Invisalign Happy Hour!

Check out this exciting event we have coming in November:

Thursday, November 8th 5-7 PM

At our Monaco & Evans location

Adults Only! Wine, Drinks &

Appetizers Will Be Served

2250 S. Monaco Pkwy 303-476-6233

For New Patients:

• Free Consultation

• Dollar for dollar down payment match up to $750!

• Free teeth whitening at end of treatment ($300 value!)

• No interest 􀏐inancing over the length of treatment

• Absolutely no obligation!

For Existing Patients:

• Free teeth whitening at end of treatment ($300 value!)

just for attending

• $200 referral bonus for every new patient you bring that

starts treatment – bring your friends and co-workers!

Space is limited-- only 16 spots for new patients are

available so call to reserve your spot today!

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!!!

Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, one thing we can all agree on is how awesome it is to have a free democratic government where we get a chance to choose our leaders.  As we see it, there is nothing more American and is an act of great patriotism.  To that end, and in an effort to continue to serve both our patients and our communities we are proud to announce that we are teaming up with the League of Women Voters to offer voter registration in our offices over the coming week.  Specifically we will have registration tables set up as follows:

AURORA
FRIDAY, 9/28 10AM-1PM
WEDNESDAY, 10/3 10AM-1PM

DENVER
THURSDAY, 10/4 10AM-1PM

Time is running out.  The last date to register to vote is 10/9.  If you come, or tell someone to come, you should know that an acceptable form of ID must be brought.  What are these you ask?  Glad you did:

Acceptable Identification Forms

• Valid Colorado driver’s license
• Valid picture identification card
• Valid U.S. passport
• Valid U.S. military card
• Copy of current utility bill or paycheck or government check showing address
• FAA photo pilot’s license
• Certified documentation of naturalization
• Valid Medicare or Medicaid card
• Certified copy of birth certificate
• Valid student ID card with photo

So tell everyone you know who may not be registered to stop by on one of these days and get signed up.  We hope to see many of you there!

Now You Don't See Them, and Now you Still Don't

Funny how things snowball.  Until about 2 years ago, while Dr. Baskin had treated dozens of Invisalign patients in the past, as a practice taken as a whole we had only lightly dabbled in Invisalign. However, once Dr. B (as we affectionately call her) got our other docs excited about treating eligable cases with Invisalign we started seeing more and more Invisalign cases.  Well now for this past year we have seen so many cases that we have become Invisalign Preferred providers as designated by Align tech, the makers of Invisalign.

Why is Invisalign becoming so popular?  Well it's a pretty cool technology. You see with Invisalign, the aligners are both invisible and removable.  Because you can take the aligners out, Invisalign lets you can eat and drink what you want while in treatment. Since Invisalign is virtually invisible, chances are no one will even notice anything is different, until your new smile is revealed, of course. Invisalign also makes your brushing and flossing during treatment much easier than with traditional braces.

How does it work?  The Invisalign System combines advanced 3-D computer graphics technology with 100-year-old science of orthodontics. Invisalign aligners are designed to move your teeth in small steps to the desired final position prescribed by your orthodontist. Each aligner is precisely calibrated and manufactured to fit your mouth at each stage of the treatment plan.

Your first step is to visit our office to determine if Invisalign is right for you. After sending precise treatment instructions, Invisalign uses advanced computer technology to translate these instructions in a sequence of finely calibrated aligners — as few as 12 or as many as 48.

Each aligner is worn for about two weeks and only taken out to eat, brush and floss. As you replace each aligner with the next, your teeth will begin to move gradually — week-by-week until the final alignment prescribed is attained. Then you'll be smiling like you never have before!

Flying with Eagles!

Did we mention how much fun we had at our health and wellness fair?-- especially having Toothy hamming it up with the Rapids mascot Edson.  Couldn't resist posting this picture!

Let the Debates Begin!

So While Romney and Obama prepare to come to Denver to debate about health care and women's rights, we have other important (OK, maybe less important, but fun!) issues to discuss.  Namely:

what is the best color combination for rubber bands? Let the debate begin .......  Go to our Facebook page and let us know your thoughts.

 

Also, speaking of colors for your braces (and yes, we do have an app on our website that let's you see what colors would look like.  Its here and its really cool-- try it!), for all you BRONCOS fans out there-- the first regular season game is only 2 weeks away-- time to consider navy and orange for you next appointment?

Paying for Braces-- TAX FREE!

While we know that at All About Braces we offer an exceptional value to our patients (thus our tagline "Affordable Fees, Priceless Smiles), and are often one of the lowest cost providers in the marketplace, there is no alluding the fact that even with really low fees, for many families the cost of braces can be expensive.  We try everything we can to make it as easy to budget and afford as we can by offering things like zero percent financing and flexible payment options.  There is, however, another way that you can save yourselves a bundle on your braces.  That is by using a Health Savings Account (HSA-- or sometime called an FSA depending on the plan).  A health savings account is the perfect tool to help budget for orthodontia. With an HSA (which is usually offered by your employer) contributions can be withheld directly from a paycheck, and all contributions are removed PRE-TAX.  What that means to you is that you do not have to pay income tax on any of the money you spend from the HSA.  So, for example, if you pay $1,500 next year to your orthodontist (which we hope, of course, is us 8-)) out of your HSA and you normally pay 33% in income taxes, you would SAVE $500 in taxes by using the HSA.  I mention this in my post now because typically you CAN NOT sign up for an HSA anytime you wish, but rather, in most cases, once a year when your company has you choose your beenfit plans for the upcomming year.  For most companies, that happens in the Fall of every year, so the time to think about this and start planning for it IS NOW.  The even better news is that if you are just planning on starting braces now, you likely can use the tax advantages from an HSA to help you save in BOTH 2013 AND 2014.  We can make payment arrangements that will allow you to maximize this benefit.  Hoping this little bit of advice will help many of you save a bunch of money!

The Secret's Out

Pssst ... it's a secret, don't tell anybody.  Ok, actually go ahead and tell everyone (that is, after all, the whole idea!).  Some of you may have seen on Channel 9 yesterday that we are running a Deal Chicken deal (we know, the name is rediculous, but the savings are awesome!). It runs through the rest of this week, then its gone, gone, gone. The deal is, pay $49 for $1,000 coupon towards Invisalign or comprehensive braces and free exam, x-rays and photos (a $300 value).  While most of you who may read this are existing patients, and the deal is for new patients only, think how grateful your family and friends will be when you tell them about the deal and how they can use it toward treatment at the best orthodontist in the world (OK, we're a LITTLE bias)!  Here's the link for the deal: https://www.dealchicken.com/buynow/16380. So go ahead, let the secret out, bank yourself a favor, make people happy-- tell the folks you know about the deal (or even buy one for them as a gift!).  This is a secret worth not keeping!

We're the Talk of the Town!

We know, it's a figure of speach, but we mean it literally.  We recently received the highest, 5-star rating for 2012 from Talk of the Town which assess general reviews and customer feedback froma cross the web. So what this means is that across the web (places like Angie's List, Yelp, Google +, etc.), we received the highest reviews for customer care and satisfaction.  We can never thank all our patients enough for all the kind words they say about us!

We're having a Party (and you're invited!)!

Yup, it's true.  We are having a huge Health and Wellness fair at our Denver location (2250 S. Monaco) this Saturday, August 11th from 9AM-4PM.  There will be cooking classes, Zumba classes, the Rapids, the Cutthoats, a boucy house, giveaways, other doctors, handmade clothing artists and more!  We expect a big crowd and a lot of fun so come on out and join us!  Hope to see you there!

So Colorado Proud!

So, if you are like us, you've been glued to the TV this past week watching the Olympic Games.  We, of course like many of you, have had a special focus on the swimming and our own Missy Franklin.  She is truely an amazing young woman and we just had to say how Colorado proud we are of her!  Way to go Missy!  You wowed us not only with your victories (and of course with your beautiful smile!), but with your poise and sportmanship.  You rock girl!

We're #1!

Things have been so busy these past few months, its been hard to find time to post, but we just had to share some very, very exciting news.  Every year Colorado parent Magazine surveys parents to find out what there favorite things are in Colorado.  Favorite ski resort, favroite restaurant, favorite play place, etc.-- you get the idea.  They publish the 5 highest vote getters and announce in their June issue the winners in each catagory.  You can imagine our joy and delight when we discovered that the parents of Colorado voted us THE #1 ORTHODONTIST IN THE STATE!  We felt like Sally Fields at the Oscars -- "you love us, you really love us!" To be sure, it is a humbling award and we promise not to forget what got us to this place-- treating all of our patients as if they were family, with as much care, dignity, kindness and respect as we possibly can. Like anything, we know success can be fleating and we promise to work hard to continue to provide the high level of service our patients have come to expect (and obviously love based on the survey results!) from us.

Read All About It!

As we noted a few months ago ALL 4 OF OUR DOCTORS were recently recognized by 5280 as one of the top orthodontists in the state. Well the issue just hit the newsstands, so you can read all about it yourselves (and see a nice pic of all our docs!). Of the many hundreds of orthodontists in the state, less than 15%  are recognized as "top Dentists" in 5280 Magazine's annual report.  the report is not a popularity contest among patients, but rather developed based on peer voting of other Dentists and Dental Specialists.  So you can only imagine how proud we were when not one, not 2, not 3 but all 4 of our doctors were recognized in this year's Top Dentists review.  Thank you to all of the dentists across the state who have come to recognize our work and felt compelled to vote for us in a polling of what orthodontists they felt were exceptional. We are amazingly honored and humbled by the awards.
We just attended a wonderful party held for the winners and met some outstanding doctors.  It was really special to be interacting with such an elite crowd of practitioners and we look forward to working with many of them.

Aloha!

So our own Dr. Mershon and lead staff members Michelle and Yvette just returned from the national AAO (American Association of Orthodontists) annual meeting.  This year's meeting was held in sunny Hawaii.  While it was rough for them to have to go to Hawaii for the meeting, somehow they managed! The report back is that they all had a great time and actually learned a lot in the process.  The meeting gives us a chance to both keep current with the latest products and latest thinking (via the lecture series) in our field.  I t also gives us a chance to meet with some of our vendors and take advantage of some annual meeting specials (which helps keep our overhead, and in turn our prices for our patients, low).  So keep a lookout on our Facebook page for pictures of Dr. Mershon and the staff in sunny Hawaii.  The rest of us are just hoping we get to see Dr. Mershon in a grass skirt!

Go Outlaws!

We are so proud to be official corporate sponsors this year of our hometown Devner Outlaws-- the most popular professional Lacrosse team in America!  If you are a fan of the Outlaws, you will be seeing a lot of us!  We will be at every game this year by gate 10 (yes, stop by and say hi!), you'll see us in the gameday programs and we will be sponsoring "Smile Cam" during the halftime show (a chance to show off you beautiful All About Braces smiles!).
In addition, the team has allowed us to sponsor an amazing giveaway we're calling the "All About Braces Team Tunnel".  For the lucky winners, they'll get 4 tickets to a game, a chance to go with the press to the before-game media event, a chance to get team autographs and the opportunity to be in the team's tunnel to great the players as they enter the field!  It's a dream come true for all those Lacrosse fans out there.  To enter, you must come into any one of our 4 All About Braces offices and fill out an application.  there will be 2 winning families each week.  Good luck!

Win, Win, Win!

If you've been living undera rock, you may not have noticed that we have a number of contests going on right now.  First off, we are offering a $100 gift card to one lucky winner who posts a review of us on any of our 4 Google Places pages.  This is not the testimonials page on our site (although we do love those too!), but going to one of our google places pages. logging in with a gmail account (if you don't have one it's easy to creat one) and reviewing us there. There is a LINK to our Google Places pages on our site.
In addition, we are running a contest for an AMAZING give-away for any Lacrosse fans to win an awesome pize for the Denver Outlaws.  Entries are only available in our offices, so stop in.  We'll give more details about the prize in our next post.

5280 Top Dentists!

Wow!  Wait, its worth saying again:  WOW! So we just heard from 5280 regarding their coveted annual awarding of the top dentists and dental specialist (i.e., orthodontists, endodontists, periodontists, etc.).Of the many hundreds of orthodontists in the state, only about 1 in 5 are recognized as "top Dentists" in 5280 Magazine's annual report.  the report is not a popularity contest among patients, but rather developed based on peer voting of other Dentists and Dental Specialists.  So you can only imagine how proud we were when not one, not 2, not 3 but ALL 5 OF OUR DOCTORS were recognized in this year's Top Dentists review.  Thank you to all of the dentists across the state who have come to recognize our work and felt compelled to vote for us in a polling of what orthodontists they felt were exceptional. We are amazingly honored by the awards.

We're Studying Hard for You!

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!

On to Capital Hill!

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.

Signs of Success

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.

Vote, Vote, Vote

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!

Ringing in 2012!

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.