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According to "Dr. Wo": An Open Letter to My Colleagues Wm. Randol Womack, DDS, Editorial Director, Orthotown Magazine

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An Open Letter to My Colleagues


Wm. Randol Womack, DDS
Editorial Director,
Orthotown Magazine		 There have been rumblings around the country about the future of orthodontics, and more specifically some local surveys indicate that ortho practices are down as much as 30 percent with rumors of employee layoffs. Where I live, one ortho practice actually closed the doors a few weeks ago. As we all know, the economy has changed for the worse and this presents many challenges. However, this is the truth: the "economy" isn't the only thing that poses a threat to our practices. What might threaten our practices even more is the changing political landscape in this country.

We all have a personal story that is often neglected and overshadowed by what others see and hear. I might park my 2008 vehicle outside my office from time to time, but I also drive my 1993 automobile to work quite often. Today, the economy is in very serious trouble and people, like me and you, who tried to make all the right decisions, helped to educate their children, invested for the future and saved their money, have to bail out all the people who didn't. The people who overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed decades of my life for.

Unfortunately, if the trends and forecasts that are being reported on the evening news continue to decline, this recession has the potential to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit to any business – including our profession.

There are promises of an "economic stimulus package" and "government reform." But the facts still remain that we are being taxed heavily and the government thinks those who make more than $200,000 a year still don't pay enough. All the while, those who make less than $200,000 (the middle class and the poor) will receive tax cuts such that it could result in more than half the households in America paying no taxes at all.

The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Those who provide quality employees with good paying jobs and who contribute to the support of their suppliers? Or those who look to government programs for their sustenance? It appears that the government feels the latter is the economic stimulus that benefits this country.

So where am I going with all of this? It's quite simple. Even in the face of the proposed economic stimulus and government reform, we have no choice but to consider reducing expenses which might, among other items, target staff. As this year goes by, many doctors will seriously consider severely downsizing their practices or even closing down, and retiring. The proposed health care measures appear to be even more traumatic for our medical colleagues. All of this could discourage doctors from working and risking their hard-earned assets with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive.

Those of us who practice orthodontics have been wonderfully blessed over the years. In past tough times, parents have chosen to do things for their children while denying things for themselves, which has benefited all of us. So could there be a solution to this dilemma? How can we be proactive when facing this economy that appears to be out of our control? With our teams, we need to face up to and discuss what options we have for our practices. Could we insert a degree of control of our destiny and develop a survival plan for our practice? What would each of us be willing to do, for the time being, to reduce expense, work more efficiently, economize the operation of the office and maintain the integrity and expertise of our team – without taking extreme measures? It might be surprising what each one of us would be willing to do to survive these conditions and to again thrive in the future. In my opinion, we can't wait to have this meeting.

By the time you read this, the new administration will have been in office for several weeks. My prayer is that President Barack Obama will become the very best president that this country has ever seen and that our government leaders will work diligently to reverse these downward economic trends… because we have never needed that more than we do now and in the years to come.

In the meantime, if you have some open time in your schedules, I implore you to sign on to Orthotown.com and contribute to the message boards. In working together, we can help each other navigate through this current economic crisis.

Respectfully,
Dr. Wo
Orthotown Magazine
November 2025
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