orthodontic assistant

field marketer

treatment coordinator

clinic manager

clinician

Smile


Orthodontist - Houston, TX
I affiliated with Smiledoctors in 2018 after spending 33 years as a solo private practitioner. That change allowed me to focus on the items that led me to be an orthodontist in the first place---patient care!!! As we say at Smiledoctors, we love on our patients first and straighten teeth second. Smiledoctors is the complete package for orthodontic care. We have highly trained dedicated staff members to handle those aspects of orthodontics beyond clinical care. Smiledoctors is leading the way for orthodontics in the future because we are bringing in all of the state-of-the-art treatment modalities.

In regards to patient care I continue to learn all about our patients and make sure that they are treated on a personal level as they are taken care of properly, professionally, and in a friendly atmosphere. We CELEBRATE their birthdays, graduations, new jobs, and other personal milestones. We even sing to them when their treatment is complete. As we say, we are changing their lives.

Through Smiledoctors we communicate with our patients, their families, and other dental professionals both within and outside of the Smiledoctors family. Continuing education is critical to keeping us as the leader in the orthodontic community--this applies to our staff as well as the doctors. Staff training is essential and well received. We receive required CE credits certified by the Academy of General Dentistry. Additionally we are part of the largest orthodontic study club in the nation. We bring in guest speakers to educate us even though they may not be part of the Smiledoctors family.

We held a staff meeting 6 months after I affiliated and I stated that affiliating with Smiledoctors was the second-best decision I had made in orthodontic practice, second only to incorporating Invisalign into my practice. Six months after that I changed that to the affiliation being the most important decision/change I had made in, at that time, 34 years of practice.

I urge you to join our family of dedicated professionals and improve your patient's lives.



Where do I begin. This company is a JOKE. RUN far away. I went to my interview and was so excited to start this job with such an amazing management team and coworkers and so excited how positive and encouraging everyone was only to be let down and it be a lie. I was only here for a short amount of time and unfortunately I learned the hard way. TRUST NOBIDY.  If you want to be micromanaged, bullies and talked about this is the place to go. Grown adults such as the manager is a big joke. She wants to be referred to as “QUEEN” and has favorites of the day. Her sidekick which is a treatment coordinator is a RAT. She likes to train and show you how to do things but instead of coming to you directly with a problem she runs to the manager and tattletales and lies. I have NEVER worked in a more stressful, manipulative, upside down company before until here. I was told a BIG lie on how smile doctors is this great amazing company that wants to provide amazing and outstanding patient awesomeness and how they have their own morals and beliefs and it’s all trash. I had a meeting with the manager and the only thing she could tell me was everything I’ve ever done wrong. She micromanaged me, called me out on everything I did good or bad and I was still learning. Everyone talks about everyone and likes to kiss everyone’s butt. I was told in my interview no drama was allowed and accepted and no bullying but funny thing is they allow that and if you aren’t the “queens” favorite you are automatically set up to fail. I would never work for this company ever again and the sad thing is one of the doctors was my orthodontist and I won’t go back to him because of this company. So if you want drama and negativity and stress and being bullied by a bunch of grown women well SMILE DOCTORS is your company such a joke all of them. No amount of money is worth all the drama and stress I was put through.

After 33 years in the dental industry, I can confidently say this was one of the most disappointing management experiences of my career.
The primary reason for my departure was not the position itself, but the lack of competent leadership and professional support. New employees were not provided with adequate training, guidance, or resources necessary to succeed. Expectations were often unclear, yet accountability remained high, creating an environment that was unnecessarily stressful and counterproductive.
Effective management requires professionalism, respect, communication, and a genuine commitment to employee development. Unfortunately, these qualities were consistently absent. Concerns and requests for assistance were not addressed in a constructive manner, and interactions frequently lacked the level of respect and empathy that employees deserve.
A practice manager sets the tone for the entire workplace culture. In my experience, the leadership within this office contributed to low morale, poor communication, and a lack of teamwork. Rather than fostering employee growth and success, the environment often left staff feeling unsupported and undervalued.
It is rare for me to leave a position with such strong concerns regarding management, but I believe it is important to provide honest feedback. Significant improvements in leadership, communication, training, and employee relations are needed to create a professional and positive workplace for both current and future team members. The issues I experienced were not isolated incidents but ongoing patterns that ultimately influenced my decision to leave the practice. However, the doctor was amazing, supportive, and helped in every way she possibly could. 

The job started off well but eventually went downhill.

The workload kept increasing without additional time or compensation, and I was often expected to handle clinical tasks, such as sterilization, despite being hired for office-side responsibilities. I raised concerns about the workload and lack of time to complete required tasks and see patients with the practice director, but nothing ever changed.

There was heavy micromanagement from the practice director, with daily instructions on what to do, how to do it, and why it mattered. This constant oversight ate into the limited time I did have to work on the growing list of tasks. Regional management also micromanaged monthly goals, frequently sending group messages asking for updates on new patient numbers.

Lunch breaks weren’t always guaranteed. At least once a week, sometimes twice, office meetings were scheduled during lunch hours, and attendance was required. This meant giving up breaks to sit in meetings instead.

The two-office setup made scheduling inconsistent and dependent on which location we were at that day. Some staff were allowed to leave early as scheduled, while others were expected to stay past that time and take patients who were booked later.

While compensation itself wasn’t terrible, it didn’t balance out the constant stress and ever-growing workload. I didn’t hate the work itself, but management needs to step back, listen to concerns, and actually implement change instead of simply nodding and moving on.


It was presented as a great thing being bought out by smile doctors but it was been an absolute nightmare. They took a multiple location very successful practice for 30 years and turned it to trash. The benefits are worse than what we had before, deductible doubled. The culture has gone tremendously downhill since this happened, the amount of stress from the non stop changes and meetings. We have had so many employees leave that had been with the practice 10,15, 20+ years. The software they convert you to is completely archaic and has zero useful functions for your practice. You’re expected to know things you have never been explained or shown how to do. The reports are never ending, same with the useless meetings. It’s a constant drive of sales and is not about the patients, only new money. The micromanaging is next level, it is unlike anything I have ever encountered.  For a Christmas gift we got a garbage 5$ beach/picnic blanket that says smile doctors on it that they got a bulk discount on while our locations alone make them millions a year.  I can’t stand how this company is buying up all these ortho offices all over the country, not changing the name to smile doctors and tricking all these patients. The patients don’t know they are now going to a corporate dental office and it’s really not right. You will lose everyone who was with you before you sell out due to all the changes and constant pressure to sell sell sell and the non stop micromanaging every single thing. 

I've worked for 18 months now with Smile Doctors and have really enjoyed becoming part of the Smile Doctors Family.  I love the culture.  The "love people first, straighten teeth second" mantra is central to everything we do.  The team begins every day encouraging each other and helping each other grow.  That helps us make sure our patients feel welcome for every visit.  Caring for our patients and meeting their individual needs then comes naturally.

The leadership team (doctors, regional managers, corporate) at Smile Doctors has also been amazingly supportive.  Each time an issue or challenge arises, the leadership team always maintains this people centered approach.  Of course, Smile Doctors is a healthcare business, but the people always come first when trying to work through problems.  It's been so refreshing!  

The typical day is busy as we try to change as many lives as possible.  I am encouraged to work hard to grow and achieve the goals I have set for myself.  And like any job, there are times when I feel tired but seeing how treatment changes patient's lives for the better is always worth the hard work.

Overall, being able to have a front row seat to seeing how orthodontics can change lives is amazing.  Add to that the uplifting, positive, workplace culture and I feel like I've found the perfect place to work.      



Workplace culture is so important, and Smile Doctors nails this. I genuinely enjoy coming to work every day and leaving the office with a smile.

My team is professional, well-trained and everyone is focused on how to create the best patient experience. A typical day is fast-paced, but smooth. I may see 80-100 patients a day, but I never feel like I have to compromise patient care or rush through my appointments. I'd also rather be busy than have large chunks of downtime during my workday so this environment is a great fit for me.

We incorporate dental monitoring and digital scanning on every patient, which I think helps with patient education and increases cooperation with aligners and elastics.

We all have those tough cases that require a second look and a little more time to figure out the best treatment plan. One of the biggest strengths of working at Smile Doctors is the support team you have in place. Anytime I need a second opinion, I can bounce ideas off a number of other doctors.

I have really enjoyed my time with the practice and company so far, and I think there's a bright future ahead for our profession and this type of practice model.

This place is one of the worst places I've ever worked for!! You have late days multiple times a week. You have emergency phones your expected to answer.  You make mistake during training they will hang it  over your head. You have to schedule any personal time 30 days in advance and God forbid somebody else is scheduled for vacation at that time and you need to leave early one day they will immediately even with three months notice on advance. Management will write you up if a patient has a complaint about even you looking at them wrong even if you didn't. And management will also try to pin asstiants against each other. Management will get on to you for not asking for help but when you ask for help you get an attitude from everybody. You will get reprimanded for talking too much or not talking enough to your patient. This is a damned-if-you-do damned-if-you-don't type scenario. Stay at private office don't work for this company.  The lunch meetings are atrocious mandatory every other Tuesday. To sit and talk about things management will never do anything about. The Mask rule is completely unfair to the clinicians. When the front office staff and management get to wear their face shield only. They do not practice social distancing and they all eat together . Not even medical grade. But we were told today that we can't even eat lunch together.  

The people who work here really care about the job and about the reason we're all ultimately here, the patients. The company has a very modern and streamlined patient experience. I can confidently say that the service we provide is top notch and comparable to any private or boutique orthodontic office.
As an employee, I get Medical, Dental, Vision (option of PPO or HSA), a matched 401K, disability insurance. I also get access to some of the top orthodontic and business minds in the nation. There is great availability for mentorship. One of the most valuable parts of this job are the things I've learned in my time here. 
The job is also great for positions that aren't orthodontist. Our assistants are well paid, treated with respect, and mentored to learn about what they're doing, not just mindlessly repeating tasks. All the benefits I noted are available to all team members as well.

There were some growing pains that lasted about 18 months. Some systems and processes hadn't been ironed out which put some extra stress on the local offices. Organization could've been better back then. I can confidently say that those issues have been fixed


I’m still trying to figure out how this company remains in business.  I worked at Smile Doctors for more than a year following the acquisition of our extremely successful orthodontic practice.  From day one, their conduct was unprepared and unprofessional - I would have left immediately if I’d understood at the time that the botched acquisition was an indicator of everything that was to follow.  This company is a Happiness Cult.  As long as you endorse their decisions, they love you, but dare to offer a different thought or point out a possible road block for consideration, and you are suddenly not “on board.”  So if you don’t cheer loud enough (I wish I were kidding, but cheers are required daily) or try to sell random strangers on becoming part of the Smile Doctors “family” to their satisfaction, you’re suspect.  They are condescending towards all other work environments/experiences, they mislead team members regarding opprtunities and compensation, and they make endless promises on which they don’t deliver.  Their business decisions are short-sighted and naive, the management team is self-serving and their ethics questionable, and they continue to make mistakes which are mind-blowing in their ineptness.  The only positive is that, depending on your local practice, a good clinical experience is still possible.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Orthodontic assistant 15 salaries reported	$20.55 per hour
Field marketer 2 salaries reported	$25.00 per hour
Treatment coordinator 4 salaries reported	$22.00 per hour
Clinic manager 4 salaries reported	$66,500 per year
Clinician 6 salaries reported	$23.33 per hour

Working at Smile Doctors: Company Overview and Reviews

Smile Doctors

Smile Doctors Ratings

Popular jobs at Smile Doctors

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected