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Office Visit: Ahead of the Curve Chelsea Patten, Staff Writer, Orthotown Magazine

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by Chelsea Patten, Staff Writer, Orthotown Magazine

Welcome to the newest installment of Office Visit, where Orthotown Magazine visits a Townie's practice. If you have a unique practice philosophy or know someone who you'd like to nominate to be featured, please e-mail ben@farranmedia.com.

This month, Orthotown Magazine spoke with Dr. Robert E. Ford, a Florida-based orthodontist running a patient-oriented practice. Dr. Ford, of Ford Orthodontics, talks about his days spent in the office, competition in today's economy and the creative ways he's found to stay ahead of the curve.
Name: Robert E. Ford, DMD
Graduate from: Marquette University, BS in Mechanical Engineering; University of Florida, College of Dentistry, 1981; University of California, San Francisco, 1984
Practice Name: Ford Orthodontics
Practice Location: Three locations in Marion County, Florida
Web site: www.fordortho.com

Office Highlights
Bonding Agents
  • Assure by Reliance
  • Pro-Seal by Reliance
  • RMO bond LC flowable adhesive
  • Transbond by Unitek
Brackets/Wires
  • American Orthodontics LP (Low Profile Brackets)
  • Bionic low profile brackets from Ortho Technology
  • Lotus Plus self-ligating bracket system from Ortho Technology
  • Pure Aesthetic bracket system from Ortho Technology
  • TruFlex Nickel-titanium wires
Cements
  • Crosslink light cure brand cement
Class II Correction Appliances
  • Elastics
  • Forsus
  • Jasper Jumpers
  • Spider Screw TAD system by Ortho Technology
Class III Correction Appliances
  • Elastics
  • Spider Screw TAD system by Ortho Technology
 Hygiene
  • Agent Cool Blue
  • Colgate Prevident
  • Inspector Hector
  • Plaque disclosing tablets
  • Pro-Seal by Reliance
Patient Financing
  • In-office financing
  • Care Credit
  • ChaseHealthAdvance
Technology/Other
  • Check scanner for bank deposits
  • Digital Employee Time Clock
  • Fingerprint scanners for patient check-in
  • Flat screen TV monitors in reception room, treatment area and exam room
  • HP Color LaserJet document system (we print everything in-house)
  • Indirect bonding
  • Monitors at each unit
  • NEAT document scanner for paperless charts
  • Ortho II Viewpoint
  • Orthophos XG5 by Sirona
  • Picasso diode laser (from Ortho Technology)
  • Sidexis by Sirona
  • Spider screws
  • Ultra-Guard Mouthguards
Click Here To View Dr. Robert's Top Four

How and why did you go into orthodontics? At what point did you decide “this is what I want to do?”
As far back as my junior year of college, I had an inkling to go into dentistry because of a positive role model, Hugh Gardy, my former family dentist in New Jersey. Having friends in the dental program at Marquette University, I became very interested in what they were doing. As a result, I decided to go to dental school. After the first year of dental school when we started data collection on our student partners, I told my professors that I was very unhappy with my own teeth. They immediately sent me to the orthodontic department for a consultation. Shortly after that, I was in braces and was extremely happy with the process and the outcome. This is when I decided that I wanted to be an orthodontist and go into private practice. If you combine mechanical engineering, which is my first degree, with dentistry, you have a perfect niche for an orthodontist.

What is your practice philosophy?
Employing those planned and systematic operations that will ensure a successful, quality outcome and that will result in a pleasing, attractive smile and healthy occlusion, both by my own standards and the standards of the patient. We treat every patient like they are a relative – nothing but first class.

Tell me a little about your practice – how is it laid out? What is the workflow like?
Describe a typical day.
Our building is about 15 years old, which we designed from the start. It is laid out with a large reception room as you walk in through the front door. Immediately to the right, there is a game room for the children, which includes most of the latest gaming systems. Our treatment area consists of six treatment chairs which are divided by half wall planters. This gives the area an open feeling but with some privacy. The treatment chairs face large windows with a serene view of a garden and an elevated train track with a train that runs daily. In addition, there are large, flat screen TVs that display movies all day. Our lab is located near the treatment area.

On a typical day I arrive at at 6:30 a.m. to do paperwork and to review the day's schedule. If circumstances warrant, we will accommodate patients by seeing them this early. We perform all procedures throughout the day; we do not limit our patients by only doing certain procedures at specific times. We use "doctor time scheduling" which makes the schedule flow very well.

What makes your practice different than other orthodontic offices? What do you do to set yourself apart?
We understand that our patients and parents have busy schedules, so we strive to stay on time. We are proud to say that we rarely run behind. Both dentists and patients compliment us on how organized we are and how efficiently we run our office.

We set ourselves apart by taking continuing education courses so that we can keep up with the latest advancements. We have done more Invisalign in our county than all the other orthodontists and general dentists combined. We are extremely accommodating to our patients needs, and we try to stay very involved in our community and our patients' interests.

Also, I prefer all our lab work to be done "in-house." I worked in an orthodontic lab when I was in ortho school, and I have been able to train my staff to make the appliances the way I prefer them to be done. The end results are quick turnarounds and little or no confusion.

We also have a Brace Bus. I have always contemplated how we could help parents get their children to us so they wouldn't have to miss work. During the last fuel crunch, we decided to purchase a yellow H2 Hummer to pick up students from school and bring them to the office for their appointments. Students picked up on the Brace Bus receive a report card that they bring home to their parents with information on what was done during their visit that day. We then take the students back to school. This is a free service we offer to our school-age patients. Everyone loves it!

What is the competition like in your area of orthodontics right now?
We do have quite a bit of competition in our area. There are a couple of new orthodontists who have only been out of school for a few years. Honestly, we have more orthodontists in the area than the economy should have right now.

How has the economy affected your practice?
Fortunately, by reading and keeping up with current economic information, I anticipated this downturn and made the decision to hire a full-time marketing coordinator. This proved to be a great way to get the bigger piece of a smaller pie. We work very hard to keep the practice growing.

Who is your primary clientele? How do you get the word out about services to patients?
Our clientele is quite varied; we have people from all spectrums of socio-economic backgrounds and also of all ages – from elementary school-age children to senior citizens. To get the word out about our services, we participate in community health fairs, volunteer at local carnivals and we sponsor athletics and the arts. We inform our local dentists and their staff through lunches and open houses. The majority of our patients come from the referrals of other patients.

Tell me about My Ortho Rewards program.
We started this reward system to get patients motivated about keeping their teeth clean, cooperating with elastics, coming to their appointments and referring their friends to us. Patients are able to collect "points," which are then used to obtain items from a Web site called My Ortho Rewards. We find that it's one more way for us to stand out and to let our patients know we really do care. We also give out extra points for various special occasions.

What is your favorite procedure or part of orthodontics?
My favorite procedure is the initial exam where I get to meet new people and face the challenge of examining and diagnosing the patient right then and there. At this visit, we take digital photos and a panoramic X-ray. The patients are always amazed when they see their teeth on our flatscreen TV. It is the most personal of all the procedures.

What do you think is the biggest problem orthodontics faces today?
In my opinion, the biggest problem that orthodontics faces today is the large number of general dentists that are trying to get into orthodontics with a course that they took for a couple of days. It seems they are doing this because the economy is tight. I also think there shouldn't be such large ortho programs that are putting out graduates who are now looking for places to practice where there are none.

What do you find in terms of technology has the biggest "wow" factor for your patients?
We actually went back to indirect bonding about three years ago. Our patients really like it because of how easy it is to get the appliances placed, and parents of our adolescent patients like it because of how quickly the procedure is performed. Some parents compare it to their own experience and are amazed. It not only reduces chairtime, but it puts the brackets where I want them and means less wire bends at the end. It also reduces rebonding and greatly aids moisture control. I no longer have any neck problems.

Describe your most successful or rewarding experience.
One of my most rewarding experiences was with a 12-yearold boy with Crouzon Syndrome who was getting constant ridicule from classmates. An oral surgeon referred him to me for the ortho with the plan to do surgery early. This way, the boy would have a decent chance to grow up and get through school without ridicule. I was actually able to assist with the surgery, which took a painstaking 17 hours. Shortly after this surgery, he and his mother moved away, so his treatment with me ended until a year later when he came to stay with his grandparents for the summer. I was able to talk his grandparents and him into finishing up treatment, and he did. His final results were phenomenal.

Looking ahead, what would you like to see orthodontics do in terms of the way it operates as a profession in the next five to 10 years?
I would like to see orthodontics establish more protocols for treatment. The old saying is "If you ask 10 orthodontists a question, you'll get 12 different opinions." We also need to remember that we should be evidence-based in the way we diagnose and treat our patients. I would like to see controversies resolved. I would also like companies to give evidence on what they claim about their products. Many claim that their products and appliances are the only ones that will work on certain cases. I would really like them to prove that their claims are actually valid.

What is your favorite feature of Orthotown?
My favorite feature would have to be the interviews with other doctors. It's nice to see who's doing what, giving others ideas of what could be beneficial and help in their practices.

What do you like to do when you are not working?
When I'm not working, I enjoy spending time with, Kay, my wife of 39 years, my two sons and my three grandsons. I also love to ski in Colorado. In addition, my favorite hobby is collecting Lionel toy trains, which I have been doing since I was a child. I am presently building a radio-controlled submarine which will dive, travel under water and surface. It is a scale model of the submarine I served on as an engineering officer.
Orthotown Magazine
September 2025
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