Dear Mr. Prescott

As a general dentist, I made a choice to become an Invisalign provider. I chose to spend my time, energy and money to complete the Clear Essentials course necessary to become certified to provide Invisalign to my patients, incorporate Invisalign into my practice, and offer it to my patients. It is with grave concern that I read Align Technology’s announcement of its "Proficiency Requirements for Invisalign" last year.

The second prong of the requirements, the start of at least 10 Invisalign patient cases each year in order to maintain my Invisalign certification, is the part I find troublesome and disconcerting. While it was my choice to become a provider and offer Invisalign to my patients, I have a much lesser degree of control, if any, over the number of patients seeking or needing Invisalign. Therefore, the number of patient cases started per year is not something I myself can dictate, especially in the present economy where it has never been more difficult to determine patient volume.

In my experience, the ability to provide excellent orthodontic services has had nothing to do with starting a certain volume of cases within any given twelve month period of time and I am ethically obligated to treat my patients according to their needs and wants, not according to corporate requirements or quotas.

My patients have enjoyed the high quality of service I have provided them through Invisalign, and I do not wish to have my certification revoked because of circumstances beyond my control. I respectfully request you to explore some alternative solutions to the proficiency requirements. As a general dentist and Invisalign provider, I would appreciate your attention and efforts to this matter.

Thank you.