SmileDirectClub Abandons Its Patients

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A smile direct club illustration with an x through it.
In case you haven’t heard, SmileDirectClub has closed its doors. Leaving patients not quite through with their treatments completely on their own. Here is what happened. Many people didn’t realize that SmileDirectClub had a habit of squelching complaints and negative reviews. They did that by requiring clients who wanted a refund to sign a non-disclosure agreement and remove anything negative they posted about the company. People complied in order to get their money back. Then, this past June a court ordered them to cease that practice, which also released those under the agreement. Suddenly, negative reviews were everywhere and the truth about the company was making itself known. In September they filed for bankruptcy. By December, unable to find a buyer, they closed their business.

They sent a notice out to their remaining clients that they would no longer be helping them, even if they were not done with their treatments. They would not be sending them any more aligners. However, if they still owed money to SmileDirect, they were told they were expected to continue payments. Nice, huh?

This isn’t the only company like this out there. I am sure that many of the clients from SmileDirect are scrambling trying to find a similar company that can help them finish out their treatments. However, there is a danger in that. All of these online companies are working without you being under the care of a dentist. Sure, they say they have a dentist looking at your images, etc., but that is not adequate or safe.

There is no way to tell if a patient has gum disease from an image, unless it is seriously advanced. You do not want to try to move your teeth while you have gum disease because you risk serious problems, including the teeth becoming loose.

There is also the fact that the human body does not always cooperate. This means your treatments have to be adjusted to keep you on track and your teeth roots healthy.

Invisalign is a fantastic treatment when done under the care of a qualified dentist. If you’ve been dumped by SmileDirect, look for an Invisalign dentist and they will be able to help you get your treatment back on track.

There is a hidden benefit to those aligners, as well. They can double as teeth whitening trays. This means your dentist can provide you with some teeth whitening gel to wear with your aligners allowing you to straighten and whiten your teeth at the same time, giving you a mini smile makeover.

This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.

Why Did Smile Direct Club Go Belly Up?

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I had been planning on trying that Smile Direct Club that I kept seeing advertised. Originally, I was going to do Invisalign, but then learned that Smile Direct was much less expensive because you didn’t have to use a dentist. Now they’re no longer in business when I’m finally ready to move forward. Do you know why they stopped and if there is anything else like it?

Penelope

Dear Penelope,

A SmileDirect Club ad with an X through it.

I understand why SmileDirectClub was so appealing to so many patients. It promised Invisalign results at a fraction of the cost. The problem they ran into was two-fold. First, they could not live up to the promises they made. Second, a court case killed their ability to hide that.

The reason Invisalign has you work through a dentist is because the human body is unpredictable. While it is true that an advanced software system designs the treatment, teeth tend to not always go to plan and humans can be forgetful, even with the best of intentions. This can throw off treatments and require adjustments.

Often, things would not go well with a SmileDirect treatment plan. Patients were already at a disadvantage by not having the same software system. Then, without a dentist they were often left floundering. They could complain to the company but there was no one really willing to help them. If they tried to complain publicly, they were told they could only get a refund by withdrawing all complaints and filing a nondisclosure agreement, which of course they did in order to recoup their funds.

Back in June of 2023 a court case forbade them from doing that and ordered they release everyone from their non-disclosure agreements. By September of the same year, SmileDirectClub ended up filing bankruptcy. Even worse that that, they’ve left their customers in the lurch telling them that they will not complete their treatments. If they want their money back they’ll need to get in line. Worse, if they owe SmileDirect payments, they expect the patient to keep paying!

While there are a few similar companies still around, such as Byte, NewSmile, and AlignerCo, they run on the same principles. You will not be seen by a dentist and that puts your treatment, as well as your teeth at risk. You are safer under the care of a dentist. One hidden benefit of Invisalign is the aligners can double as teeth whitening trays. Your dentist will provide you with the whitening gel and then you can wear it in the aligners to whiten your teeth at the same time you are straightening them.

This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.

A SmileDirectClub Concern

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Last month I wrote about some reviews customers of SmileDirectClub posted to illustrate potential concerns with using mail-order orthodontics. Today, I would like to look at an accusation levied against SmileDirectClub in a New York Times article. You can read the article in total here.

Does SmileDirectClub Hush Its Critics?

One of the concerns posited by the article is that for some clients to get a refund from the company when their treatment didn’t work, they had to agree not to post anything negative in addition to removing any negative posts or reviews on social media. According to the article, “When some of the customers requested refunds, SmileDirectClub asked them to sign the confidentiality provision. The agreement prohibited the customers from telling anyone about the refund and required them to delete negative social media comments and reviews, according to a copy viewed by The Times.”

Often potential patients rely on reviews to help them make a decision on whether to make a purchase, therefore the more complete the information the more likely the patient is to make the decision that is best for them. However, when some of that information is being suppressed, it makes it difficult for patients to see the whole picture.

While no dentist is perfect, after all, we’re human, when a dentist gets a bad review, their concern should be making things right with that patient, not hiding the review. One of the ways you can know when a practitioner cares is in how they handle problems. Any company, no matter what the field, if they have an occasional bad review but address the issue in good faith, then you know they care about their customers, or in a dentist’s case, patients. On the flip side, if you see bad reviews that are never even addressed you can know they don’t seem to care about making things right.

Why hide the reviews if they make things right? I can’t answer that on their behalf. One thing that makes me wonder, though, is out of the seven customers interviewed by the Times, more than half of them found the treatment made their bite worse and they had to seek outside treatment to get it fixed.

SmileDirectClub’s Litigiousness

A second concern the article brought up was how litigious the company is. In addition to suing Lifehacker over an article they published about the risks of using SmileDirect, they have also sued several dental boards for what they perceived as steps to make it harder to use their services.

Yet, while they seem very willing to jump into court themselves, they make each potential customer sign a form that they would not sue the company for any reason.

I will always stress the importance of doing any type of dental work whether traditional braces or invisible braces, such as Invisalign, under the care of a dental professional. Orthodontic treatment rarely goes as planned from start to finish and the dentist or orthodontist will make adjustments throughout the treatment for you to get the optimum results.

This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.

SmileDirectClub Problems

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We sometimes get inquiries about SmileDirectClub from patients and others who do not feel they can afford Invisalign but want to straighten their teeth. In doing some research, we came across a warning given by mynewsmile.com. You can find the original post for that here. They talk about pages of complaints from patients who’ve tried the service and have been dissatisfied.

SmileDirectClub Advert

In an attempt to be careful with our conclusions we decided to verify the claims. Doing our own research, we went back to the dates he originally mentioned on two different websites. One that posts general reviews about SmileDirectClub and the other being the Better Business Bureau. There were more than we could reasonably place in a blog post.

One thing we noticed is the complaints fell into three different categories: First, not receiving their aligners and unable to get a refund. Second, the aligners didn’t work. Third, their teeth ended up in a dangerously worse situation.

Aligners Don’t Arrive as Promised

Review of SmileDirectClub where aligners didn't arrive

There were many similar reviews such as this one, including some patients who received some aligners but not others which completely threw off their treatment. Another waited months for their retainer after treatment, by which time her teeth had shifted out of place again.

Treatment Doesn’t Work

SmileDirectClub Review about the treatment not working

It is hard to imagine going through orthodontic treatment, investing all that time and money, and then having no improvement on your teeth. Imagine then trying to get this rectified and being given the run around over and over again.

Teeth End Up Damaged

SmileDirectClub review about teeth coming loose

One of the biggest issues of not having your orthodontic work done with a dentist is things can get overlooked. For instance, before Dr. Cheek would move forward with any orthodontic treatment, she would do a thorough exam. This simple, but imperative step protects the patients. As an example, let’s say a patient had the early signs of gum disease. That would get addressed before moving forward with any type of braces. Otherwise, you risk something like this patient above experienced. Your teeth can come loose.

If that happens, you will no longer be looking to straighten your smile but to replace missing teeth.

Based on these reviews, I would say approach this option with caution. If finances are what are drawing you to a mail order service, talk to your dentist. They may have payment plans for you. Another option is to try Care Credit. They are a medical loan service that offers low-interest plans enabling you to get your treatment and pay it out over a period of time you can choose.

This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek. You can read more about SmileDirectClub here.