Greenwood Village, Colo.-based ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers has set a goal for itself of transforming 1 million lives by 2030 with its treatment.
ClearChoice, which has offices in 35 states, has provided care to more than 200,000 patients since 2005. Now, the company plans to continue its innovative care to continue advancing oral health. It also recently introduced a lifetime warranty on full-arch zirconia prostheses as part of that mission.
Theresa Wang, DDS, the chief clinical and development officer at ClearChoice, recently spoke with Becker’s to discuss the company’s history of innovation and its goals for the future.
Editor’s note: These responses were lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: What are the biggest ways ClearChoice has innovated dental implant services in the industry so far?
Dr. Theresa Wang: ClearChoice was founded 20 years ago and was the first to create access to specialized care for those suffering from ailing and failing dentition. ClearChoice was the one that pioneered the delivery model for immediate implant placement and immediate load of fixed, full arch implant treatment. Putting that treatment and access to care on the map is really what ClearChoice’s claim to fame is, and it laid a foundation for a lot to be built upon in our industry. Today, ClearChoice continues to be a partner to vendors and innovators in our space. Often, we’re the first to pilot and test new technologies, products and workflows, and several products and technologies that have been developed in partnership between ClearChoice and vendors have benefited the industry as a whole.
Q: What can you tell me about ClearChoice’s goal of transforming 1 million lives by 2030? How does the company plan to achieve this?
TW: Over the last 20 years, we’ve treated over 200,000 patients with transformative dentistry, and we know how life changing this procedure is, but there are still approximately 30 million people who are missing all of their teeth. We also know there are more than 120 million people missing some of their teeth. Even more concerning is that almost 50% of adults in the U.S. have some form of periodontal disease, which is the leading cause of tooth loss. These numbers are pretty staggering, and that’s really what’s driving our decision to go after this goal. It’s really founded in helping as many people as possible address their health and transform their lives.
We’re constantly looking at new ways to reach more patients, whether it’s through being able to have marketing reach them in a more effective way or in a way that they want to see us. The reality here is it’s something that is constantly being done versus [us setting] this new goal and we’re now going to pivot … We are offering a way for patients to understand the difference between good information, bad information, and to really play a role in them being able to make that confident decision in doing something for themselves to make that change and invest in their own health. One of the things we want to do is differentiate by standing behind something, knowing that patients need the confidence that they’re going to be working with someone that stands behind their work. We’ve launched a lifetime zirconia warranty to stand behind our work, to showcase that confidence. That way, if there is any unforeseen issue with their zirconia teeth, like a crack or a break, we’re able to commit to replacing those teeth and being there for them every step of the way.
Q: How is ClearChoice adapting to the evolving needs of patients today?
TW: ClearChoice is always continuing to investigate research and evaluate the latest development in technology, materials and in manufacturing to ensure we are fully informed in our process [and] delivery model. We want to pick what really, truly benefits our patients, versus only benefiting the business. So, just as it’s important to ensure that we’re upholding our standard of care to patients, we’re upholding our standards through investigating new technology and innovations and ensuring that we’re getting those things before we put those into action through our delivery model.
Q: How do you see the dental implant market evolving over the next few years?
TW: There’s going to be tremendous enhancement through [artificial intelligence] in diagnostics and treatment planning. I love the fact that this facilitates better communication with patients, meaning likely translating to better treatment acceptance and understanding between provider and patient. The second thing is, materials and manufacturing have evolved at such a rapid pace over just the last three to five years, and it’s only going to continue. I think that is going to enhance access to various treatment options for our patients as well as providers, and will also help optimize efficiencies for our practices. Finally, I do think we see some trends in the commercial side of dentistry promoting speed to finishing treatment, and this may benefit the providers more than patients, so we want to combat that with our treatment delivery approach, and we want to ensure patients are fully informed to make the best decisions for the long term, so being there years to come after their treatment has been delivered will be really important to the dental implant Industry.
