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Scientific Compliance Helps Orthodontists Get Smart

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A miniature microsensor embedded in the retainer to measure retainer use
Posted: March 19, 2008
SmartRetainer (WinCE).jpg
Scientific Compliance Helps Orthodontists Get Smart
 
Atlanta, GA. March 17- The retention phase of orthodontic treatment differs from active treatment because it is totally dependent on patient cooperation.  Poor retainer compliance can lead to relapse and patients are often inaccurate in self reporting retainer usage.  Inadequate retainer use impacts everyone involved from the orthodontist and office staff to the patients and their parents. 
 
Until the debut of the Smart Retainer, there has been no accurate way to measure retainer use.  The new system consists of a miniature microsensor embedded in the retainer, proprietary software and a reader that displays precise retainer use on any PC.
 
“Orthodontists are telling us that this is the most exciting new product they have seen in years” says Scientific Compliance CEO William Longley.  “We did a preview at the AAO Technology meeting in Las Vegas and over one third of attending orthodontists either pre ordered or signed our list to be contacted as soon as we begin shipping.  We clearly have the right product at the right time”.
 
The SMART microsensor, which is slightly larger than a shirt button, combines stored measurements of environmental conditions with sophisticated algorithms using encrypted wireless data transfer.
 
The technology behind the Smart Retainer is only possible due to recent reductions in electronic component sizes.  The Smart sensor automatically and at present intervals monitors its environmental conditions, and either stores the data or a heuristic decision about the data in encrypted form.  This information is later used by software in the Orthodontist’s office to determine retainer wear frequency and duration.  When an Orthodontist or staff member places a retainer with a Smart Sensor onto a Smart Reader, within a few seconds a wireless communication link is established and all the information recorded since the last read session is automatically downloaded, decrypted, further analyzed using proprietary algorithms for trends and use patterns, and presented in easy to understand charts for evaluation by the Orthodontist or discussion with the patient.
 
A Smart sensor contains a miniature microprocessor as well as other ultra-small electronics for keeping time, environmental monitoring and data storage, all permanently and hermetically sealed into a device.  A built-in clock circuit, resonating at a frequency of 32,768 Hz plus or minus twenty millionths Hz provides time-of-day, correcting for 28-,29-,30- and 31-day months, and periodically signals the microprocessor to collect, analyze and store a measurement of some environmental condition.  The eight bit microprocessor runs at twenty MHz and has built-in ten bit analog to digital converter.  Ambient light levels can be monitored with one high sensitivity photodiode and a separate low sensitivity diode.  The piezoelectric crystal is sensitive to environmental vibrations.  Environmental conditions can be monitored with twelve bit resolution.  The electrically erasable and programmable read only memory will store 131,072 bits of data potentially for up to forty years; the lifetime of a Smart Sensor is estimated at 18 months under typical usage, but actual lifetime will vary with usage.
 
The Smart Retainer is affordable, game proof and eliminates the age old “He said, she said” component of patient reported retainer use.  Data transfer taken approximately 15 seconds and the compliance charts are easy to read.
 
SMART orthodontists receive significant marketing support to introduce the SMART Retainer to patients.  Patient Education videos and brochures, web site practice listings, national consumer media awareness, the Smart Retainer Grow your Practice guide, and frequent buyer programs are all provided to participating orthodontists.
 
Dr. Marc Ackerman DMD, Chief Scientific Officer at Scientific Compliance and Associate Professor at Jacksonville University School of Orthodontics has worked closely with the company on the development of the Smart Retainer to make it relevant to clinicians and game proof for patients.  Dr. Ackerman recently presented his findings at the March 2008 meeting of the North Atlantic component of the Edward H. Angle Society of Orthodontists.
 
“Orthodontists now have the opportunity to practice evidence based retention.  Clinical decisions will now be data driven rather than best guess.  This technology will initiate a paradigm shift in orthodontics” states Dr. Ackerman.  “Although the needs of private practice orthodontists drove the development of the SMART Retainer, the clinical research possibilities of this new advancement are boundless” he concludes.  Under Dr. Ackerman, Scientific Compliance will make the SMART technology available to select, accredited orthodontic programs engaged in cutting edge research.
 
“We’re thrilled that recent technological advances layered over years of development have now made the Smart microsensor possible,” said Stuart McRae, PE, MSICS, RAC, Chief Technological Officer at Scientific Compliance.  “The sophisticated capabilities of the Smart retainer and reader were made possible by leveraging electronic and circuit assembly advances made within just the last year.  The SciComply team has worked diligently to perfect this powerful yet compact technology, and we are fortunate to be at a confluence of multiple rapidly developing technology streams.”
 
Scientific Compliance will formally launch the Smart Retainer System at the May AAO Annual Meeting in Denver.  
  
 
For more information on the Smart Retainer, visit our website at http://www.SciComply.com or www.SmartRetainer.com
 
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