A Silent Killer Crushing your Clear Aligner Starts w/ Dr. Robert Shafer

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How many Invisalign clear aligner starts are you losing without ever seeing a lead, a phone call, or a missed consult? We get honest about a “silent killer” for growth in an all-aligner orthodontic practice: the moment a general dentist or hygienist tells a patient they are not a clear aligner candidate, or automatically sends a “braces” request to the one provider known for brackets. That decision happens upstream, inside a relationship built on trust, and it can drain your schedule while your marketing looks perfectly fine.

We walk through why the braces vs Invisalign debate is often more about belief than biomechanics, and how conflicting second opinions create confusion that tanks case acceptance. We also hit the most important reframing: Invisalign and clear aligners are tools, not outcomes. When someone says “aligners can’t,” it’s frequently a signal that the provider isn’t comfortable executing that case with aligners, not that the case is impossible.

Then we get practical. We share why local outreach and in-practice study clubs work, how showing real cases changes referral behavior, and how remote monitoring and a better patient experience can become part of your message to GPs, pediatric dentists, and hygienists. If you want more starts, more trust, and fewer invisible losses, this conversation gives you a clear plan to start closing the referral gap.

Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a five-star review if it helps. What’s the most common myth you hear about aligners in your community?

Transcript

Early Morning Warm-Up

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Pretty early. You ready to go?

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 0:02

I don't know. I was telling Rob that I've never shot this early before. So we'll see how this one goes. That'd be fine.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

You ready to go?

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Yeah, I'm ready. You look like you got good sleep. I did pretty good. You're looking pretty good. I'm an early guy, though. You're an early guy. Yeah, I am too. But early shooting podcasts, I don't I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Get your get that brain work

The All-Aligner Referral Problem

SPEAKER_00 0:19

in there.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

We're gonna be talking today. It's it's kind of a unique barrier or roadblock that has happened to Robson. If you've listened to some of the podcasts we've been doing, we've been talking about remote monitoring efficiencies, creating a different type of patient experience, existing patient experience, even more importantly. Well, when he was going to this all-aligner, all invisalign practice, there's some there's some barriers that have that have crept up. And you want to talk to him about some of the unexpected that the GPs and some of the or the or it it's it kind of blows me away. It's been the orthos too, but but it has.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Yeah, I think one of the things that crept up that I wr I guess I wasn't planning on, you you think you have these referral relationships and and you do, but I found that if they don't believe that you can do cases with Invisalign just like you can with braces, then they start referring to the people who do braces. Yeah. If you're the Invisalign guy and they don't believe you can do it, now that referral goes to a braces, especially if uh if a one of their patients says I want braces, they don't even look past that. They just the referral card goes to the one that does braces.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Yeah, that there's so many hidden. I've talked to Invisalign about this for years. This is one of these one of these hidden data points that nobody can put their finger on. You know, you can just imagine patient goes into hygiene, expresses interest in ortho. Dentists, hygienists don't think that particular case can be done with aligners. They are not, and this has happened to them, they are not gonna say, yeah, here, go see, go see Rob Schaefer. They're gonna send him somewhere else. And that that's a loss. I mean, who the heck knows how many times that's happened? It could be hundreds of starts, you have no idea. A lot, a lot, a lot, yeah. And I I mean, one of the things we teach on here, and then all of you, is this infinite this infinite data point where it's the it's the ones you can't put your finger on, those are the biggest loss losses there there are. So you've got that, or like he just said, you've got the ones that express, you know, I want braces. And if he's an all-invisalign practice, they don't even give him the opportunity.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

And yeah, yeah, and he, you know, with them and also with patients, you know, the general population is uh parents. I did braces, so that's what my kids are gonna do. That's what works. And they think a misconception that uh invisalign is more, you know, costs more. It doesn't, you know, in our office. And so yeah, if they're not thinking uh liners, yeah, then then their minds going to someone who, you know, their friends who who who the orthodontist that does braces. And so it's all of that.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

And yeah. Well, yeah, it's I I pay attention to it because in in our area, there's a lot of little kids. So our neighbor across the street, our cousins back home, or I guess my brother-in-law's kids, whatever that makes them to me. What does that make them to me? Your brother, they're your your nephew, they're your nephews. Nephews, yeah, that's the word. I mean, it's early, I'm telling you. I'm trying to get warmed up. I guess so. Yeah. But every single kid, I mean, I could I could name 20. Every single one is embraces. Yeah. And and I think that that the all-invisalign approach and the fact that it can treat, and that's the part in the ortho world, like maybe I get it in the GP world, but even in orthodontics, and it creates this confusion of, I mean, you all can just imagine family goes into practice one, and they're like, Nope, you can't do this with Invisalign or Aligners, can't be done. They're

Confusion Kills Case Acceptance

SPEAKER_02 4:09

like, Well, they're they're already seeing multiple opinions because that's what people do. So they go into practice two. Maybe that's yours. You're like, oh yeah, we knocked this out with Invisalign all day long. And they're like, Well, what the hell? The other person said they can't do it. Now there's confusion, and confusion leads to no sale. That's in any industry. And this just creates the I want to think about it, but man, the the barriers for all of you out there, if you're trying to grow share to chair with with whatever type of aligner, you're gonna, and that's something we're doing now together, is this outreach and study clubs at your practice when I come in. I wish we would have done it a lot earlier. But the outreach has got to be is gotta be legit because you're gonna have the orthos and the GPs and the hygienists telling patients they're not a candidate for aligners when they absolutely are. You've proven it.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Yeah, and when we do those those seminars, they're blown away. They they and they admit they had no idea. And you know, I guess that's kind of my fault, not educating them along the way to but that that's a point. You kind of want to do that unless you're you're resolved to that's what you want to do, and that's what I was resolved that that's what I wanted to do, regardless. So that is what it is, but but yeah, they they they have no idea. And the hygienist, you know, they said if I would have known this six months ago, I would have brought my child to you. I remember and and not the one that's doing the braces. So it's all about the education, and it's amazing in this day and age that there's so much unbelief surrounding aligners and dental monitoring and all the above. The whole the whole thing. And the the other thing is is when you lose that opportunity, because even when we get second opinions and people they think they want the braces, but when you go over all the advantages, you know, time savings on their part and everything else, we highly convert them to liners. But if you don't have that chance, yeah, then then you lose that too.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

And yeah. Well, that's the piece. So many people trust their GP and what they say. So if the GP's sitting there saying this can't be done with the liners, then they're just gonna assume it can't be done with the liners.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Yeah, and refer to the person that does braces. That does braces. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

I mean, the the last, I think the one you were referring to, the last the last study club that we did at your practice as we shoot this, I think it was the last one, maybe it was the one before, but it was the last one where that hygienist said that. I I could see when you were showing the cases, the eyes in the room are like, holy crap. Yeah. And I just I wish, like if you're a GP listening out there, you know, and you come across a patient that you don't think Invisalign can do it, just tell them, hey, look, here's a couple options. Let let the ortho tell the patient whether or not it can be done with with Invisalign.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Yeah, and you know, it's or whatever aligner. It's it's not the Invisalign that does it. And that's the thing, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:20

It's the doctor.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Yeah, the Invisline is a tool. Yeah. Just like braces are are the tool. It's the visit it's the orthodontist that that controls or uses the tool correctly. Yeah. And so I so it's not that Invisalign can't do it, it's that the provider is not capable of using the tool correctly. Yeah. So so rest assured, almost all cases can be done with the liners if you have the right person utilizing the tool correctly.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

And that's I I

Education Through Study Clubs

SPEAKER_02 7:55

don't see it, but you know, some of the orthos are like, no, you can't do that with the liners. Some of the GPs, I I don't think they're thinking, well, I didn't get enough CE in those particular types of cases. Or maybe I don't know what I'm I don't think that that's not what cross, I think what crosses the mind is just can't be done. But you're so right. I mean, that that's why the investment's in you and not the tool.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Well, I think they're I think unfortunately they're getting a lot of that information from orthodontists who prefer to do braces and and and and or you know, and don't and say that Invisline can't can't be done with it. Yeah. And so that's where they're getting their information, I think. And so I guess shame on us.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Yeah, I mean, I guess mass education, that's all you can do. So we'll keep it up at your practice. But yeah, just the barrier we thought we would talk about today that I mean I I I think we thought about it, but I don't think we thought about it to the extreme it's become of what it's done locally.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Yeah, I was I was surprised. It's more than I thought, but uh again, for me, that's just the route I wanted to go, and I wasn't gonna let what they th thought anyway dictate what I wanted to do. Yeah. But the there is a potential fallout, if you will, in terms of new patients and and but I think if you can educate along the way and do a better job maybe than I did in that, then I think it it helps. I mean it's it's helping with what we're doing, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

And educating them and it's slow, but I think there's some there's some that'll never get I mean you could show every case on the planet, and it's the old belief perseverance where that they're gonna believe what they believe, and there's no fact there's no fact out there that's gonna get them. And that's for true for a lot of the orthodontists too, but it's whatever it is, there's nothing they're gonna change. But all you can do is educate. You know, for those of you out there that are new patient group clients now, I mean, this is something for our on-site visits that I want to do more and more of is these these study clubs, the the Pedos, the GPs, whoever, just to keep the education up. So, you know, keep that in mind. But for those of you out there who aren't, you need to make sure that you're having these study clubs at your practice. Show them around, show them the tech you're using, and then educate them on why you're the expert in the aligners. Because you make a good point. I mean, we talk about it, but it's easily lost is the investment's in you. It's not in the tool, which the team needs to be selling actively is a reason to buy from you to begin with. But yeah, we thought we'd just put one together on these barriers that again, they're they're silent killers because you don't know how many every day in your community. And this is we'll end on this. I've told Invisalign this for years. Imagine how many patients every day across the country, world for that matter, but c across the country are being told you're not an Invisalign candidate, how many thousands of times a day that that happens across the country? And because you can't put your finger on it, nobody focuses on it. But if there was mass outreach just from an Invisalign growth standpoint as a company, how much that would help them grow?

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Yeah, not only that, but how many patients aren't being treated who need to be treated, but you know, adults in particular, yeah, when they're told Invisalign or aligners can't do this. Yeah. And therefore, you know, braces are the only option, but they don't want braces. Yeah. So now they're going untreated, and you know, all the sequality that can happen from that.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

Infinite data. Can't put your can't put your finger on it. And those are the those are the killers. But man, it's hard to

Invisible Losses And Closing

SPEAKER_02 11:38

convince people of that. All right, everybody. Hope you enjoyed it. It was good, right? Yeah, not bad for early morning, early morning shoot.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

I think it's fine.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

Yeah, nobody threw anything at us.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

I think you're it's working. It came around. Yeah, it came it came around.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

I couldn't think of nephew.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

No, and I blame that on and I don't yeah, you couldn't think of nephew, and I don't really think you introduced us at the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Oh, yeah, we didn't. We just went right in. We went right in. Is it too late? I'm Brian. I'm Dr. Schaefer. You said you said I did.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

Yeah, look at you. Look at that. If you've been listening for a while, you under you understand why I got excited at that. But uh cool, everybody. If you're watching on YouTube, hey there, make sure to thumb this up, share with with friends, colleagues, whoever wants to get better personally and professionally. Make some comments for us. And audio experience listeners, make sure to write us a five star review and spread the word about the Brian Wright show. We'll see everybody soon. Bye bye. Bye bye.