Many adults desire a perfect smile, leading to a rise in online orthodontic services like DrSmile in France. However, patients like Victoria face challenges, including painful experiences and inadequate support. While these companies provide affordable options, they often lack qualified oversight, raising concerns about treatment quality. An orthodontist warns about the risks of online braces, emphasizing the need for comprehensive care. In response, DrSmile’s new owners plan to improve client experiences by opening additional clinics.
The Quest for a Perfect Smile
In today’s world, many adults aspire to achieve the coveted Hollywood smile. In France, approximately one in ten individuals opts for braces to fulfill this desire. However, the traditional orthodontic market is now encountering competition from emerging online companies like Bicorrect, Alignae, and DrSmile. These platforms provide remote treatment follow-ups, making the process convenient and significantly more affordable for clients. Nevertheless, this “uberization” of orthodontics comes with its own set of risks.
Real Experiences with Online Orthodontics
For some, the journey towards a flawless smile has transformed into a distressing ordeal. Take the case of Victoria, a 27-year-old who, feeling insecure about her smile, chose to undergo braces treatment with remote monitoring from DrSmile, a leading player in the French market. To finance her treatment, she took out a loan of 2900 euros.
Each month, patients are required to send photos of their teeth using an app for assessment. The company employs a workforce of 1100, none of whom hold medical qualifications, to oversee the alignment process with the assistance of artificial intelligence. If the AI determines that everything appears normal, patients receive an automated message to proceed to the next stage of their treatment.
Victoria followed this protocol diligently, but soon found the discomfort from her braces intolerable. “My gums became extremely red and irritated. Just brushing my tongue against them felt like a burn,” she recalls. “Before long, my teeth started shifting alarmingly, like baby teeth. I was terrified they would fall out. After putting on the braces, I noticed blood everywhere.”
Despite the pain, Victoria persevered, hoping for positive results. However, after six months, she was disappointed to find no visible improvements. Despite her repeated attempts to reach out—through calls, messages, and additional photos—DrSmile remained unresponsive. “I feel deceived and abandoned, with no support, no treatment, and still misaligned teeth,” she expresses.
Frustrated, she sought help from an orthodontist, Clément Rivière, who frequently sees patients dissatisfied with online orthodontic treatments. He advised her to stop using the braces immediately to prevent potential tooth loss, asserting that these companies focus solely on aesthetics, neglecting essential factors such as back teeth alignment and the overall dental arch structure. “Teeth are like a shoebox or a jar with a lid. If you slightly alter the lid, you must adjust the jar beneath it, or else it won’t fit correctly,” he explains.
Rivière warns, “No one can guarantee 100% success.” Under his care, Victoria will need to use 36 braces over a year and a half—a significant increase from the 14 braces offered in her online package—all for an additional cost of 5000 euros, on top of the 2900 euros she has already spent. During a visit to Barcelona, the ‘Sept à Huit’ team spoke with Kaleb Kassem, co-founder of DrSmile, which has recently been acquired by Impress. He noted that photos alone are insufficient for assessing the condition of gums, stating, “Bleeding is typically a result of inadequate dental hygiene, unrelated to orthodontic treatment,” before requesting to examine her case file.
Ultimately, this file was not reviewed on camera. However, Kassem did somewhat acknowledge that complications can arise for some patients. “DrSmile only focuses on the front teeth, from canine to canine. Nobody can guarantee a 100% success rate,” he admitted.
In response to these challenges, the group that acquired DrSmile aims to enhance client experiences by expanding the number of clinics. They plan to establish four new locations in France by the year’s end.