Redefining Value in Orthodontics: How 3D Workflows Transform Practice Growth

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In today’s orthodontic landscape, success depends on more than cutting costs — it’s about redefining your value proposition. As practices evolve, those that embrace innovative digital workflows like 3D Indirect Bonding and 3D printed metals are finding new ways to grow revenue, optimize efficiency, and create a differentiated patient experience.

The future of orthodontics isn’t just about working cheaper. It’s about working smarter, freeing doctors’ time, and elevating the value of every appointment.

The Shift in Value: From Appliances to Experience

Many practices measure profitability by appliance cost alone. But the real cost of an appointment extends far beyond materials — it includes doctor chair time, scheduling capacity, team efficiency, chairside adjustments, and remake costs.

Each unnecessary appointment or remake disrupts scheduling and consumes valuable time that could otherwise be used for new patient starts. On average, a practice experiences a 4% remake rate for traditional appliances made in labs — and up to 7% when using cheaper options.¹ That can cost about $60,000 per year for a typical practice.²

By shifting to digital workflows like 3D indirect bonding and 3D printed metals, practices unlock new efficiencies that drive growth in ways traditional approaches simply can’t — all while improving quality, consistency, and patient experience.

3D Indirect Bonding: Save Time, Expand Your Capacity

Traditional bracket placement requires extensive doctor chair time, limiting how many new patient starts can fit into the schedule each day. With 3D Indirect Bonding (3DiB), that equation changes.

3DiB trays provide precise, digitally guided bracket positioning—ensuring accuracy and efficiency before the patient ever sits down. 3DiB trays significantly reduce the length of bonding appointments, allowing doctors to focus their time where it matters most: diagnosis, planning, and patient care.

Key benefits of 3D Indirect Bonding:

Reduce total bonding appointment time
More time = more patient starts per day
Accurate and consistent bracket placement
Enhanced patient experience through shorter, smoother appointments

By transforming the bonding workflow, 3DiB empowers orthodontists to grow capacity and efficiency—without adding staff or expanding space.

3D Printed Metals: Efficiency Meets Precision

3D printed metal appliances are revolutionizing the orthodontic landscape. Unlike traditional soldered appliances, 3D printed metals offer exceptional precision and fit, achieving an industry-leading 99% first-time fit rate.³

Traditional appliances often require separator appointments that cost approximately $250 each, or $50,000 per year in lost chair time for an average-sized practice.⁵ 3D printed appliances eliminate the need for separators, reducing this appointment all together.

The precision of 3D printed appliances translates directly into reduced remakes and chair time per visit. Reducing remake rates from 4% to just 1% — the average for 3D printed appliances — can save an additional $9,000 per year⁴, while eliminating unnecessary appointments and interruptions to patient flow.

Fewer remakes = less waste = more capacity.

Over time, these efficiencies allow practices to increase starts, improve profitability, and enhance the patient experience — all without increasing overhead.

Building Value Beyond the Appliance

True growth comes from rethinking what makes an appointment valuable. The cost of a bracket or appliance is fixed — but how you use your team, time, and technology determines your profitability.

A doctor’s time is the most limited and valuable asset in a practice. Every workflow that reduces the doctor’s time in the chair creates measurable value.

3D workflows do exactly that:

Reduce chair time during bonding appointments
Eliminate unnecessary separator appointments, chairside adjustments and remake visits
Digital workflows enable predictable outcomes and happier patients

Together, these technologies redefine the value proposition for your practice — from delivering orthodontic appliances to delivering a frictionless, efficient, and patient-centered experience.

The Result: More Starts, Happier Patients, Greater Profitability

When efficiency meets empowerment, growth follows. Practices implementing 3D indirect bonding and 3D printed metals report:

Increased patient start capacity without increasing staffing
Lower appointment costs and overhead
Fewer remake rates and better first time fit
Improved patient satisfaction and referrals

The result is a practice that grows not through discounts or volume, but through strategic value creation — offering better care, faster starts, and an experience that keeps patients talking.

Specialty Appliances: Your Partner in Practice Growth

At Specialty Appliances, we believe technology should work for your practice — not the other way around. Our digital solutions, including 3D Indirect Bonding and 3D printed metal appliances, are designed to streamline your workflow, empower your team, and elevate your results.

With the lowest remake rate in the industry and over 200,000 appliances fabricated annually, Specialty Appliances partners with DSOs and private practices alike to deliver consistency, innovation, and scalability.

Together, we can help your practice grow not just by doing more — but by doing better.

For more information, contact Courtney Shukitis at Courtney.shukitis@specialtyappliances.com.

1. Dental remake rate data: Spear Education, The Cost of Laboratory Remakes (2020)

2. Based on a 2-doctor practice with 8 chairs and an average of 400 starts per year

3. Specialty Appliances 3D printed metals internal data

4. Estimated annual savings for 3% reduction in remakes; cost per chair data from Dental Management Secrets

5. Separator appointment cost estimates based on $250/visit and 200 starts per year; Dental Management Secrets