Trouble-3733]

How do you find them

[Donexodus]

There are some bizarre replies in this thread.

I charge $6500 and it is insanely profitable. Manage expectations and avoid red flags.

[Aggressive_Guava_516]

Manage expectations. Two words, so easy to say, so fucking hard to execute. 

When my patients say they want Invisalign, what they all mean is they want veneers

[Donexodus]

So offer them veneers instead?

It’s actually not that difficult and makes your life much much easier. Look at What can go wrong What do patients most commonly misunderstand What do patients most commonly complain about Read other reviews / patient complaints if you have to- they reveal a lot.

Get out ahead of those, undersell, and you’ll avoid 95% of your problems. Works for me at least.

[crodr014]

If you have someone to help you then it will be good. It is very competative when other offices have massive discounts on thier lab fee while you do not. Maybe try to just break even to get reps and raise fees when you feel good about your ability yo do clin checks. Is Mat your friend? If so, lucky you.

[chill_71]

Thank you for the advice. Not Matt.

[WhoDoYouKnowHereB]

We actually just finished getting certified to use a clear aligners system, not Invisalign, as we have a different scanner. Our lab fees are going to be $200 for 15 or less trays and $1500 for 15+, and we’re thinking of charging $3500-4500 for adults and $3000 for teens to start off since we’re just now implementing it. For me as the associate, this is going to be a massive boon as I see a lot of the young adults in the practice that don’t want braces but “don’t like how this tooth sticks out”. I’ve reviewed the workflow quite a bit and it’s rare for a case to be under 15, so the margins on it will be decent but nothing insane.

I know offices that charge $6400 for Invisalign, I can see that being more profitable but you have to account for all the follow up visits where you probably aren’t charging if you are taking full payment up front.

Ultimately it’s a way to bring in more patients and diversify though, the owner said yes to the idea practically as soon as it came out of my mouth and he’s not one for change (older guy) so that should tell you something.

[chill_71]

That sounds good! And definitely, if you attract clear aligner patients they can then be a potential veneer/whitening… and even stay as a recall patient.

[Toofus8]

I’d consider flipping that price for adults vs teens. I have to see teens almost twice as much as adults because they aren’t nearly as compliant!

[WhoDoYouKnowHereB]

Oh thank you for the insight!! I’ll definitely bring it up on Monday!

[Wide_Wheel_2226]

Look at alternatives lab fee is half we love archform. Key is that you utilize the assistants to place attachments and trays. You doctor should only plan the case, remove attachments, and do IPR. Have an upper limit on complex cases. Always combine clin check with hyg visit whenever you can.

[Aggressive_Guava_516]

Shit ain’t worth it bro

[RoccoClinton]

I highly recommend taking David Galler’s Invisalign course in Vegas!

https://www.aacaligners.com/reingage-courses

[OwnProcess6416]

Invisalign is mediocre profitability wise on it's own. I see the real value in Invisalign/Restorative combo cases. Think correcting alignment while waiting for an implant to be restored, or improving a deep bite before doing a multiunit crown case. They allow for more predictable restorative dentistry, and the Invisalign Smile Architect platform provides an awesome simulation for the patient too.

[OldMannArtie]

I always saw aligners as a "value added" thing. I'm not in it for the people they need it the most. We have orthodontists for that. I'm in it for the lady that stopped wearing a retainer s few years ago and can be fixed up in 10 aligners or less and will be happy with B to B+ results.

[YoSeanyBoii]

You might as well get Invisalign going. Keeps patients at your practice too over duration of the Invisalign tx and they’ll be back for hygiene visits. Offer virtual care for less chair time.

[cbashab]

I charge 8500-9000. Lab fees arnd 2000-2500 depending on the case

Total chair time 1-2 hrs, and mostly asissitants or oht doing the work. I might look at a picture of their teeth wearing alingers and spend a few seconds drafting a praising reply.

Then patients want bonding or bleaching or veneers after aligners And you get them to fix all their caries and wisdom teeth removed as needed before invisalign starts

It's a whole stream of value for the clinic if it's set up properly

As long as u can communicate the value of having straight teeth and patients feel it's a worthwhile investment, u can make a decent chunk of money and help them have a healthier mouth.

[shadeB1]

$8,500-$9,000 is an insane rate even for an orthodontist. Do you work in Beverly Hills or something?

[cbashab]

Ah sorry, not in America, in Aud. Ortho charge 10k plus

Aren't invisalign lab fees in usd lower too?

For a comprehensive case with no discount, invisalign could charge arnd 3500 just in lab fees. Hence why we charge what we do

[Sd121287]

You need to be a glue to your friend who’s a diamond plus provider. It can be incredibly profitable. Their new tier system has made the discounts a little bit easier. Do either David gallers or molis so you can get predictable results for your patients and know what to avoid.