Invisalign II

Hi all,

I have been pretty busy lately. Summer is here. TV shows are no longer new (I guess that is why John and Kate plus 8 did better than all the networks on Monday night).
We are swimming everyday. It has been in the high 90's for a couple of weeks now. Our pool water temp is in the mid 80's. It is too warm. So when you jump in the pool to get refreshed you don't refresh.

So without the fresh TV shows we are in full movie mode.
I took my wife out on Monday night to see Pelam 123. It was pretty good. Not awesome but pretty good.
And the Netflix movies keep coming.
I just finished watching The Boy in the Striped Pajama's. Has anyone seen this one? It is a film about a family. The father is a higher up in the Third Reich. He is moved to the country side to "do work" for the war. Turns out he is in charge of a concentration camp. His kid is 8 and doesn't understand what is going on. He thinks the buildings he sees in the distance is a farm.
He wonders over there (even though his mother tells him not to) and meets another kid through the barbed wire.
Not knowing the evils going on around them they start a friendship. I won't tell you the rest.
I have The Curious Case of Benjamin Button sitting at home, I will let you know.

I started Same Kind of Different as Me and I am on page 20 so I can't comment on it.
I have about 5 books on my queue at home. My assistant says I HAVE to read Running with Scissors. And there are a couple of others so....I might get to all of them this summer.

Topic de jour.
I don't know if you have felt it but...the Invisalign thing is going to be huge.
I think we broke the story on this blog (I just love saying that even though it is probably not that true).
The AGD just sent out a stand to all its members and this is when I think this is when I appreciate being an AGD member the most. When companies think they are bigger than the dentists and the patients they are treating .
I can tell you my dad does not cuss.
My dad is the Invisalign guy at our office and last week we were sitting in our office doing work and I hear him say, "This is bullsh@#$%t ." I said, "what is the matter?"
He says I just got this letter from Invisalign.....so he wasn't happy. And things usually don't ruffle his feathers.


It is getting mighty steamy here in the south. The grass is growing an inch a day. This is the first time in my life I have hired a yard man and it was so nice to see the grass mowed and weeds pulled coming home from a long weekend out of town with 100% humidity and 98 F weather. That made it worth every penny.

Well thanks for the comments, like myself I have found there are several of us out there with similar feelings about Invisalign and their policies.

I was at the Florida National Dental Convention this past weekend, and sure enough so was Invisalign peddling their system. I wonder if they are telling the dentists taking Clear Essentials I that there is a yearly requirement? According to one of the dentists I know they are not. He singed up for the class at FNDC and when he found out that he was going to have case requirements he was well lets say…… upset! He called FNDC and informed that he would like to cancel his Invisalign registration and would like a refund. At first the meeting representative hesitated but then after the dentist explained to her why he was canceling she assured him he would receive a refund. I have not met one person that has seen this as a good move on Invisalign’s part.

I am finally seeing first hand why it is important to belong and support organized dentistry. The ADA has informed me that they are looking into the issue but the AGD has been the most active so far. With over 35,000 dentists members hopefully they can get the message across to Invisalign. If you have not seen or heard the Academy of General Dentistry has sent out a point paper and contacted the CEO of Invisalign for clarification on the policy. From what I have read Invisalign has not done anything yet but give out the same flimsy excuses to hide their true reasoning.

I encourage everyone to contact Invisalign to express your displeasure. It seems like all the field reps have their “talking points” and are like good little soldiers barking out the company line. The AGD email to express your concerns is Advocacy@agd.org . The ADG web site to contact the Invisalign CEO http://capwiz.com/agd/utr/2/?a=13563786&i=93073464&c=

Well if you are a fan of the Matrix Series movies you will understand this. Finally I have possibly found “The ONE”, Neo, which will help us topple the Matrix. I ran into another up and coming company called Clear Correct. They have a very nice web site that gives some basics of the system. I called and got some more detailed information and it sounds like a promising competitor to Invisalign. They are about two years old and are currently focusing on the west coast but will be moving east this winter.

One of the first things I thought about was “ok how long till Invisalign shuts them down with a law suite”. Well I called and spoke to a Clear Correct company rep, Arron (based in Houston) and he informed me they have already had a legal patent judgment in favor of Clear Correct over Invisalign proving there are no patent infringements. He stated that they knew that is how Invisaglin would try to shut them down and they took a preemptive legal strike” against Invisalign. Not to go into details but the systems seem similar top Invisalign with some additional advantages but the cost is about $600.00 dollars a case less than Ivisalign and no yearly requirements. Finally, an alternative to Invisalign and we can get “Big Brother” off of our back. This is not an official endorsement just FYI so go to the website and check it out for yourself. I would like to hear any feed back on what others think.

I definitely feel if we stick together and let these companies know that we will not tolerate their decisions that direct our care we can change attitudes and mindsets.

Have a great summer. Football season is just around the corner.

I promise I didn't tell him to say this last statement.
Have a great Wednesday,
If you have an opinion don't forget to comment.
john