Dr. Dean C. Bellavia

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BioEngineering@twc.com

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Do-It-Yourself Plastic Aligners


Tuesday, 15 December 2020 11:21
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Do you use plastic aligners to treat some or many of your cases?  Are the results you attain with plastic aligners satisfactory?  Do you feel that the lab cost of aligners is a bit too high?  Have you ever considered making your own plastic aligners?  Well maybe this pearl can help you decide.

 

Not every orthodontist feels comfortable using plastic aligners.  Many feel comfortable only treating easy cases and some are comfortable treating most cases.  Whether you are an expert using plastic aligners or not, there is one problem everybody has…the lab costs.  Invisalign lab costs range from $400 to $1,900.  There are other aligner companies with similar quality such as Ormco’s SPARK, 3M Clarity, etc.  They all have their good and bad points and prices, but in our financial analysis below we’ll use the Invisalign lab prices.

 

But, what if you produced your own aligners: is it really worth the cost and effort?  We will look at the various lab costs below for the full spectrum of plastic aligner treatments.

To produce your own aligners you need to be able to do an initial scan, use aligner software to design each 3-D model printout, use a process to clean and cure the 3-D models and then use a heat-vacuum machine to create the actual aligners.  For maximal equipment costs we will use the cost of the iTero scanner, the Sprintray 3-D model maker, Cleaner and Curer equipment, the Great Lakes Biostar to create the aligner, and the Dremel for finishing the aligner.  After that we will substitute other equipment, etc., and calculate a minimal cost.

 

The prices below will be used to calculate the MAXIMUM equipment cost per U&L set of aligners:

$  iTero scanner = $14,000  (the very portable Carestream digital scanner is $7,000 - $25,000)

$  Sprintray 3-D Printer = $7,500 (the Envision One cDLM costs $17,000, but can print up to 6 sets of aligners in the same time the Sprintray prints one set)

$  Sprintray Pro-Wash = $1,500

$  Sprintray Pro Cure  = $1,000

$  Great Lakes Biostar  = $900 

$  Dremel Tool for aligner finishing = $100

$  Total cost = $25,000

$  Assume that the equipment will create at least 5,000 U&L aligner sets

$  Thus the maximum equipment costs is $5.00 per U&L aligner set

 

The prices below will be used to calculate the MINIMUM equipment cost per U&L set of aligners:

$  iTero scanner = $0.0 (since you already have one for your present Invisalign cases)

$  Sprintray 3-D Printer = $7,500

$  Sprintray Pro-Wash substitute = $200 for ultrasonic cleaner

$  Sprintray Pro Cure  = $1,000

$  Great Lakes BioStar substitute  = $400 for Tru-Tain Pro-Vac

$  Dremel Tool for aligner finishing = $100

$  Total cost = $9,200

$  Assume that the equipment will create at least 5,000 U&L aligner sets

$  Thus the minimum equipment costs is $1.85 per U&L aligner set

 

The supply prices below will be used to calculate the SUPPLIES cost per U&L set of aligners:

$  Resin for models $150/bottle for 30 models (15 U&L sets) = $10/set

$  Essix materials for aligners at $150 for 100 trays (50 U&L sets) are $3.00/set

$  Isopropyl Alcohol ($30/gal) is for 15 U&L set washes is $2.00/set

$  Thus the supply costs are $15.00 per U&L aligner set

 

The in-house STAFFING costs below will be used to calculate the cost per U&L set of aligners:

►  Initial U&L Scan is about 20 min

► 3-D Printer software usage is 0 min (done by doctor, similar to online Invisalign software usage)

► 3-D printing 2 min for model processing

► Model cleaning is 2 min for model processing

► Model Curing is 2 min for model processing

► Aligner Vacuum-create and trim is 7 min

► Thus the total staffing time for one set of U&L aligners is 33 minutes

► At $25/hour ($0.42 per minute) for 33 minutes the staffing cost is $13.75 per U&L set of aligners

 Assume that the in-house lab space is already there and not an extra cost

 

Thus, the total MINIMAL cost per U&L set of aligners is $30.60 and the total MAXIMAL cost per U&L set of aligners is $33.75.

Thus, the Invisalign lab cost compared to in-house lab costs per treatment are:

$  Full Cases of 30 sets: Invisalign = $1,900; In-House lab is $900 to $1,000 [50% savings]

$  Moderate Cases of 20 sets: Invisalign = $1,500; In-House lab is $600 to $675 [55% savings]

$  “Light” Cases of 14 sets: Invisalign = $1,000 - $1,300; In-House lab is $425 - $475 [60% savings]

$  “Express” Cases of 7-10 sets: Invisalign = $400 - $700; In-House lab is $300 - $350 [40% savings]

 

But, if you do hundreds of aligner cases per year at a 40% outside lab discount the cost difference is:

$  Full Cases of 30 sets: Invisalign = $1,150; In-House lab is $900 to $1,000 [20% savings]

$  Moderate Cases of 20 sets: Invisalign = $900; In-House lab is $600 to $675 [30% savings]

$  “Light” Cases of 14 sets: Invisalign = $600 - $800; In-House lab is $425 - $475 [35% savings]

$  “Express” Cases of 7-10 sets: Invisalign = $250 - $400; In-House lab is $300 - $350 [0% savings]

 

The bottom line is:

If you do about 100 cases per year the in-house lab cost savings is greater than 50% and worth the effort.  Your lab staffing would only be a 0.75 staff member for 100 cases/year.

If you only do 20 cases/year the up front investment in equipment may not be worth it it, although over 20-30 years it may be.

If you do hundreds of cases/year the savings is only about 25% and may not be worth the effort to do it yourself, unless you want to maintain a large lab of about 2 to 3 staff.  The larger lab than usual would add to the cost/set of plastic aligners and be less than a 25% savings.

 

Also refer to the pearl “How Much can Plastic Aligners Increase Your Net?” at: http://www.thebioengineeringco.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=172&Itemid=766

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