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Good Neighbor Podcast North Atlanta
Bringing Together Local Businesses & Neighbors of North Atlanta
Good Neighbor Podcast North Atlanta
EP #117: Kaplan Orthodontics - Choosing The Right Orthodontist with Dr. Jason Kaplan
Discover how to navigate the complex world of orthodontic care with expert insights from Dr. Jason Kaplan of Kaplan Orthodontics! If you're reevaluating your flexible savings accounts and insurance plans this November, you won't want to miss this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast North Atlanta. Dr. Kaplan sheds light on critical distinctions among the available orthodontic options: do-it-yourself solutions, services from general and pediatric dentists, and specialized orthodontic care. Whether you're a parent planning for your children's braces or an adult considering your own options, you'll gain practical knowledge on making the best choice for a straighter smile. Dr. Kaplan explains why orthodontic planning is essential this time of year and shares advice on avoiding common pitfalls. Don't miss this engaging conversation that promises to offer clarity and confidence in your orthodontic journey.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, North Atlanta, where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Stacey Risley. Hello friends and neighbors, Welcome to North Atlanta's Good Neighbor Podcast. Today we are here back with Dr Jason Kaplan with Kaplan Orthodontics here in Dunwoody. He's one of my favorite podcast guests to have on and one of my first sponsors when I first launched Dunwoody Neighbors Magazine, and so happy to have Dr Kaplan back with us today. So welcome back, Dr Kaplan.
Speaker 2:Thank you, stacey. I got to tell you it's amazing what you have done over this very short period of time that your podcast has been around, your magazine has been around. I mean it has really become a staple in the community to be able to get to know families and to see really what's going on, kind of tap into some of the expert thoughts from the local folks.
Speaker 1:So I'm really grateful to be able. Expert panel I think you are probably one of our most consistent experts as far as you know just consistently submitting articles to share your expertise and coming back on the podcast to discuss. So I really appreciate your involvement in getting this valuable information to the community that you serve. So very reciprocal relationship here Like that a lot.
Speaker 1:Well, in today's article I love it's nice, and I say today it's actually in the current November issue of Dunwoody Neighbors, so it is today's article. But the article we're discussing today is pretty simple in the sense of your. It's about choosing the right orthodontic care and you know there's some things I'm sure that you want to advise. You know parents, adults alike, you know some pitfalls to avoid perhaps. So, really, this, this will just be you sharing with with our listeners today. You know what are some of the things they need to think about, because not all of our listeners do live in Dunwoody right, so they might be hearing this and live in a totally different part of Atlanta and take this information to find out who their orthodontist is going to be. So what do our listeners need to keep in mind?
Speaker 2:Well, let me first start out by saying why I selected this topic for the month of November. Right around this time, people are starting to look at their flexible savings accounts, they're starting to look at getting insurance and they're trying to figure out how to be able to budget for an expense like orthodontics. And it's one of those things that you're going to buy a car, you're going to get married, you're going to send your kids to school and likely they're going to have braces. These are kind of staple things that happen in somebody's life, especially if you're going to have children and you know trying to plan for it is really important. So around this time of year, we get a lot of phone calls asking for exams, for folks to come in and see what is it that they're going to need, and so, as they're doing that, they're looking at their options online Like how do I get my teeth straight and is it going to take a long time and what are the type of options that are going to be available?
Speaker 2:And I've spoken before of different types of braces and different types of orthodontic materials or appliances to be able to get straight teeth, but I really want to break this down into three separate buckets. So, online, what you will find if you do a search for orthodontics you will find some do-it-yourself providers, you will find general dentists and pediatric dentists who offer orthodontic services, as well as, of course, orthodontists, and those are three very different types of experiences and I'll jump into each one individually and then we'll go through. You know what are the advantages of each?
Speaker 2:Well, do-it-yourself orthodontics is exactly as it says, you make a mold of your own teeth or you find a provider that will do a three-dimensional scan of your teeth, thus get sent away. There is some dental provider maybe an orthodontist, maybe a general dentist, maybe even a technician who worked for an aligner company and they try to build a treatment plan based on what your goals are in order to straighten your teeth, but then that's kind of the end of it. There's no, there's no one following you around. So it really is do it yourself, because even though you're given a little guidance in the beginning, it is really up to you to figure out when you know, as are things progressing, the way that they're supposed to.
Speaker 2:General dentists, cosmetic dentists, pediatric dentists have tons of education when it comes to all things dental. As a as someone who is an orthodontistist, you have to go through dental school first, and so basic procedures, root canal therapy, extractions, periodontal problems all those things orthodontists have been trained in when they were going through dental school, and, and with that, dentists are also introduced to orthodontics. So there are general dentists in the community who will take continuing education courses to be able to move teeth, to help them better their relationships with their patients, because they can offer more services to them, which I think is really admirable, you know, being able to have additional skill sets so that you're able to take care of your patients, so that you're able to take care of your patients. Maybe you've got someone who has lost a tooth and another tooth has kind of collapsed into that area and you want to straighten up those teeth so you have a place to be able to put an implant. Or there's just some other minor tooth movement.
Speaker 2:A tooth sticks out a little too far and you want to nudge it back and that's something that can be done very simply in a general dental office and it's really nice to have those providers in the community and Invisalign and aligner companies like Invisalign have made it very feasible for folks to be able to do that through their general practitioner.
Speaker 2:And then it comes to the orthodontist, and the orthodontist is someone who's had two to three years of additional training beyond dental school more than just weekend courses or maybe even a shorter six-month course, but something where we have really been through the trials and tribulations of how does the oral facial complex develop, when are the right times for the teeth to be able to come in, how do we guide jaws and teeth into the right spot so that we're creating the best possible smile and the best long-term outcome, so that the malocclusion or the bad bite is something of the past and the smile is something that they share every single day. So when we look at do-it-yourself orthodontics, as I said before, you run into the problem of what happens if there's a problem and just the other day the second company has now gone out of business of making big promises to folks about we can do this for very little money and that's the big draw. Right, If I can do it for less if I can have a brand, if I can have a substitute brand.
Speaker 2:That's not exactly what I could get if I went with a name brand, then maybe I can save a little money and get what I want. But what you're missing out on is there's not somebody following that case, and so there are reactions for every reaction. So if I'm trying to move a tooth, I have to set up the system in a way where either another tooth moves to help that tooth or another tooth stays in place in order to help that tooth move, and that's not what you're getting when you follow a program like do-it-yourself orthodontics. I could see if there was a couple teeth that needed to be straightened, but it becomes a slippery slope when you're trying to do very complex things.
Speaker 1:I was going to say that is not an area that I personally would feel comfortable doing. A do it yourself and fix it. You know, like that's not like getting generic cereal at the grocery store and hoping that it tastes almost the same. Your smile is something you're presenting, you know. Know, like that's the first thing people see really when they meet you.
Speaker 2:Hopefully, if you're, if you're a smiley, happy person, I mean, I don't know how I would feel about those do-it-yourself orthodontics yeah, and in the world of meetings, right when, after we got through covid and the, the zoom experience became so important the podcast became so important that people were looking at their teeth now all the time. They didn't have to wear masks when they were talking to their colleagues from around the world, and when you're only looking at your face on a small square, your smile really stands out, and so people were noticing that, and so they were looking for solutions to make it better, and they were trying to do it as inexpensively as possible. You know, we people want it fast, they want it cheap and they want it good, but you really can't have all three of those. Something is going to have to give, and when you look at the do it yourself, you may have it cheap, but it may be fast or it may be good, you're just not sure. But it can't be all three of those.
Speaker 2:So I would caution people before they go out and spend $1,000 or $2,000 or $2,500 on an online service to really take the opportunity to talk with you, at least their dentist for sure have a consultation with an orthodontist about what types of things need to be done to make sure that everything is safe. I mean, do it yourself, orthodontics. You don't take a look at any x-rays and there are bones that hold the teeth in place. There's gum tissue that is attached to those bones that surrounds the roots of those teeth.
Speaker 2:So if you're moving, teeth around and you find that all of a sudden you've got a lot of recession, the gum tissues retreating. You're in trouble, right, because no one's following that to take care of you. So, general dentists as I mentioned before, I've seen some amazing work by by local general dentists when it comes to orthodontics. It's it's quite impressive. Um, the main difference between the general dentist and the orthodontist is the additional uh skill set, the additional time that we have being trained, and it's it's what we do all day long.
Speaker 2:If you want to have your heart looked at, you can start with your general practitioner. They'll take a look at your heart and see what's going on, if you're having some sort of arrhythmia or palpitation, but in general, you'll go see the specialist. You'll go see the cardiologist to be able to take care of you, because they've got that additional training plus the years of experience of dealing specifically with that. So, day in and day out, what happens in my practice and in orthodontic practices is we're just dealing with correcting misaligned teeth. We're making sure that the upper and the lower jaws are in the right spot and we're monitoring our patients to make sure that they're safe. It's not something that's done where you're seeing 50 patients a year, or 30 or 40 patients a year I mean we're seeing, fortunately, hundreds of patients a year to be able to build that experience and to curate an experience for those patients that takes them from A to B in a successful amount of time those patients that takes them from A to B in a successful amount of time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think there's at least some misconception out there that Invisalign is kind of do-it-yourself, and that's not really the case, is it? Invisalign is monitored by you. I know that you're the number one Invisalign provider in Dunwoody Congratulations.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you, it's true. There is that concept. Invisalign brought to the market a tremendous amount of opportunity for adults. They saw wow, I've got these crooked teeth. And Invisalign's been around over 25 years, so they've got 10 million cases that are out there in the world. And that's a lot of data, a lot of data points for that company. But they marketed it quite well and it brought a lot of people into the orthodontic office.
Speaker 2:But it's not. You just submit a scan to Invisalign and magically everything happens. I mean, we have entire conferences, dedicated books about. I mean, how do we straighten teeth with clear aligners? It's a very different process than using braces. There are orthodontists who can't stand aligners and there are orthodontists who only use aligners. So there's a broad spectrum out there of what's best for the person. But remember, this is just like a diet Not everybody can eat the same thing and have the same amount of energy. You have to find the right medicine, the right tool in order to be able to get the job done. But I think you bring up a great point that there is that illusion that Invisalign can just do it behind the orthodontist who is creating that treatment plan and then ordering the aligners and monitoring that patient to make sure that the tissues that support the teeth, as well as the teeth themselves, are all healthy during the process.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I mean, even if it is a less expensive model, like you said, you can't do all three. You're not going to be able to do cheap, fast and good and good. There you go. Going to be able to do cheap, fast and good and good. There you go.
Speaker 2:Wait, you can do cheap and fast. I'm going to argue this Right, but it's typically not going to be good. Not going to be good, yeah.
Speaker 1:That was the third one. That was definitely the kicker in that one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember I had a painter come to the house one time and we had that discussion. Like I need this done very quickly and he goes I can do it fast, but it's not going to be great.
Speaker 1:Right, and so you think about that and let me reflect on that. Yeah, yeah, like I want it done.
Speaker 2:I want it done right. It needs to take the time in order for it to be right.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Well, dr Kaplan. As always, it has been an absolute pleasure having you on. I appreciate you sharing your expertise with me and with our listeners and our readers and beyond in Atlanta. So thank you so much for being on again.
Speaker 2:You're welcome. It is always a pleasure to be able to share these thoughts, because I know that there are listeners out there who are it's bouncing around in their head what should they do with their teeth? You know they want to have that smile and hopefully some of this information gets them to a place where they can have that smile that they've always dreamed of.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and if it's in Dunwoody, come see Dr Kaplan at Kaplan Orthodontics. You'll see why he's my favorite. All right, well, that's all for today's episode, atlanta. I'm Stacey Risley with the Good Neighbor Podcast. Thanks for listening and for supporting the local businesses and nonprofits of our great community.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast North Atlanta. To nominate your favorite local businesses, visit gnpnorthatlantacom. That's gnpnorthatlantacom.
