SmileDirectClub Continues to Disrupt the Status Quo, Fights for Consumer Access

Instead of embracing the power of new technology to enhance customer experience and the success of their business models, some doctors and membership organizations are trying to impose outdated and unaffordable models on consumers. In a recent example, a Buzzfeed article about SmileDirectClub featured a misleading video posted by an AAO doctor unhappy with the teledentistry model. It has since been removed due to its egregious content.

According to Jordan Katzman, co-founder of SmileDirectClub, this is a typical reaction to disruptive innovations by established doctors regardless of their medical specialty, "In hearing aids, contact lenses or dialysis supplies, entrenched providers react badly in defense of their wallets when confronted by innovators who enhance access to care, streamline delivery and decrease patient costs."

The current AAO effort is not the organization's first public attack on clear aligner treatment.   When Invisalign launched in 1999, many orthodontists were vocally opposed and claimed that it was not possible to render "quality treatment" without braces. Now, nearly two decades later, Invisalign is the gold standard and considered the domain of orthodontists. "It's the same story – today's medical heresy becomes the accepted standard in 5, 10 or 15 years," said Mr. Katzman.

In another misguided anti-consumer campaign, the South Carolina and the North Carolina Boards of Dentistry several years ago decided to "protect the public" from tooth whitening performed outside a dentist's office. Today it is well recognized that there is no danger in such procedures and that there was obvious collusion among dentists trying to protect their monopoly, which was contested by the FTC and denied by the US Supreme Court.

"I am saddened that organized orthodontics would limit a consumer's access to a beautiful smile and in doing so disregard their patients' autonomous decision-making and right to self-determination.  This goes against the American Association of Orthodontists own Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct," states Dr. Marc Ackerman, an orthodontist, former Fellow in Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School and author of Enhancement Orthodontics. 

About SmileDirectClub

SmileDirectClub was founded on July 16, 2014 on a simple belief: everyone deserves a smile they love. SmileDirectClub is the first digital brand for straightening your smile, created after the realization that recent trends in 3D printing and telehealth could bring about disruptive change to the invisible aligner market by matching licensed professionals, a quality clear-aligner product, and customers together.  By leveraging proprietary, cutting-edge technology, SmileDirectClub affiliated dentists are providing greater access of care to consumers who couldn't otherwise afford orthodontic treatment to get a better smile.  SmileDirectClub is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee and has dentists that are licensed in the significant majority of the states using its platform.  In July 2016 Align Technology (NASDAQ: ALGN), owner of Invisalign, entered into a supply agreement with SmileDirectClub, acquired a 19% stake in SmileDirectClub and gained a seat on its Board.

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SOURCE SmileDirectClub