Orthodontists spend years developing the expertise to provide excellent clinical care. Running a practice requires an entirely different set of decisions: hiring and training employees, managing risk, keeping up with legal requirements, communicating with patients, marketing the practice, evaluating technology, and managing the business itself.
AAO Practice Management resources give members a place to start. Instead of independently researching every issue, creating every form, or developing every patient resource from scratch, you can draw on tools and information created specifically for orthodontic practices.
That can save time, reduce uncertainty, and keep you from having to recreate solutions that already exist.
Support at Every Stage of Practice
The resources you need may change as your career and practice evolve. Residents and early-career orthodontists can find guidance on entering practice, hiring and working with staff, and other business fundamentals that may be less familiar at the beginning of a career.
Other needs span an entire career. The Legal Resource Center includes risk management information, legal FAQs, forms and releases, a HIPAA Quick Guide, and other resources that practices can return to as questions arise or requirements change.
Members can also access resources covering staff development, patient management, marketing, office design, technology, insurance, leadership, and other day-to-day business needs. Those resources can be just as useful for refining an established practice as they are for building one.
The value is not that every member will need every resource. It is that you do not have to start with a blank page whenever a new practice question arises.
Tools You Can Put to Work
AAO resources can also help with decisions that require significant research and comparison. TechSelect, developed by the AAO Committee on Technology, gives members curated information to help evaluate technologies used in orthodontic practice. Rather than beginning every search with vendor materials or conducting every comparison independently, members have access to specialty-specific resources that can make complex technology decisions easier to evaluate.
Marketing is another area where AAO provides practical support. The Consumer Awareness Program (CAP) complements these resources through national consumer education efforts and shareable resources that practices can use in their own communities. AAO Practice Marketing Tools include ready-to-use social media content, patient education materials, videos, and other resources members can adapt or share with patients. The collection also includes resources for building dentist referral relationships, with materials for orthodontists, referring dentists, and patients.
AAO practice management resources go beyond downloadable tools. Office Design for Orthodontists provides guidance on major practice decisions, from determining space needs and financing to site selection, equipment, software, and layout. Programs such as Simon Sinek + AAO Inspiring Leadership Program and Wharton-AAO Mastering the Business of Orthodontics offer deeper development in leadership and business management that members can apply directly to their practices.
And when a practice needs an outside product or service, AAO Endorsed Products & Services provides a vetted starting point for areas ranging from financing and retirement plans to cybersecurity, payment processing, and practice supplies.
The Advantage of Shared Resources
No resource replaces an orthodontist’s judgment or the advice of the appropriate legal, financial, or other professional. What these resources can eliminate is some of the repeated work that comes with running a practice.
A single form, staffing question, technology decision, or patient communication may seem manageable on its own. Over the course of a career, those demands add up. If every orthodontic practice had to solve the same problems independently, much of that work would be repeated thousands of times.
AAO Practice Management resources turn shared expertise into practical tools members can use at every stage of practice.
