Clear aligner treatment planning is a critical step in the clear aligner manufacturing process. Treatment planning ensures that each patient receives a customized, effective treatment plan that meets their unique orthodontic needs.
While some orthodontists and dentists choose to plan and design clear aligner treatment in-house, others opt for treatment planning services provided by third-party companies. Here's a closer look at what treatment planning services for clear aligners entail and why they may be beneficial.
What is Clear Aligner Treatment Planning?
Clear aligner treatment planning is the process of designing a customized treatment plan for each patient using digital models of their teeth, x-rays and clinical photos. A thorough analysis of the extraoral and intraoral soft tissue profile of the patient is performed to ensure a reasonable support of the soft tissues after treatment with clear aligners. As well as a harmonious aesthetic result not only dental but facially.
The treatment plan outlines the steps needed to achieve the desired outcome, such as the number of aligners needed, the duration of treatment, and the predicted outcome of treatment.
Treatment planning also involves the design of custom aligners for each stage of the treatment plan. This to ensure that every single step in the treatment contains realistic movements in the right sequence.
The initial treatment setup the doctor gets from the clear aligner companies is always to be considered an initial setup of the teeth. From here the dentist needs to modify the digital treatment plan in order to make it realistic, safe and predictable.
Why Consider Treatment Planning Services for Clear Aligners?
There are several reasons why orthodontists and dentists may choose to use third-party treatment planning services for clear aligners, including:
Expertise and Experience
Treatment planning services for clear aligners should typically staffed by experienced orthodontists and dentists who have extensive experience with clear aligner treatment planning. These experts can provide valuable guidance and advice on treatment planning and can help ensure that treatment plans are accurate and effective.
It is worth noting that many treatment planning services are staffed by technicians with no clinical knowledge or experience with clear aligners. It is therefore important to make sure who is behind the treatment planning at each treatment planning service or support provider.
Efficiency
Treatment planning services can help streamline the clear aligner treatment planning process, reducing the time and resources required to plan and design each patient's treatment. This can help orthodontists and dentists focus on patient care and other aspects of their practice.
Some Treatment planning services even offer to support the doctor and the team as their inhouse clear aligner experts online during the entire treatment. This enables the doctor or the orthodontist to delegate up to 95% of all treatment to their team (depending on the regulation in the state or country of the practice location). By delegating most of the workflow considerable amounts of valuable chair time can be freed up enabling the doctor to focus un other valuable tasks that generate income at the same time.
Scalability
Treatment planning services can help orthodontists and dentists manage an increased volume of clear aligner patients, as they can quickly and efficiently receive customized treatment plans for each patient planned by orthodontists and dentists specialised in clear aligner treatments. This can help practices grow and expand their clear aligner offerings without sacrificing quality or patient care.
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How Treatment Planning Service Works
Treatment planning service for clear aligners typically involve the following steps:
Digital Scanning, x-rays and clinical photography
The patient's teeth are scanned using an intraoral scanner, to create a 3D model of the patient's teeth. In addition a panoramic x-ray, x-rays of the maxillary- and mandibular incisors and a series of clinical photos are taken.
Treatment Planning
The treatment planning service team uses all the digital information to create a comprehensive facially generated treatment plan. Taking all aspects of the patients extraoral and intraoral conditions into account. A customized treatment plan is then generated, including the number of aligners needed, the duration of treatment, and the predicted outcome of the treatment.
Aligner Design
The treatment planning service team makes sure that all aligners for each stage of the treatment plan are designed in a way that supports a predictable and biologically safe treatment outcome. In addition the placement and design of attachment/engagers as well as IPR is planned and staged in a way that supports the movements in the treatment plan.
Approval and Manufacturing
The treatment plan is sent to the orthodontist or dentist for review and approval. It is important that the dentist responsible for the treatment of the patient reviews the treatment plan. The relationship, knowledge about the mindset and compliance of the patient has a big influence on the predictability of the treatment. Only the doctor with direct knowledge about the patient will be able to decide if the proposed treatment plan will suit the patient.
In addition most clear aligner treatments must be designed in combination with a restorative solution for the front teeth. Often a light incisal edge bonding is enough. But it may also involve the use of veneers or crowns. In these cases, it is essential that the orthodontic treatment plan is developed in co-operation with the treating dentist so that his or her preferences are followed.
Once approved, the aligners are manufactured and shipped to the practice.
Choosing a Treatment Planning Service for Clear Aligners
When selecting a treatment planning service for clear aligners, it's important to consider factors such as:
Expertise and Experience
Look for a treatment planning service that employs experienced orthodontists and dentists who are knowledgeable about clear aligner treatment planning. This means they have worked out at least 1000 treatment plans, have clinical experience as well as experience supporting dentists and their teams remotely.
Turnaround Time
Choose a treatment planning service that can provide fast turnaround times without sacrificing quality or accuracy. For every day a patient waits for a treatment plan, there is a 2% risk that the patient will regret and drop out of treatment.
This means that ff patients generally have to wait 10 days for a plan, up to 20% of all treatment plans never result in treatment.
With the current systems, it is not realistic to expect a 24-hour response time with an optimal setup/clincheck. However, you should expect a treatment planning support to respond to all enquiries within 24 hours.
Quality Assurance
Look for a treatment planning service that has a strong quality assurance process in place, including multiple checkpoints for accuracy and precision. Ask for a quality protocol and see how structured the organisation is in its treatment plans.
Compatibility
Make sure the treatment planning service is compatible with the clear aligner system you plan to use in your practice. Usually it is clear after the first enquiry. However, sometimes valuable time passes before a practice realises that the treatment planning service provider is not working with the preferred system of the practice. In that case, valuable time has been wasted.
In conclusion, treatment planning services for clear aligners can be an effective solution for orthodontists and dentists who want to streamline their clear aligner manufacturing process, increase efficiency, quality and scale their practice. By working with experienced professionals who specialize in clear aligner treatment planning, practices can achieve a market business advantage enabling them to delegate up to 95% of all clinical tasks, reduce valuable chair time and increase profits with up to 600% compared to the conventional workflow.
Are you interested to know more and maybe find out how you can get started working with a treatment planning service partner? Then please feel free to write or call me.
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Many kind regards
Jesper Hatt DDS
Jesper@AlignerService.com
Phone: +41 78 268 0078
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