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Office Visit: Small Practice Producing Big Smiles by Krista Houstoun, Assistant Editor, Orthotown Magazine

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Small Practice Producing Big Smiles
by Krista Houstoun, Assistant Editor, Orthotown Magazine

Anyone who frequents the Orthotown.com message boards knows Dr. Tuhina Roy. They might not know her by her real name, but instead by her display name, Nysent, or by her avatar, the signature red velvet cupcake. As an active and helpful Townie, we asked Dr. Roy if we could look deeper into her freshly launched New Jersey orthodontic practice. Turns out, she’s accomplishing big things – and in a very, very small space.

Why did you choose orthodontics as your career? And when did you open your practice?
Whitt: Roy: The length of treatment time and the patient base drew me to orthodontics. I like that you see changes and improvements happen over the course of time. Once I got into the field, I learned about the role of orthodontics in sleep apnea and TMJ disorder treatments and found those to be fascinating. Now that I am in practice, my patients of course want their treatment done in the shortest time frame possible with the least visibility. I have been spending time in CE courses that enable me to offer faster solutions to my patients, such as lingual braces, corticotomy facilitated treatment, clear aligners, removable appliance therapy and sometimes a combination of all of the above. I opened my practice in January 2012.

Tell me a little about your practice – how is it laid out? What is the workflow like? Describe a typical day.
Roy: We are physically a tiny office – 550 square feet! This office comes with a rich history. This space has been an orthodontic office for 50 years; proving smiles can be created no matter what the size of the office. Our town, Little Falls, just celebrated its 300th birthday last year. I selected this location because our visibility is great – we are a corner location on a busy main street and across from a regional high school. We have quick and easy access to several major highways, which is crucial in our congested state.

Because every inch matters in our office, we scrutinize each purchase to ensure it will be space efficient without creating clutter. We have a waiting area, a private consultation room and a Ushaped open area that contains the receptionist’s desk on one side and sterilization and lab on the other side, with a nook for the pan/ceph machine. The treatment bay has three chairs and connects the two sides. Due to space limitations, I only have space for two chairside units, but my supplier assures there are wallmounted units available when we absolutely need the third one. In the center are our clinical workspace, storage and a small closet where we keep our personal items, a fridge and microwave.

We cheat a little and have a 900-square-foot basement available where we house our compressor and vacuum. However, our town is known in New Jersey as one of the places where the Passaic River overflows and often floods. The office is not in a flood zone, but the basement is prone to a few inches of water after a heavy rain so it is only a storage space, not a workspace.

What do you do to set your practice apart from others?
Roy: We are open in the evenings. I grew up in New Jersey and remember how hard it was for my dad to take off from work to bring me to my orthodontic appointments and then the crazy traffic we used to face to get to the doctor’s office. We make a commitment to run on time and be available for our patients outside of office hours if they need us by email or phone.

How do you market your practice to new patients?
Roy: We have the largest lit sign the town will allow. We are located on a busy road so many people drive by and call us from the sign. We sponsor local events and teams to establish ourselves as a familiar face in our community. We are starting ads and announcements in the local newspaper. And we are working on meeting all of our area practitioners and doing some local education in the future.

How did you learn about Orthotown.com?
Roy: I had been using Dentaltown.com when I graduated from dental school and was working as a GP for a few years. I saw the ads that a new section called Orthotown was being started. At the time I was an ortho resident so I was able to get access.

In what ways have you used Orthotown.com as a resource?
Roy: Since Orthotown.com is so small, I read every thread and every post. I learn so much from every poster, I only wish more doctors would contribute!

You just returned from the AAO conference in Hawaii, how did you enjoy it this year?
Roy: I had never been to Hawaii before and I already cannot wait to return. Hawaii was amazing. I also attended one of the post-conferences so it was nice to be able to extend our trip and see something besides Waikiki. I have been to every AAO since I was a resident except for 2010 when the meeting was held a week before my wedding.

What did you learn at the AAO this year?
Roy: I saw a 3D printer for the first time. There seemed to be many more vendors offering 3D scanning technologies, from scanning a model for data storage to intra-oral scans to replace models. I was busy buying a lot of supplies for the office so I did not have a chance to attend many lectures. However, I always buy the AAO DVD to watch the lectures during my commute (when I ride the bus or train, not while driving!) or at the gym.

What is the greatest advancement or change you have seen during your tenure as an orthodontist?
Roy: Digital radiographs and charts. And now the prevalence of cone-beam technology. I have beautiful penmanship and took great pride in writing impeccable patient notes in dental school. Now I type much faster than I write with a pen so starting with digital charts in my practice was a given.

What would you like to see happen in the future of orthodontics?
Roy: I would like to see orthognathic surgery become an affordable option for our patients. The difficulty of not offering orthognathic surgery as a viable treatment option limits the best treatment our patients can have. I’m not talking about borderline cases that can be treated with a creative alternate treatment plan using TADs and other bone anchors. I’m referring to the cases with a 10mm negative overjet that need a maxillary advancement and mandibular setback as the only solution, but orthognathic surgery is an excluded benefit from the patient’s insurance plan. Our best solution currently is to educate the patients about their treatment options, work with surgeons who offer the surgery on a fee-for-service basis and set up the patients on a comfortable financial plan.

What is your vision for your practice in the future? In what ways do you want it to grow?
Roy: My vision is to have a practice where patients will seek us out for specific services such as patients with time constraints or patients diagnosed with sleep apnea looking for alternative treatments. I will certainly add more technology as it improves such as an intra-oral scanner. I would also like to grow to a bigger space. Although our office is cozy and charming, we could use a larger lab area and some additional private settings.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not working?
Roy: I enjoy cooking and baking. My favorite vegetable is eggplant and I love experimenting with new ways of preparing it. My favorite dessert to bake is cake. Cupcakes have always been a favorite of mine, long before they became such a popular trend, though I didn’t discover red velvet ones until 2005. My husband and I also enjoy traveling and have been giving our passports a workout trying to get around the globe.
Orthotown Magazine
September 2025
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