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The One to Watch: Henry Schein Orthodontics leads the field in innovation, ethics and ...

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Header: The One To Watch: Henry Schein Orthodontics

With more than three decades of experience in the orthodontic industry, and now sitting at the helm of one of the field's most-recognized companies, Henry Schein Orthodontics General Manager and Vice President Don Tuttle is in an ideal vantage point to discuss the past, present and future of his company and of the industry as a whole. And when Orthotown asked him to do just that, Tuttle gladly agreed.

Henry Schein Orthodontics has experienced a great deal of evolution over the past few years.
When our parent company brought orthodontic-focused operations under the Henry Schein umbrella, our goal was set: Serve the orthodontic professional by providing innovative products and practice solutions, including forward-thinking educational offerings.

As part of a large company with global ties, we can provide more resources for research for the development of better products, and we understand what it takes to develop a product for market. Resources available through Henry Schein allow us to provide easy access to equipment, digital technology and everyday supplies so important to a practice, which no other company can do.

Over the past couple of years, Henry Schein Orthodontics (HSO) has been expanding to create a leadership team that has more experience than that of all of our competitors combined, and our leaders share the same drive to provide quality and value and to build relationships. In addition, we've gained higher-caliber key opinion leaders, such as Dr. David Paquette, who is now our lead clinical advisor.

Henry Schein Orthodontics Headquarters

What makes you stand out among industry competitors?
No other competitor can say that it has been recognized for its commitment to ethical and socially minded business practices the way Henry Schein has. In 2016, the Ethisphere Institute named Henry Schein one of the world's most ethical companies—which makes the fifth year in a row. We've been ranked No. 1 in our industry again on Fortune's list of the world's most-admired companies, and Forbes included Henry Schein on its 2015 list of America's best employers.

Lastly, Henry Schein is now the world's largest provider of health care products and services to office-based dental, medical and animal health practitioners.

To help improve practice efficiency and patient results within the orthodontic industry, HSO has spent a substantial amount of time refining its manufacturing procedures to ensure that top, high- quality products reach the clinician's office. We've also invested significantly in engineering and new product development on key products that orthodontists have been asking the industry to develop.

You've taken a much more systemic approach, including helping patients improve more than just their smiles. What drives this?
Our company culture aims to build partnerships with practices, going beyond just being a supplier. We realize that if you develop products and offer tools that will help change patients' lives, practices will grow. We work closely with clinicians on an advisory board that provides feedback, addresses challenges they're facing in their practices, and works to resolve their issues with new products or educational courses.

Like our motto says, we believe in "doing well by doing good."

Our approach is holistic, with an understanding that orthodontics is so much more than straightening teeth. Our equipment and techniques enable orthodontists to do more for patients—expanding airways, for example, or improving facial esthetics. And orthodontists know they can treat patients with maximum attention to their comfort and health.

One example is in our newest Carriere products. Based on clinical input and industry demands, we changed the thought process of how these products work together within the system, such as soft tissue enhancement to ensure that treatment achieves facial harmony. We offer a complete solution with these products by providing appliances that can treat either Class II or Class III malocclusion at the beginning of treatment, and then finish with the SLX self-ligating bracket for a beautiful smile in less time, every day.

We also support clinicians with courses that address both the appliance and the technique to make for a seamless transition into their practice.

Tell us about some courses that HSO offers.
HSO regularly offers courses and global symposiums to target the issues of most concern to clinicians. For example, we were the first to market with orthodontic sleep apnea courses taught by Drs. Lou Chmura and Dave Paquette.

We also offer a CBCT in orthodontics course taught by Drs. Sean Carlson and Juan-Carlos Quintero, which is a comprehensive two-day program concerning the integration of CBCT into orthodontic practices. The demand for these courses has been tremendous, and all have sold out. Another popular course has been Dr. Scott Frey's course on soft tissue orthodontics, which focuses on allowing doctors to finish treatment with injectables to deliver exceptional treatment results.

All HSO courses let orthodontists offer patients a real change in their lives and health, and also improve the clinicians' practice efficiency and growth.

HSO has a strong commitment to its educational goals to help its customers transform their practices by enabling them to provide a total-health difference in the lives of their patients. Beyond our courses, we offer global symposiums that include two full days of lectures on the most progressive topics in today's orthodontic industry. Our Orthodontic Excellence and Technology Symposium sold out in its second year; the third annual event is scheduled for Feb. 23–25, 2017, in Scottsdale, Arizona.

In addition, HSO will host an industry premiere event featuring a powerhouse of speakers at its European Carriere Symposium, Sept. 22–24 in Barcelona.

There's quite a bit of emerging technology that HSO has been involved in. What are you most excited about?
Our team is excited about the products we've brought to market in recent years, as well as what's coming down the pipeline. We know that these products showcase HSO's investment in the future of orthodontics. We want to ensure that research and development come to fruition with the development of new products that will enable orthodontists to expand their capabilities and skill sets to address the increasing level of competition for consumer's discretionary resources.

To guarantee our success, we've invested in new equipment, innovative design and better products. We've already integrated options that help with the development of our forward-thinking products, such as 3D printing technology, which led to the production of the Motion Class III Appliance. This ground-breaking product addition allows the clinician to treat Class III at the beginning of treatment—with no surgery.

HSO has also implemented finite elemental analysis (FEA) into the fabrication of its products (Figs. 1a, 1b). FEA is a computerized method that predicts how a product will react to real-life physical effects such as stress, heat and vibration. This knowledge is huge for the innovative products that will come to market. We are excited that the addition of FEA has helped us with the Motion Clear Class II Appliance (Fig. 2), which is soon to come to market. This appliance features all the benefits of the Motion Class II appliance, but is a clear alternative for the aesthetic minded patient. (The Carriere Motion Clear Class II Appliance is undergoing 510(k) premarket review by the FDA for orthodontic movement and alignment of teeth during orthodontic treatment.)

Figs. 1a, 1b

Fig. 2

Tell us about the Motion Series, and what else orthodontists can expect to see in the future?
The Carriere Motion Appliance family, which includes appliances that help with Class II and Class III patients, exemplifies the kind of innovation we're committed to providing our customers. Both metal and clear appliances offer simplicity, ease of use and patient compliance, which adds up to fast, more predictable results. With their sleek, esthetic and noninvasive design, Motion appliances shorten treatment time by up to four months. They're used at the beginning of treatment, when patient compliance is at its highest. Once Class I occlusion is achieved, doctors can move patients into Invisalign or metal brackets, including our SLX self-ligating brackets, for shorter treatment time.

We recently launched the Motion Class III Appliance, which is a breakthrough for Class III correction. The discreet, comfortable appliance is direct bonded in just minutes and is easily tolerated by the patient. Clinically, this gives the orthodontist an option to avoid surgery, extractions or extraoral devices.

One great innovation has been the SLX, which has proven to be a game-changer. The SLX Self-Ligating Appliance System is changing passive self-ligating bracket standards for excellence and performance with innovations that meet clinicians' challenges, yet still delivers at a value price. The system enables improved case management, tooth positioning and finishes.

The Carriere Bracket System has been redesigned to offer the SLX appliance while maintaining one of the lowest profiles on the market. With clinician-inspired improvements, the system offers tooth-specific bracket sizes for precise finishing, fewer rebonds and less wire-bending.

In addition, the system presents multiple visual cues including six horizontal and five vertical references, helping ensure accurate bracket placement. Another cool feature to help improve office efficiency is how it reduces gingival impingement, since the doors of the brackets open toward the incisal edges.

Patient before/after pictures

What should we expect to see from HSO in the long run?
HSO will keep providing the new tools to do more and products that will expand the clinician's ability to offer total-health solutions. Our team is committed to helping orthodontists achieve excellence.

We'll also continue to offer practice-building, consumer-centric programs and products designed by orthodontists, for orthodontists; expand educational offerings so clinicians can be on the forefront of future treatment options, rather than only learning of the options available today; and build upon our strong KOL group so that well-respected, industry-leading orthodontists are offering guidance on the important clinical needs, new products and educational events.

Our research and development team and experienced engineering group are working with highly respected orthodontists to develop a complete industry-changing product that has never been seen before. We have that scheduled to debut in 2017, so stay tuned!

What is the biggest obstacle facing orthodontics in the next 5–10 years?
There could be an increase in the struggle for orthodontists to open their own practices, partly because of the advancement of high-cost technology equipment. We live in a world driven by technology, and orthodontics is evolving alongside that drive—for the better of the practice and the patient.

Orthodontics is a huge investment, from getting the education clinicians need to opening a practice and everything that comes after. And the technology needed in a practice is very expensive. It's no longer a matter of "hang a sign and patients will come."

With those obstacles, it could take new clinicians longer to start their own practices than it ever has before. We hope that with our expanded offering of education courses, orthodontists can more easily move forward to reduce some of these struggles. We want them to be able to focus on providing faster, better treatment outcomes for their patients.

As for patients, they're becoming more knowledgeable and beginning to demand faster treatment while still expecting perfect aesthetic results.

This means that companies need to develop the right appliances and tools to assist doctors with these demands—and we believe that HSO is on the right track to solve these demands. Our products, current and future, will prove our commitment to the betterment of orthodontics.

For more information, visit henryscheinorthodontics.com or call (800) 547-2000.



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