Orthodontic Specialty Catalog 2017 - 50

Customized Practice Solutions

Integrating Technology into the
Orthodontic Practice Workflow
By: Dr. David Paquette
Orthodontists have always been on the cutting edge of innovation,
partially by desire and partially by necessity. Independent of the
motivation, improving practice processes requires changing not
only how we do things, but also what we do and the environment
in which we do them.
When I entered practice
30 years ago, becoming a
qualified chairside assistant
involved learning many
fundamental tasks. They
would start by learning how
to take proper orthodontic
records. They would first
learn how to process X-ray
films properly with either
dip tanks or automatic
processors, and by learning
how to clean and maintain
equipment
in
that
environment. Back then, the
mark of a great assistant was
in how well one could make
an impression, pour models
without bubbles, and trim highly polished orthodontic study
models. They would take clinical photos, only to have to send
them to a photo lab, wait a month for slides to return, and hope
they all turned out correctly-usually to have one or more missing
or out of focus. In fact, the most difficult part of the American
Board of Orthodontists at the time was finding complete and
accurate records. Once records were mastered, another measure
of excellence was the speed and accuracy of fitting bands on
teeth, with team members competing on a daily basis to see
how few bands they could use while finding the proper size
(mostly because they had to sterilize and refile the incorrect size
bands). As if that wasn't enough fun, they also had to tie wires
to each tooth with stainless steel ties while trying to be gentle.
Appointments for patients were long and uncomfortable. We do
none of those things now.
Record keeping was primarily paper-based, with much time and
effort devoted to designing charts with cryptic acronyms. If
computers were in the office, they were there for accounting
use, maybe for help with scheduling, and rarely for imaging and
charting. I have always been an early adopter. I still remember
the look of disbelief on my Henry Schein Dental sales rep's face

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www.henryscheindental.com

when he saw that I had three computers in my office that were
linked together as a sort of network-before there really was
such a thing as in-office networks. Not only that, we had the
extravagance of having color monitors! I was repeatedly asked
why I needed three computers, which was really so that we
wouldn't have to walk across the office to see if we had received
a patient's payment.
When we went
to computerized
scheduling, I literally
had to burn the
appointment book in
the parking lot to get
my receptionist to use
the new system.
We experimented early
on (1989) with digital
imaging by using a
Sony Hi 8 video camera
(a $3,000 product at
the time) and a video
frame capture card in
one of the computers
(another $3,000 item), which let us show patients a photo of
their teeth. Patients were totally amazed they could take a black
and white printed photo of their teeth home with them! Suddenly,
that one innovation allowed us to transition to the now standard
one-step exam/consult. We have never looked back.
As the saying goes, the only constant is change. The question is
not if change will happen, but rather how do we manage it. I was
fortunate enough about 10 years ago to read a book by Daryl R.
Conner, "Managing at the Speed of Change." Change is a process,
and people react differently to it. Some embrace it and some
resist it, but we all end up in the same place over time. The great
thing about change is that we all view it differently due to our
perspectives. At the age of 62, I am grateful for touch screens
and 3D graphics, especially when I think back to the days of
blinking green cursors while a two-year old sitting in my office
with an iPad assumes any screen is a 3D touch screen and whines
when it isn't. Each leap in technology requires an emotional
adjustment to the new standard. In the orthodontic practice it
is a fine balance between progress and disruption. That is where
the right support structure combined with a doctor's vision comes
in to play.
Orthodontic Specialty Catalog 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Orthodontic Specialty Catalog 2017
