Strong first-month earnings. $43K+ on a floor guarantee with 15 days worked — the guarantee protected ramp-up exactly as designed.
Pipeline building fast. 33 tx plans issued in month 1 means real volume coming in months 2–3 as those cases start.
56% consult-to-plan rate. More than half of 59 consultations converted — a healthy signal this early.
Calendar filled immediately. 158 check visits + 59 consults = 217 appointments in a first month.
Service mix is clean. 85% Class I fixed with a solid partial-banding add-on — productive, straightforward case mix.
↗ What to work on
17 combined cancels & no-shows — more than one per billing day. Ortho blocks are costly. Review reminder protocols.
Production floor still binding. The 40% base ($30K) was $8.5K below the guarantee. Calgary needs ~$116K/month before earning above floor.
Airdrie is very early-stage. One billing day, $4K in charges. Significant schedule opportunity at 2 days/week.
40 emergency & repair visits. Likely inherited panel behaviour — track monthly. Declining trend expected as your own base matures.
10 patients waiting on eruption. Natural backlog — flag for timely recall so they convert to starts when ready.
Days worked in May: 12 at Signal Hill + 3 at Airdrie = 15 total. Billings shown are DFT + DJS combined per attribution rule above.
Billings — May
Production summary
Revenue by service line
Procedure volume — top 8 codes
Consultation funnel
Check & follow-up volume
Treatment delivery events
Emergency & repair visits
Forward pipeline & scheduling
Month-2 summary
✓ What's working
Airdrie scaled hard. $6.6K direct billings on 118 procedures (vs $4K / 36 in April) — 3.3× procedure volume at a location that had one billing day a month ago.
Pipeline density up. Combined 36 tx plans issued in May (Calgary 26 + Airdrie 10) — that's 9% above April's 33 with growing Airdrie share.
49 consultations at Calgary (vs 57 in April) holding strong. Combined 62 consultations — 5% above April.
Partial banding share growing. 9 partial banding starts in May (vs 5 in April) — more conservative, lower-deduction case mix.
Direct billings down 12% MoM. May Calgary DFT-direct $46.9K vs April $57.1K — pipeline activity grew but headline billing dropped. Likely contract-billing timing (initial down-payments vs ongoing monthly billings); worth confirming with finance.
Cancels still costly at Calgary. 13 short-notice cancels + 6 no-shows = 19 lost ortho slots in May (vs 17 in April). Net of growth, the rate is flat — needs targeted attention before it scales.
Emergency & repair visits still 40. 29 Calgary + 11 Airdrie = 40 combined — unchanged from April. Inherited-panel cleanup continues; trend should decline by Q3.
Aligner refinements jumped. 23 refinements in May (vs 7 in April). Either patient compliance issues or batch of mid-treatment adjustments — worth a clinical review.
Floor still binding. May DFT-direct $53.5K combined is well under the ~$116K Calgary crossover. Floor protection continues to be the load-bearing component.
All comparisons use DFT-direct billings and procedure counts from monthly Cleardent Production Analysis exports. April HTML's combined billings ($86,628) included DJS-attributed activity; for an apples-to-apples month-over-month, we use April DFT-direct only ($61,138) here.
Direct billings · April → May
Monthly billings — Signal Hill vs Airdrie
DFT-direct from Cleardent procedure exports
Combined procedure volume
Total count of procedures performed each month
Activity side-by-side
Metric (combined)
April
May
Change
%
Case mix shift
Share of starts by type (Class I fixed vs partial banding)
Cancels & no-shows trend
Lost slots are the costliest line for ortho — track tightly
What the trend says
✓ Trajectory signals
Airdrie up 65% in direct billings. $4.0K → $6.6K with procedure volume 3.3× higher. The location was 1 billing day in April; May caught up to multiple days.
Calgary procedure volume +27% (345 → 437). Patient throughput is increasing even though DFT-direct headline billing is down — calendar density and pipeline activity are healthier than billed dollars alone suggest.
36 tx plans issued in May vs 33 in April. Forward pipeline is widening; expect more starts in June/July.
Partial banding (84401) starts up 80% (5 → 9). Add-on procedures with lower deductions are growing — favorable for above-floor earnings later.
↗ Pressures to manage
Combined direct billings down 12.5% ($61.1K → $53.5K). Procedure-volume growth not flowing through to billings; finance should confirm whether this reflects ongoing contract-payment timing rather than under-billing.
Cancels flat at high level. 17 → 19 combined cancels/no-shows. Reminder protocols haven't moved the needle yet — worth a specific intervention.
Refinement volume jumped. 7 → 23 aligner refinements. Either compliance regression or planned batch — clinical-process question worth surfacing.
Emergency visits flat at 40. Inherited-panel cleanup still has tail. Track again in June — declining trend is the expected story.
Track these going forward
📊
Monthly cadence — what to watch each month
These are the recurring signals that tell the whole story in 30 seconds
Top-line numbers
1
DFT-direct billings per location — the headline figure for payroll calculation
2
Procedure count — leading indicator that decouples from billing-timing noise
3
Tx plans issued (94105) — forward pipeline; predicts next 2–3 months of starts
4
Consult-to-plan rate — conversion health; a number that staff can directly influence
Behavioural signals
5
Cancels + no-shows — both as absolute count and as % of total appointments
6
Aligner refinements — high counts can indicate compliance issues or refinement-heavy treatment plans
7
Emergency/repair visits — inherited panel signal; should trend down over 6 months
8
Class I vs partial banding — case mix; partial banding has lower deductions and helps above-floor earnings
Sierra Dental Orthodontics
Patient consultation takeaway · Dr. Faraz Tavoossi
Sierra Dental OrthodonticsDr. Faraz Tavoossi
Patient consultation takeaway
Your orthodontic consultation, in writing.
A short, plain-language read for patients to take home, think over, and bring back with questions. Choose the audience and print a clean one-pager.
Hand to the patient
Print the takeaway, by audience
You'll be asked who the patient is — kids, teens, or adults — and the right page will print.
Preview by audience
For parents of children considering treatment
The decision
Both braces and aligners can move teeth into a healthy, beautiful position. The right choice depends on what your child's teeth need and on how their daily life works — not on which option has the bigger marketing budget.
Braces
Fixed appliance
Works on every kind of tooth movement, simple or complex
Goes to work the moment they leave our chair — no daily decisions
Tough enough for soccer practice, sleepovers, and forgotten cases
Today's brackets are smaller and smoother than the ones you wore
Aligners
Removable trays
Removable for meals and sports
Best for moderate, predictable corrections
Require 22+ hours of daily wear — every tray, every night, for months
Lost trays mean lost progress; replacements cost time and money
What we need from your child
Coming to every appointment, every 6–8 weeks
Brushing after every meal, with care around brackets and wires
Avoiding hard, sticky, and chewy foods that damage appliances
Speaking up — to you or to us — when something doesn't feel right
How long this takes
Typical range
12 – 24 months
Some children benefit from a shorter Phase 1 (~9 months) early on to guide jaw growth, followed by Phase 2 once permanent teeth are in. We'll tell you which path fits.
What can slow things down
Skipped or rescheduled appointments — the schedule is the treatment
Broken brackets from popcorn, hard candy, ice, or pencils
Lost or unworn aligners — the single biggest reason aligner cases extend
Skipped brushing — gum inflammation slows tooth movement
A great smile lasts a lifetime. The right appliance is the one that gets your child there — not the one with the trendiest reputation. We'll recommend the option that suits their teeth, not the one that suits a marketing campaign.
For teens and parents considering treatment
The decision
Both braces and aligners can give you a great result. The honest question is which one fits your teeth, your schedule, and your habits.
Braces
Fixed appliance
Set them on, then live your life — they work while you sleep, eat, and study
Handle every kind of tooth movement, including the tricky ones aligners can't
No "did I put them in today?" — they're already in
Today's brackets are slimmer and more refined than what you've seen on reruns
Aligners
Removable trays
Removable for meals, sports, and the occasional photo
Best for moderate corrections in patients with strong discipline
Need 22+ hours of daily wear — even when you're tired, traveling, or distracted
Skipped wear extends treatment. There's no shortcut.
What we need from you
Coming to every appointment, every 6–8 weeks
Brushing after every meal — yes, even lunch at school
Wearing elastics if we prescribe them — they do work the wires can't
Honest answers on aligner wear (we can tell, and it helps us help you)
Avoiding gum, popcorn, sticky candy, and ice
Wearing a retainer at night, indefinitely. Teeth drift back if you let them.
How long this takes
Typical range
18 – 30 months
Don't compare your timeline to a friend's — different teeth, different bite, different journey. We'll give you a real estimate at your first appointment and update it as we go.
What can slow things down
Missed appointments — the cadence is the treatment
Broken brackets from hard or sticky food
Aligners left in a pocket, lunch tray, or napkin
Retainer abandoned after treatment — welcome to "relapse"
There's no "modern" or "old-fashioned" choice in orthodontics — there's the right one for your teeth. The newest aligner system still moves teeth the same way braces do; it just relies on YOU to make it happen. We'll tell you straight whether your case is a better fit for one or the other, and why.
For adults considering treatment
The decision
Both braces and aligners can deliver a clinical result that holds for decades. The choice between them is a medical one — based on what your teeth need and how your life is structured.
Braces
Fixed appliance
The standard for predictable outcomes — every kind of movement, every kind of bite
Working the moment they're on; no daily wear decisions
Today's brackets are smaller, smoother, and faster than ones you remember
Ceramic or lingual options available when visibility is a concern
Aligners
Removable trays
Removable for meals, meetings, and special occasions
Best suited to moderate corrections in disciplined patients
Require 22+ hours of daily wear — home, work, travel, every day
Slip from compliance and the timeline stretches; lost trays mean restart
What we need from you
Showing up every 6–8 weeks — adult schedules are tight; protect this one
Meticulous oral hygiene — adult bone moves slower, gum health is non-negotiable
Coordinating other dental work (crowns, implants, extractions) with us
Wearing retainers indefinitely — adult teeth want to drift back
How long this takes
Typical range
18 – 36 months
Adult orthodontics moves teeth through mature bone. Patience is the largest variable in your timeline — and the discipline you bring to the process is the second-largest.
What can slow things down
Inconsistent aligner wear — we see it on the scan and your teeth show it too
Smoking with brackets — staining and inflammation risk
Sticky or hard foods that damage appliances mid-treatment
Postponed appointments — every reschedule extends the end date
Adult orthodontics rewards discipline. The choice between brackets and aligners is a clinical one — based on what your teeth need, not on which option is in vogue. We'll recommend the path with the best chance of getting you the result you want in the time you have.
Questions? Bring them to your next visit.Sierra Dental Orthodontics · Dr. Faraz Tavoossi