Ortho Products

A Father Daughter Orthodontic Practice’s Shared Philosophy

By Alison Werner | Photography by Sarah Baldwin

For over 20 years, John Crawford, DDS, MS, worked solo, juggling the clinical and administrative tasks of a thriving two office orthodontic practice, based in Kenosha, Wis. He saw patients 4½ days a week, and spent Thursdays on admin, which included everything from dictation and working up cases, to HR and building maintenance as he owned the building. When he mentioned to his daughter, Jane Wright, DDS, MS, how busy he was and that he might want an associate to join him in a few years, she knew she also wanted to specialize in orthodontics and join her father’s practice.

After all, this is the family business.

Crawford is the son of a general dentist, and originally practiced as a dentist before going on to complete his residency in orthodontics after the local orthodontist retired, leaving a hole to fill in the community. When Wright finished her residency, she became the fourth family member to go into dentistry, with five more to follow.

“I just couldn’t see anybody else working with my dad except me,” Wright says.

Today Crawford & Wright Orthodontics has two offices and 12 full-time equivalent employees. They have eight clinical chairs in their Kenosha-based office, which includes an exam chair and records room, and five chairs in their Paddock Lake satellite office.

“When I look at the workload that my dad used to do, it is mind boggling that he would do it all by himself. I think he just compartmentalized his action items; his to-do list,” Wright reflects. Since Wright joined the practice the two share the workload—from admin to clinical—and a philosophy.

Shared treatment philosophy

Crawford and Wright share all the practice’s patients—an approach that sets it apart from other multi-doctor practices. According to Wright, this workflow reduces stress and makes the day much more enjoyable. “We can just flow and come and go. I’m not stressed that my patients need to see me, and we can seamlessly fill in for each other,” she adds.

The key to ensuring consistency in patient treatment is that the two share a treatment philosophy. “I sometimes joke,” says Crawford, who is a past president of the Midwestern Society of Orthodontics, “one mind, two bodies.”

As Wright describes it, they subscribe to the bi-dimensional technique championed by the late Anthony Gianelly, DMD, PhD, MD, chairman emeritus of the Department of Orthodontics & Dentofacial Orthopedics at Boston University. Crawford and Wright use brackets that have a .018 slot in the anterior and .022 in the posterior.

“It basically makes us a light force, light wire practice,” says Crawford. “We rarely go higher than .016 by .022 stainless steel, but will sometimes go to a .017 by .025 to express maximum torque in the bracket.” He adds that they see minimal root resorption and when it does arise it’s likely idiopathic or some other issue not related to the forces put on the tooth.

Tied to their treatment philosophy is their simplified approach to bracket inventory. Crawford and Wright use one type of stainless-steel bracket and one type of clear bracket. “I think it’s easier on the staff and easier on inventory,” says Wright. “It makes each appointment less stressful when you’re not wondering what kind of bracket style the patient has on.”

Another factor in seamless patient sharing is good record keeping. The practice relies on Ortho2 Edge practice management software to get the doctors quickly up to speed when they sit down at the chair. The software tells them what they are doing next and tracks what they did that day. It keeps treatment plans clear, according to Crawford.

Both agree that sharing patients also benefits the patient. Many orthodontists work such that no other orthodontist sees their work progress. But as Crawford argues, having a fresh pair of eyes on a case can be a plus. And in this case, having two different orthodontists from two different generations to say to the patient, “Yes, you’re on the right track,” can build patient confidence in the care they are receiving.

Listen to our podcast episode with Jane Wright, DDS, MS, about the support services provided by the College of Diplomates of the American Board of Orthodontics (CDABO) for board certification and ongoing professional development.

Shared commitment to board certification

Crawford and Wright are steadfast in their commitment to staying at the top of their field and ensuring patient confidence. To do this, they each prioritized board certification through the American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) as soon as they were eligible and had the requisite clinical cases to present.

Board certification is not meant to be used as a marketing tool, but it can be a practice differentiator. Staff are sure to mention that Crawford and Wright are board certified when talking to prospective patients and parents.

Patient confidence though is the primary reason Crawford and Wright have committed to board certification. Crawford uses the story of a hypothetical patient parent to illustrate why taking on this additional professional commitment is so important to him.

“I always worried that if I didn’t get board certified, I could have a mother who’s a RN at the hospital look at me and say, ‘I see you’re not board certified. Why?’ She works in a hospital. She knows what a board-certified cardiac surgeon is, and I thought, what an awkward question to be asked. What’s your defense of that? It’s too much work to become board certified. You certainly don’t want to say, I’m not good enough or I’m not smart enough. So, the only answer is you just don’t feel like it’s worth your time.”

Wright echoes her father. “If anybody ever asked me, ‘Why didn’t you go through board certification? I didn’t want to say, ‘Oh, it’s too time-consuming. I didn’t feel like it.’ I had no defensible answer.”

As Crawford remembers it, when he first achieved board certification in 1991 maybe 25% to 30% of orthodontists were board certified; today, 63% are. The process has changed over the years. Today, it includes written and scenario-based clinical exams. Back in the late 1980s, Crawford had to present 15 cases. Wright, who completed her board certification in 2014, presented the required six cases. Following initial certification, orthodontists must complete a certification renewal every 10 years to maintain their board certification.

Once an orthodontist is board-certified, they are invited to join the College of Diplomates of the American Board of Orthodontics (CDABO). CDABO and the ABO are two separate organizations, with separate membership fees, but as Wright points out, “[They] are working together towards the same goal; encouraging and supporting board certification.”

The ABO establishes the board certification requirements, oversees the testing, and manages recertification. Board-certified orthodontists pay an annual fee to the ABO to keep their ABO board status active and access patient education materials, plaques, and certificates.

As Wright, a current CDABO councilor, describes it, the College of Diplomates “is like the scientific and social party for ABO members.” It hosts a science-based annual meeting for members (the next meeting will take place in Colorado Springs, Colo, July 11 to 14, 2025), provides ABO prep-courses for residents and orthodontists preparing to take the ABO exam, offers a recertification prep-course for orthodontists who are due to recertify, and hosts resident case displays at the AAO Annual Session.

When asked why a board-certified orthodontist should join CDABO, Wright points to its annual meetings and the fact that they bring together a small, intimate group of peers in a family-friendly environment and feature highly respected scientific lecturers. “I’m often star-struck at our family breakfasts when program directors, textbook authors, and highly published orthodontists are sitting across from us asking our kids what they plan to do that day. These ‘rock-star’ orthodontists are extremely accessible at the CDABO meetings,” said Wright, who grew up attending these annual meetings with her father, in an earlier interview with Orthodontic Products on CDABO.

Customer service in practice

Threaded throughout the patient experience at Crawford & Wright Orthodontics is the practice’s commitment to stellar customer service. “We want people who come in to be happy, relaxed, and feel appreciated. When we talk to our patients, we look them in the eye and we ask them questions about how they are doing,” says Wright. “For us, it’s about a lot more than just straightening teeth.”

To ensure that each interaction with the patient and parent is personal, the practice keeps notes on patient/parent hobbies and interests, as well as where the parents work. That information is clearly visible on the electronic chart when Crawford or Wright comes to the chair and provides them with talking points as they take their seat.

“I can’t tell you how many times a parent has looked at me in disbelief when I remember their name as I approach the chair,” says Crawford. His trick for doing this: “We use Ortho2 Edge, and as I approach the chair, I can see the patient’s name in big bold letters. So, I can say, ‘Hi Joey.’ Then out of the corner of my eye, if I see an adult male sitting there, before I make eye contact, I sweep my eyes across the computer chart and see dad’s name. So, I can then say, ‘Hi Pete. How are you? How’s everything at Abbott?’ They can’t believe you remember. That’s our trick to success—everyone knows your name, a kind of corner bar philosophy.”

Teaching the next generation

With Wright on board, Crawford has since been able to scale back his clinical work week. For his 65th birthday, the one gift he wanted from his daughter was Fridays and Saturdays off. Crawford now works Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, and then every other Thursday he teaches at Marquette University.

The two, who are both past presidents of the Kenosha Dental Society, co-teach at their alma mater Marquette University, where they are adjunct associate professors in the orthodontic department. Crawford explains that it’s Wright who got him on board. She expressed an interest in returning to her residency program as an educator to help the next generation of orthodontists and to provide the residents with a younger doctor’s perspective.

Crawford and Wright, who share a love of teaching, were able to partner to serve as clinical supervisors to 10 orthodontic residents. They split the teaching responsibilities, each taking every other week. The course has them overseeing the residents as they treat patients and then giving a clinical lecture to provide insight into the day-to-day of life as an orthodontist. Splitting teaching days allows them to maintain a work-life balance that can be hard to achieve.

With a shared workload, shared treatment philosophy, and shared commitment to board certification and professional development, the two can seamlessly pass on their expertise to a new generation of orthodontists and ensure that they too will have the confidence of their patients that the care they receive is top tier.