And we are recording.
[David] Meet
Andrew, Britnei, Imani,
and Chip.
Four people in
search of a better smile.
This one is filming.
So put that in your pocket.
[David] They work for us.
I have had crowded
teeth since I was about 21.
I never had straight teeth.
I have this gap tooth
right here.
I think it's a little childish.
There are gaps in
between my teeth.
-Hi.
-How are you?
Good, how are you?
[David] They are heading
in to check out SmileDirectClub.
[David] It sells
plastic aligners for teeth
straightening.
[David] Just pop
into their SmileShop,
get your teeth scanned or buy
their kit online and send in
moulds of your teeth.
Your aligners will be
custom-made for you.
[David] Then wait for the
plastic aligners to land
in your mailbox.
Boom!
[David] SmileDirect says
it has 1 million customers.
It's the cheaper
option and your boy broke!
[David] And there are lots of
happy fans online.
Literally three months in and
my teeth have transformed
so much.
[David] The company's ads
are everywhere.
Our aligners take teeth like
these and transform
them into those.
[David] And with a thrifty
pitch, they are tough to resist.
No braces, no monthly
office visits.
No paying a fortune.
[David] In Canada, the
aligners cost about $2,500.
About half the cost
of regular braces.
If you can't afford to pay
thousands of dollars for braces
then SmileDirectClub
is definitely for you.
[David] But it seems
not everyone is smiling.
I did not clean them.
[David] Like Michael
Johnson in Dallas.
He now carries
his teeth in a bag.
Thanks, he says, to SmileDirect.
These are the very first ones
that you would have put in?
That's the very first one
I put in.
It fits down there at
the bottom of my teeth.
Can you see?
[David] That is it?
-That's it.
[David] His
treatment starts off well.
The first four or five months
I was happy because the teeth
straightened out
that had been crooked.
Okay, this is going
to be pretty good,
you know?
[David] But after
about six months...
That is when the tooth broke.
I mean, I know,
that's when the--
[David] Your tooth broke?
My tooth broke.
What were you
thinking at that moment?
I put it back in and
it hurt really bad.
I was like no,
this hurt my teeth.
I said, I'm stopping right now.
So, I stopped.
[David] But his teeth
didn't stop breaking.
So if I'm looking in your mouth,
where have you lost teeth?
Oh, yeah.
There, there...
How do you feel?
Quite frankly, I feel like I
just made a bad judgement call
or I've chosen something
without investigating a little
bit further, which is
why I'm doing this.
[David] He says SmileDirect's
orthodontic fix did not
work for him.
It may be good for some people
but it was a bad experience
for me.
[David] And he's not alone.
We see over 2,000 complaints
to the Better Business Bureau.
And hear from some
Marketplace viewers too.
Back on hidden camera...
[David] Is it that easy?
[David] Orthodontics Professor
Dr Hera Kim-Berman has a problem
with that approval rate.
Orthodontic treatment,
period, is not for everybody.
I think there is great potential
for wrong and harm to be done
for people who are
not really informed.
[David] She runs the oldest
graduate orthodontics program in
the world at the
University of Michigan.
Would plastic aligners work
for everybody in every case?
Not in every case.
It has to be selective cases.
[David] In your experience
is it the majority of cases?
It is actually special cases.
Minority of the cases.
[David] What will
happen with our testers?
[David] No dental exam.
No orthodontist.
[David] Sales staff use a smile
stretcher and take photos to
send to doctors offsite.
[David] When customers get
aligners they send in their own
snaps to SmileDirect every 90
days during treatment because
that's how the
doctor monitors progress.
[David] Next up,
a high-tech scan.
[David] 6,000 pictures a
second with that wand.
[David] The scans are used
to make a treatment plan.
[David] And a doctor registered
in your province decides whether
to tweak and approve it or not.
Would you be comfortable
treating someone this way?
With photos and
with just a scan,
I would be very
uncomfortable and hesitant.
I would insist on
seeing the patient first.
We have to find out their
health history and do a complete
examination to make sure
which teeth have crowns,
which teeth have implants.
[David] Well, the
testers do get asked that,
sort of.
[David] "We like
nos in this place."
First of all, our questionnaires
and health history should never
have a preselection.
Always empty.
And there should be some
clarification if somebody says,
I don't know what these are.
Not just, we just like nos.
The customer is actually asking
for information and they are not
getting it.
She is very dismissive.
It seems to be just a cursory
thing they have to do to get to
that scan.
[David] Back in Dallas,
Michael Johnson says he warned
SmileDirect about
his teeth issues.
I knew I had a dark spot on the
teeth in the back that fell out.
I said I didn't know if I'm
going to qualify and
she said, you'll be fine.
You know, she was
very reassuring.
[David] He is approved.
Months later when
his teeth crack,
SmileDirectClub tells him the
aligners do not usually cause
teeth to break.
They review their records
and say some teeth had possible
decay and a fracture line.
If they found this I
should have been disqualified.
[David] But
SmileDirect tells him,
you signed a release stating
you had had a dental exam.
These areas of concern should
have been addressed with your
local dental provider.
What do our testers hear
about visiting a dentist?
[David] But that is not what
SmileDirect's consent form says.
"It's your responsibility to
see a dentist within six months
"prior to starting
SmileDirectClub aligners."
The scan cannot pick up those
things like gum disease and
periodontal disease,
implants and so forth.
[David] But a
dentist and x-rays can,
and the consent form says you're
certifying your regular dentist
checked for those issues.
On hidden camera, our
consultations are almost over.
[David] What do you
hear when you hear that?
There's a lot of uncertainty.
You don't know your doctor.
You don't know if you're going
to be approved and you don't
know what the treatment plan but
that's okay, just give us your
credit card number and
trust us with that.
[David] For weeks we have been
trying to show SmileDirect
video of what our
testers experienced,
but they will not watch
unless we agree to their terms.
We go back and forth, still no.
Then SmileDirect puts out a
press release announcing changes
to some of the very things
we have been asking about.
The consent form altered,
to ensure customers understand
they should see their
own dentist first.
More training for
SmileDirect staff to be,
as the company says, consistent
with its consent form.
They also say they think
our report is one-sided.
As for Michael Johnson,
SmileDirect says he was told to
go for a checkup.
Michael says
nobody told him that.
[♪♪]
[David] 48 hours
after our hidden camera,
our testers are
approved for treatment.
We show the plans to
Dr Hera Kim-Berman,
starting with Andrew.
If you look at him now, you
can see that his bite is
really good.
[David] She says this plan would
close his gap but it will also
pull back his upper teeth so
that they hit his lower ones.
Does that make things worse?
It makes things worse.
[David] But if you're
looking for a cheaper solution,
is this okay?
It's not okay, and the bite is
going to be either traumatic or
he's not going to
have a correct bite.
[David] We ask other two
orthodontists to review
Andrew's plan.
Both say it could work, but
all of them say it's tough to
tell the health of teeth and
gums just from a scan.
[♪♪]
[David] We've sent four testers
into four SmileShops to ask
about fixing their
teeth with "no braces,
no monthly office visits
and no paying a fortune".
Would it strike you that almost
100% of people would be able to
get an outliner that
would work for them?
To be able to be treated using
this one technique is kind of
hard to believe, actually.
[David] Time to dig into
Britnei and Imani's plans.
First red flag for the doctor,
Both scans miss some of
their teeth.
So when the aligner
doesn't fit well,
this is the reason.
The scanning was not good.
[David] And that's not all.
She says Britnei's proposed
treatment pushes out her crowded
upper teeth, potentially
causing problems with eating
and speaking.
This is not acceptable because
she will now have a lisp,
which she will be
very cognizant of.
[David] Meanwhile, Imani's top
teeth would be pulled inwards.
If you look they are bringing
everything back but they can't
close all these.
[David] I see.
Because now they are hitting
the lower and they can't go
any further.
[David] The doctor says these
plastic aligners aren't going to
fix Imani's gaps.
There is a way for us to close
all the gaps but that option was
not given to the patient so
they cannot make an
informed decision.
[David] SmileDirect tells
Chip his teeth aren't that bad.
[David] But this orthodontist
sees something much
more serious.
His diagnosis is a severe
malocclusion that is class
three, with a
negative over-jet, underbite,
and severe crowding.
It is not appropriate and this
patient should be not approved.
[David] She says his underbite
will get worse and his bottom
teeth are being
pushed out so far,
they risk falling out.
This is a case that will not be
predictable using clear aligners
supervised by an
experienced orthodontist,
but it is definitely dangerous
for unsupervised direct to
consumer aligner treatment.
[David] Bottom line, Dr.
Kim-Berman and two other
orthodontists say these three
testers should never have
been approved.
The immediate come back of a
company like SmileDirect will
be, people like you
are threatened by them.
What do you make
of that argument?
We've been around
for a very long time,
and educated to deal with a
series of problems from mild
to complex.
Our philosophy and our mission
is to put our patients'
care first.
I don't necessarily
see that happening here.
[David] We share the
testers' treatment plans
with SmileDirect.
The company says Andrew is,
"an ideal case for clear
aligner treatment".
But SmileDirect disagrees with
the three orthodontists about
Britnei, Imani and Chip.
SmileDirect says they'll
have straighter-looking smiles,
with some acceptable trade-offs.
They also say orthodontists have
a conflict of interest because
SmileDirect's alternative
is cheaper and popular,
And add only 1% of their
customers complain
after treatment.
[♪♪]
[David] On
customers' consent forms,
it says you've had a chance to
talk to the doctor who approved
your plan.
That's what our
testers are trying to do.
I'm just looking to speak with
the dentist that approved
my plans?
Because I have
some more questions.
Yes, please.
Is he or she unavailable today?
Is there a chance of
doing that in the future?
[David] SmileDirect now
says this isn't ideal.
Says there'll be a "dedicated
email and phone number" so you
can reach your treating doctor.
Currently 13 minutes
that we have been waiting.
[David] Our
testers keep trying...
Fifteen minutes.
[David] End up leaving messages.
I'm hoping to speak with someone
soon, thanks so much, bye.
[David] But Andrew gets through.
[David] And a week
later he makes contact.
I have some more
questions about my smile plan.
[David] He also says Andrew
should consider other options.
[David] Advice our testers
never heard in the SmileShops.
