1. SMART Retainer featured on the Today Show - 5/08
2. NEW Technology helps your child's teeth stay straight - 7/08
3. SMART Retainer debuts at Denver AAO Annual Session - 7/08
4. New SMART Retainer Helps Orthodontists and Patients - 5/08
1. SMART Retainer featured on the Today Show 5/15/08
2. NEW Technology helps your child's teeth stay straight
Dear Doctor Magazine | July 2008
Thousands of dollars after orthodontic treatment (braces) – they’re finally off,
the smile beautiful, the bite perfect. All you need to do is wear your retainer
to ensure the great result stays that way and make sure the investment
pays off. Your child needs to wear his retainer. Short of following
your kid around 24 hours a day what can you do? Did they wear
it... Didn’t they wear it? The answer is:
Get Smart!
New from “Scientific Compliance” – Microsensor technology embedded in the retainer – frees everyone from judgment and guilt – the device essentially speaks for itself.
There is a direct correlation between keeping teeth straight after the braces are removed and the amount of time retainers are worn. But how can you make sure the retainer is in use enough to give your teeth the best chance for success? How do you know the amount of time the retainer is actually in use? Here’s how: A small SMART retainer “microsensor” is embedded in the retainer and used in the same way any other retainer is used - there’s no difference.
Except - the SMART retainer utilizes medical device technology to gather and store retainer use data. When the user returns to the orthodontist, the SMART retainer is placed on a special reader. The reader uploads the retainer use data and provides an accurate record to a computer. This helps the doctor make the best recommendation for retainer wear. And for the orthodontist or dentist responsible for the treatment, reading it is a snap. The program is easy to use, and most importantly, foolproof - eliminating the age old debate of “did they wear it.... didn’t they wear it.”
The SMART retainer is a low cost, high-tech solution that is becoming the standard of care for orthodontists, placing the responsibility of compliance of retainer use where it belongs, with the patient.
Dr. Marc Ackerman, Scientific Compliance Chief Scientific Officer, summarizes as follows. ”In my opinion, the SMART retainer will revolutionize compliance in orthodontic retention. As a matter of fact, I can’t think of any reason why an orthodontist wouldn’t want to offer this low-cost, high-tech solution to their patients. It’s state of the art technology addressing one of our profession’s biggest problems.”
See your orthodontist or general dentist or go to the SMART retainer website at www.scicomply.com for more information.
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3. SMART Retainer debuts at Denver AAO Annual Session
ORTHO TRIBUNE | JULY 2008
DENVER — Whether orthodontists hate to see their treatment result compromised by poor retainer compliance, want to eliminate the stress related to communicating with unhappy patients or parents after relapse has occurred, or is simply looking for a competitive marketing edge — the new SMART Retainer was enthusiastically received by the specialty at the Denver AAO meeting. The SMART Retainer booth was abuzz as orthodontists from all over the world were eager to see the profession’s newest innovation.
The Today Show’s Matt Lauer and Nancy Snyderman MD, Medical Director at NBC News, did a segment announcing the SMART Retainer on May 15 — the day before the annual session began — that generated high consumer traffic to the company’s Web site from interested patients and parents.
Dr. Marc Ackerman, chief scientific officer at Scientific Compliance, lectured during the annual session’s scientific program, identifying relapse as the “orthodontist’s little secret.” He praised any new advancement that can increase short- and long-term retainer compliance during the critical retention phase of treatment. “When the patient is freed from self-reporting and knows that I can accurately monitor compliance, a paradigm shift in behavior occurs. Perceived compliance is replaced by real compliance.”
Ackerman, associate professor at Jacksonville University in Florida, and director of the Fellowship in Orthodontic Clinical Research, has worked closely as a clinician and practicing orthodontist on the development of the SMART Retainer. In addition to his lecture at the annual session, he has a scientific paper on this topic in press and has addressed the North Atlantic Component of the Edward H. Angle Society of Orthodontists on the topic of relapse and patient cooperation. He is currently finalizing an IRB approved clinical trial utilizing this new technology.
Ackerman continues, “As the evolution of technology and miniaturizing components made this microsensor possible, I saw a big opportunity. For the first time in 100-plus years, we can manage the patient in retention, catch problems, and make decisions based on tangible data versus patient self-reporting. The result is a win-win for our patients and orthodontists.”
Scientific Compliance has spent considerable capital and several years developing the SMART Retainer. CEO William Longley states, “Our product launch required the confluence of three critical goals: 1) accurately obtaining and storing a variety of environmental data while building software algorithms to determine precise usage, 2) miniaturization, and 3) making the device impossible to game by today’s enterprising youth.” He adds, “based on the uptake we saw in Denver and in the weeks since among consumers, orthodontists and the leading labs, our innovation is destined to become a viable addition to orthodontic treatment. Especially compelling is that the SMART Retainer makes so much sense to patients and parents. Consumer research shows that the additional $100 for a SMART Retainer is an easy decision for parents who have just spent over a year and thousands of dollars on active treatment and want extra ‘insurance’ against the hassle and expenses of relapse.”
Scientific Compliance will continue to make the entire SMART Retainer sensors, reader and marketing materials available at regional orthodontic meetings, online or from a growing number of SMARTcompatible labs that will inventory SMART sensors for the orthodontists they serve. Call (877) 32-INLINE or visit www.SciComply.com or www.SMARTRetainer.com.
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4. New SMART Retainer Helps Orthodontists and Patients
Atlanta, GA. May 15, 2008- “This is really incredible stuff” said Matt Lauer as the TODAY Show broke the news on the SMART Retainer. “And, the cost is a drop in the bucket”
The retention phase of orthodontic treatment differs from active treatment because it is totally dependent on patient cooperation. Poor retainer compliance can lead to relapse and patients are often inaccurate in self reporting retainer usage. Inadequate retainer use impacts everyone involved from the orthodontist and office staff to the patients and their parents.
Until the debut of the SMART Retainer, there has been no accurate way to measure retainer use. The new system consists of a miniature microsensor embedded in the retainer, proprietary software and a reader that displays precise retainer use on any PC.
“Orthodontists are telling us that this is the most exciting new product they have seen in years while patients and parents ask why no one has thought of this before.” says Scientific Compliance CEO William Longley. “The reason is simple: the technology behind the SMART Retainer is only possible due to recent reductions in electronic component sizes. We clearly have the right product at the right time”.
The SMART microsensor is slightly larger than a shirt button. It is embedded into a conventional retainer and combines stored measurements of environmental conditions with sophisticated algorithms using encrypted wireless data transfer.
The SMART microsensor automatically monitors its environment and either stores the data or a heuristic decision about the data, in encrypted form. This information is later used by a reader and software in the Orthodontist’s office to determine retainer wear frequency and duration. When an Orthodontist or staff member places a retainer with a Smart Sensor onto a Smart Reader, within a few seconds a wireless communication link is established and all the information recorded since the last read session is automatically downloaded, decrypted, further analyzed using proprietary algorithms for trends and use patterns, and presented in easy to understand charts for evaluation by the Orthodontist or discussion with the patient.
A Smart sensor contains a miniature microprocessor as well as other ultra-small electronics for keeping time, environmental monitoring and data storage, all permanently and hermetically sealed. A built-in clock circuit, resonating at a frequency of 32,768 Hz plus or minus twenty millionths Hz provides time-of-day, correcting for 28-,29-,30- and 31-day months, and periodically signals the microprocessor to collect, analyze and store a measurement of some environmental condition. The eight bit microprocessor runs at twenty MHz and has built-in ten bit analog to digital converter. Ambient light levels can be monitored with one high sensitivity photodiode and a separate low sensitivity diode. The piezoelectric crystal is sensitive to environmental vibrations. Environmental conditions can be monitored with twelve bit resolution. The electrically erasable and programmable read only memory will store 131,072 bits of data potentially for up to forty years; the lifetime of a Smart Sensor is estimated at 18 months under typical usage, but actual lifetime will vary with usage.
The Smart Retainer is affordable, cannot be fooled by patients and eliminates the age old “He said, she said” component of self reported retainer use. Data transfer takes approximately 15 seconds and the compliance charts are easy to read.
SMART orthodontists receive significant marketing support to introduce the SMART Retainer to patients. Patient Education videos and brochures, web site practice listings, national consumer media awareness, the Smart Retainer Grow Your Practice Guide, and frequent buyer programs are all provided to participating orthodontists.
Dr. Marc Ackerman DMD, Chief Scientific Officer at Scientific Compliance and Associate Professor at Jacksonville University School of Orthodontics has worked on the research and development of the Smart Retainer to make it relevant to clinicians and game proof for patients. Dr. Ackerman recently presented his findings at the March 2008 meeting of the North Atlantic component of the Edward H. Angle Society of Orthodontists. His manuscript, “Clinical Decisions Based on Tangible Data: A Technology Driven Paradigm Shift in Orthodontic Retention” has been peer reviewed and is in press at the American Journal of Orthodontics & Dentofacial Orthopedics. He is also a featured lecturer at the 108th Annual Session of the American Association of Orthodontists on May 18. His lecture is entitled “Measuring Compliance During Orthodontic Retention.”
“Orthodontists now have the opportunity to practice evidence based retention. Clinical decisions will now be data driven rather than best guess. This technology will initiate a paradigm shift in orthodontics” states Dr. Ackerman. “Although the needs of private practice orthodontists drove the development of the SMART Retainer, the clinical research possibilities of this new advancement are boundless” he concludes. Under Dr. Ackerman, Scientific Compliance will make the SMART technology available to select, accredited orthodontic programs engaged in cutting edge research.
“We’re thrilled that recent technological advances layered over years of development have now made the Smart microsensor possible,” said Stuart McRae, PE, MSICS, RAC, Chief Technological Officer at Scientific Compliance. “The sophisticated capabilities of the SMART Retainer and SMART Reader were made possible by leveraging electronic and circuit assembly advances made within just the last year. The SciComply team has worked diligently to perfect this powerful yet compact technology, and we are fortunate to be at a confluence of multiple rapidly developing technology streams.”
Scientific Compliance will formally launch the Smart Retainer System at the May AAO Annual Meeting in Denver.
For more information on the SMART Retainer, visit our website at www.SciComply.com or www.SmartRetainer.com
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