Page 11 - IAV Digital Magazine #583

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Orthodontist Offers Free Gun With Invisalign Treatment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM_fXLFzo0M
By WRAL via CNN Newsource
RALEIGH, N.C. (WRAL) - A North Carolina orthodontist is giving some patients a free Glock 19 with their dental treatment as part of a promotion called “Grins and Glocks.”
Dr. Jason Gladwell, the owner of Gladwell Orthodontics, says the promotion has gotten a lot more attention than he thought it would.
“Anytime you talk about firearms, it can
be a polarizing sub- ject,” he said.
Through the promo- tion, certain patients who sign up for Invisalign treatment have the choice between the free Glock, which retails for more than $500, and a membership at Youngsville Gun Club & Range. Gladwell says the promotion was initially only sent to patients on the gun club’s email list.
“Instead of them pay- ing for it, I’m paying for it,” Gladwell said.
Not just anyone is eli- gible for the promo- tion, according to Kurt Lieberman, the gun club’s owner. Patients will need to visit the club in order to actu- ally receive the gun.
“You have to be 21 and older, and then, we do a background check here on site,” Lieberman said.
He adds that he will be recommending that the recipients of the free gun take a training class, but it won’t be required.
Attorney Ron Shook
says the promotion is perfectly legal. The most important thing is making sure the patient can legally own a gun.
“Guns are like other property: you can buy and sell and dispose of them. But the dis- tinction is guns are potentially inherently dangerous, so there is regulation sur- rounding the transfer of firearms,” Shook said.
Nonetheless, some North Carolina resi- dents are still con- cerned by the den- tist’s decision to part- ner with the gun club on such a promotion.
“It’s mind blowing to me that an organiza- tion that I think of as trying to provide health care to the people in the commu- nity is partnering their health care with gun death,” said Jennifer Copeland, the execu- tive director of the NC Council of Churches.
Align Technology, the company behind Invisalign treatments, issued a statement saying they disap- prove of the promo- tion:
Align Technology, the makers of Invisalign® brand clear aligners, recently learned of a customer’s promo- tional advertisement that offers a free handgun or gun range membership to qualified new patients who begin Invisalign treatment. Invisalign trained doctors are independent practices and Align was not involved in the devel- opment or approval of this promotion by the dental practice, and only learned of it after the fact. For more than 25 years, Align has been helping doctors transform smiles and change lives through healthy beautiful smiles using Invisalign aligners, and this promotion does not reflect our brand purpose.
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