Many of you likely have noticed that we frequently tout that we have "board Certified Orthodontists". For those unfamiliar with the details of the orthodontic world you might think "yeah, so, aren't all orthodontists board certified"? The answer is no, not even close. Truth is, one does not even need orthodontic training to perform orthodontics (as unbelievable as that seems). Yup, folks that haven't even gone through what is typically 3 years of post-graduate training to be an orthodontist can, legally, put braces on your teeth. But even having gone through an accredited orthodontic program does not mean that you are board certified. Indeed, VERY FEW orthodontists actually go through the rigorous process of board certification. Why? Its simple-- its really, really hard. To become board certified a doctor must prepare and study for hundreds upon hundreds of additional hours well after they have completed their degree and are in practice. They must prepare detailed presentations of their cases that they then must present to the board in an all-day marathon session where they are reviewed and questioned with regard to their diagnosis, treatment plan, techniques and results. Its hard-- really hard. And not everyone passes. To pass you must convince the board that you are indeed at the top of our field, performing orthodontics at the highest levels possible. So now you understand why so few orthodontists want to go through the process. You may ask then, so why do we? It doesn't make us more money or allow us to do something other orthodontists can't do that don't go through the process. The answer is, simply, that we know that committing oneself to go through the process in the end helps make you a better doctor. It makes you evaluate different approaches and consider the latest research and knowledge available in our field. It makes you consider all of your experiences and how you can become better from them. And, of course, this is all better for you, our patients. It helps you know that our doctors are absolutely among the best in the business. It gives you the confidence in knowing you are getting the absolutely finest care available.So why do I bring this all up today? Well for the past few months our own doctor Patil has been preparing for his own board certification process. He has spent upwards of 300-500 hours preparing, oftentimes spending 18 hour days during weeks off we have given him to get ready. This Monday was the deadline for his submission (which he of course met). In a couple of weeks he will travel to present his cases in front of the board. We are supremely confident that he will pass with flying colors. It would be an understatement to say that we are so proud of him! Not only has he reported that it indeed is a great exercise (albeit painful-- but as they say-- no pain, no gain!) in making him a better practitioner, but as we work in a collaborative, group setting, his experience has helped in even further sharpening the skills of our other, already board certified orthodontists.So keep posted for the results of Dr. Patil's process and be prepared to give him a mighty congratulations once the process is complete (as we are extremely confident he will pass). It will be very well deserved!
So our own Dr. Baskin was asked to represent orthodontists in Washington, D.C. this week to help lobby legislators to help maintain the integrity of and further help promote excellence within our profession. She is on a flight this very moment for a quick 2-day visit to our nation's capital. As always, we are so proud of her! Hopefully, we'll get her to post an update once she returns.
We are getting very excited about our new signage which will be put up in the next few weeks (I know, sometimes it doesn't take that much to get us excited-- but you should see these signs!). The signs are beautiful! There are new signs for our Lakewood office which will be viewable as you drive down Wadsworth and a beautiful new sign that is scheduled to go up in Fort Collins in the next 2 weeks. Keep your eyes peeled-- over the next couple of months we plan on getting even more and better signage across all our offices.
OK, So we know most of you are thinking, "wait, elections are not until November". But you would be mistaken because the important voting is occurring right now. Colorado Parent Magazine is currently accepting votes for their "Family Favorites". If you are reading this, then you are obviously one of our favorite patients and as such, we'd love it you voted for us! To vote, simply click here , go to the bottom of the screen, click continue and follow the instructions. Note: you must vote in at least 20 categories for your vote to count (if you can't think of 20 answers that you like, at least put in something you know fits-- like Beaver Creek or Vail for ski lessons or Jump Street for a play place). Of course, for Orthodontist, we hope you will put "All About Braces"!As the politicians all say, "thank you for your support". We at All About Braces approve this message!
So its been a while since our last post. Lots going on here at All About Braces. We've been working on our newly revamped website which is now up and ready to go for the new year. It looks great! Definitely worth going to check it out! We've also been busy studying-- Dr. Patil was recently away, not to enjoy the holidays, but to prepare for his board presentations. Yup, for us to be the only practice in the state with all 5 of our doctors board certified and eligible, it takes a lot of work. But we know in the end our patients want to know that they are getting the absolutely best care from the best trained doctors possible and that our doctors are always staying up-to-date on the latest and best knowledge our field has to offer. Meanwhile, keep a look our for Dr. Mershon being quoted in an upcoming article on orthodontics by Colorado Parent Magazine.2012 looks to be an exciting and busy year for us. It will be our first as an official sponsor of a professional team as the Denver Outlaws begin their season this fall. Go Outlaws!! And with our growing practice, we are also looking to expand our staff across our offices to better serve our wonderful and growing patient base. Keep your eyes out for more exciting changes, news and contests as the year progresses.
So Othodontic Products just came out with their list of the top orthodontists of 2011. This is a list that is based on other orthodontic peer nominations (i.e., not one of these "pay us a fee and we'll say you won an awards" we've seen a lot of recently). There were about 160 doctors from around the world listed. Six were from Colorado AND THREE OF THE SIX WERE OUR DOCTORS! We are so proud! Coupled with the national awards Dr. Timock and Dr. Patil got last year and the Smiles Change Lives Award just given to Dr. Baskin, it seems more and morethe world is recognizing that we truly have something special going on here at All About Braces. Keep up the good work team!
I was up in our Fort Collins office a few days ago. Dr. Timock and Moriah are a well oiled machine up there! Patients came in happy and left happy. Our staff has a really great repore with their patients and the patients love them (as do we!). Even with the Rams having a tough year, the folks up there have one thing to cheer about-- the All About Braces office!
So Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. How special to have a day a year we can pretend to be a superhero or fairy princess! Once I started dental school it became a running joke- one of my more favorite holidays was a favorite for the cavity factor. Obviously there could be nothing further from the truth. I even limit the number of water bottles my kids consume rather than tap water due to the lack of flouride! As an orthodontist November 1st is now my least favorite day of the year and has been dubbed "ortho emergency day". I'm all for healthy snacks and treats, but like the Obamas realize there has to be some flexibility- it is Halloween after all! PLEASE take care tonight reviewing your "loot" Things like M and M's, Reeses, chocolate bars with out nuts are fine. Avoid carmels, sticky Starbursts, Now and Laters, Sugar Daddies etc. They pull "tricks" on your precious braces. Have fun, be safe, be careful about what you are eating and if you are a superhero or fairy princess make sure to leave the world a bit better for the rest of us!
This past week I was honored and humbled to be one of the blessed recipients of a Smiles Change Lives ( http://www.smileschangelives.org/ ) Gini award. It was presented to me by a true orthodontic mentor and last years recipient, Dr. Stephen Litton. To my delight my husband, Rabbi Eliot Baskin and I were also assigned a seat next to founder, Virginia Brown for dinner after the awards program. This woman has a passion for making the world a better place and was an orthodontic patient as a college student and as a parent when she could afford to complete her care. We heard from a young woman who is the recipient of care through this great organization and how braces changed her life. She shared how she cried when she saw her senior pictures and how she had gained so much confidence with the transformation of her smile! While the concept of giving back is not new this organization is unique in the industry for the hand up not hand out philosophy. As orthodontists we have many opportunities to help young and young at heart improve self esteem- and SCL and the participating orthodontists donated well over 1.2 million dollars of care in 2010 alone. So what is my message for all of you- follow your dreams and try to make the world a bit better than you found it along the way. I get the joy of making people smile every day- it is the best job ever!!Dr Hilary Nieberg Baskin.
We are very excited that later this week we are having Laura Mahony join us for a FREE outdoor family photo session. We love Laura- she is a remarkable photographer, whose style is playful, informal and active. As we see it, this is a great opportunity to get new individual, sibling, high school and/or family photos taken. Photo sessions will be held just outside of our Monaco Offices (2250 S. Monaco, just South of Evans) in 10-minute increments and Laura will take as many different groupings as time will allow. If you would like to reserve a slot on a first-come first-serve basis, please emailYvette@aabraces.com with the day and time. Also, please arrive a minimum of 5 minutes before your photo session is scheduled to begin. Below are the available time slots. To view Laura Mahony's work, visit www.lauramahonyphotography.com.
So in yiddish there is a word "khvelling"-- it means "beeming with pride". Usually used by parents and grandparents to describe how proud they are of children. Well we are khvelling over our own Dr. Baskin this week. Dr. B is being awarded a "gini" award this Friday from the organization Smiles Change Lives. Mrs. Virginia Brown, or “Gini” as her friends call her, is the founder of the national nonprofit organization Smiles Change Lives. Founded in Kansas City by Mrs. Brown and her son Thomas Brown, Smiles Change Lives (SCL) has helped more than 1,500 children receive affordable orthodontic treatment in partnership with caring orthodontists.
From Owen-- Got in early this AM thinking I'd be the first person in the office only to find my staff was already busy decorating the office for Halloween. It looks great! Its one of the reasons I love our team so much-- they definately know how to have fun and make an environment that our patients feel comfortable and happy in. Now we'll just have to wait to see the costumes that people end up coming inj with. I just heard from Dr. Mershon that Dr. Rejman is planning on coming in to the office as princess one day! Can't wait to see that! Guess our Aurora patients should be on the lookout (or start looking now to have a Oct. 31st appointment!).
So as we start our first real blog post, the first thing that comes to mind is just how hoping our offices have been these past few weeks. One big driver: Living Social. We ran Living Social promotions in both Fort Collins (over the summer) and Denver (in September). Got great responses. We LOVE Living Social- just wish they would not make us wait so long to run this again. We had a lot of people call and say they missed it and it will be a while until we can do it again. But WOW! what a response. We had hundreds of people buy the promotion. Most were adults looking to get Invisalign, or adult braces. For the adults, we also discussed ceramic brackets which for many provide just the right cost/benefit combination in meeting their desires for a less "visable" look. Found this slightly silly video (got to love the accent) which does a good job of showing these on someone's teeth. Needless to say, the promotion brought in a lot of new patients which has been keeping us busy.Will need to write about the next cool thing we are doing-- patient photos-- in the next post.
Ok, so we know, it's about time we entered into the modern age and started a blog for All About Braces. Sure, our website http://www.aabraces.com/ has a lot of info on the practice, but we realized it was a bit staler in that it lacked our voices and more frequent input. So here we are, our own blog. We'll do our best to keep it fresh and current. One way we will look to achieve that is that we will have many voices contributing including our doctors: Dr. Hilary Nieberg Baskin, Dr. David Mershon, Dr. Dan Rejman, Dr. Raj Patil, Dr. Adam Timock, our staff and our COO (me, Owen Nieberg). So, for those of you who may read our blog, we hope you find it informative, helpful and even at times entertaining. please give us feedback along the way.