It all starts with the ultimate problem to be solved: patient convenience. Dr. John Warford had been a practicing orthodontist in Bismarck, North Dakota for over 18 years when he began reflecting on the patient experience beyond smile creation.
For those that don't know, North Dakota is a big state. Around 70,000 square miles big. This means long trips for patients, and in some cases, over 150 miles each way. Even with the delivery of quality orthodontic care, he pontificated: is the patient experience optimal if they have to refill the gas tank every time they need to get to the office and back? (Fun fact: 41% of North Dakota new car purchases are pickup trucks.) Finally, when Dr. John had a new patient drive across the state for an examination just to have him take a look, he became determined to find another way while maintaining the same level of care his community had come to expect.
And so began the virtual journey, where Dr. John started his exploration towards the goal of maintaining beautiful orthodontic finishes and patient convenience. But there was one fly in the ointment: Dr. John uses aligners almost exclusively in his practice. As any practicing orthodontist or dentist knows, aligners require patient compliance, and even if you have a world class treatment plan, it can be compromised when the patient doesn't wear their trays. This prompted a new solution: AI assisted remote treatment that communicates with the patient based on Dr. John's unique treatment preferences.
This was a great solution on paper, but there is always the aspect of deployment that riddles a good plan. Over the next couple of years, Dr. John migrated from early adopter to proficient to becoming "a fully operational battle station" with his in-office workflow and virtual patient management systems. There were hours of onboardings, try-storming sessions and failures of processes, technology updates and glitches, hundreds of learning cycles, all while pressing on the nerves of his team. Despite the obstacles and the pain, after 2.5 years, he had created a place where his patients could receive a beautiful smile transformation while giving them their time back, one of the first offices of its kind in the country. The key ingredient in the formula was maintained: quality of care for all case complexities in clear aligners.
Some months after solidifying the quality and convenience quotients of the virtual practice, Dr. John ran into a dentist friend of his with a clinic 150 miles away, and before long they found themselves in a deep conversation about "assisted orthodontics." His dentist friend noted that he had a community of patients that would benefit from expanded orthodontic treatment optionality, and most importantly, the idea of having a "back pocket orthodontist" to support his patients securitized the idea: this can be done, and the patients will benefit.
Over a year after their conversation, Dr. John had provided his friend beginning-to-end support for all ranges of orthodontic cases, including diagnostics, treatment planning, remote monitoring and staff guidance, refinements, retention, and all materials required. The dentist created a new treatment option in his community while giving his patients smiles for a lifetime.
On Demand Orthodontist was created with the mission of supporting orthodontists and dentists like we have with other dental professionals, so that you may confidently and profitably treat most patients that walk into your office.
