DynaFlex and iTero set out to lead the digital revolution

So he made the decision to make DynaFlex the first major lab to “go digital,” and the company hasn’t looked back since.

In retrospect, it’s somewhat surprising that no other major orthodontic laboratory had established a beachhead in the digital space. Most likely, it was a price-driven decision, as moving into the digital space was not cheap and required a significant capital investment.

DynaFlex started small, taking stone models into the lab and scanning them. But the real prime mover was when it made a strategic decision to partner with Cadent, developers of the iTero intra-oral imaging device, one of the leading brands within the digital orthodontic scanning space.

At the time, Cadent was developing its orthodontic scanning application. iTero has always been an open system, and expanding into the orthodontic space with intra-oral scanning was a natural extension of Cadent’s strong OrthoCAD product offering.

Working with a few pioneering practices in nearby St. Louis, DynaFlex started creating appliances from the digital scans provided by Cadent. Instantly, the participating practices could see a level of accuracy that was simply unheard of when working with alginate impressions.

As fate would have it, Align Technologies (makers of Invisalign) also recognized the potential of iTero intra-oral imaging technology and acquired the company in 2011.

At this point, DynaFlex took the initiative and started reaching out to practices that owned iTero scanners but were only using them for Invisalign cases. The company suggested the practices not only use their scanner for Invisalign cases but also for any time an impression was required.

Orthodontists are tinkerers by nature, and those who were already using an iTero instantly saw the logic in the DynaFlex suggestions.

It didn’t take long before DynaFlex was handling hundreds of scans each month.

DynaFlex was founded in 1965 and has grown to be among the largest orthodontic labs in the country by taking care of its customers. Working with the iTero scanner has been a natural fit, and it gave them another way to differentiate itself from other labs while providing exceptional customer service.

So why does accuracy matter so much when it comes to appliances? After all, the $35 cost of the retention appliance isn’t cheap, but it’s not a lot to a thriving practice. Is it worth the potential investment in a digital system such as the iTero?

In a word, yes. First off, the actual cost of the appliance is but the beginning. The real cost manifests itself when you consider the value of the clinician’s time.

While estimates vary, AAO studies suggest it costs the practice $80 just to bring a patient in the front door and have him or her sit down. That’s before any of the additional labor and material costs.

Digital scanning literally eliminates the most common reason that a second impression is needed.

Gary Johnson, executive vice president of DynaFlex, says the hyper-realistic impression that practices can get from digital impressions has impacted all aspects of the company’s appliance fabrication business.

“I can’t recall the last time I had to remake a Hawley appliance based on a fit issue,” Johnson said. “We’ve been doing this for several years now.

“We have a full-time dedicated person who answers digital questions. I have five, stereo-lithography technicians and three printers. I have a fully equipped digital lab,” he said. “With the iTero, there’s no such thing as a bad impression. Once you learn to scan with it, every impression you take is going to be perfect.”

One of the real benefits of using digital files is speed. Some of the new technology DynaFlex is utilizing eliminates post-treatment relapse all together.

It does so by letting the clinician scan the patient with the brackets still on, typically at his or her final appointment when it’s getting time to de-bond. The digital technicians at DynaFlex can then electronically remove the brackets, fabricate the retention appliance and ship it to the orthodontist’s office while the patient is still being treated.

“This enables the orthodontist to remove the braces and put the patient in a Hawley or other retainer that very same day,” Johnson said. “That means there’s never a chance for any relapse. This is 100 percent the future. I would not want to be an alginate supplier today. It’s going away. It’s not a case of if but a case of when.”

(Source: Align Technologies)