Metal Mouth Message Board

from what i can gather with invisalign treatment it does not matter if you only need treatment of a couple of months its the same price if its a couple of years which is realy stupid, does anybody know if its the same for a fixed brace

If you do a google search or a yahoo-finance search about Align Technology (the company who makes invisalign ) you will see information that your orthodontist will NEVER tell you!

For example, with regard to costs ... there is the price YOU, the patient pay, and there is the price that your orthodontist pays to invisalign. Of course there is a "markup" just like if you buy a pair of jeans from a department store ... there is a wholesale price and a retail price.

Because of competition from OrthoClear, sometime in the past 8 months or so, invisalign lowered their cost to orthodontists. If I find the article again on the web I will post the link in a future message.

So as of 6-8 mos ago, the price went DOWN to your orthodontist? Did your ortho. offer you a discount? I am sure they did not! - but the net effect is that orthodontists would be MORE inclined to stick with Invisalign for their patients as they can offer the "premier" product at a higher mark-up, and keep more money for themselves.

In the past two weeks, invisalign offered another price incentive to dentists and orthodontists: They announced that until the ClinCheck is accepted, there is no cost to the doctor. So if you go for a consultation, and after reviewing the ClinCheck, you (the patient) decide to NOT do Invisalign, the doctor is NOT charged for the cost of the ClinCheck.

To read this article for yourself, go to www.yahoo.com, then click on the finance link, then enter the stock symbol for align technology: ALGN in the search box. You will see a number of stories come up and you can go back several months and read ALL about press releases from the company. You can also go to the company web-site and read press releases.

I will post the exact links in the next few days, just so you all can read them...

cheers,
Tracy in PA

Align Tech also presently offers THREE refinements at no additional cost ... to your orthodontist. So if your ortho asks YOU for more money, you should refer him/her to this article.

All this to say ... that Align Tech is fighting for its life from a business standpoint - their stock is down again, after a brief uptick this spring - and they desperately want their sales numbers up.

How do they get their sales up? they get dentists and orthodontists to prescribe their product. They natural next question is -- will they always recommend the best product for their patient if there are too many financial incentives to recommend Invisalign.

Hi Diehard,

I coped and pasted the except below from a news release from last November that explains why Invisalign charges one set fee for its series of Aligners (not including Invisalign Express) - it is a marketing tool of the company to persuade dental providers to use their product rather than the OrthoClear product. It doesn't make sense to us consumers unless we have read the below.

- Tracy in PA

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov 01, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- Align Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALGN), the inventor of Invisalign(R), a proprietary method of straightening teeth without wires and brackets, today announced a new pricing structure for the Invisalign product line. Effective November 1, Invisalign will be available to doctors at a new price of $1495. The new price applies to Full and Anterior cases for single or dual arch treatment. Invisalign Express pricing will remain at $750 per case.

Previously, Invisalign treatment was available at four price points. By moving to just one price point for Invisalign, Align is consolidating treatment options in two simple classifications: Invisalign Express, for minor crowding and spacing cases requiring ten stages of treatment or fewer; and Invisalign, for more complex cases requiring as many stages as necessary to achieve the doctor's treatment goals.

"Our goal is to make choosing the right Invisalign treatment option for patients as easy as possible for doctors," said Thomas M. Prescott, Align President and Chief Executive Officer. "This new structure strengthens the Invisalign value proposition for customers by applying simple pricing to our comprehensive products, services and support for minor to complex cases."

The new pricing structure for Invisalign products is available in the United States and Canada. It will automatically apply to all cases received with complete records starting November 1, 2005.