7 min read • By Dr. Kevin Baharvand, Diplomate, American Board of Orthodontics
SHORT ANSWER
Yes, it matters, and the reason is less about skill than about time. Orthodontic treatment runs one to three years. Employment contracts frequently do not. Ownership consolidation across dentistry means a growing number of patients finish with a different clinician than the one who diagnosed them, which is survivable but not free. The most useful question at a consultation is not about technology or price. It is whether the doctor in front of you owns the practice, and whether they expect to be there when your braces come off.
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The mismatch nobody mentions
Almost every comparison of orthodontic offices is about things you can see on a website. Price, technology, appointment availability, whether the office is nice. Those matter. But there is a structural thing underneath them that decides more than any of it, and it never appears on a comparison page.
Orthodontic treatment is long. A straightforward adult case runs twelve to eighteen months. A growing child treated in two phases can span five or six years from first evaluation to final retainer. Very few commitments in healthcare are that extended.
Associate employment contracts, by contrast, are often two or three years. When a practice changes hands, the selling doctor typically stays for a defined transition period and then leaves. Put those timelines side by side and the arithmetic is uncomfortable. A patient starting a phase one case at age eight can plausibly outlast two contracts.
What actually gets lost in a handoff
I want to be careful here, because it would be easy to overstate this and the overstated version is not true. Your records transfer. Any competent orthodontist can pick up a case in progress and finish it well. Patients change doctors mid-treatment all the time, usually because a family moved, and the results are generally fine.
What does not transfer cleanly is judgment. A treatment plan is a sequence of decisions, and much of the reasoning behind them lives in the head of the person who made them. Why this tooth was left alone for four months. Why the elastics were changed at a particular appointment. Why a slightly imperfect position on a lateral incisor was accepted because the alternative meant another eight months. None of that sits in the chart in any meaningful way.
A new orthodontist inheriting the case reads the records, forms a view, and sometimes reasonably decides to do something different. That is not incompetence. It is a different clinician exercising independent judgment. But it can mean a changed approach partway through, and occasionally added months.
There is a version of this that is genuinely worse: a case handed off two or three times, where each clinician is partly correcting the previous plan rather than continuing it. That is where treatment quietly stretches past its estimate and nobody can point to a single decision that caused it.
The fair case for group-owned practices
I own my practice, so read what follows knowing I have an obvious interest in this argument. Here is the honest other side.
Group ownership brings real advantages. Shared administrative infrastructure can mean better insurance handling and easier scheduling. Larger groups often have more locations and longer hours. Some employ genuinely excellent orthodontists who chose that path because it let them practice without carrying the business, which is a completely reasonable preference. And a solo owner is not automatically stable either. Independent orthodontists retire, relocate, get sick, and sell their practices too.
So the honest framing is not that one model is good and the other bad. It is that continuity is a variable worth asking about, and ownership structure is the strongest available predictor of it. A solo owner who has been in the same building for a decade and lives in the community is a better bet to still be there in two years. Not a guarantee. A better bet.
Questions that get you a straight answer
| Ask this | What you are listening for |
|---|---|
| Do you own this practice? | A direct yes or no. Owners answer instantly. It is not a rude question and nobody good is offended by it. |
| Will you personally see me at every appointment? | Some offices rotate doctors across locations by day. Worth knowing before you assume otherwise. |
| How long have you been at this office? | Years in the same chair is the most useful single number you will get all appointment. |
| If you left, what happens to my case? | A good answer describes an actual process. A vague one tells you it has not been thought about. |
| Who built my treatment plan? | The orthodontist should have. If a coordinator built it and the doctor signed off, that is worth knowing. |
You are not interrogating anybody. These take ninety seconds and the answers are usually reassuring. The point is that you asked, because almost nobody does, and the small number of offices where these questions land awkwardly are exactly the ones worth noticing.
If you are already mid-treatment
Say your office just got acquired, or your orthodontist announced they are leaving. The instinct is to switch immediately. Usually that instinct is wrong.
Switching mid-treatment has real costs of its own. You pay the new office for the remaining treatment, you settle up with the old one, and you introduce exactly the handoff this article is about. If your case is progressing and the incoming orthodontist is properly trained, staying is often the better call.
What is worth doing regardless: request a copy of your records, including the original treatment plan and progress notes, and keep them. If you do end up transferring, whether across town or across the country, that file makes the receiving orthodontist far more effective. You are entitled to it and it costs nothing to ask.
And if things genuinely are not going well, a second opinion is reasonable at any point. Bring the records. Most orthodontists will look at a case in progress and tell you honestly whether it is on track.
Treatment lasts years. Ask whether the person planning it expects to be there at the end. It is the cheapest question you will ask all appointment.
Frequently asked questions
Is it bad if a practice is owned by a corporate group?
Not inherently, and I want to be fair about that. Some group-owned offices are run well and employ excellent orthodontists. The issue is structural rather than moral: employment contracts turn over faster than treatment does, so the odds of finishing with the doctor who started you go down.
How do I find out who actually owns a practice?
Ask directly at the consultation. Is this doctor an owner or an associate, and how long have they been here. It is a completely normal question and the answer comes quickly. Hesitation is itself informative.
What happens if my orthodontist leaves mid-treatment?
Another orthodontist takes over your case. Your records transfer, and a competent clinician can continue a plan someone else started. It is not a disaster. But treatment plans reflect judgment calls, and the new doctor may read your case differently, which sometimes means a change in approach or added time.
Can I transfer to a different practice mid-treatment?
Yes. Transfers happen regularly, usually because families move. The receiving office charges for the remaining treatment and you settle the balance with the original one. Get a copy of your records and a written summary of what has been done so far.
Should I switch if my office was just acquired?
Usually no, especially if your current doctor is staying and your case is progressing. Switching mid-treatment has its own costs. Ask whether your doctor is remaining and for how long, and make the decision from the answer rather than from the news.
Does continuity actually change the result?
It changes the odds more than the ceiling. A case handed between three clinicians can still finish beautifully. But orthodontics involves hundreds of small adjustments building on each other, and the person who made the first fifty has context that does not fully survive a handoff.
Same doctors, start to finish
We own and run all three of our offices ourselves. Come ask us any of the questions above. Two Frisco offices plus The Colony.
You may also be interested in these
- How to Vet an Orthodontist Before You Book
- What Questions to Ask During an Orthodontic Consultation
- Do All Orthodontists Charge the Same for Braces?
Why families trust Elate Orthodontics
1,000+ five-star reviews • 3 offices (two in Frisco, one in The Colony) • D Magazine Best Dentist 2026 • Living Magazine Readers’ Choice 2026
With over 1,000 five-star reviews across three locations, Elate Orthodontics is led by Dr. Kevin Baharvand, DMD, MS, a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics, whose clinical work was recently selected for the cover of the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, the most prestigious peer-reviewed journal in the field, and a national speaker on clear aligner treatment. Alongside Dr. Julia Kang, DMD, MS, both Boston University graduates and members of the Omicron Kappa Upsilon national honor society, our husband-and-wife team has been recognized as D Magazine Best Dentist 2026, Living Magazine Readers’ Choice 2026 Best Orthodontist in Frisco & Plano, Readers’ Choice Best Orthodontist in The Colony, Best New Business by the Chamber of Commerce, Nextdoor Neighborhood Favorite, and featured in Orthotown and Authority Magazine.
We serve families through three convenient offices in West Frisco, North Frisco, and The Colony, each staffed by the same trusted team, equipped with advanced technology, and committed to the personalized approach that consistently helps patients finish treatment sooner than expected. From braces and clear braces to Angel Aligners, we offer treatment for every age and every stage of life. We stay in-network with most insurance plans and offer flexible financing to make exceptional orthodontic care accessible for every family we serve.
Need general and family dentistry too? Our sister practice, Tribute Family Dentistry, provides dental care for all ages.
Book a free consultation: 972.538.4343
About the author
Dr. Kevin Baharvand, DMD, MS, is a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics and a national speaker on clear aligner treatment. He practices at Elate Orthodontics in West Frisco, North Frisco, and The Colony, Texas.
