As promised, here are the highlights of the comments doctors have made regarding the subject of a “Lifetime Retainer” program I discussed in my last newsletter. Read through to the end though because you will find an important message.
“We already have a type of ‘smile guarantee’ for our patients. If they ever slip up on retainer wear, I will retreat them at a flat monthly fee (currently $165/month). There is no banding/deband fee – just $165/month, plus a fee for retainers.”
“A ‘Lifetime Retainer Program’ would keep patients in contact with the office for a longer period of time which may help with word-of-mouth referrals.”
“Patients may like the security of it, but this may increase carelessness with retainers.”
“I don’t think the program would impact sale of an office, as long as the new doc was aware of the program. He/she could choose to continue the program or discontinue it. I think discontinuation would require a letter to all patients and a phase out period.”
“Sounds like a great idea!”
“We already do ‘Lifetime Retainers’ for a fee. It works great”
“A huge positive of this type of program is that it gets patients back in your chair if they lost their retainer and allows the doctor to identify relapse and offer a solution such as in-house aligners, Invisalign, braces, etc. if the patient would like to correct things.”
“We are about to implement this very topic. Basically it is $680 for up to 4 sets of retainers. It puts a cap at 4 sets which makes me comfortable. A lifetime of free retainers scares me so this approach gives patients what they want/need and also protects the practice.”
“We implemented Lifetime Retainers about 3 years ago as part of our full treatment package. We essentially increased our fees about $100 across the board and it is just part of what our full treatment provides now, it is not an option.”
“We tell our patients if you ever lose retainers, they get damaged, or over time wear out, just give our office a call and we will make a new set of retainers from our IO Scan of them (we make the suck down retainers, buying our plastic in bulk from Cope plastic, costing us about 32 cents per retainer in material costs). So, after appliance removal we do not schedule additional appointments (we see our patients one time, 2 months after deband, then dismiss)”
“A truly horsepucky idea!”
“Interesting concept of lifetime retainers. It is like the dental office that offers ‘lifetime bleaching.’ It comes across to me like a bulls@%t marketing concept!”
“You don’t want to be constantly contacted to have retainers checked based on lifetime guarantee. My chairs make more money with active treatment. It creates a sense of carelessness.”
“How attractive is it to sell a practice with the buyer knowing they have to honor the lifetime replacement, and how does it impact the sale price of the practice?”
“I think that lifetime thing comes across as disingenuous.”
“It’s somewhat gimmicky. It could become a liability for the practice especially in the event of a sale of practice. Could put a time limit on it, like 10 years.”
“Wow, this sounds like a terrible idea!! I predict the schedule would be full of patients calling to get replacement retainers as they would be rather “lazy” in caring for the original retainers knowing they can call anytime to get new ones.”
“Legally you have not dismissed these patients from the practice, so they become patients of record for their lifetime??” This response was my personal favorite! PZ
“Lifetime Retainers…. Terrible idea for lots of reasons. Why the motivation to change what has worked for years? I assume they must be trying to compete against “corporate” claims of lifetime retainers of some sort?”
“This would be the most stupid thing that any Orthodontist could do in his practice.”
“We are thinking of a four option system for our patients. They can choose from: 1. $330 for 2 years bonded lingual and retainers. 2. $500 at any time after 2 years to remove the BL and upper and lower retainers. 3. Replacement retainers at $250 each set. 4. Retainers for life includes all of above at $1200. It would be close to a million dollars in income if 50% of our patients went onto this lifetime product.”
“In addition to the possible cluttering of the schedule that you mentioned, there is the possibility that some patients will interpret lifetime retainers as ‘lifetime straight teeth’. I have found that many of them already believe that having had treatment guarantees this no matter what was in the informed consent, the post treatment letter and the post active retention letter. This program might reinforce that notion.”
“The dynamic I fear is the parent that is concerned about the minor shifting and lost retainer, dragging the kid into the office who is 19 and totally apathetic. Then begins a protracted discussion about what is covered under the ‘insurance’ because the parents wants some value out of the investment. I think it would need to be made extremely clear that the insurance covers only the fabrication of new passive retainers and nothing to restraighten the teeth. If that is the case, $800-$1500 could cover a lot of lost retainers.”
“We are in the process of implementing such a program. Our program will be $990 for Lifetime retainers (1 retainer per year) and our current program of 3 retainer check appointments per year are going to be part of this program. For people who don’t sign up, we are planning to deband and say ‘goodbye.'”
So, as you can see, there are a lot of opinions out there. I am unsure if what I have listed above represents it, but in fact about 65% of the comments I received were negative on the specific plan put forth by the Australians but more than half were positive of the general idea of some form of paid Lifetime Retention program.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this message, I have some big news to deliver, at least it’s big news for us at Zuelke & Associates. Cheri Snippen, my lead, and now only consultant for almost 30 years, has set March 31, 2018 as her retirement date. Her husband Bob is retiring at the same time and they plan on leasing out their home and living in their sailboat while cruising/exploring the NW Pacific coast. Fortunately for Z&A and our clients, Cheri has promised to be available from time to time to help us with special projects such as Financial Coordinator trainings, as well as our workshops and training seminars. What Cheri’s retirement does mean though is that effective December 1, 2017, and after 37 wonderful years of orthodontic and dental consulting, Z&A will no longer be taking new clients! Any doctor who has been on the fence about using our credit management consulting services and wants to get off the fence and hire Zuelke & Associates will need to do so very quickly in order to be fit into the schedule prior to December 1, 2017. Becky, my assistant and chief support person, along with myself, will continue to provide the high level of telephone support that our clients are accustomed to, and we will be doing that for the foreseeable future. Betty Zuelke’s case acceptance consulting will remain separate and continue unchanged.
— Paul Zuelke
