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Medical Forum / General / Dentistry / November 2006Invisalign to Orthoclear Transition Information.
FAQs Posted from Align Technology (Invisalign's) Website. Important Information for Doctors and Orthoclear Patients. Q. I contacted OrthoClear's call center to inquire how to proceed with my OrthoClear cases, and was told that my cases would be transferred to Align. Is this true? Unfortunately, this information is incorrect. OrthoClear cases are not being transferred to Align or converted to Invisalign treatment. Align wants to minimize treatment disruptions for doctors and patients who will not receive additional aligners from OrthoClear. The only way we can do that is to make new Invisalign treatment available to OrthoClear patients at no additional charge to the patient or treating doctor. Align did not assume any liabilities whatsoever related to any prior OrthoClear treatment - all such liability remains with OrthoClear. Q. I have patients being treated with OrthoClear aligners. What do I do now? Align has offered to make new Invisalign treatment available to current OrthoClear patients and their doctor at no charge to the patient or to Invisalign-certified doctors. We are working quickly to develop a plan that will allow us to get those patients started in treatment as soon as it is feasible. If you intend to start your patients in Invisalign treatment, we suggest you use the last OrthoClear aligner received as a retainer. Please keep your OrthoClear case records for verification and watch for more details on how to submit your new cases to Align. Q. What should a doctor or patient do to change their treatment over to Invisalign? Can Align just pick up where OrthoClear left off? No. OrthoClear patients will start treatment with Invisalign as if they were a new case. Doctors will have to take new records and submit a new case form, and Align will need to verify that the patient is eligible for free treatment. However, Align will allow doctors to start OrthoClear patients in Invisalign at no charge - provided they agree not to charge their patients an additional fee. Align will communicate full details and instructions to doctors in the next few weeks. In the meantime, OrthoClear patients should talk with their doctors about maintaining their current treatment status. Doctors and patients should keep all OrthoClear treatment documentation. Q. How do I submit an OrthoClear case in progress to you? Can I use the OrthoClear submission boxes, forms, etc.? Align will contact you as soon as possible with detailed instructions for starting your current OrthoClear cases in Invisalign. Please do not submit those cases as new Invisalign cases until then - any case submitted outside these special procedures will be subject to the standard Invisalign case pricing. Q. Will Align reimburse me for other expenses related to OrthoClear's product no longer being available (ex. cost of taking new records )? No. Align is not responsible for any expenses incurred by OrthoClear customers as a result of OrthoClear's decision to settle with Align, other than Align's agreement to provide Invisalign treatment at no charge from Align. OrthoClear is solely responsible for how it resolves outstanding business or financial issues with its customers. Q. I submitted a case to OrthoClear and my credit card was charged, but I have not received the aligners yet. What do I do? Align does not have clinical records for OrthoClear cases in progress or information regarding OrthoClear billing procedures. We recommend you contact OrthoClear to see if your OrthoClear aligners have already been shipped or what options are available to you. You may wish to contact your credit card company to discuss your options regarding the charges. Q. Will you be taking over current OrthoClear operations activities, including certifications, training and product support capability? No. Align did not acquire or merge with OrthoClear - we are not taking over any of OrthoClear's operation or financial responsibilities, and have no information regarding their product support or educational programs. The settlement agreement provides that OrthoClear will cease accepting new cases, will stop importing aligners in the United States and, subject to shareholder approval, will discontinue its aligner business worldwide. Please contact OrthoClear with questions related to any of these issues. Q. I was Invisalign certified but never submitted a case. Can I submit Invisalign cases now? If you have an active Invisalign VIP account, you may submit cases at any time. However, if you intend to submit a new Invisalign case to replace OrthoClear treatment for a patient, please wait for special instructions and price codes so that the case can be processed appropriately. Q. Who will be my sales rep now? Who can help me get going with Invisalign? Your Invisalign Territory Manager (sales rep) can help you with any questions or issues regarding Invisalign treatment. To get contact information for your local Territory Manager, please call Invisalign Customer Support at 1-888-822-5446. Q. Will I have the same case numbers as I did with OrthoClear? No. Align did not acquire OrthoClear or its cases in progress. OrthoClear patients that start treatment with Invisalign will be new Invisalign cases and will have account/case numbers according to Align's systems. Q. I was eligible for free/discounted cases as part of an OrthoClear promotion/program - what do I do about receiving those cases now? Align has no information and is not responsible for OrthoClear's commitments to doctors or industry organizations regarding discounts, promotional pricing or other obligations. Please contact OrthoClear for specific information. OrthoClear's abrupt departure from the market will undoubtedly cause some disruption to practices who utilized OrthoClear. Align can only help doctors and patients by making Invisalign treatment available at no additional charge - we are doing this to help OrthoClear doctors and their patients achieve their treatment goals and cope with a difficult situation. Q. Why are you helping OrthoClear patients if you aren't going to make money from the cases? Patients who chose removable aligner therapy followed their doctors' recommendations in starting OrthoClear treatment. As the company that developed and leads the market for removable aligner therapy, we are committed to helping as many patients as possible get the smile they've always wanted with Invisalign. Q. What doctors will Align take care of first? How quickly can you get patients started in treatment? We want to set realistic expectations about what we can do for OrthoClear patients and when we can do it - we don't want to disrupt our existing business or customer obligations. Our current customers and their patients are the top priority. I should have put Orthoclear to Invisalign Transition information. sorry for the confusion > FAQs Posted from Align Technology (Invisalign's) Website. Important > Information for Doctors and Orthoclear Patients. [quoted text clipped - 121 lines] > our existing business or customer obligations. Our current customers > and their patients are the top priority. What a crock of ..... and of course the patients and docs lose out! For awhile, I was glad to see an alternative to the overpriced Invisalign. Guess I will just stick to the "6 month braces" for my adult ortho pts. No way would I become Invisalign "certified", especially with their previous history of excluding General Dentists...... Dr Abu >I should have put Orthoclear to Invisalign Transition information. > sorry for the confusion [quoted text clipped - 124 lines] >> our existing business or customer obligations. Our current customers >> and their patients are the top priority. This is a crock of sh.t !(say it as it is, Abu!) Invisalign would like you and the patients to believe that they will allow you to continue an OrthoClear case at no charge, but you, the dentist has to pony up the $1900 to get certified!!! OthoClear has stated that they feel it is understood in the agreement that Invisalign should pick up the tab for certification, but Invisalign doesn't think so. That is unconscionable, and I cannot believe a class-action lawsuit will not be started by the dentists left in the quagmire. And does Invisalign not think all of these dentists will not have a bad taste in their mouths at being forced to pay $2000 to complete their OrthoClear cases?? I will never sign on with Invisalign if I have to pay for certification, and you can bet I will not recommend them to my patients. Please let me know when the lawsuit gets rolling, Dr. R. > What a crock of ..... and of course the patients and docs lose out! > For awhile, I was glad to see an alternative to the overpriced Invisalign. [quoted text clipped - 132 lines] > >> our existing business or customer obligations. Our current customers > >> and their patients are the top priority. This situation is not good for dentists or their patients. Invisalign did not invent the idea of using a hard plastic aligner to move teeth -- they admit this in their introductory seminars. What Invisalign did was to develop a computer-aided manufacturing system that makes a series of aligners. I see no reason why the competition should not be legally allowed to develop similar software and make a series of aligners also. After all, even Microsoft does not have a monopoly in its market -- the Apple Mac OS, Unix, Linux, and other systems still have the freedom to compete. But not in the world of Invisalign. Orthoclear was a breath of fresh air in a stuffy, monopolistic market, but now we will probably have to wait until another company is bold enough to develop its own software and manufacturing to give Invisalign a bit of competition. - dentaldoc > This is a crock of sh.t !(say it as it is, Abu!) Invisalign would like > you and the patients to believe that they will allow you to continue an [quoted text clipped - 148 lines] > > >> our existing business or customer obligations. Our current customers > > >> and their patients are the top priority. I started a thread at dentaltown to fing out if anyone is interested in being a part of class action. but I only got a handful of interested parties. and these people did not even post their contact info. So I guess there isn't going to be a class action because it is not worth people's time. I expected to see a lot of dentists mad about this but it is just not happening. > This situation is not good for dentists or their patients. > [quoted text clipped - 169 lines] > > > >> our existing business or customer obligations. Our current customers > > > >> and their patients are the top priority. > I started a thread at dentaltown to fing out if anyone is interested in > being a part of class action. but I only got a handful of interested [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > I expected to see a lot of dentists mad about this but it is just not > happening. That's a shame. I would think that a little competition to Invisalign could only be a GOOD thing. The prices are certainly very high and competition has a tendency to bring prices down, as well as stimulate further development. - dentaldoc Hi I'm pretty furious over this... They claim there will be "no cost" for the transfer but that means you'll get your fresh aligners in 6 months!! So I decided to fork over more money to get my aligners in 4 weeks. What is the deal here, will there be a class action law suit??!?! My ortho said there will and that I can be apart of this...How? What are my options? Clearly something has to be done. Thanks, Brian > > I started a thread at dentaltown to fing out if anyone is interested in > > being a part of class action. but I only got a handful of interested [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > - dentaldoc Brian I'm not sure about the 6 months part. Invisalign is accepting the transfer cases right now. Some dentists have to get invisalign certified to send cases to invisalign that might be your situation. As far as class action I started a thread at a dental forum but I only got approx 7 replies of dentist interested in persuing this. We are going to need a lot more interested parties to find a class action large attorney practice interested in taking on this case on contingency bases. Remember Orthoclear is registered in the British Virgin Islands and there are not that many class action attorneys there. The only good news is that most likely the bank accounts are there and can frozen by court order. All I have to say is that I do not hear too many people complaining. The only good part about this is that it involves teeth not heart valves or pacemakers. I guess we will have to wait until something more serious comes up until somebody realizes that this kind of stuff should not be allowed to go on without mandatory operations completion insurance or that such settlements/contracts can not be legal for health care medical equipment companies. > Hi > [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > > > - dentaldoc As an Orthoclear patient, I am interested in a class action lawsuit over this. I am unfamiliar with these message groups and I'm having difficulty posting my response. I will track the postings here to see if there is a method to contact others interested in taking this on. My husband is an attorney. Does not really do class actions but is even madder than I am about this and is ready to do what he can to take Invisalign/Orthoclear on. Thanks. Since my post seems to have gone through, I have a few additional bits of info I would like to share. Brian's info regarding the cost and delay time for new aligners is very close to the info I was given. I was told, both by my ortho and the customer support rep at Invisalign, that I could expect my aligners by March 2007. In giving me my options regarding treatment, my ortho said we could submit my case as a new Invisalign case instead of through the "Patient First" (ha ha) program set up for current Orthoclear customers. By doing that, I could get new aligners in a month (I was quoted 21-22 days by the Invisalign customer support rep). My ortho said he would absorb the lab fee and stated that he knew that this was frustrating and wanted to do what would make me happy. I asked the cost of the lab fee and he said it was $1400. Although I am very anxious to proceed with my treatment, in principle, I do not want to do this. Regardless of whether the ortho or the patient pays the fee, the bottom line is that Invisalign is getting an additional fee for putting Orthoclear out of business. Invisalign will acquire an additional 30,000+ cases through this settlement if current Orthoclear patients wait the scheduled amount of time. Invisalign claims that Orthoclear has not turned records over to them. However, I have already taken new impressions and my ortho sent them off on October 30th -- the first day he was allowed to submit them to Invisalign. I do not understand why they cannot proceed with the information they have. I now need to have additional impressions made for my retainer that I will have to wear 5 months (my current top aligner has cracked as I have been wearing it since mid-September). Something is not right here. I agree with Abu -- I do think it is all about money, not unfair practice or competition. Doctors and patients who have used or begun treatment with the Orthoclear system are clearly being "punished" and blackmailed into paying additional fees to continue treatment in a timely fashion. It's just wrong! The invisalign lab fee is more like $1495 plus sales tax for 2 arches. used to be $1995 plus tax but was lowered as a result of Orthoclear competition. they do not offer a 4:4 treatment (16 front teeth) like orthoclear did only a 3:3 (12 front teeth)which means the invisalign mini treatment will not sufice orthoclear 4:4 treatment forcing patients to get full treatment. There is going to be a delay in treatment. Furthermore Orthoclear did send all patient records to align without prior doctor or patient approval. my orthoclear patients were listed on my invisalign account page as of Oct 30 2006. This is clearly a violation of HIPPA act for patient privacy. They obtained a click through consent from me after the fact but the names were already given to them by Orthoclear. I have verified that the expected aligner date is going to be March 2007. Align is claiming they are not obligated to treat Orthoclear patients and they are doing this out of courtesy and they will only do this under their own terms. It is possible the expected date is an estimate due to the volume of new cases coming in however orthoclear patients are not being processed at the same priority as new Invisalign patients. The only good news about this is that Orthoclear patients are getting a more expensive full mouth treatment for a much lower cost compared to Invisalign patients. To the doctors there is extra work diagnosis and conversion fron orthoclear to invisalign. Very easy to make a mistake and some doctors do not have access to Orthoclear site which contains information on what was already done how much tooth structure was removed. The two systems are different and invisalign involves more monitoring and auxillary treatment since all the aligners are made at once and if teeth do not track patients will need refinement treatment. It is unclear if refinement is included in the "invisalign's patient first program". I'm hoping it is beause if my patients have to wait until march and we find out at the end there is no refinement then I would have treated everyone with straight wire braces and would have been done much sooner. > Since my post seems to have gone through, I have a few additional bits > of info I would like to share. Brian's info regarding the cost and [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > being "punished" and blackmailed into paying additional fees to > continue treatment in a timely fashion. It's just wrong! BTW Invisalign has an incentive program for doctors who submit more cases to them by a significant reduction in the lab fee and doctor's staff incentives. They also only promote their high submiting doctors on their website so if a doctor does not meet a quota for case submission his practice will not appear on their find an invisalign certified dentist closest to you webpage. Orthoclear had everyone listed equally. > The invisalign lab fee is more like $1495 plus sales tax for 2 arches. > used to be $1995 plus tax but was lowered as a result of Orthoclear [quoted text clipped - 61 lines] > > being "punished" and blackmailed into paying additional fees to > > continue treatment in a timely fashion. It's just wrong! Alexander Vasserman DDS ha escrito: > BTW > Invisalign has an incentive program for doctors who submit more cases [quoted text clipped - 70 lines] > > > being "punished" and blackmailed into paying additional fees to > > > continue treatment in a timely fashion. It's just wrong! My son was 6 months into a 12 month treatment with Orthoclear when, as I understand it, Align basically forced Orthoclear to suspend business operations. We have been told that no further treatment will occur until March of 2007. This settlement was undertaken for the benefit of the shareholders. At no time has either company made any attempt to contact patients. There was no plan, nor any concern for the well being of the patients. The motivation was self interest and greed on the part of Align and Orthoclear. As parents who are paying 100% of the costs of our son's orthodontia treatment, we are angy and plan to file complaints with several state and federal government agencies. What happens if this sort of litigation is permitted in say, artificial body parts like knee and hip joints or heart valves and results in significant health impacts to patients? My son was extremely good at trumpet - he was invited to play with a local university wind ensemble at age 15. But then a front tooth began to rotate such that the side of his tooth was pointed into his lip. He eventually lost all ability to play. Our orthodontist gave us several alternatives, including Invisalign. We decided on the latter because it would be the fastest course of treatment to get him playing again, even though we had to pay more for it (100% of all costs out of our pocket). Without telling us, our orthodontist ultimately chose to use Orthoclear. This was not our decision at all. In fact, we did not even know we had Orthoclear until a few months into the treatment program. The point of all this is that we are paying out of our pocket for a functional fix to his teeth, not a cosmetic fix. This delay is terrible and not at all what we paid EXTRA for when we agreed to the invisible aligner treatment program. Here is how Align Technology introduced us to their Invisalign product: 1. We just shut down your provider of care. Hah hah. 2. We have no plans for what is going to happen but wait a few weeks and we will be sure to figure something out. 3. A few weeks later, we learn there will be about 5 month delay in further orthodontic treatment while waiting for Align to get its act together. (In reviewing their financial statements, I believe the ONLY reason for the delay is to put the costs into a future quarter or quarters.) 4. They call their program "Putting Patients First" when, in fact, they have put Orthoclear patients dead last amongst their clients. 5. Their program punishes Orthoclear patients. "Patients First" is PR spin when its actually "Patients Last", CEOs and shareholders FIRST! This is how Align chose to introduce itself to new patients: "We may be really rude and basically inept, but at least our customer service is first rate awful!" For us, this is the 2nd orthodontic quackery in a row. My older daughter went through braces but the quack FORGOT (and admitted it and the records prove it) to provide her with a retainer and within months, her teeth reverted. We should have sued her to kingdom come but we were naive. We ended up paying, out of our own pocket, for my daughter to suffer through braces all over again with a different orthodontist. Screwed by the orthodontic industry twice, I strongly discourage anyone form pursuing orthodontic treatment unless for an extremely critical problem. Do not waste money on orthodontic quackery. From our perspective, the best way to describe the orthodon-tick profession is, like the name sounds, as a group of money sucking insects! Prospective patients and customers of Invisalign should be aware of the company's track record in this matter before considering the Invisalign option. Thanks for posting. It seems your orthodontist failed to make it clear that you were getting a different product, you should have been informed. My patients that recieved orthoclear were informed of both systems and the decision to go with orthoclear was decided and agreed upon mutually based on that patients condition. When it was indicated for patients to recieve Invisalign that's exactly what was done. The biggest problem here is these prostitute companies lying about what their products can do, and patients and doctors are getting stuck in the middle. Many of my colleagues are in agreement about this problem and are now very cautious in persuing new promissed technology. > My son was 6 months into a 12 month treatment with Orthoclear when, as > I understand it, Align basically forced Orthoclear to suspend business [quoted text clipped - 63 lines] > company's track record in this matter before considering the Invisalign > option. > I started a thread at dentaltown to fing out if anyone is interested in > being a part of class action. but I only got a handful of interested [quoted text clipped - 177 lines] > > > > >> our existing business or customer obligations. Our current customers > > > > >> and their patients are the top priority. |
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