{"id":1221,"date":"2023-12-28T14:02:03","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T19:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/warsaworthodontics.com\/?p=1221"},"modified":"2023-12-28T14:07:09","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T19:07:09","slug":"smiledirectclubs-legacy-and-the-importance-of-a-local-orthodontist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/warsaworthodontics.com\/smiledirectclubs-legacy-and-the-importance-of-a-local-orthodontist\/","title":{"rendered":"SmileDirectClub\u2019s Legacy and the Importance of a Local Orthodontist"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Dr. Emily Watson<\/b><\/p>\n
People love to choose cost savings and convenience whenever they can.<\/span><\/p>\n But doing so is not always a good idea, as in the case of those companies that offer in-home aligners that allow people to try to straighten their teeth without the direct care of an orthodontist.<\/span><\/p>\n A case in point is what recently happened with one of those companies, SmileDirectClub, and its customers.<\/span><\/p>\n SmileDirectClub, which had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September, <\/span>ceased operations <\/span><\/a>in December, leaving many customers abandoned in mid-treatment and, in some cases, still making payments on services they can never hope to receive.<\/span><\/p>\n Now all of those people will need to find someone else to finish the treatment that SmileDirect started.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One frustrated SmileDirectClub customer, Ashli Noelle Evans of Knoxville, TN, told <\/span>CBS News<\/span><\/a> that she had hoped to perfect her smile, but now is stuck with finance payments for another year, but no treatment.<\/span><\/p>\n “The ‘lifetime smile guarantee’ is obviously gone, and I will not receive my aligners that I put in for last month,” she was quoted as saying. “So now I’m going to have to go to an orthodontist anyway. So it was kind of pointless to go that route to try to save some money since my treatment was so small.”<\/span><\/p>\n This is an unfortunate turn of events for all the people who signed on as customers, but, sadly, I\u2019m not surprised at how things ended up and that the company ultimately folded.<\/span><\/p>\n It was only a matter of time because the quality of care was not there, and patients were having too many issues. That is one of the concerns with any sort of do-it-yourself or mail-order effort to accomplish orthodontic work. It\u2019s important to have a local orthodontist in your corner; someone you see in person, who has examined you to get a good understanding of your needs, is monitoring your progress, and is there if you have questions or concerns as your treatment moves forward.<\/span><\/p>\n Mail-Order Versus In-Person<\/b><\/p>\n