On August 11, SmileDirectClub (SDC) announced it had formed a strategic partnership with Smile Brands Inc., a dental service organization that operates 450 practices. This relationship marks the launch of the SmileDirectClub Partner Network, which allows dental offices to offer SDC aligners to their patients.
The landing page for the SmileDirectClub Partner Network lists some of the benefits of such a partnership, including that there is no cost to join and that a practice can “leverage SmileDirectClub’s brand and marketing.” It does not appear that a practice would receive any financial compensation for serving as a place for SDC customers to have their preliminary records taken. The aligners are sent directly to the customer’s home, so the practice’s relationship with the customer could end there.
The major benefit of the network seems to be that SDC would funnel its customers through a practice, which then has an opportunity to gain those people as patients for their other oral health needs. We can see why this would be of interest for a group practice or DSO seeking to increase patient volume.
The SmileDirectClub Partner Network launched in January of this year, so there is not much yet known about how any conflicts in the customer/patient dynamic might be solved. For example, if SDC refers a customer to a dental practice for records, is that customer automatically a patient of record for the practice? If the SDC customer has any clinical complications with treatment (which can happen with any orthodontic movement), will the dental practice be responsible for managing those complications?
Group practices and DSOs who currently offer aligner services to their patients have an interesting proposition to consider from SDC. With Smile Brands taking the lead, perhaps we can learn what a strategic partnership with SDC would look like. Equally as important, we will learn from the dental providers on the front lines how SDC customers can convert into patients.
SDC has billed itself as a “disruptive technology,” and few could argue with that. Clayton Christensen, who coined the phrase, wrote in his book, The Innovator’s Dilemma, “The strategies and plans that managers formulate for confronting disruptive technological change . . . should be plans for learning and discovery rather than plans for execution.” What will SDC and Smile Brands learn in the coming months?
We’ve started a private Facebook group for owners of multiple practices. Come join the discussion at facebook.com/groups/multipracticedentisthuddle.
Chris Salierno, DDS, is the chief editor of Dental Economics and the editorial director of the Principles of Practice Management and Group Practice and DSO Digest e-newsletters. He is also a contributing author for DentistryIQ and Perio-Implant Advisory. He lectures and writes about practice management and clinical dentistry. Additional content is available on his blog for dentists at thecuriousdentist.com. Dr. Salierno maintains a private general practice in Melville, New York. You may contact him by e-mail at [email protected].
