15 Orthodontic Marketing Strategies You Need to Use Right Now
Learn the most effective strategies for how to market an orthodontic practice. ✓ Click here to find promotion ideas and tips to get more patients today!
Learn MoreIf you manage a dental clinic, chances are you’ve had confused patients going to your dental clinic and mistaking it for an orthodontic clinic. Admittedly, it’s an easy mistake to make since all dental and ortho specialists deal with a person’s oral health. But where they differ, however, is in their specialty.
In this article, we’ll discuss the difference between dentist and orthodontist services and the focus of each. We’ll also discuss the benefits of adding orthodontia services to your practice’s offerings.
A dentist is a general term that refers to a doctor focused on a person’s oral health – mostly the teeth and gums. However, their expertise also extends to the tongue and mouth. A dentist, unless specified otherwise, is considered a generalist role. Their main practice involves diagnosing and treating oral health conditions like tooth decay and gingivitis.
Probably the most well-known service of a dentist is tooth extraction and cleaning. However, you’ll be surprised that the latter is performed more by dental hygienists than regular dentists. In bigger clinics, it might be more efficient to have this separation of duties.
Dentists are required to complete a pre-medical degree before attending a formal course in a recognized dentistry school. In the U.S., the school must be accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA). All dentistry schools require a residency to complete a dentistry degree.
Lastly, all dentists must pass a licensure exam set by the state board of dentistry. Although every test differs from state to state, they involve three areas: educational, written, and clinical exams. Dentists may legally practice their craft only after passing their exam and earning their license.
But the real question here is: is an orthodontist a dentist? In short, yes — an orthodontist is a dentist who specializes in treating tooth and jaw misalignment. Their main job is to ensure that your teeth and jaw are lined-up correctly. If not, they have a variety of treatments and tools that can help.
So what are orthodontics services and how do they differ from those of a dentist? The most basic service of an orthodontist is installing braces and retainers. If you’ve ever had braces, you probably remember visits to your local orthodontist’s office. Additionally, orthodontists can also perform teeth alignment surgery and diagnose bite problems.
To become an orthodontist, a person must study to become a dentist first. That means earning a pre-medical degree, attending dental school, and passing a licensure exam. But it doesn’t end there. Orthodontists must go through an orthodontic residency program for a further two or three years. Once completed, they are then required to pass an orthodontic certification exam before they can legally practice orthodontics.
Now that we’ve compared an orthodontist vs dentist, you might be considering expanding your practice offerings to include orthodontia. If you are, great! There are lots of good reasons to offer both dentist / orthodontist services:
Moreover, teeth alignment can also prevent bite and speech problems, which could cause psychological distress and loss of self-confidence. This robust knowledge can improve all dental and orthodontics services significantly since you now know they interact with each other.
When a patient needs more advanced dental procedures, a dentist would often refer them to an orthodontist office. Aside from giving away business to another clinic, there’s also the risk that they would become the patient’s clinic, especially if they offered orthodontics and dental services.
But what if your clinic can also offer orthodontic services? Then you can serve them right then and there without ever having to refer them to someone else. Of course, the obvious benefit is that you can increase your revenue. After all, it’s much easier (and cheaper) to serve your current customers than to acquire new patients through marketing.
But beyond that, there’s also a big advantage to patients. They’re your existing customers, so you already know their oral health and history intimately. Hence, you can deliver better orthodontic care much faster.
From a marketing perspective, better service can also lead to more referrals. And more referrals mean you’ll get more customers for free.
But if you take the time to add orthodontics to your services, it can help you stand out among other clinics. Chances are, you’ll always have a market for your offering because it’s so in demand yet scarce.
As mentioned above, learning orthodontics takes more time, money, and effort. That’s the reason orthodontists get to charge more. But if you offer both dental and orthodontic services, you can lower the costs of your offerings significantly. That means you can deliver a more affordable treatment to your patients.
From a practical standpoint, it helps you serve more patients and attract potential ones. We already discussed how rare an orthodontist is, but an affordable one is arguably rarer.
From a humanitarian standpoint, it helps change your patients’ lives. Many people who badly need orthodontic treatment have concerns about how they’ll afford it. You can serve these people by offering affordable orthodontic services in your dental clinic.
Whether you’re opening a dental practice or you’re a veteran practice manager looking to add more services, Cloud 9 Software can help you manage your day-to-day. Our robust platform helps you streamline your clinic operations by handling electronic claims, payments, patient communications, and more in one easy-to-use platform.
Request a demo today of orthodontic practice management software to see how Cloud 9 can make your clinic more efficient.