First Posted: 4/3/2015
SIDNEY — A Sidney orthodontist, with her patients and staff, will be featured on an episode of “Designing Spaces Kids” on the Lifetime cable channel this week.
Alvetro Orthodontics will be profiled in the programs, scheduled to air at 7 a.m. Thursday and May 1, for the practice’s use of products by 3M Unitek.
Video crews were in Sidney in January to record interviews and patient procedures underway in the offices at 1102 Fairington Drive. Dr. Lisa Alvetro also has offices in Tipp City.
“We got involved through 3M Unitek,” Alvetro said. “I’ve been teaching for them for seven years. I help teach orthodontists worldwide and we also work with them in research and development of new products.”
“Designing Spaces” wanted to feature Unitek devices and 3M suggested Alvetro’s practice as the site.
The program “shows different options for orthodontic treatment,” Alvetro said. It highlights Clarity Advanced (tooth-colored braces), Incognito (braces that are placed behind the teeth) and Forsus Class II Correctors (an alternative to wearing headgear).
“The film crew came from Cleveland, the producer came from Florida, and the make-up crew came from Dayton,” office manager Pam Kinninger said.
Alvetro invited 41 patients and their families to go in for treatments during the two days the production crews were in Sidney. All of them were already using Unitek braces or adhesives.
“The first day, they wanted a variety of patients and wanted professional people doing professional work,” Kinninger said.
Twenty staff members also were involved in the piece.
“It was a work day, but not an adjustment day,” said Maurya Ryan, scheduling coordinator.
The production company had sent interview questions in advance and let everyone know when what they were filming would be voiced over. Individual interviews were taped the first day; procedures, the second. The whole process took two, full, eight-hour days.
All the people who were to be on-camera started their days in ‘“hair and make-up,” which took about a half-hour for each person.
“We didn’t realize it was going to be such a big deal,” Alvetro said. “When the lady showed up with make-up, I said, ‘Seriously?’ We’ve done educational filming for 3M. It was all procedural stuff.”
The make-up artist was Ann Taylor.
“She’d be right there ready to powder a shiny spot,” as the taping proceeded, said Darla Bowling, clinical coordinator.
Director/producer Arash Farsi kept things moving and the atmosphere calm. He also made sure everything looked good. At one point, he stopped the filming because he noticed that a wastebasket was in view behind the person being interviewed. He moved the person to a slightly different location.
They said, “‘You can mess up. We can go back,’” Ryan said about the answers they were giving to questions while the cameras rolled.
The staff found it difficult during their on-camera interviews to avoid using technical language that they all understand, but that the general public would not.
“When I teach, I’m talking to orhtodonitists. I kept screwing that up and had to start over,” Alvetro said.
She also found that procedures she does day in and day out became difficult when a cameraman was watching her work. Alvetro performed actual procedures on her patients. Nothing was set up just for the camera.
But the most difficult thing for the doctor was having to give control of her office to someone else.
“You really had to trust people. You don’t know how it’s going to come out. You can’t say, ‘Yea,’ or ‘Nay.’ The toughest part for me was lack of control. You can really see how they could manipulate news stories and things. But I think they did a nice job representing [Unitek and us]. The info they put forth was genuine.”
The amount of time everything took and the number of production people and the amount of equipment involved impressed everyone.
“It was amazing seeing how much goes into it,” Bowling said. “It makes you wonder about what it takes to do a whole movie.”
Everyone who was filmed was paid to appear, even the little brother of one patient who just happened to be playing in the waiting room when the camera was turned on.
“It was just fun for everybody. For the staff, it was fun to watch it back,” said Kinninger.
Alvetro has been practicing in Sidney since 1993. In 2011, she opened the Tipp City location. To learn more about Alvetro Orthodontics, visit the website at http://alvetroortho.com or find it on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
