For decades, the $12 billion orthodontics business hasn’t been defined by comfort, great prices, convenience, or anything resembling great customer service. In fact, if you ask anyone who ever received traditional braces (or their parents) about their experience, you’ll probably hear a story with a whole lot of pain, a number of embarrassingly ugly metal appliances that were impossible to keep clean, and a total cost of as much as $10,000.
This is why Alex Fenkell and Jordan Katzman founded SmileDirectClub. They met at summer camp both with a full mouth of metal braces,stayed friends, and ultimately landed on a winning business: cut out the costly orthodontist visits by using safe, proven teledentistry services from a team of orthodontic specialists, then use specialized technology to print and deliver a series of invisible aligners directly to the patient’s home, giving them everything they need to get the smile they’ve always wanted at a much lower price on average of 6 months.
When they first launched as SmileCareClub in 2014, there was so much interest in their products that their first website crashed shortly after launch. Operating as a two-man show, Fenkell and Katzman needed to recruit their first team of licensed orthodontists and dental professionals, field calls from their customers, and personally fulfill every shipment of appliances.
SmileDirectClub can now proudly state that it represents over 95% of the at-home aligner industry, having helped 750,000 get the look and smile they’ve always wanted. Now, co-founder Alex Fenkell is looking to use safe, sustainable, and extremely efficient 3D printing technology at scale to level up their business even further, giving even more people an opportunity to get orthodontic care that for so long has been out of reach.
Though SmileDirectClub has worked with a number of technological partners as they’ve built and grown as a company, their partnership with HP, announced earlier this year at the Rapid 2019 3D Printing Conference, is a major leap. Just as eager to disrupt their industry and grow as SmileDirectClub is, HP is now supporting SmileDirectClub’s orthodontic appliance manufacturing using 49 of its Jet Fusion 3D printing systems. This makes SmileDirectClub’s 3D printing facility the largest in the country, gives the company the ability to produce over 50,000 unique mouth molds by printing 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will give them the ability to make up to 20 million 3D-printed orthodontic appliances by the end of 2019.
This growth doesn’t come at the sacrifice of quality, either. Alex Fenkell has explained that while HP’s 3D printing systems allow them to produce at a previously unprecedented volume, it’s their data intelligence systems that allow them to create a higher quality appliance at an even lower cost. Each mouth mold is 3D printed, thermoformed using BPA free plastics, then custom manufactured for each patient. They are then reviewed by a team of board-certified orthodontists and delivered directly to the customer.
Additionally, though the process of manufacturing orthodontic appliances consumes a large amount of plastic, much of which cannot be recycled (increasingly a problem in many parts of the world, where recycling programs are shutting down and garbage dumps are increasingly full), SmileDirectClub and HP have solved for this as well. As part of this business partnership, SmileDirectClub and HP has launched a new recycling program, where used and unused materials from mouth molds can now be melted down, reclaimed, and turned back into new pellets to produce additional injection molds in the future. This helps make the most of what could otherwise be a nonrenewable resource, reduces the need for new materials, and helps patients feel even better about their decision to choose SmileDirectClub over conventional orthodontics.
As Alex Fenkell continues his work growing SmileDirectClub across the globe, it becomes even more apparent just how fruitful this collaboration will be in the future. With the company now operating 366 SmileShop locations operated by 5,400 employees across the world, they’re going to need the ability to produce this massive quantity of appliances – and the opportunity to continue scaling as they expand to additional countries in the future.
SmileDirectClub customers can take comfort in knowing that with the support of HP, they will be receiving the smile of their dreams at a price that works with their budget. They can also know that when they need help from an orthodontic specialist, SmileDirectClub is there for them – even if they, like many people, are much too busy to make time to visit an orthodontist. SmileDirectClub users, including early success case and investor Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors, continue to recommend the service to their friends and peers.
Over the next several years, as SmileDirectClub continues to expand their thriving business into new markets, expect to see Fenkell, his company, and their partnership with HP deliver even more appliances at even better prices, giving more and more people the smiles they’ve wanted for life. Though the traditional orthodontic industry may be fighting to stop the growth of teledentistry, the people have spoken – and SmileDirectClub is creating a world-changing opportunity like few others in the history of orthodontics as we’ve known them.
Click to learn more about SmileDirectClub and co-founder Alex Fenkell.
Dil Bole Oberoi
