Getting your teeth straightened no longer means paying $4,000 or more and schlepping to a million appointments. Like pretty much everything else being disrupted these days, startups with good funding are here to upend the teeth straightening industry. And they’re not doing it quietly. They have gone head-to-head in legal and public relations brawls with the dental establishment, detractors, and even regulatory and professional bodies as more and more competitors enter the market. The premise for these new entrants into the space (between your teeth): Traditional orthodontia is really expensive and requires a lot of time-consuming office visits, making it inaccessible for a good chunk of people who could potentially benefit. Startups like Candid Co., SmileLove, SnapCorrect, and SmileDirectClub have popped up to address the inaccessibility of orthodontic care, and they all have fundamentally similar business models. Generally, clients pay a fee of less than $100 for an at-home teeth impression mold kit or, when available, go to a brick-and-mortar store to take a computerized 3D scan of their mouths. A dental team consisting of dentists, orthodontists, and/or “dental technicians” (depending on the brand you choose) comes up with the treatment plan and an image of what your mouth might look like after treatment. Then a box of “invisible” clear plastic aligners is mailed. Most of the companies even offer teeth whitening services thrown in. In general, all the services cost about $2,000 depending on the payment plan you choose, which is still several thousand dollars cheaper than going to a traditional orthodontist’s office. A few of the brands use Affirm’s microloans as a financing option. |
