Dr. Dean C. BellaviaThe Bio-Engineering Co.
The Wonderful World of Protomorphogins
Are you, or someone you care about just tolerating diabetes, thyroid disease or heart disease? Do you think that something might be done about it? If so, maybe this pearl can help you or them do something more proactive than just tolerating it.
Have you ever heard of the term “protomorphogen”? Well join the club; most everybody, including physicians, have never heard of it. In the early part of the 20th century Dr. Royal Lee, a dentist and early pioneer in human nutrition, proposed that gland and organ tissue could be useful beyond just their food value. He believed that animal extracts could activate nuclear cell repair in compromised organs. In 1947, Dr. Lee described a protomorphogen (“proto” = primary or original; “morphogen” = that which organizes form) as a cell determinant from organ or glandular tissue. One definition of a determinant is: “That portion of an immunogenic molecule with which an antibody or lymphocyte reacts”. Dr. Lee believed that they provided the blueprint and framework upon which a cell was constructed and could be repaired. We will refer to the organ rebuilding protomorphogens that are listed at the end of this pearl.
To picture in your mind protomorphogens at work, think of them as microscopic construction workers—like microscopic electricians that repair the nervous system, plumbers that repair kidneys, air-conditioning repairmen that repair the lungs, mechanics that repair the muscles or roofers that repair the skin—well, I think of it that way.
In case you were wondering—and you probably weren’t—I'm not a dentist nor physician nor chiropractor, etc.; I am a Doctor of Bio-Engineering who has been working will almost every type of health care professional for over half a century. I don’t look at health from just one point of view as do most physicians, dentists, etc.; I look at it from all points of view—and whatever works…works. Much of what I say here may go against what you believe, but if you bear with me you might find something that could work for you. Of course some things work for some people and not for others, but in general what works for the many, may work for you or someone important to you.
Some history: In 1975 I started consulting for Chuck Hulsey, an orthodontist with one of the most multidisciplinary health care minds that I have ever worked with. Dr. Hulsey and I organized “The Holistic Dental Society” in 1980, which looked at TMJ treatment from every possible point of view—some of which were way out then, but are now considered practical (acupuncture, homeopathy, kinesiology, energy healing, etc.). Early on and to this day, Chuck has become very proficient using “kinesiology”; a muscle-testing procedure that allows us to tap into our health status—it sounds weird, but it really works. All muscle has memory, otherwise we would have to think about how to eat, walk, etc., instead of just doing it—that memory is part of the body’s overall energy coherence and electromagnetic information that can be tapped into by numerous means. Dr. Hulsey has used kinesiology on thousands of patients over the past 50+ years with remarkable results and has used protomorphogens to treat his patient’s weak organs to improve their health. I have personally taken various protomorphogens over the decades with some remarkable results (and some disappointments) as indicated below.
Resolving my diabetes: In 1980 Dr. Hulsey muscle-tested me and found that my pancreas tested weak. My mother and her mother have since died from diabetic complications and my sister developed diabetes decades ago, so it seems realistic now that I was prone to have it then. Chuck had been working with protomorphogens for a few years and suggested that I take “pancreatrophin” to strengthen my pancreas. I took it 3 times a day for 30 days (without food) and the next time I worked with Chuck he tested my pancreas and it tested strong—and to this day I have not fallen prey to diabetes. In 2021 I sent my sister a bottle of pancreatrophin. She took it 3 times a day for 30 days and found that her blood sugars were as she put it, “lower and much more controllable”. Pancreatrophin may help diabetics you know; why not give it a try.
Moving on. In 2019 I was diagnosed with high blood pressure (210/105) and was referred to a cardiologist. The month before my scheduled Doppler/Treadmill test I took “cardiotrophin” three times a day for 30 days to strengthen my heart. The Doppler test showed that I had strong, healthy heart muscles. During the 20-minute treadmill test we exceeded my calculated maximum heart rate at a systolic pressure of 190 and diastolic pressure of 90 with no fatigue on my part. When I asked the treadmill technician how high a heart rate they go to he said that he rarely went above the calculated maximum heart rate for the average patient—sad note; a collogue of mine actually dropped dead during that same treadmill test the year before. Now, I have always had a strong heart, but at 75 years of age when tested, it proved to be more than just a naturally strong heart and that the cardiotrophin did have a positive effect. Currently, I don't have high blood pressure problems. Cardiotrophin seemed to help me and may help people you know with heart problems.
A big difference: My mother had and my children have thyroid problems, but I never seemed to have any until lately. In 2019 I had a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) blood test that was a fairly healthy 3.42 (the healthy range for me is from 0.45 to 5:33); one year later my TSH tested high at 4.67; and in SEP 2023 it elevated to 5.41. After that test I decided to take “thyrotropin” three times a day for 30 days and my TSH blood test result in 10-23 was 2.64—a remarkable drop after it had been rising for years. Thyrotropin definitely helped me and may help people you know with thyroid problems.
Another long shot (I’ll try anything if I think it’ll help): In January of 2022 I developed a pressure rash (urticaria) on my upper trunk and arms that lasted for months. I tried all sorts of creams, which helped a little, but the rash persisted. I then decided to use “Dermatrophin” to help rebuild my skin tissue and hopefully resolve the rash. It didn’t help with the rash, but my skin is now a little smoother and more elastic. I finally resolved the rash with antihistamines. Again, dermatrophin was a long shot for me, but it might help those you know with skin problems.
A long shot with a surprise: As indicated in the pearl “Our Varying Perception of Time”, as we age the level of noradrenalin (norepinephrine) in the brain decreases, making the brain process sensory data slower, thus making time seem to proceed faster. Since the adrenal gland produces noradrenalin I decided to take “Drenatrophin” 3 times a day for 30 days to see if it boosted the amount of noradrenalin in my brain; hopefully to make time proceed less fast. I had also hoped that the noradrenalin neurotransmitter (although produced in the synapses) might make my neurons more excitatory, thus improving access to my memories that are still there but sometimes difficult to access. The result of my experiment was not what I had hoped for, but there was a benefit. My hippocampus-controlled “chain of thoughts” now better accesses those short-term memories of “why did I come into this room”—that short term memory is much more accessable instead of being just a blank. Seniors you know or people with adrenal gland disease might find drenatrophin helpful—and then again they may not.
A huge breakthrough: Throughout my life I did a great deal of unmasked work with plaster, asbestos, cement, sawdust and the like, which compromised my lung health and breathing. Most of my later life I suffered with bronchitis and pneumonia. In 2015 I received my first pneumonia shot and in 2018 my final pneumonia shot, which stopped the yearly bronchitis and pneumonia episodes. But my lungs were still compromised, making breathing very labored when doing aerobics, strenuous work and when walking up hills or stairs. In 2022 I contracted Covid-19 and had chest congestion, but few problems with breathing (probably since I was fully vaccinated and boosted). When I finally tested negative I decided to take “Pneumotrophin” 3 times a day for 30 days to help rebuild my lungs. The result: my breathing is never labored any more when walking up long hills or multiple flights of stairs. Another perk; in the past few decades when I would forcefully breathe in to totally fill my lungs I had noticeable lung pain—I no longer have that pain. That 30-day effort was one of the best things that I ever did to make my lungs healthy. Pneumotrophin may help people you know with lung disease or with breathing problems caused by Covid-19, etc.
My bottom Line: My lungs, thyroid and pancreas were not in great shape and the pneumotrophin, thyrotropin and pancreatrophin protomorphogens made a world of difference—it was well worth the annoyance of diligently taking each of them for 30 days. Then again, other protomorphogens were not as helpful as I had hoped for various reasons (like, those organs didn’t need it). I would thus assume that if you took a 30-day regimen of a needed protomorphogen that it would help that deteriorated organ.
There are many protomorphogens to choose from, depending on the weakened organ. If you have problems with any of the organs listed below you might give that protomorphogen a try. Here is an alphabetical list of available protomorphogens:
Dermatrophin PMG for the Skin
Drenatrophin PMG for the Adrenal gland
Myotrophin PMG for the Muscles
Neurotrophin PMG for the Nervous System
Oculotrophin PMG for the Eyes
Ovatrophin PMG for the Ovaries
Pancreatrophin PMG for the Pancreas
Pituitrophin PMG for the Pituitary gland
Pneumotrophin PMG for the Lungs
Prostate PMG for the Prostate
Renatrophin PMG for the Kidneys
Utrotrophin PMG for the Uterus
You can obtain these protomorphogens from “StandardProcess.com” if you have any state healthcare license. I simply order them from “JourneysHolisticLife.com”, although there are other vendors to choose from. You can even get protomorphogens for your pets from “HeartHealthyHomes.com” and other vendors.
I hope that you now have more faith in the use of protomorphogens and might use them to reduce/eliminate physical problems that you, those you care about, or your patients are now just tolerating—it’s like a vitamin pill for an organ.
More Accurate Fee Calculations
Do you have a proper Fee Schedule? Do you find it difficult to calculate unusual or limited (non-Full or non-Ph-I or Ph-II) fees? If so, maybe this pearl can help you with an accurate method of calculating them.
Other than helping my clients choose ideal team members, one of the most frequent requests I receive is how to determine a treatment fee for a limited, unusual Ph-I or combination Ph-I/Ph-II treatment. Usually I go through the process of calculating these fees with them on the phone, which resolves the situation until it happens again. It recently occurred to me that by just going through that calculation with the TC isn’t sufficient for them to remember what we did. I use a specific method for calculating fee schedules, which I will now share with my clients TC’s and with the thousands of practices that view my monthly Management Pearls.
A helpful first step is to refer back to the financial arrangements management pearl, which had an Excel attachment for Creating a Fee Schedule with built in financial agreements. Go to: (www.thebio-engineeringco.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=206:negotiating-financial-agreements&Itemid=766) Or you can just see the attached, updated Fee-Schedule-Creator Excel file.
The Basis for Accurate Fee Calculations:
The basis for the calculation of any fee is the total minutes of chair/room-time required to effectively treat the case and the practice’s $-Fee-Multiplier per minute.
If you use the Fee-Schedule-Creator Excel file all you need to do is determine the number of minutes to treat the usual 24-month Child Braces treatment. In the past, before the more efficient Exams-Records-Tx Consults (see last month’s management pearl), the new bracket systems and heat-activated archwires, it use to take between 1,150 and 1,350 total minutes to treat a 24-month braces case. Today, it only takes about 750 to 950 minutes to treat the same case. You can calculate your own total minutes by adding up your minutes for: Exam/Records/Consults, starting appointments, active treatment appointments and Braces Removal + Retention appointments. Or you can use about 850 minutes as an average. If you are wondering how this applies to a 24-month plastic aligner full treatment, which usually takes about 450 to 650 minutes, the $-Fee-Multiplier is the same. The high plastic aligner lab cost divided by the $-Fee-Multipliere increases the average 550 min to about 850 minutes.
So now that you know to calculate (or guess at) your total minutes of treatment time, you can move on to calculating your $-Fee-Multiplier. It’s very simple, just take your typical 24-month Tx Fee and divide it by your total Tx minutes for that fee. For example, a $6,380, 24-month CHILD Tx fee at 850 minutes equals $7.50 per minute. Another example, a $6,880, 24-month ADULT Tx fee at 850 minutes equals $8.00 per minute. Or you can use the Fee-Schedule-Creator Excel file and insert that number of minutes as illustrated and your 24-month Tx fee to obtain your $-Fee-Multipliere.
Accurate Fee Calculations:
Using the Fee-Schedule-Creator Excel file with the total 24-month braces minutes and fee, you can automatically create your fee schedule for your full treatments, but you need to determine the number of Tx minutes plus lab costs for your usual Ph-I & Limited treatments. If you do Combination Ph-I/Ph-II Tx (RPE/Full Tx or Herbst/Full Tx, etc.), you will also need to calculate them individually and add them to your fee schedule using the calculations below.
The calculation of any BRACES fee, based on minutes of Tx, $-Fee-Multiplier and Lab Fees can be determined using the following formula:
Braces Tx FEE = (Exam/Record min___ + All Tx min___ + All Retention min___) X ($-FEE-Multiplier) + $_____ All Lab Fees
For example: A 12-month Ph-I Tx fee = (105 + 185 + 70) X $7.75 + $120 = 360 X $7.75 + $120 = $2,790 + $120 = $2,930.
Similarly the calculation of any PLASTIC ALIGNER fee, based on minutes of Tx and $-Fee-Multiplier and Lab Fees can be determined using the same formula:
Aligner Tx FEE = (Exam/Record min___ + All Tx min___ + All Retention min___) X ($-FEE-Multiplier) + $_____ All Lab Fees
An example of a 12-month Plastic Aligner Tx fee = (125 + 105 + 70) X $8.00 + $1,200 = 300 X $8.00 + $1,200 = $2,400 + $1,200 = $3,630.
When a patient transfers into the practice for a limited Tx, this formula is quite handy and straight forward when used to calculate that limited Tx fee, as noted above.
Also, when a patient transfers out of the practice, this formula can also be used to calculate the adjustment to their Tx fee.
An example of a patient has 6 months of Tx left of a full braces Tx is:
Tx FEE ADJ = (All undone Tx min___ + All undone Retention min___) X ($-FEE-Multiplier) + $_____ Retainer Lab Fees
For example: The transfer-out fee adjustment = (80 + 70) X $7.75 + $120 = 150 X $7.75 + $120 = $1,160 + $120 = $1,280 adjustment on their account balance.
As you can see, you can calculate any unusual Tx Fee or adjustment by just adding up the total minutes of Tx time and multiply it by the $-Fee-Multiplier, and then add in the Lab fees. Enjoy! Dealing With Extreme Emotions, Part-V, Joy and Mania
Do you find it difficult to deal with excessively joyful or manic people? Do you find it difficult to get your tasks done when you are excessively joyful? If so, maybe this pearl can help calm that uncontrollable joy so that something else can be accomplished.
Welcome to the final part of this five-part series, which deals with calming down manic people. Joyful people (socializers) are usually wonderful to be around because they are entertaining, positive and make us happy. But excessively joyful (manic) people can be difficult to be with, especially when you need their attention and can’t get it because they are so distracted. That excessive joy is also why their necessary tasks don’t get completed—this also applies to you when you are excessively joyful. Usually you can get their attention, but when their joy emotion is extreme it is very difficult to rationally interact with them. This pearl is especially helpful if you or your mate is a genetically strong joyful socializer and a genetically weak fearful analyzer.
What causes Joy and Mania?
The right amygdala stores our joy memories. Sensory input triggers these joy memories (in 50 ms) along with sensory memories in the sensory cortex (in 100 ms)—these sensory memories also trigger related socializer memories in the right frontal cortex. When joy is triggered, the amygdala wipes the pre-frontal cortex (PFC) clear of what it is presently dealing with and scans those socializer memories to find the reason for the joy (in 500 ms). If not found, new sensory input will re-trigger the amygdala and other socializer memories to sort it out. But if that joy is rationally re-triggered by related strong socializer memories, it can elevate towards mania. The problem with excessive joy is that it mentally and physically distracts us, making us barely able to concentrate or to meaningful interact with others.
The evolutionary purpose of the joy emotion is: to alert us to our possible connections. The evolutionary purpose of the socializer style’s memories (in the right frontal cortex) is: to interact with our positive connections and to avoid our negative connections. Genetically strong socializers have an overly excitable joy emotion and can find a connection in almost anything—that joy is erroneous when we think that something is a connection when it isn’t, which instantly quells that joy. Joy can elevate to mania when the perceived connection is very negative and to be avoided at all costs or when the perceived connection very positive and must be interacted with. The bottom line for overly joyous or manic people is to enjoy their joy, but help them to calm down if it creates a total lack of self control. And once you calm them down they can become productive again and get their necessary tasks completed.
When joyful, we only use the socializer style’s rational memories, which are governed by the following three socializer motivations:
1) To pursue pleasure and advantage 2) To be unconstrained 3) To trust most situations
These motivations cause us to interact with our positive connections and avoid our negative connections. When the joyful/manic person is a strong socializer (which is typically the case) there are many socializer memories to support/prolong that joy/mania and it is difficult to get their attention and get anything done. If the joyful person is genetically a weak socializer these motivations are weaker because there are fewer socializer memories to support/prolong it, making them easier to bring down (especially if that person is a strong analyzer with totally opposite motivations).
Calming an Excessively Joyful/Manic person:
When the emotional brain is firing too quickly it will continue wiping out any rational use of the PFC to deal with that positive or negative joy. And more typically, if that joy is rationally re-triggered with socializer memories about that positive or negative connection it can elevate to mania. It is your job to help that person to get back rational (PFC) control. To do that you need to sequentially calm them using the following procedure to “step outside yourself” and make it only about them, never about you:
1) While looking them straight in the eye at their eye level, ask them to “please take a deep breath” as you also take a deep breath. This distraction should calm them and you a little and will reduce the physical distress from shallow breathing.
2) Clear your mind of any opinions or rational emotions about that situation. Look into their eyes and carefully ask them why they are so excited and allow their PFC to find the reason for their excessive joy and quell it a little. 3) Only focus on what the other person is saying to discover the cause of their excessive joy. Fully hear that person out (saying nothing) no matter how long it takes, to allow them to gain more control. 4) Wait at least five seconds after they are done speaking to make any supportive comments—don’t be judgmental (stay outside of yourself). This will calm them a little more. 5) Then, stop talking and while looking them in the eyes allow them to say anything else—without prompting or commenting on it—simply wait for them to shut up and calm down. There are a lot of steps to remember here, but most of the time you can calm then using only steps 1), 2), 3), since steps 4) and 5) are automatic—just wait until they are tired of talking.
Calming Yourself when you are Manic—Not easy to do:
1) Take a deep breath and concentrate on that breath; take another if necessary.
2) Ask yourself why that positive or negative connection excites you so much.
3) Take another deep breath.
4) Interact with a positive connection, allowing them to talk; don't dominate the conversation.
5) Avoid a negative connection and think of something positive about them to calm you down.
Throughout this sequence you are allowing an overly excited person to calm down little by little to release their PFC from joy’s emotional control so that they can get back to reality. Hopefully, they will have an understanding of what causes that positive or negative joy and can deal with it now and possibly in the future.
I hope that this five-part series has helped you to understand how to deal with emotionally distraught people, including yourself, to gain composure and move on.
Dealing With Extreme Emotions, Part-IV, Sorrow and Despair
Do you find it difficult to deal with sad or depressed people? Do you find it difficult to deal with your own sadness? If so, maybe this pearl can help reduce the sadness or despair/depression experienced daily.
Welcome to Part-IV of this five-part series dealing with calming down the sadness or despair in yourself and others. People displaying sorrow can descend into despair or depression, especially when they are disconnected from their finances or their loved connections. People who experience a tragic loss are difficult to help, but you can at least give them support with your relator style to momentarily get them through it. Anybody can get depressed, but genetically strong relators tend to get more depressed and genetically strong directors tend to get less depressed.
What causes Sorrow, Depression or Despair?
The left amygdala stores our sorrow memories. Sensory input triggers these sorrow memories (in 50 ms) along with sensory memories in the sensory cortex (in 100 ms)—these sensory memories also trigger related relator memories in the left frontal cortex. When sorrow is triggered, the amygdala wipes the pre-frontal cortex (PFC) clear of what it is presently dealing with and scans those relator memories to find the reason for the sorrow (in 500 ms). If not found, new sensory input will re-trigger the amygdala and other relator memories to sort it out. But if the feeling of disconnection is great, the amygdala will quickly re-trigger that sorrow before rational memories can be accessed, continuing or elevating that sorrow. And if not firing too quickly, that sorrow can be rationally re-triggered by strong relator memories about that loss, causing despair or depression.
The evolutionary purpose of the relator style in the left frontal cortex is: to maintain our connections. The evolutionary purpose of sorrow is: to alert us to a disconnection from our connections. Genetically strong relators have an excitable left (sorrow) amygdala and can find disconnection in almost anything, triggering mild sorrow to despair/depression. When sorrow is re-triggered by unresolved strong relator memories the sorrow can descend to despair/depression. If the disconnection is from an unimportant connection the sorrow is simple to alleviate, but when disconnected from an important connection (a lost loved one, etc.) that sorrow already has descended into despair/depression, which could last for years—because they can’t reconnect with a dead person. Some strong relators find disconnection in indifference—they erroneously think that when another person seems indifferent to them that they are disconnected. The bottom line is that you should assure them that there is no disconnection or distract them from a real disconnection.
When someone uses their relator style their reactions are governed by the following others-serving motivations:
1) Only other’s Opinions matter (momentarily)
2) Only other’s Needs matter (momentarily)
3) Only other’s Decisions matter (momentarily)
When someone is a strong relator, these motivations control their daily reactions, their daily lives. When the sorrowful person is a strong relator (which is typically the case) there are many relator memories to support or elevate that sorrow to despair, making it very difficult to calm them. If the sorrowful person is genetically a weak relator there are fewer relator memories controlled by these motivations to support/elevate that sorrow, making it easier to quell—especially if that person is a strong director with totally opposite motivations.
Lifting up a Sorrowful person:
When you are not the cause of their disconnection the sorrowful person is using their relator memories and motivations to reconnect with someone/something who is not there to help them, which can cause them to descend deeper into despair/depression. There is little you can do about this other than distract them and/or support their need to feel some kind of reconnection to something.
When you are the cause of their disconnection, the sorrowful person is using these motivations to reconnect with you, making your needs and opinions more important then their own. This gives you the ability to use your relator style and its motivations to reconnect with them. Unfortunately, this is difficult to do when you are a weak relator (especially when you are a strong director with opposite motivations), which is why “stepping outside yourself” is an important tool. Thus, when you are the cause of their disconnection it is your job to help them get back rational (PFC) control by sequentially lifting them up using the following procedure to “step outside yourself” and concentrate on their needs and opinions, not yours:
1) While looking them straight in the eye at their eye level, ask them to “please take a deep breath” as you also take a deep breath. This distraction should calm them and you a little and reduce the physical distress from shallow breathing. 2) Clear your mind of any opinions or rational emotions about that disconnection. Look into their eyes and carefully ask them why they are so sad and allow their PFC to find the reason for their sadness and possibly quell it.
3) Only focus on what the other person is saying to discover the cause of their sorrow. Fully hear that person out (saying nothing) no matter how long it takes, to allow them to gain more control.
4) Wait at least five seconds after they are done speaking to support the aspects of their rational that you agree with—don’t be judgmental (stay outside of yourself). This will calm them a little more.
5) Then, stop talking and while looking them in the eyes allow them to say anything else—without prompting or commenting on it—simply wait for them to calm down.
6) Compassionately look them in the eyes and say nothing until they calm themselves if their sorrow elevates and they won’t calm down—this may take a while so be patient.
There are a lot of steps to remember here, but most of the time you can calm then only using steps 1), 2), 3), and possibly 4).
Calming Yourself Down when in Despair—NOT easy to do—get help:
1) Take a deep breath and concentrate on that breath
2) Ask yourself why that connection was so important to you.
3) Take another deep breath.
4) Think about why you miss that connection.
5) Think about why your life might be better without that connection.
6) Treat your self to something you like.
Throughout this sequence you are allowing sorrowful people to calm down enough to release their PFC from sorrow’s control so that they can sort out and quell that sorrow and move on. Hopefully, they will have an understanding of what causes that sorrow and can get past it in the moment and possibly forever. This is especially true when you are the cause of that sorrow and can provide positive information to help them get past it.
I hope that Part-IV has helped you to understand how to deal with people in the grip of sorrow/depression/despair. In Part-V we will discuss how to calm down people who are being controlled by excessive joy, which can elevate to mania and the total loss of mental and physical control. Dealing With Extreme Emotions, Part-III, Fear and Terror
Do you find it difficult to deal with fearful or terrified people? Do you find it difficult to deal with your own strong fears? If so, maybe this pearl can help you calm that fear and terror.
Welcome to Part-III of this five-part series, which deals with calming fearful or terrified people. The second most difficult emotion to deal with is fear, which can elevate to paralyzing terror, making that person literally become petrified, unable to move. This pearl is especially helpful if you or your mate is a genetically strong fearful analyzer and also a genetically weak socializer.
What causes Fear and Terror?
The left amygdala stores our fear memories. Sensory input triggers these fear memories (in 50 ms) along with sensory memories in the sensory cortex (in 100 ms)—these sensory memories also trigger related analyzer memories in the left frontal cortex. When fear is triggered, the amygdala wipes the pre-frontal cortex (PFC) clear of what it is presently dealing with and scans those analyzer memories to find the reason for that fear (in 500 ms). If not found, new sensory input will re-trigger the amygdala and other related analyzer memories to sort it out. If there is extreme danger the amygdala will continuously re-trigger that fear every 50 ms before any rational memories can sort it out. And if not firing too quickly, that fear can be rationally re-triggered by related analyzer memories and can elevate to terror. A hint, if that fearful person emits strong negative energy (“negative vibes”) the fear has already elevated.
The analyzer style is a rational program in the left frontal cortex whose purpose is: to cautiously proceed. The evolutionary purpose of fear is: to alert us to danger. This is the flight part of our “fight or flight” reaction and why fearful people try to mentally and physically escape from a possibly dangerous situation. Genetically strong analyzers find danger everywhere and are cautious about anything new, sometimes physically or mentally fleeing from it. The bottom line is that no matter what triggers their fear/terror, they will need help to calm down.
When fearful, we only use the analyzer style’s rational memories, which are governed by the following analyzer motivations:
1) To avoid loss or pain
2) To only do what we’re supposed to do
3) To distrust most situations
It’s not easy getting through to a person controlled by these motivations, especially in a world driven by fear and hatred. When the fearful/terrified person is a strong analyzer (which is typically the case) there are many analyzer memories to support/elevate that fear and it is difficult to calm them. If the fearful person is genetically a weak analyzer there are fewer analyzer memories controlled by these motivations, making it easier to calm them (especially if that person is a strong socializer with totally opposite motivations).
Calming a Fearful/Terrified Person:
As previously indicated, when someone's emotional brain is firing too quickly it will continue to wipe out any rational use of the PFC to sort out and quell his or her fear. And if not firing too quickly, that fear can be rationally re-triggered by related unresolved analyzer memories, elevating it to terror. It is your job to help that fearful person get back rational control of their PFC. To do that you need to sequentially calm them using the following procedure to “step outside yourself” and make it only about them, never you:
1) While looking them straight in the eye at their eye level, ask them to “please take a deep breath” as you also take a deep breath. This distraction should calm them and you a little and will reduce the physical distress from shallow breathing. 2) Clear your mind of any opinions or rational emotions about that situation. Look into their eyes and carefully ask them why they are so afraid and allow their PFC to find the reason for their fear and quell it. 3) Only focus on what the other person is saying to discover the cause of their fear. Fully hear that person out (saying nothing) no matter how long it takes, to allow them to gain more control. 4) Wait at least five seconds after they are done speaking to support the aspects of their rational that you agree with—don’t be judgmental (stay outside of yourself). This will calm them a little more. 5) Then, stop talking and while looking them in the eyes allow them to say anything else—without prompting or commenting on it—simply wait for them to calm down. 6) If their fear elevates and they won’t calm down, compassionately look them in the eyes, breathe deeply and say nothing until they calm themselves—this may take a while so be patient. There are a lot of steps to remember here, but most of the time you can calm then using only steps 1), 2), 3), and possibly 4).
Calming Yourself when you are fearful—Impossible to do if terrified—so get help:
1) Take a deep breath and concentrate on that breath; take another if necessary.
2) Ask yourself why you are afraid, but don’t dwell on it.
3) Take another deep breath and concentrate on that breath.
4) Think about how you might deal with that dangerous situation to get a feeling of control over it.
5) If terrified—run if not paralyzed with fear!
Throughout this sequence you are allowing others to calm down enough to release their PFC from fear’s control so that they can sort out and quell that fear. Hopefully, they will have an understanding of what causes that fear and can get past it momentarily and possibly forever. This is especially true if you are the cause of that fear and they are having difficulty getting you to understand the situation from their point of view, which you need to do. If you are fearful it is best to figure out what caused that fear and what you might do about it.
I hope that Part-III has helped you to understand how to deal with fearful/terrified people. In Part-IV we will discuss how to calm down people who are being controlled by sorrow and despair.
Dealing With Extreme Emotions, Part-II, Anger, Hatred and Rage
Do you find it difficult to deal with angry, hateful or enraged people? Do you find it difficult to deal with your own anger, hatred or rage? If so, maybe this pearl can help you to calm that anger, hatred or rage.
Welcome again to this five-part series about dealing with emotionally distraught people. Part-II will deal with calming angry or enraged people. Emotional anger and rational hate/rage are the most difficult emotions to deal with because it is so confrontational and scary, but it can be done since the angry/hateful/enraged person actually wants to get past it and move on. This pearl is especially helpful if you or your mate is a genetically strong angry director and a weak relator.
What Causes Anger, Hatred and Rage?
The right amygdala stores our anger memories. Sensory input triggers these anger memories (in 50 ms) along with sensory memories in the sensory cortex (in 100 ms)—these sensory memories also trigger related director memories in the right frontal cortex. When anger is triggered, the amygdala wipes the pre-frontal cortex (PFC) clear of what it is presently dealing with and scans those sensorially triggered director memories to find the reason for the anger (in 500 ms). If not found, new sensory input will re-trigger the amygdala's anger and other director memories to sort it out. Or if an extreme confrontation/attack the amygdala will continuously re-trigger that anger and wipe the PFC every 50 ms before any rational memories can sort it out. And if not firing too quickly, that anger can be rationally re-triggered by related director memories (in >500 ms), elevating it to hatred or rage and possibly to physical/verbal attack. A hint; if that angry person emits strong negative energy (“negative vibes”) the anger has already elevated.
The director style is a rational program in the right frontal cortex whose purpose is: "to deal with possible confrontation/annoyance". The evolutionary purpose of anger is: "to alert us to confrontation/annoyance" and in strong angry/directors those anger memories are very sensitive to any form of confrontation or annoyance. This is the fight part of our “fight or flight” reaction and why angry people confront others. Emotional anger can elevate to rational hatred or rage when re-triggered by unresolved director memories that are difficult to get past. But, no matter what triggers the anger/hatred/rage, that person needs to calm down.
When angry, we only use the director style’s rational memories, which are governed by the following director motivations:
1) Only my Opinions matter.
2) Only my Needs matter.
3) Only my Decisions matter.
It’s not easy to calm a person that is driven by these self-serving motivations, especially in a world divided by fear and hatred. When the angry person is a genetically strong director (which is typically the case) there are many director memories to support/elevate that anger to rage, making it difficult to calm them down. If the angry person is a genetically weak director there are fewer director memories controlled by these motivations to support/elevate that anger, making it easier to quell—especially if that person is a strong relator with totally opposite motivations. And yes, strong relators do become angry/enraged, especially when something threatens their loved ones.
Calming an Angry/Enraged/Hateful Person:
As previously indicated, when someone's emotional brain is firing too quickly it will continue to wipe out any rational use of the PFC to sort out and quell that anger. And more typically, if that anger is rationally re-triggered by related unresolved director memories it can elevate to hatred or rage. It is your job to help the angered person to get back rational control of their PFC. To do that you need to sequentially calm them using the following procedure to “step outside yourself” and make it only about them, never you:
1) While looking them straight in the eye at their eye level, ask them to “please take a deep breath” as you also take a deep breath. This distraction should calm them and you a little and reduce their physical distress from shallow breathing. 2) Clear your mind of any opinions or rational emotions about that situation. Look into their eyes and carefully ask them why they are so angry and allow their PFC to find the reason for their anger and quell it. If they are acting hateful ask them what/who they hate and especially why.
3) Only focus on their response to discover the reason for their anger/hatred/rage. Fully hear that person out (saying nothing) no matter how long it takes, to allow them to gain more control.
4) Wait at least five seconds after they are done speaking to better define the cause of their anger/hatred/rage and to support the aspects of their rational that you agree with—don’t be judgmental (stay outside of yourself). This will calm them a little more.
5) Then, stop talking and while looking them in the eyes allow them to say anything else without prompting or commenting on it—simply wait for them to calm down.
6) Compassionately look them in the eyes and say nothing until they calm themselves if the are enraged and won’t calm down—this may take a while so be patient.
There are a lot of steps to remember, but most of the time you can calm then only using steps 1), 2), 3)—but probably all 6 steps if they are enraged or acting hateful.
Calming Yourself when you catch yourself when Angry, Hateful or Enraged:
1) Take a deep breath and concentrate on that breath.
2) Ask yourself why you are so angry or what/who you hate, but don’t elevate that anger.
3) Take another deep breath and concentrate on that breath.
4) Think about what that person has done to help you in the past.
5) If you are enraged—don’t argue or fight; just walk away!
Throughout this sequence you are allowing others (and yourself) to calm down enough to release their PFC from anger or hatred’s control so that they can sort out and quell it. Hopefully, they will have an understanding of what causes it and can get past it that moment or possibly forever. This is especially true if you are the cause of their anger or hatred and they are having difficulty getting you to understand the situation from their point of view, which you need to do.
By "stepping outside yourself" you will calm them because you can accept their point of view even if you disagree with it because it seems extreme. Remember, it is their angry director memories that they are thinking with, not yours.
I hope that Part-II has helped you to understand how to better deal with angry/enraged/hateful people.
In Part-III will discuss how to calm people who are being controlled by their fear/terror.
Dealing With Extreme Emotions, Part-I, Free Will to Act
Do you find it difficult to deal with emotionally distraught people? Do your reactions calm or intensify the emotional reactions of others? Do you think that you can muster up the “free will” to help others deal with their emotional reactions? If so, maybe this pearl can help you to help the emotionally distraught.
Welcome to this five-part series on how to deal with emotionally distraught people. Part-I examines how our free will allows us to help or not the emotionally distraught by providing a useful technique. Parts two through five show you how to use that technique to calm down people who are expressing anger/rage, fear/terror, sorrow/despair or joy/mania—which are basic/rational emotions. The anger/rage and fear/terror emotions cause the most interpersonal damage, but sorrow/despair is personally destructive and joy/mania can get out of hand. In this series we will discuss emotional outbursts in order from the most destructive to the least.
The Free Will to Take Control:
It may seem odd that the concept of “free will” should enter into this conversation, but it is at the center of it. To help distraught people we need to have a clear mind without undue influence from our own emotions, genetic motivations or nurtured opinions—i.e., we need to be able to use our free will. We can use our free will to help distraught people to use their free will to calm themselves down. But in order to use our free will we need to understand how our senses, emotional brain and rational brain affect it.
Our 200M-year-old emotional brain (especially the amygdala) evolved to help us survive. Sensory information triggers the amygdala’s four primary emotional reactions (anger, fear, sorrow and joy) to help us physically survive. Our 1M-year-old Homo sapien brain evolved to react to sensory information to help us socially survive—i.e., to work together to survive in a world with larger, fiercer, tooth and claw creatures that make us the dinner instead of the diner.
Our rational brain consists of left and right frontal and temporal cortices, which store rational memories, plus a multi-layered pre-frontal cortex (PFC). The PFC uses rational memories to understand the reason for our emotional reactions and how to deal with them. The PFC also uses rational memories to appropriately react to non-emotional situations in day-to-day living such as body maintenance, work, fun, etc.
Fun Fact—free will only exists in the PFC (our conscious mind), since it provides us with the will (decisiveness) to appropriately react. The rest of the rational brain constitutes the unconscious mind, since it never makes decisions—it just provides the knowledge that those decisions are based on. Likewise our emotional brain (our subconscious mind) never makes decisions (it just triggers reactions), it just take control of the PFC and demand that it deal with the emotional outburst, totally negating our free will to appropriately react.
Bottom line: to help distraught people we need to use our PFC (our free will) to help them to use their PFC (their free will) to deal with their emotional situation. For a fuller understanding of Free Will, see the attached PDF "What is Free Will?"
Calming a Distraught Person:
To help others calm down you have to be unemotional and in control of your PFC. But it is difficult to be unemotional and calm them down when you are involved in or are the cause of the distressing situation. You need to calm down first and take control of your PFC, which is accomplished by “stepping outside yourself” to positively guide instead of aggravate the situation. This is easier said than done, but by only focusing on the needs and opinions of others and by not getting emotionally involved, you can do it.
When a distraught person’s sensorially triggered amygdala is firing too quickly it will continuously wipe out any rational use of their PFC and their free will. Also, when that emotion is rationally re-triggered by rational memories about that situation it will elevate it—for example, elevate basic anger to rational rage. It is your job to help the distraught person to get rational control of their PFC by sequentially: distracting them while “stepping outside yourself” to stifle your needs and opinions to make it all about them—not you. To calm someone do the following:
1) While looking them straight in the eye at their eye level, ask them to “Please take a deep breath” as you also take a deep breath. This distraction should calm them and you down a little since that 1,000+ ms breath is longer than the 50 ms it takes the amygdala to re-trigger that emotion or the 500 ms it takes for negative rational memories to escalate that distress. A deep breath will also reduce the physical distress (lack of air) from the shallow breathing that accompanies emotional outbursts.
2) Clear your mind of any opinions or rational emotions about that situation. Look into their eyes and carefully ask them why they are so angry, fearful, etc. This allows their PFC to find the reason for that outburst and quell it.
3) Only focus on what the other person is saying to discover the reason for their outburst. Fully hear that person out (saying nothing) no matter how long it takes, to allow them to gain more control.
4) Important! Wait at least five seconds after they are done speaking to support the aspects of their rational that you agree with—don’t be judgmental (stay outside of yourself). This will calm them a little more.
5) Then, stop talking and while looking them in the eyes allow them to say anything else—without prompting or commenting on it—simply wait for them to calm down.
6) Compassionately look them in the eyes and say nothing until they calm themselves if they become more extreme and won’t calm down—this may take a while so be patient.
Succinctly:
1) Take a deep breath.
2) Ask them why they are upset.
3) Let them vent.
4) Support what they say.
5) Allow them to get past it.
6) If they are extremely emotional, silently wait for them to calm themselves down.
I know that there are a lot of steps to remember and that most of the time you can calm then using steps 1), 2), 3), and maybe 4).
In the next four parts of this series we will use this sequence to help calm people controlled by anger/rage, fear/terror, joy/mania or sorrow/despair.
I hope that this discussion was helpful and that you are looking forward to discussions about the kinds of emotional outbursts that you experience in yourself and in others and how to deal with them.
Changing Face of Orthodontics, Part-III (TC)
Are you using the latest Initial Records and TC procedures to get your patients started? Are they effective and efficient and getting more patients started, sooner? Maybe this pearl can help you put this important aspect of the changing face of orthodontics into prospective.
Over the 50 years that I’ve been organizing orthodontic practices there has been many changes, all with their own pro and con price tags. In this third and final part of this series we will discuss the changing face of your Initial Records and TC Bio-Systems (people-systems)—how it all started and how it evolved to what works best today.
A Little History:
Back in 1972 when I started designing orthodontic bio-systems (people systems) for “The Millennium Society”, Dr. Carl Gugino of Buffalo, NY introduced me to the “Treatment Coordinator” (TC) concept for getting new patients started. Back then, there were more patients than the practices could handle and most practices hired me because they over-started and were going crazy trying to get them treated. Their IR-TC bio-systems were: New Patient Exam, then Initial Records, then Dx & Tx Planning and then Initial Appliances, which typically took between two and three months. It took so long because of too many patients and because it took weeks to get initial records processed in order to Dx & Tx plan the case. The doctor only had enough time to briefly see the patient at the exam and initial appliances appointments. The scheduling was also a mess with patients stuck anywhere in the schedule; whether they “fit” in there or not—the TC concept helped by scheduling the exams/consults and records in separate rooms (columns) instead of in the busy clinic columns.
One saving grace was that Dr. Gugino’s TC concept helped spread out the new patient’s initial appointments for better control of the treatment and to provide a much better “service”. Treatment is moving teeth; service is the way you provide that treatment to make it more effective/efficient and to make the patient feel like “they do not want to go anyplace else for their treatment”. This same service applies today where the competition is more fierce, requiring a more timely, marketing/selling approach to getting patients started. In this pearl, we will use a chronological approach to describe the pros and cons of how these bio-systems have changed/improved over the years.
Before about 1975:
Most doctors did the new patient exam in a Tx chair in the clinic. The pros were: 1) The patient got started sooner; and 2) The doctor spent little Dr-Tx-Time getting the patient started.
The cons were: 1) The patient/family got little information on their Dx and Tx Plan; 2) the exam and its discussion wasn’t private [HIPAA would not have approved]; 3) in order to keep it short, the exam typically wasn’t comprehensive enough; 4) the family wasn’t properly informed and had many unanswered questions; and, 5) it did nothing to market the practice (quite the opposite, but there were many patients available). If the doctor did the exam in a private operatory instead of an open clinic the pros and cons above were the same, except that there was some HIPAA privacy.
From 1975 to about 1995:
The TC concept became popular because of its pros: 1) the Exam & Tx Consult was done in a private exam/consult room with the TC; 2) the TC could record the patient’s data while making the patient the subject and not the object of the exam, getting the patient more involved in treatment; 3) the doctor could do a more comprehensive exam; 4) the doctor could dictate his/her findings to the TC, making it a “good show”, impressing the patient/family and internally marketing the practice; 5) the TC could better explain the doctor’s findings and the treatment required to resolve the patient’s problems; 6) the records/starting appointments could be scheduled by the TC, having the patient/family only deal with one person.
The cons were: 1) the TC concept increased staff-related expenses and daily appointments; 2) being distracted from the clinic’s needs while in the exam room, the doctor spent 20 to 30 minutes at the exam, unfortunately doing the TC’s work—when in fact the patient/family would rather talk to the TC; 3) the TC concept required separate Exam, Tx Consult, Initial Records and starting appointments to get patients effectively started. Effectively started means that they were sold on Tx, they knew how to cooperate, their financing and their starting appointments were acceptable.
From about 1995 to about 2005:
New pros were created for the TC program by the use of computers and digital records: 1) digital x-rays were instant, requiring little processing time; 2) photo “imaging” eliminated the long time it took to print 35mm slides; 3) the Dr time at the exam was reduced to about 10 to 15 minutes; and 4) the TC could schedule all of the patient’s appointments in the exam/consult room without going to the reception area.
Eventually, the Tx Consults collected some cons: 1) separate exams, records, Tx Consults and starting appointments took too long to get patients started, driving some away; 2) the scheduled exam times almost doubled, by trying to do the exam and Tx consult in one appointment; and 3) all of that information “burnt out” the patient/family.
At the same time the Tx Consults still had some pros: 1) Patients who needed to go home after the exam and think about it, still required a separate Tx Consult; 2) Tx Consults were still needed for difficult treatment plans (i.e., wait for full vs. do a Ph-I/Ph-II, do surgical or not, etc.); and 3) some patients needed a Tx Consult after they went home to discuss starting treatment with the entire family—those Tx Consults were later replaced with a short Financial Consult with the Financial Coordinator, typically the same day as the initial appliances.
Another approach that started in about 1987 was the “Instant Start”, used by practices with strong, get-it-done director doctors using a weak relator TC—they started treatment right after the exam. The pro was: 1) treatment started by not allowing the patient/family to go home and get buyers remorse and not start treatment.
The cons were: 1) Some felt too pressured and didn’t start; 2) If started, collecting the initial payment (or any payment) was difficult (buyers remorse); 3) they ransomed the teeth with a few brackets/appliance and later placed all of the appliances; 3) If full braces are placed they had to have a lot of DA and Dr. time available after the exam, wasting that appointment if they didn’t start; 4) Patient cooperation was not great.
The only resolution to this problem was to have a proper TC personality so that they didn’t need an instant start. Refer to the management pearls: “How the Director Style* HELPS or HINDERS your Success”, "How the Relator Style HELPS or HINDERS your Success" and “Balancing your Practice Personality”.
From about 2005 to date:
The new pros were that: 1) the use of digital x-rays, tooth-scanning devices, photos, the proper sequencing of appointments and succinct exam procedures provided a shorter, more efficient exam/consult and got the patient started sooner; 2) the doctor could do a better exam and Tx explanation using a digital Pano printout and a photo collage printout that the patient/family could take home and discuss.
The cons were: 1) The records tech had to be able to give the TC the pano (and photos) before the doctor arrived at the exam; or 2) If the TC took/processed the photos it required more exam time while she ignored the patient/family to process them.
Finally after about four decades, an ideal TC-RT two appointment sequence:
Appointment One:
1) The TC obtains the patient and family and brings them to the Exam/Consult room.
2) The Records tech is called in and introduced to the patient/family who brings the patient to the records room and takes the pano and photos while the TC obtains financial information from the family.
3) The Records tech brings the patient back to the exam/consult room for the TC to start her patient interview.
4) The Records tech prints out the digital pano and photo collage and makes it available to the doctor before he/she enters the exam.
5) The Doctor does his/her exam and uses the pano and photos to describe his/her findings and the treatment required and then leaves.
6) The TC better explains the doctor’s findings, Tx plan and Tx fees and possible financial arrangements.
7) If the patient/family accepts treatment, the TC has the records tech take the ceph and scan for the models while the TC wraps up the Financial Agreement, Informed Consent, etc., and schedules the starting appointments.
8) If the patient/family is hesitant about starting, a short Tx Consult later with the TC or with the Financial Coordinator is scheduled before the Initial Appliances appointment to resolve the finances.
Appointment Two:
Initial appliances.
I hope that you have already taken advantage of these orthodontic bio-systems to get your patients started sooner with a better service—and if not, it might be a good time to start.
You might also want to review the attached PDF covering “Patient Availability” (to the TC) over the past 62 years, and over the next 13 years, which might be helpful in planning the types of patients you should market (adults?).
Changing Face of Orthodontics, Part-II (aligners)
Do you know that patients are doing their own orthodontics using aligners? Do you see this as a threat to your practice? Would your practice’s bottom line improve if you could purchase your aligners individually? Well, maybe this pearl can help you put this changing face of orthodontic aligners into prospective.
Over the 50 years that I’ve been organizing orthodontic practices there has been many changes; some pros and some cons—nothing comes without a price tag. In Part-II of this three-part series we will discus the changing face of your competition. I’m not talking about local orthodontists or about pediatric or general dentists; I’m talking about patients doing their own aligner treatment. We will also discuss in this part how plastic aligner lab fees can be less expensive. In Part-III of this series we will discuss the pros and cons of the changing face of your Orthodontic Records and TC Procedures.
A major change in orthodontic treatment was the use of plastic aligners. At first, plastic aligners needed brackets to finish the cases, but they eventually worked on their own for those who learned how to use them well, but only after starting hundreds of cases. Much of this change came with a Tx quality, Marketing and Bottom Line price tag.
The Pros & Cons of Plastic Aligners:
The major pros of plastic aligners are: 1) esthetics: i.e. the absence of metal brackets and archwires on the teeth; 2) plastic aligners need much less chair time (it takes about 55% of braces chairtime per full case); and 3) Aligners are a good adult marketing technique. The major cons are: 1) plastic aligners require much patient cooperation; 2) the lab costs are upwards of $2,000 per full case; 3) the hefty lab fee just about ate up most of the dollar gain it saved in chairtime; 4) it takes many cases to learn how to effectively use plastic aligners; and 5) non-orthodontists could use the aligners, creating competition for the orthodontists. Orthodontists who do less than 20 cases per year may not be satisfied with the treatment result quality, which is why they only do the easy cases. Orthodontists who do more than 100 cases per year became satisfied with the treatment quality—refer to my management pearl: “Can Plastic Aligners Increase Net”. Invisalign was the first commercial plastic aligner company, but now there are numerous plastic aligner companies, each with their own pros and cons (quality, cost, etc.). And now, plastic aligners can be made in your own lab, saving you up to half the lab cost and thus, increasing your net. Refer to my management pearl: “Do It Yourself Plastic Aligners”. The newest aligner lab service is that you can order your plastic aligners individually instead of in sets.
Aligner History:
In 1998, Invisalign started making plastic aligners, but they weren’t the first to use plastic aligners. Dr. Keith Hilliard of Lakeland, FL had been creating and teaching his own version of plastic aligners years before. But instead of using Dr. Hilliard’s vacuum system to create the aligners, Invisalign printed them with 3-D printers. For years, Invisalign encouraged and used orthodontists to improve their aligners by telling them that the general dentist is not their intended market. But after the thousands of orthodontically treated cases, Invisalign was ready to sell aligners to general and pediatric dentists. This created major competition for orthodontists even though many of the non-orthodontist treated cases failed, requiring an orthodontist to correct them. Nowadays Invisalign has had its comeuppance with other companies providing aligner lab services at less cost although, orthodontists that do hundreds of cases per year seem to prefer Invisalign. The newest comeuppance is that there are new companies that bypass the orthodontist use of Invisalign by selling directly to the patient. This seems to create even more competition for the orthodontist…or does it?
The Newest Competition; Patients doing their own orthodontics:
Patients now have the option to by-pass orthodontic office visits—I’m not talking about Teledentistry (see the management pearl “Is Hybrid Orthodontics for You?”). I’m talking about bypassing the orthodontic practice altogether. Unfortunately, to sound more professional, the companies that provide patient do-it-yourself aligners are incorrectly calling their service “teledentistry” (see attached PDF “At Home Teledentistry”). They use a misleading definition of teledentistry to make their product sound more professional/legal. It infers that the do-it-yourself customer is working directly with an orthodontic doctor of record who is personally responsible for competently completing their case—this is not true, but then again, what is truth nowadays.
What you and your new patients (who bring it up) should know about do-it-yourself aligners:
Usually Do-it-Yourself Aligner companies don’t treat the entire arch, just the anteriors and sometimes the bicuspids for about $2,000. Do-it-yourself-aligner companies also seem to imply that the customer is getting the same high quality of treatment as they would get at an orthodontic practice. Go to this link to see what they are advertising/claiming.
Here are some of the facts about the leading do-it-yourself-aligner companies:
The usual complaints after using do-it-yourself-aligners include:
If a patient complains, the company just redoes the aligners and charges for more months of treatment, which is probably why the treatment costs thousands of dollars and takes many months.
Unbeknownst to me, my daughter tried “Byte”, paid $2,000 up front and got nowhere with her tooth movement. She told Byte that she wanted her $2,000 back and they sent her a new, more accurate set of aligners, which eventually worked, but the results were mediocre and took many more months to treat.
Do-it-Yourself Orthodontics, Conclusions:
As terrifying as this may all seam, do these companies really create competition for you? The answer is NO! They actually provide you with a service. They reduce/eliminate: 1) your wasted time with curious new patients who definitely can’t afford your treatment; and 2) patients that start but default on their payments. When new patients bring up whether they should be treated by you or treat themselves, just quote the facts and the complaints noted above.
New: Individual Aligner Services:
The other side of this revolution in plastic aligners is a new service by Ulab Systems that lets you purchase one or more aligners at your discretion. This is advantageous when you just need a few aligners for a limited treatment. With this single-aligner-purchase approach you don’t have to purchase large sets of U&L aligners up front; just design and order what you need and add new aligners as treatment progresses. Depending on how good a customer you are, they charge you between $19 (good customer) and $21 (casual customer) per aligner (not per U&L set), with a guaranteed maximum full treatment cost of between $950 (good customer) and $1,600 (casual customer). They claim their service provides an average overall savings of 40% over Invisalign. For the casual customer it is not that great a savings ($400 or 25%) over the casual Invisalign customers $2,000 full case lab fee. But it’s the partial treatments that save you in lab fees because you don’t have to purchase many sets of U&L aligners—many of which you don’t need—you just pay for the U and/or L aligners that you need. But Ulab Systems will need hundreds of orthodontists doing many thousands of cases before the quality of their service/product can be determined although, they claim that 98% of their customers would recommend them.
I hope that this plastic aligner discussion has relieved some of the fears that you may have about do-it-yourself-aligner companies and has provided you with a possibly less expensive source for your plastic aligners and more accurate Tx Fees.
Part-III of this series will deal with how the changing face of orthodontics has changed Initial Records and TC procedures that get the patient started sooner.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Do you believe that good and bad are opposite? Do you believe that people can be evil (ugly)? Would you classify yourself as either good or bad or ugly? Well, maybe this pearl can help you sort that out and in the process help you out.
No, this pearl is not about a 1966 spaghetti western; it’s about how our genetic nature and our learned nurture—our personality—control how we react individually or in a group/mob.
Some Definitions:
Being good is “acting in a positive or desirable manner”; being bad is “wishing or causing harm, damage or loss; and being evil (ugly) is causing others misfortune, harm or death. But we need more realistic definitions to discuss this topic. Good: “I try to understand another’s contrary point of view and try to reach a compromise”. Bad: “I condemn another person’s contrary point of view and I’m unwilling to compromise. Ugly: I will do whatever it takes to destroy anybody or anything that stands in the way of getting what I want”. While we are at it, let’s define our integrity: “an adherence to a strict moral or ethical code; the condition of being honest with ourselves”; that is, our belief in the good in ourselves and others.
All people are similar, but with clashing opinions. It is not our opinion that is good, bad or ugly, it is the way we deal with others with an opposing opinion. We need to understand the other person’s opinion to free ourselves from this division. We cannot exits and prosper if we continue the way we have—it will destroy our society and eventually us. In general, most people think similar to us, but are so distressed about their lives that they need someone other than themselves to blame in order to deal with it. This makes them a prime target for ugly self-serving individuals, especially those with societal power, who create/expand this ugly division.
The Affect of Integrity:
But what if we could avoid thinking in right and wrong terms? What if we viewed others as just people whose personality and situation are different from ours? What if we considered our and their integrity in our discussions? Our integrity matures as we mature and in general we all want others to be happy, safe and succeed—most of our personality is designed to react that way or humans would be extinct by now (maybe soon?). But we live in a complex frightening world that is constantly confronting us and triggering our fear and anger, causing strife. Unfortunately, when fear or anger takes control of us it can momentarily nullify our integrity and our ability to be “good” and accept/respect our differences with others. Unfortunately, when those negative emotional reactions continue daily over months or years, they can reduce our integrity and what’s best for everybody, until something major in our lives snaps us back to it (we never lose our integrity, it is who we are). So now, let’s see what personality has to do with fear, anger and our integrity.
The Affect of Personality:
As noted in previous management pearls, human personality is rational and emotional, natured (genetic) and nurtured (learned). There are four basic emotions (anger, fear, joy and sorrow) triggered by our sensory system and quelled by our rational memories (director, analyzer, socializer and relater styles, respectively). Each basic emotion (residing in the amygdala) has a purpose, as does each of their symbiotic rational styles (residing in the frontal lobes). There are also many rational emotions, triggered by rational memories that have much to do with the dread and hatred experienced today. The rational triggering of our anger and fear can be manipulated by ugly individuals/groups causing the strife we experience today.
The natural purpose of anger is to alert us to confrontation/attack and the purpose of the director style is to sort out and quell that anger—and if not quelled it can elevate to hatred/rage. The natural purpose of fear is to alert us to danger and the purpose of the analyzer style is to sort out and quell that fear—and if not quelled it can elevate to terror/dread. Natural anger and fear (triggered by our sensory system) are positive because they help us to physically survive—their evolutionary purpose. Rational anger and fear are triggered by negative rational thoughts. The “ugly” self-serving individuals/groups try to trigger our rational anger and fear to get what they want out of us. These individuals/groups cause the terror/dread and hatred/rage that we see played out today. They manipulate the world around them to their advantage no matter who gets harmed or killed. Every individual/group is justified in fighting for what they feel is good/right and we should respect them for that. But it is very difficult to respect the point of view of greedy self-serving ugly individuals/groups out for power and wealth no matter whom they harm/kill. We can try to communicate with them, but we need to realize that they are going to use our fears and anger to manipulate us to get what they want under the guise of helping us—to avoid this we must maintain your integrity.
The Strong Affect of Intentions:
In order to understand why people react in a good, bad or ugly manner, we need to understand how their brain processes and whether their intentions are negative/harmful or positive/helpful. The anger of strong directors (those strongest in the director style) is the cause of most of the strife in life. Some people call it “our dark side”, and that is correct, but only if we have negative intentions. This is opposite to the positive intentions of strong relators (those strongest in the relator style). When we use our director style it doesn’t make us bad or ugly—we are just trying to get things done (the purpose of the director style). And don’t forget, we all use our director style to get things done, although strong directors are driven to get more done than most.
Our director style has three motivations that control our thinking when using it: 1) Only my concerns matter, not those of others; 2) Only my opinions matter, not the contrary opinions of others; 3) I must be decisive, whether my decisions are constructive or not. This is opposite to strong relator style's purpose “to stay connected to others”, with its others-serving motivations: 1) Only other's needs matter; 2) Only other's opinions matter; 3) I must be indecisive or I might offend others. Whether weak or strong in any style, when using it we can only think that style’s way—we don’t have a choice—it is wired into our brain. Fortunately we usually break out of the grip of anger and director style thinking if we quell the anger and move on. But if we can’t quell it, because the rational cause of the anger is so great, we will be stuck in that mode of thinking and being self-serving until the anger is quelled. And when our intentions are negative that unquellable anger can elevate to hatred/rage making us cause/wish others to be harmed/dead. This is the ugly hate that causes religious wars (against those who don’t believe what we believe) and racism (against those who don't look like us).
Important! Just because we are born a strong director with its anger and self-serving motivations, it doesn’t mean that we are bad or ugly; it just gives us the potential to act that way when distressed and enraged. When a strong director is also a weak relator, they have an even greater challenge not to be bad or ugly. And if throughout life strong directors feel constantly attacked (physically or verbally) or confronted (demeaned), it is very difficult to quell that destructive, ever-present anger. Most of the destructive (maybe even evil) people you experience are genetically strong directors and weak relators with very negative nurturing (life experiences). Hitler was the definition of this disaster of nature and nurture that made him ugly, even evil, and there are too many individuals in power today that act a lot like him.
The affect of the Hatred/Rage Cycle:
Most of the people in the world are more others-serving than self-serving, even strong directors. They don’t let their fear and anger rule their lives and disconnect them from those around them—they have positive intentions—they maintain their integrity—they use all four styles appropriately. But this isn’t easy, especially when their rational fear triggers rational anger. Yes, we can quell our sensorially triggered natural fear and natural anger with our rational thoughts, but we can’t simultaneously use our rational mind to quell our rational anger unless distracted from those negative thoughts. Here’s how it works: fear and negative rational thoughts trigger anger, which trigger more fear and negative rational thoughts, which triggers stronger anger—and the cycle repeats over and over, elevating to hatred and uncontrollable rage. As individuals we (or others) can usually snap us out of this vicious cycle, allowing its intensity to subside. But when in a group/mob that shares the same fear and rage, that cycle is perpetuated—it can’t subside—quite the opposite. Each person triggers another cycle in those around them maintaining or elevating that hatred to rage. The rage only subsides when a few individuals in the mob (weaker directors), realize that things are getting way out of control, or when a stronger force (army/cops) intervenes. Typically, an ugly self-serving director incites the mob, mostly made up of strong-director/weak-relator individuals, causing never-ending rage cycles. It is possible for an individual to realize the tolerable limits of their increasing anger and to quell it—but this is difficult for a mob to do, especially when spurred on by the ugly in power.
A Closer Look:
But what is the cause of this rage? It is when we are triggered to believe that something is attacking the life we wish to lead (which is the purpose of anger). Sometimes the anger is justified when we are unfairly or badly treated and feel a strong need to confront that situation. Sometimes the fear and the anger are based on falsehoods/lies that we mistakenly take as truth and feel a strong need to confront, because it seems to support what we need to believe at the time. It is natural to become terrified or enraged when we feel that our lives/livelihood are physically, socially or financially threatened. And it is natural to gravitate towards others who perceive the same threat. It is even natural to think that others who believe otherwise are the enemy. But when this happens, we are being controlled by irrational emotions and need to quell them and try to understand all sides of the issue and compromise on a result that works for most, if not all. Step one…take a deep breath!
How to Alleviate our Hatred/Rage:
Four decades ago I attended a seminar that included “stepping outside ourselves to understand another person’s opinion”, without interruption. Sitting next to me at the seminar was an evangelical southerner who quoted the bible when discussing his opinions. At the time I was very anti god stuff and hated what he represented and to have to even listen to him. That evening a group of us walked to a restaurant a half-mile away—of course he walked next to me. As we walked and he spoke I decided to “step outside myself” and just hear his comments without instantly interpreting or interrupting them with my own opinions—not easy to do. While listening I concentrated on his beliefs/opinions as being reasonable for him, even sharing some. I spoke of my positive and negative experiences with religion and what I call the “Universal Intelligence (UI)”, which he also listened to without interruption. By the end of that evening we sincerely appreciated each other’s point of view as friends and he was very interested in the UI and I was more tolerant of his religious opinions. People don’t have completely opposite opinions from others; we all share some opinions, which helps to make them more, than less, like us. “Stepping outside ourselves” does work if we can stop the hatred and give each other enough respect to state our opinions without judgment, finding that we’re really not that different—try it, you’ll love it.
How you Rate Yourself:
Finally, ask yourself: Do I maintain my integrity when angered? Am I a good person who tries to understand others whose opinions seem opposite to mine and try to compromise with them? Am I a bad person who doesn’t care about others who don’t think, look and act the way I do and condemn them for it? Am I an ugly person who takes advantage of others to get what I want out of life no matter who is harmed, by spreading lies, fear and hatred? The choice is yours to build a better you, a better country/world for everybody—or to destroy it because you can’t stop whining about your problems. In case you haven’t noticed, the UI or God rewards others-serving individuals and penalizes self-serving individuals, even those who seem to have gained wealth and power—you can feel it about your fellow man who needs your help.
See the attached a PDF containing a succinct explanation of “Genetic Human Personality”.
For your convenience, see an attached PDF of this entire discussion.
If you want to learn more about your interactions with others, refer to "Personality Finesse...how we nurture our nature".
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