愛齊科技 (ALGN) 2021 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to Align Technologies' Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 Align Technologies 的 2021 年第三季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）作為提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Shirley Stacy, Vice President of Corporate Communications. Thank you. You may begin.

我現在想將會議轉交給您的主持人，企業傳播副總裁 Shirley Stacy。謝謝你。你可以開始了。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. Joining me today for our conference call is Joe Hogan, President and CEO; and John Morici, CFO. We issued third quarter 2021 financial results today via GlobeNewswire, which is available on our website at investor.aligntech.com.

下午好，感謝您加入我們。今天和我一起參加電話會議的是總裁兼首席執行官喬霍根；和首席財務官約翰莫里奇。我們今天通過 GlobeNewswire 發布了 2021 年第三季度財務業績，該業績可在我們的網站investor.aligntech.com 上查閱。

Today's conference call is being audio webcast and will be archived on our website for approximately 1 month. A telephone replay will be available today by approximately 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time through 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time on November 10. To access the telephone replay, domestic callers should dial (877) 660-6853 with conference number 13723267, followed by #. International callers should dial (201) 612-7415 with the same conference number.

今天的電話會議是網絡音頻廣播，將在我們的網站上存檔大約 1 個月。今天下午 5:30 左右將提供電話重播。東部時間到下午 5:30東部時間 11 月 10 日。要訪問電話重播，國內呼叫者應撥打 (877) 660-6853，會議號碼為 13723267，然後按 #。國際呼叫者應使用相同的會議號碼撥打 (201) 612-7415。

As a reminder, the information provided and discussed today will include forward-looking statements, including statements about Align's future events and product outlook. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve risks and uncertainties that are described in more detail in our most recent periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available on our website and at sec.gov. Actual results may vary significantly, and Align expressly assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

提醒一下，今天提供和討論的信息將包括前瞻性陳述，包括關於 Align 未來事件和產品前景的陳述。這些前瞻性陳述只是預測，涉及風險和不確定性，在我們最近提交給證券交易委員會的定期報告中進行了更詳細的描述，該報告可在我們的網站和 sec.gov 上查閱。實際結果可能會有很大差異，Align 明確不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務。

We have posted historical financial statements, including the corresponding reconciliations on our GAAP -- of our GAAP and non-GAAP reconciliation, if applicable, and our third quarter 2021 conference call slides on our website under quarterly results. Please refer to these files for more detailed information.

我們已經發布了歷史財務報表，包括我們的 GAAP 的相應對賬——我們的 GAAP 和非 GAAP 對賬（如果適用），以及我們網站上季度業績下的 2021 年第三季度電話會議幻燈片。請參閱這些文件以獲取更多詳細信息。

And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Align Technology's President and CEO, Joe Hogan. Joe?

有了這個，我想把電話轉給 Align Technology 的總裁兼首席執行官 Joe Hogan。喬？

Thanks, Shirley. Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us. On our call today, I'll provide some highlights in the third quarter, then briefly discuss the performance of our 2 operating segments, Systems Services and Clear Aligners. John will provide more detail on our financial results and discuss our outlook. Following that, I'll come back and summarize a few key points and open the call to questions.

謝謝，雪莉。下午好，感謝您加入我們。在我們今天的電話會議上，我將在第三季度提供一些亮點，然後簡要討論我們兩個運營部門的業績，即係統服務和 Clear Aligners。約翰將提供有關我們財務業績的更多細節並討論我們的前景。在那之後，我會回來總結幾個關鍵點，然後打開提問電話。

I'm pleased to report strong third quarter results with revenue growth of 38.4% year-over-year on top of a record third quarter last year, driven by the strength across all regions, customer channels and products. For Q3, we shipped to a record 85,500 doctors in the quarter and reached 11.6 million Invisalign patients cumulatively.

我很高興地報告強勁的第三季度業績，在去年第三季度創紀錄的基礎上，收入同比增長 38.4%，這得益於所有地區、客戶渠道和產品的實力。對於第三季度，我們在本季度向創紀錄的 85,500 名醫生髮貨，累計達到 1160 萬 Invisalign 患者。

On a sequential basis, Q3 results reflect continued adoption of iTero scanners and increased utilization of Invisalign Clear Aligners in the Americas and APAC regions as well as the growth in Teen segment, especially in the North American orthodontics channel. Our third quarter revenues reflect a growing confidence of doctors and patients with Invisalign treatment, iTero scanners and exocad software as more doctors discover the benefits of digital treatment and transform their practices with the Align Digital Platform.

在連續的基礎上，第三季度的結果反映了 iTero 掃描儀的持續採用和 Invisalign Clear Aligners 在美洲和亞太地區的使用增加以及青少年細分市場的增長，特別是在北美正畸渠道。我們第三季度的收入反映了醫生和患者對 Invisalign 治療、iTero 掃描儀和 exocad 軟件的信心日益增強，因為越來越多的醫生髮現了數字治療的好處並通過 Align 數字平台改變了他們的實踐。

For Q3, Systems and Services revenues were up 57.3% year-over-year with strong revenue growth across all regions and up 5% sequentially primarily in North America. Q3 results reflect the continued adoption of iTero Element 5D Plus Series, our next-generation scanners and imaging system, which launched earlier this year and feature innovative technology like near-infrared technology, we call NIRI, which aids and detection and monitoring of interproximal caries lesions or cavities above the gingiva without harmful radiation.

第三季度，系統和服務收入同比增長 57.3%，所有地區的收入增長強勁，主要在北美地區環比增長 5%。第三季度的結果反映了 iTero Element 5D Plus 系列的持續採用，這是我們今年早些時候推出的下一代掃描儀和成像系統，採用了近紅外技術等創新技術，我們稱之為 NIRI，它有助於檢測和監測鄰間齲齒牙齦上方沒有有害輻射的病變或蛀牙。

For Q3, Clear Aligner revenues were up 34.9% year-over-year with strong revenue growth across all regions and across the portfolio, including comprehensive and non-comprehensive products as well as Invisalign Moderate and Invisalign Go. On a sequential basis, Q3 Clear Aligner revenues were down very slightly from record Q2, reflecting more pronounced summer seasonality than last year, especially in EMEA where practices and patients appear to have taken extended holidays and where offices were impacted due to resurgence of COVID-19 cases and restrictions, especially in some markets in Asia Pacific.

第三季度，Clear Aligner 收入同比增長 34.9%，所有地區和整個投資組合的收入都實現了強勁增長，包括綜合和非綜合產品以及 Invisalign Moderate 和 Invisalign Go。在連續的基礎上，第三季度 Clear Aligner 的收入比第二季度的創紀錄水平略有下降，這反映了比去年更明顯的夏季季節性，特別是在歐洲、中東和非洲地區，那裡的實踐和患者似乎已經延長了假期，並且辦公室由於 COVID 的死灰復燃而受到影響- 19 例和限制，特別是在亞太地區的一些市場。

In the Teen segment, Q3 '21 Invisalign Clear Aligner volumes for teens were strong, up 13.8% sequentially and 26.6% year-over-year to a record 206,000 teens, representing approximately 1/3 of total cases shipped, with strong shipment growth from North American orthodontists and a record quarter for Teen in APAC.

在青少年領域，21 年第三季度青少年的 Invisalign Clear Aligner 銷量強勁，環比增長 13.8%，同比增長 26.6%，達到創紀錄的 206,000 名青少年，約佔總出貨量的 1/3，出貨量強勁增長北美正畸醫生和亞太地區青少年創紀錄的四分之一。

Our third quarter revenues also include non-case revenue for clinical training and education and doctor-prescribed retainer products. Retention is a critical part of creating and maintaining a beautiful new smile. Retainers prevent teeth from gradually shifting back to their initial positions after treatment ends. Studies show that without retention, even perfectly aligned teeth can gradually revert to their pre-treatment state and that dentition continues to change as patients age, often requiring limited treatment, also known as touch-up treatment if not properly retained.

我們第三季度的收入還包括臨床培訓和教育以及醫生開具的保持器產品的非病例收入。保持是創造和保持美麗新笑容的關鍵部分。保持器可防止牙齒在治療結束後逐漸移回初始位置。研究表明，如果沒有保留，即使是完全對齊的牙齒也可以逐漸恢復到治療前的狀態，並且隨著患者年齡的增長，牙列會繼續發生變化，通常需要有限的治療，如果沒有正確保留，也稱為補牙治療。

Our retention products are designed to maintain teeth that have been aligned by Invisalign aligners, braces or other aligners. These retainer products can accommodate lingual bars, wires, also known as a permanent retainer, missing teeth that require an artificial tooth and bite ramps, also known as turbos or blocks.

我們的固位產品旨在保持已通過 Invisalign 隱形矯正器、牙套或其他矯正器對齊的牙齒。這些保持器產品可以容納舌桿、金屬絲（也稱為永久保持器）、需要人造牙齒的缺失牙齒和咬合坡道（也稱為渦輪或塊）。

While our retainer business continues to deliver solid revenue growth, our share of retention market is significantly underpenetrated, even more so than in our share of the orthodontic case starts. We have been developing a robust retainer strategy, including a separate marketing team focused solely on driving adoption and increasing market share in the United States.

雖然我們的保持器業務繼續實現穩健的收入增長，但我們在保持器市場的份額卻顯著不足，甚至比我們在正畸病例開始時的份額還要嚴重。我們一直在製定強有力的保留戰略，包括一個單獨的營銷團隊，專注於推動美國的採用和增加市場份額。

Our objective is to build brand awareness for Vivera retainers and drive engagement with doctors through clinical education and sales initiatives, while connecting consumers to doctors through demand creation programs and our concierge service. We've also recently implemented social media campaigns featuring the benefits of Vivera from the makers of Invisalign Clear Aligners. We believe that incremental investments will provide increased value for Invisalign practices and drive growth consistent with our long-term financial model target.

我們的目標是為 Vivera 聘用者建立品牌知名度，並通過臨床教育和銷售計劃推動與醫生的互動，同時通過需求創造計劃和我們的禮賓服務將消費者與醫生聯繫起來。我們最近還實施了社交媒體活動，其中展示了 Invisalign Clear Aligners 製造商提供的 Vivera 的好處。我們相信，增量投資將為 Invisalign 的實踐提供更高的價值，並推動符合我們長期財務模型目標的增長。

In addition, we successfully rolled out a limited pilot program to participating Invisalign providers in the United States and Canada that offers a monthly targeted subscription program to address the unmet patient demand for retention or touch-up cases. Our goal is to encourage experienced high volume in Invisalign practices who regularly treat patients with our comprehensive products to offer premium retention or entry-level products for the long-term health of their patients and to grow their businesses.

此外，我們成功地在美國和加拿大向參與的 Invisalign 提供者推出了一項有限的試點計劃，該計劃提供每月有針對性的訂閱計劃，以解決未滿足的患者對保留或修補病例的需求。我們的目標是鼓勵經驗豐富的 Invisalign 實踐，他們定期使用我們的綜合產品治療患者，為患者的長期健康提供優質保留或入門級產品並發展他們的業務。

Practices in this pilot program can purchase a monthly subscription at a fixed price based on their monthly needs for retention or limited treatment. The program allows doctors the flexibility to order both touch-up or retention aligners with their tiered subscription. The program is designed for a segment of experienced Invisalign doctors who are not regularly using our retainers or low-stage aligners.

此試點計劃中的實踐可以根據其每月保留或有限處理的需求以固定價格購買每月訂閱。該計劃允許醫生通過分層訂閱靈活地訂購補妝或保留矯正器。該計劃專為不經常使用我們的保持器或低階矯正器的一部分經驗豐富的 Invisalign 隱適美醫生而設計。

The positive feedback from our doctors have been encouraging. For instance, the doctors at Bray and Tarby told us the program is very straightforward and easy to understand, and they've been hoping Align will do something like this. Dr. Jonathan Nicozisis at Princeton Orthodontics called the program a home run. We went -- he went on to predict it should replace the idea that doctors invest in 3D printing and the additional complications and expenses it requires, including the need for a full-time employee and additional overhead costs, particularly because he believes his treatment outcomes are always better with Align.

我們醫生的積極反饋令人鼓舞。例如，Bray 和 Tarby 的醫生告訴我們，該程序非常簡單易懂，他們一直希望 Align 能做這樣的事情。普林斯頓口腔正畸學的 Jonathan Nicozisis 博士稱該計劃是本壘打。我們去了 - 他繼續預測它應該取代醫生投資 3D 打印的想法以及它所需的額外並發症和費用，包括需要一名全職員工和額外的間接費用，特別是因為他相信他的治療結果對齊總是更好。

Q3 non-case revenues also included accessories and consumables such as aligner cases called clam shells, cleaning crystals and other oral health products that are available on our e-commerce channels in the U.S. only, including the Invisalign accessory store, Walmart and Amazon. In Q3, we announced an exclusive supply distribution agreement with Ultradent Products Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of high-tech dental materials, devices and instruments worldwide.

第三季度非案例收入還包括配件和消耗品，例如稱為蛤殼的矯正器盒、清潔水晶和其他口腔保健產品，這些產品僅在我們在美國的電子商務渠道上提供，包括 Invisalign 配件店、沃爾瑪和亞馬遜。在第三季度，我們宣布與全球領先的高科技牙科材料、設備和器械開發商和製造商 Ultradent Products Inc. 達成獨家供應分銷協議。

The Invisalign Professional Whitening program powered by Opalescence is optimized for Invisalign aligners and Vivera retainers and is available only through Invisalign-trained doctors. Also in Q3, we launched the Invisalign Whitening Pen through an e-commerce channels in the U.S. only.

由 Opalescence 提供支持的 Invisalign 專業美白計劃針對 Invisalign 矯正器和 Vivera 保持器進行了優化，並且只能通過 Invisalign 培訓的醫生獲得。同樣在第三季度，我們僅通過美國的電子商務渠道推出了 Invisalign Whitening Pen。

The Whitening Pen is an over-the-counter retail product for consumers seeking quick tooth whitening at a lower price and is not intended to be used with aligners. The Whitening Pen complements the other accessory products that Align already markets to consumers through its existing e-commerce channels and is a key addition to our consumable product portfolio.

美白筆是一種非處方零售產品，面向尋求以較低價格快速美白牙齒的消費者，不適合與矯正器一起使用。美白筆補充了 Align 已經通過其現有電子商務渠道向消費者銷售的其他配件產品，並且是我們消耗品產品組合的重要補充。

Now let's turn to the specifics around our third quarter results, starting with the Americas. For the Americas, Q3 results reflected strong performance, including record revenues for Latin America as well as summer seasonality for adult case starts in North America that primarily impacted GP practices, strong ortho performance, especially in the teen market that included increased utilization from the orthodontic channel.

現在讓我們轉向我們第三季度業績的具體細節，從美洲開始。對於美洲，第三季度業績反映了強勁的表現，包括拉丁美洲創紀錄的收入以及主要影響全科醫生實踐的北美成人病例開始的夏季季節性，強勁的正畸表現，特別是在青少年市場，包括正畸的利用率增加渠道。

Invisalign case volume was up 0.7% sequentially and up 36.4% year-over-year, reflecting growth across the region, especially in LatAm. DSO utilization continued to be a strong growth driver as well, led by Heartland and Smile Docs.

Invisalign 隱適美病例數環比增長 0.7%，同比增長 36.4%，反映了整個地區的增長，尤其是在拉丁美洲。在 Heartland 和 Smile Docs 的帶動下，DSO 的利用率也繼續成為強勁的增長動力。

For our international business, Q3 Invisalign case volume was up 27% year-over-year on top of record growth in the same quarter last year. On a sequential basis, international shipments were down sequentially 4.3%, primarily as a result of greater seasonality and COVID-related shutdowns in APAC markets. For EMEA, Q3 Invisalign case volumes were up 49.6% year-over-year, with broad-based growth across all markets led by the U.K. and Iberia, along with continued growth in our expansion markets in Central and Eastern Europe and the Benelux.

對於我們的國際業務，第三季度 Invisalign 的案例量在去年同期創紀錄的增長基礎上同比增長 27%。在環比基礎上，國際出貨量環比下降 4.3%，這主要是由於亞太市場的季節性增加和與 COVID 相關的停工。對於歐洲、中東和非洲地區，第三季度 Invisalign 案例數量同比增長 49.6%，英國和伊比利亞領銜的所有市場均實現了廣泛的增長，同時我們在中歐和東歐以及比荷盧經濟聯盟的擴張市場也持續增長。

For Q3, year-over-year Invisalign volume in EMEA was driven by increased submitters from both orthodontists and GPs and increased utilization primarily from orthos. On a sequential basis, EMEA was down sequentially 16.5% following a record Q2, primarily as a result of the extended seasonality we had anticipated primarily from summer holidays and vacations across the region.

對於第三季度，歐洲、中東和非洲地區的 Invisalign 銷量同比增長是由於來自正畸醫生和全科醫生的提交者的增加以及主要來自正畸的利用率增加。在第二季度創紀錄之後，歐洲、中東和非洲地區環比下降 16.5%，這主要是由於我們預計主要來自暑假和該地區假期的季節性延長。

For APAC, Q3 volumes were up 4.2% compared to a record Q3 last year in APAC. On a year-over-year basis, growth was uneven. The market as APAC, the first region to emerge from the depths of the COVID lockdown in 2020. Additionally, we saw COVID resurgences and lockdowns sporadically impact various APAC countries in Q3.

對於亞太地區，與去年第三季度創紀錄的亞太地區相比，第三季度的銷量增長了 4.2%。與去年同期相比，增長不平衡。作為亞太地區的市場，是 2020 年第一個擺脫 COVID 封鎖深度的地區。此外，我們看到 COVID 死灰復燃和封鎖在第三季度偶爾影響亞太地區的各個國家。

On a sequential basis, Q3 Invisalign volumes were up 21.2% reflecting growth across the region, led by a record quarter in China, especially from teen cases as well as strong growth in Japan and ANZ. And Q3, growth from both channels was strong, with ortho growth driven by increased Invisalign utilization and GP growth -- channel growth driven by increased Invisalign submitters.

環比來看，第三季度 Invisalign 的銷量增長了 21.2%，反映出整個地區的增長，其中中國創紀錄的季度領先，尤其是青少年病例以及日本和澳新銀行的強勁增長。第三季度，兩個渠道的增長都很強勁，正射增長是由 Invisalign 利用率和 GP 增長推動的——渠道增長是由 Invisalign 提交者的增加推動的。

APAC teen shipments reached an all-time high in Q3. At the recent 10th China Finance Summit Awards, Align was recognized as the 2021 most innovative enterprise for its advancements and outstanding contributions in the field of digital orthodontics. This award builds on our prior recognition of Align's leadership in the digital orthodontics industry and its efforts to promote the modernization of orthodontics.

亞太地區青少年出貨量在第三季度創下歷史新高。在最近的第十屆中國金融峰會頒獎典禮上，愛齊憑藉在數字化正畸領域的進步和突出貢獻，被評為2021年最具創新力企業。該獎項建立在我們之前對 Align 在數字化正畸行業的領導地位及其促進正畸現代化的努力的認可之上。

Our consumer marketing focuses on educating consumers about the Invisalign system to drive demand to Invisalign doctor's offices, ultimately capitalizing on the massive market opportunity to transform 500 million smiles.

我們的消費者營銷專注於向消費者宣傳 Invisalign 系統，以推動對 Invisalign 醫生辦公室的需求，最終利用巨大的市場機會來改變 5 億個微笑。

In Q3, we expanded the next generation of the "Invis is" media campaign across EMEA, APAC and Brazil to increase awareness with adult, mom and teen consumers. Globally, we delivered 6.45 billion impressions, growing 42% year-over-year, resulting in a 70% year-over-year increase in unique visitors to our websites.

在第三季度，我們在歐洲、中東和非洲、亞太地區和巴西擴大了下一代“Invis is”媒體活動，以提高成人、媽媽和青少年消費者的認知度。在全球範圍內，我們提供了 64.5 億次展示，同比增長 42%，導致我們網站的獨立訪問者同比增長 70%。

In the U.S., we connected with teens on Snapchat, YouTube and Twitch with our "Invis is Not Your Parents Braces" campaign. These campaigns continue to feature some of the largest teen influencers from our Invisalign Smile Squad, like Charli D'Amelio, Marsai Martin, [Michael Lynn Collins] and Devon Key. These influencers share their personal experience with Invisalign treatment, including why they chose Invisalign treatment to shape their smiles.

在美國，我們通過“Invis is Not Your Parents Braces”活動在 Snapchat、YouTube 和 Twitch 上與青少年建立聯繫。這些活動繼續吸引來自我們 Invisalign 微笑小隊的一些最大的青少年影響者，如 Charli D'Amelio、Marsai Martin、[Michael Lynn Collins] 和 Devon Key。這些影響者分享了他們使用 Invisalign 治療的個人經驗，包括他們選擇 Invisalign 治療來塑造笑容的原因。

As part of our focus on teens, with our Invisalign ChangeMakers program, we held a recognition event hosted by Marsai Martin, with teens across the country to celebrate and recognize 100 teens across the country who drove positive change within their communities.

作為我們關注青少年的一部分，通過我們的 Invisalign ChangeMakers 計劃，我們舉辦了由 Marsai Martin 主辦的表彰活動，全國各地的青少年共同慶祝和表彰全國 100 名在社區內推動積極變革的青少年。

To continue growing for our young adult businesses, we expanded the "Invis is a Powerful Thing" campaign, which highlights how powerful the smile transformation with Invisalign treatment can be for their self-confidence. In the U.S., we expanded our Invisalign Smile Squad to include young adult influencers such as Cody Rigsby, Lana Condor and Emily Hampshire, will help to deliver over 405 million impressions. Additionally, our influencer partnerships with TikTok creators helped increase traffic to our sites with a 127% increase in click-through rates.

為了繼續為我們的年輕成人業務發展，我們擴大了“Invis is a Powerful Thing”活動，該活動強調了 Invisalign 治療帶來的微笑轉變對他們的自信有多麼強大。在美國，我們擴大了 Invisalign Smile Squad，包括 Cody Rigsby、Lana Condor 和 Emily Hampshire 等年輕的成年影響者，這將有助於提供超過 4.05 億次展示。此外，我們與 TikTok 創作者的影響者合作幫助增加了我們網站的流量，點擊率提高了 127%。

In Brazil, we launched the "Invis is a Powerful Thing" campaign and teamed up with mega-influencer, (inaudible) to increase website traffic by 30%. In the EMEA region, we expanded into new media channels such as TikTok and Snapchat across the U.K., Germany and France to drive engagement. These efforts led to more than 153% increase in unique visitors. We also started consumer advertising in Russia, which resulted in more of a 1,000 increase in unique visitors to our website.

在巴西，我們發起了“Invis is a Powerful Thing”活動，並與大型影響者（聽不清）合作，將網站流量提高了 30%。在歐洲、中東和非洲地區，我們在英國、德國和法國擴展到 TikTok 和 Snapchat 等新媒體渠道，以提高參與度。這些努力使獨立訪問者增加了 153% 以上。我們還開始在俄羅斯投放消費者廣告，這導致我們網站的獨立訪問者增加了 1,000 多人。

In Q3, we continue to expand our consumer advertising across the APAC region, experienced a 132% increase in unique visitors to our websites. In Australia, we expanded our media mix to include partners such as TikTok and Snapchat, which resulted in a 250% growth year-over-year in unique visitors to our website.

在第三季度，我們繼續在亞太地區擴展我們的消費者廣告，我們網站的獨立訪問者增加了 132%。在澳大利亞，我們擴大了媒體組合，將 TikTok 和 Snapchat 等合作夥伴納入其中，這導致我們網站的獨立訪問者同比增長 250%。

In Japan, we continue to see a strong response from consumers to our "Invis is" campaign, resulting to more than an 800% increase year-over-year in unique visitors to our website. Adoption of our consumer and patient app, My Invisalign, continued to increase in Q3 with 1.2 million downloads to date. Usage of our 4 digital tools also continue to increase.

在日本，我們繼續看到消費者對我們的“Invis is”活動的強烈反響，導致我們網站的獨立訪問者同比增長 800% 以上。我們的消費者和患者應用程序 My Invisalign 在第三季度繼續增長，迄今已下載 120 萬次。我們的 4 種數字工具的使用量也在不斷增加。

For example, our Invisalign Virtual Appointment tool was used over 15,000 times and our insurance verification feature was used 14,000 times in Q3. Furthermore, we received more than 1.5 million patient photos in our Virtual Care feature to date globally, which continues to provide us with rich data to leverage our AI capabilities and improve our services for doctors that is used to enhance their patient's care.

例如，我們的 Invisalign 虛擬預約工具在第三季度被使用了超過 15,000 次，我們的保險驗證功能被使用了 14,000 次。此外，迄今為止，我們在全球範圍內的虛擬護理功能中收到了超過 150 萬張患者照片，這繼續為我們提供豐富的數據，以利用我們的 AI 功能並改善我們為醫生提供的服務，從而增強他們的患者護理。

For our Systems and Services business, Q3 revenues grew 57.3% year-over-year reflecting strong scanner shipments and services and was up 5% sequentially. This is the fifth consecutive quarter of sequential revenue growth for our Systems and Services business. The iTero Element 5D Plus imaging system continued gaining traction across all regions, with the most recent launch in Japan in Q3. The iTero Element 5D Plus imaging system will be available in China in Q4 of this year. Additionally, the iTero Element Plus Series was launched in Korea in Q3.

對於我們的系統和服務業務，第三季度收入同比增長 57.3%，反映出強勁的掃描儀出貨量和服務，環比增長 5%。這是我們的系統和服務業務連續第五個季度實現收入連續增長。 iTero Element 5D Plus 成像系統繼續在所有地區獲得關注，最近一次是在第三季度在日本推出。 iTero Element 5D Plus 成像系統將於今年第四季度在中國上市。此外，iTero Element Plus 系列於第三季度在韓國推出。

The series expands the portfolio of iTero Element scanners and imaging systems to include new solutions that serve the needs of a broader range of doctors and patients in the dental market. Moreover, I'm proud to say that in a recent clinical study, the iTero Element 5D intraoral scanner was found to be more sensitive than bitewing radiology in detecting early enamel lesions, providing further evidence of the benefits of iTero 5D scanner in detection and monitoring of interproximal caries lesions or cavities above the gingiva without exposing patients to harmful ionizing radiation.

該系列擴展了 iTero Element 掃描儀和成像系統的產品組合，包括新的解決方案，以滿足牙科市場中更廣泛的醫生和患者的需求。此外，我很自豪地說，在最近的一項臨床研究中，發現 iTero Element 5D 口腔內掃描儀在檢測早期牙釉質病變方面比咬翼放射學更敏感，進一步證明了 iTero 5D 掃描儀在檢測和監測方面的優勢在不使患者暴露於有害電離輻射的情況下，清除牙齦上方的鄰間齲損或蛀牙。

This is great news for our iTero business as the study further supports the diagnostic validity of near-infrared imaging technology offered by the iTero 5D scanner for early proximal caries detection.

這對我們的 iTero 業務來說是個好消息，因為該研究進一步支持了 iTero 5D 掃描儀提供的用於早期近端齲齒檢測的近紅外成像技術的診斷有效性。

The findings also underscore the valuable role that NIRI technology can have in dental health assessment and early detection of cavities, which is important to the overall oral health care treatment options and a comfortable safe experience for a broad population of patients. A strong indicator of the digital acceleration with dental offices is a number of intraoral digital scans used for Invisalign case submissions.

研究結果還強調了 NIRI 技術在牙齒健康評估和蛀牙早期檢測中的重要作用，這對於整體口腔保健治療選擇和為廣大患者群體提供舒適安全的體驗非常重要。牙科診所數字化加速的一個強有力指標是用於 Invisalign 案例提交的大量口內數字掃描。

Total worldwide intraoral digital scans used to start in Invisalign case in Q3 increased 84.2% from 78.3% in Q3 last year. International intraoral digital scans for Invisalign case submissions increased 79.3%, up from 72.1% in the same last year.

第三季度用於 Invisalign 病例的全球口內數字掃描總量從去年第三季度的 78.3% 增加了 84.2%。用於 Invisalign 病例提交的國際口腔數字掃描增加了 79.3%，高於去年同期的 72.1%。

For the Americas, 88% of cases were submitted using an intraoral digital scan compared to 83.2% a year ago. Cumulatively, over 44.9 million orthodontic scans and 9.3 million restorative scans have been performed with iTero scanners.

在美洲，88% 的病例是使用口腔內數字掃描提交的，而一年前這一比例為 83.2%。累計使用 iTero 掃描儀進行了超過 4490 萬次正畸掃描和 930 萬次修復掃描。

Our Q3 Systems and Services revenues also includes exocad, CAD/CAM products and services. exocad's expertise in restorative dentistry, implantology, guided surgery and smile design, extends our digital dental solutions and broadens Align's digital platform towards fully integrated interdisciplinary and workflows. We remain excited about our continued integration progress and product plans with exocad.

我們第三季度的系統和服務收入還包括 exocad、CAD/CAM 產品和服務。 exocad 在修復牙科、種植學、引導手術和微笑設計方面的專業知識擴展了我們的數字牙科解決方案，並將 Align 的數字平台擴展到完全集成的跨學科和工作流程。我們仍然對我們與 exocad 的持續集成進展和產品計劃感到興奮。

During the quarter, exocad launched ChairsideCAD 3.0 Galway, the next generation of exocad's easy-to-use CAD software for single-visit dentistry. The software has improved automation for fast crown design and enables users to integrate open hardware and materials of choice. exocad's ChairsideCAD received 2021 Cellerant's Best of Class Technology Award for the third consecutive year.

在本季度，exocad 推出了 ChairsideCAD 3.0 Galway，這是 exocad 用於單次就診牙科的下一代易於使用的 CAD 軟件。該軟件提高了快速牙冠設計的自動化程度，並使用戶能夠集成開放式硬件和所選材料。 exocad 的 ChairsideCAD 連續第三年獲得 2021 年 Cellerant 的最佳技術獎。

Also during the quarter, exocad had its largest ever presence at IDS, the International Dental Show, where they showcased their seamless digital workflows and the simplicity of the use of exocad's Galway software release. exocad was the only company at IDS to showcase live patient treatment with a smile creator experience station, featuring iTero's scans, instant smile makeovers and production of clip-on smiles.

同樣在本季度，exocad 在 IDS 國際牙科展上進行了有史以來規模最大的一次展示，他們展示了他們的無縫數字工作流程以及使用 exocad 的 Galway 軟件版本的簡單性。 exocad 是 IDS 唯一一家通過微笑創造者體驗站展示現場患者治療的公司，其中包括 iTero 的掃描、即時微笑改造和夾式微笑的製作。

With that, I'll now turn it over to John.

有了這個，我現在把它交給約翰。

Thanks, Joe. Now for our Q3 financial results. Total revenues for the third quarter were $1.016 billion, up 0.5% from the prior quarter and up 38.4% from the corresponding quarter a year ago. For Clear Aligners, Q3 revenues of $837.6 million were down 0.4% sequentially and up 34.9% year-over-year, reflecting Invisalign volume growth across all geographies.

謝謝，喬。現在來看我們的第三季度財務業績。第三季度總收入為 10.16 億美元，比上一季度增長 0.5%，比去年同期增長 38.4%。對於 Clear Aligners，第三季度收入為 8.376 億美元，環比下降 0.4%，同比增長 34.9%，反映了 Invisalign 在所有地區的銷量增長。

In Q3, we shipped 655,100 Invisalign cases, a decrease of 1.6% sequentially with an increase of 32.1% year-over-year. In addition, we shipped to a record 85,500 Invisalign doctors worldwide, of which approximately 7,200 were first-time customers.

在第三季度，我們出貨了 655,100 個 Invisalign 案例，環比下降 1.6%，同比增長 32.1%。此外，我們向全球創紀錄的 85,500 名 Invisalign 醫生髮貨，其中約 7,200 名是首次客戶。

Q3 Clear Aligner revenues reflect strong growth across the Invisalign portfolio, led by comprehensive products. Q3 comprehensive volume increased 1.3% sequentially and 30.3% year-over-year. And Q3 non-comprehensive volume decreased 8.1% sequentially and increased 36.8% year-over-year. Q3 adult patients decreased 7.3% sequentially and increased 34.7% year-over-year. In Q3, teens or younger patients increased 13.8% sequentially and 26.6% year-over-year.

第三季度 Clear Aligner 收入反映了 Invisalign 產品組合的強勁增長，由綜合產品引領。第三季度綜合交易量環比增長 1.3%，同比增長 30.3%。第三季度非綜合交易量環比下降 8.1%，同比增長 36.8%。第三季度成年患者環比下降 7.3%，同比增長 34.7%。在第三季度，青少年或更年輕的患者環比增長 13.8%，同比增長 26.6%。

Clear Aligner revenues were unfavorably impacted by foreign exchange of approximately $1.5 million or approximately 0.2 points sequentially. On a year-over-year basis, Clear Aligner revenues were favorably impacted by foreign exchange of approximately $16.1 million or approximately 2.6 points.

Clear Aligner 收入受到約 150 萬美元或約 0.2 個點的外彙的不利影響。與去年同期相比，Clear Aligner 收入受到約 1610 萬美元或約 2.6 個點的外彙的有利影響。

For Q3, Invisalign comprehensive ASPs increased sequentially and year-over-year. On a sequential basis, Invisalign comprehensive ASPs reflect higher additional aligners. On a year-over-year basis, comprehensive ASPs reflect favorable foreign exchange, partially offset by the increase in net revenue deferrals for new Invisalign cases versus additional aligner shipments.

對於第三季度，Invisalign 綜合 ASP 環比和同比增長。在連續的基礎上，Invisalign 綜合 ASP 反映了更高的附加對準器。與去年同期相比，綜合 ASP 反映了有利的外匯匯率，部分被新 Invisalign 案例的淨收入遞延與額外的對準器出貨量的增加所抵消。

Q3 Invisalign non-comprehensive ASPs increased sequentially and year-over-year. On a sequential basis, Invisalign non-comprehensive ASPs reflect higher additional aligners, partially offset by higher discounts. On a year-over-year basis, Invisalign non-comprehensive ASPs were favorably impacted by foreign exchange, higher additional aligners and lower discounts.

第三季度 Invisalign 非綜合 ASP 環比和同比增長。在連續的基礎上，Invisalign 非綜合 ASP 反映了更高的附加對齊器，部分被更高的折扣所抵消。與去年同期相比，Invisalign 非綜合 ASP 受到外匯、更高的附加校準器和更低的折扣的有利影響。

Clear Aligner deferred revenues on the balance sheet increased $84 million or 9.3% sequentially and $347.3 million or 53.9% year-over-year and will be recognized as the additional aligners are shipped. Our Systems and Services revenues for the third quarter were a record $178.3 million, up 5% sequentially and up 57.3% year-over-year. This marks the fifth quarter in a row of sequential revenue increase.

資產負債表上的 Clear Aligner 遞延收入環比增長 8400 萬美元或 9.3%，同比增長 3.473 億美元或 53.9%，並將被確認為額外的校準器發貨。我們第三季度的系統和服務收入達到創紀錄的 1.783 億美元，環比增長 5%，同比增長 57.3%。這標誌著連續第五個季度收入連續增長。

The increase sequentially can be attributed to increased scanner shipments and increased services revenues from our larger installed base. The increase year-over-year can be attributed to increased scanner shipments, increased service revenues from our larger installed base as well as higher ASPs from a favorable mix shift towards higher-priced iTero 5D scanners and imaging systems.

連續增長可歸因於掃描儀出貨量的增加和我們更大的安裝基礎帶來的服務收入的增加。同比增長可歸因於掃描儀出貨量增加、我們更大的安裝基礎帶來的服務收入增加，以及從有利的組合轉向更高價格的 iTero 5D 掃描儀和成像系統帶來的更高的 ASP。

Our Systems and Services deferred revenue on the balance sheet was up $27.2 million or 17% sequentially and up $100.1 million or 115.2% year-over-year, primarily due to the increase in scanner sales and deferral of services revenue, which we recognize ratably over the service period.

我們在資產負債表上的系統和服務遞延收入環比增長 2720 萬美元或 17%，同比增長 1.001 億美元或 115.2%，這主要是由於掃描儀銷售和服務收入遞延的增加，我們確認超過服務期。

Moving on to gross margin. Third quarter overall gross margin was 74.3%, down 0.7 points sequentially and up 1.6 points year-over-year. On a non-GAAP basis, excluding stock-based compensation and amortization of intangibles related to our 2020 exocad acquisition, overall gross margin was 74.7% for the third quarter, down 0.7 points sequentially and up 1.4 points year-over-year.

繼續毛利率。第三季度整體毛利率為74.3%，環比下降0.7個百分點，同比上升1.6個百分點。按非公認會計原則計算，不包括與我們 2020 年 exocad 收購相關的基於股票的補償和無形資產攤銷，第三季度的整體毛利率為 74.7%，環比下降 0.7 個百分點，同比上升 1.4 個百分點。

Overall gross margin was favorably impacted by approximately 0.5 points on a year-over-year basis due to foreign exchange and relatively unchanged sequentially. Clear Aligner gross margin for the third quarter was 76.2%, down 0.7 points sequentially due to higher manufacturing costs and higher additional aligners, partially offset by higher ASPs and lower freight. Clear Aligner gross margin was up 1.5 points year-over-year due to improved manufacturing efficiencies from higher production volume, partially offset by higher ASPs.

由於外匯影響，整體毛利率同比受到約 0.5 個百分點的有利影響，環比保持相對不變。第三季度 Clear Aligner 毛利率為 76.2%，環比下降 0.7 個百分點，原因是製造成本增加和額外的對準器增加，部分被較高的 ASP 和較低的運費所抵消。 Clear Aligner 毛利率同比增長 1.5 個百分點，原因是產量增加提高了製造效率，部分被更高的 ASP 所抵消。

Systems and Services gross margin for the third quarter was 65.6%, down 0.3 points sequentially primarily due to lower ASPs and higher manufacturing variances, partially offset by higher service revenue. Systems and Services gross margin was up 3.6 points year-over-year due to higher ASPs from product mix shift to iTero 5D and 5D Plus Series and service revenues, partially offset by higher freight cost.

第三季度的系統和服務毛利率為 65.6%，環比下降 0.3 個百分點，主要是由於較低的平均售價和較高的製造差異，部分被較高的服務收入所抵消。系統和服務毛利率同比增長 3.6 個百分點，原因是產品組合轉向 iTero 5D 和 5D Plus 系列以及服務收入的 ASP 較高，部分被較高的運費成本所抵消。

Q3 operating expenses were $494 million, up sequentially 0.9% and up 38.4% year-over-year. On a sequential basis, operating expenses were up slightly by $4.4 million. Year-over-year, operating expenses increased by $137 million, reflecting increased headcount and our continued investment in marketing, sales and R&D activities and investments commensurate with business growth.

第三季度運營費用為 4.94 億美元，環比增長 0.9%，同比增長 38.4%。在連續的基礎上，運營費用略微增加了 440 萬美元。與去年同期相比，運營費用增加了 1.37 億美元，這反映了員工人數的增加以及我們對營銷、銷售和研發活動的持續投資以及與業務增長相稱的投資。

On a non-GAAP basis, excluding stock-based compensation and amortization of intangibles and acquisition costs related to our 2020 exocad acquisition, operating expenses were $466.1 million, up sequentially 1% and up 40.3% year-over-year due to the reasons described earlier.

在非公認會計準則基礎上，不包括基於股票的補償和無形資產攤銷以及與我們 2020 年 exocad 收購相關的收購成本，由於所述原因，運營費用為 4.661 億美元，環比增長 1%，同比增長 40.3%早些時候。

Our third quarter operating income of $261.1 million resulted in an operating margin of 25.7%, down 0.9 points from the prior quarter and up 1.6 points year-over-year. The sequential decrease in operating margin was attributable primarily to lower gross margin. The year-over-year increase in operating margin was primarily attributed to higher gross margin and operating leverage as well as the favorable impact from foreign exchange by approximately 0.7 points, partially offset by continued investments as mentioned earlier.

我們第三季度的營業收入為 2.611 億美元，營業利潤率為 25.7%，比上一季度下降 0.9 個百分點，同比增長 1.6 個百分點。營業利潤率的環比下降主要是由於毛利率下降。營業利潤率的同比增長主要歸因於較高的毛利率和經營槓桿以及外彙的有利影響約0.7個百分點，部分被前面提到的持續投資所抵消。

On a non-GAAP basis, which excludes stock-based compensation and amortization of intangibles and acquisition-related costs, the operating margin for the third quarter was 28.8%, down 0.9 points sequentially and up 0.8 points year-over-year. Interest and other income and expense net for the third quarter was a gain of $0.8 million, up sequentially by $0.9 million and down year-over-year by $6.6 million.

按非公認會計原則計算，不包括基於股票的薪酬和無形資產攤銷以及與收購相關的成本，第三季度的營業利潤率為 28.8%，環比下降 0.9 個百分點，同比上升 0.8 個百分點。第三季度的利息和其他收入和支出淨額為 80 萬美元，環比增長 90 萬美元，同比下降 660 萬美元。

On a year-over-year basis, interest and other income and expense decreased primarily due to net foreign exchange losses in the 3 months ended September 30, 2021, as compared to net foreign exchange gains in the same period in 2020, which was partially offset by an unrealized gain on an investment held in a private company recognized in the 3 months ended September 30, 2021.

與去年同期相比，利息和其他收入和支出減少的主要原因是截至 2021 年 9 月 30 日止 3 個月的淨匯兌損失，而 2020 年同期的淨匯兌收益，部分是被在截至 2021 年 9 月 30 日的 3 個月內確認的私人公司投資的未實現收益所抵消。

The GAAP effective tax rate for the third quarter was 30.9% compared to 25.7% in the second quarter and 24.5% in the third quarter of the prior year. On a non-GAAP -- our non-GAAP effective tax rate was 22.2% in the third quarter compared to 19.5% in the second quarter and 16.6% in the third quarter of the prior year. The third quarter GAAP and non-GAAP effective tax rates were higher than the second quarter primarily due to our foreign income being taxed at different rates and tax true-ups.

第三季度的 GAAP 有效稅率為 30.9%，而去年第二季度為 25.7%，去年第三季度為 24.5%。在非公認會計原則上——我們的非公認會計原則有效稅率在第三季度為 22.2%，而第二季度為 19.5%，去年第三季度為 16.6%。第三季度 GAAP 和非 GAAP 有效稅率高於第二季度，主要是因為我們的外國收入按不同的稅率徵稅和稅收調整。

Our GAAP and non-GAAP third quarter effective tax rates were higher than the third quarter of the prior year primarily due to lower tax benefits from foreign income tax at lower rates and a tax benefit recognized last year resulting from an income tax audit settlement. Third quarter net income per diluted share was $2.28, down sequentially $0.23 and up $0.52 compared to the prior year. On a non-GAAP basis, net income per diluted share was $2.87 for the third quarter, down $0.17 sequentially and up $0.62 year-over-year.

我們的 GAAP 和非 GAAP 第三季度有效稅率高於去年第三季度，這主要是由於較低稅率的外國所得稅帶來的稅收優惠減少，以及去年所得稅審計結算產生的稅收優惠。第三季度每股攤薄淨收益為 2.28 美元，環比下降 0.23 美元，比去年同期上升 0.52 美元。按非公認會計原則計算，第三季度每股攤薄淨收益為 2.87 美元，環比下降 0.17 美元，同比增長 0.62 美元。

Moving on to the balance sheet. As of September 30, 2021, cash and cash equivalents were $1.2 billion, up sequentially $151.5 million and up $622.3 million year-over-year. Of our $1.2 billion of cash and cash equivalents, $607.5 million was held in the U.S. and $630.3 million was held by our international entities.

轉到資產負債表。截至 2021 年 9 月 30 日，現金和現金等價物為 12 億美元，環比增長 1.515 億美元，同比增長 6.223 億美元。在我們 12 億美元的現金和現金等價物中，6.075 億美元在美國持有，6.303 億美元由我們的國際實體持有。

Q3 accounts receivable balance was $855 million, up approximately 5.8% sequentially. Our overall days sales outstanding was 75 days, up approximately 3 days sequentially and down approximately 2 days as compared to Q3 last year.

第三季度應收賬款餘額為 8.55 億美元，環比增長約 5.8%。與去年第三季度相比，我們的總銷售天數為 75 天，環比增長約 3 天，下降約 2 天。

Cash flow from operations for the third quarter was $355 million. Capital expenditures for the third quarter were $124.3 million as we continued to invest in increasing aligner capacity and facilities. Free cash flow, defined as cash flow from operations less capital expenditures, amounted to $230.7 million. We also have $300 million available under our untapped revolving line of credit. Under our $1 billion repurchase program announced in May of 2021, we have $825 million remaining available for repurchase of our common stock.

第三季度的運營現金流為 3.55 億美元。第三季度的資本支出為 1.243 億美元，因為我們繼續投資於增加校準器的產能和設施。自由現金流（定義為運營現金流減去資本支出）為 2.307 億美元。在我們未開發的循環信貸額度下，我們還有 3 億美元可用。根據我們在 2021 年 5 月宣布的 10 億美元回購計劃，我們還有 8.25 億美元可用於回購我們的普通股。

Now let me turn to our outlook and the factors that inform our view for the remainder of the year. We are very pleased with our Q3 results and strong year-over-year growth, which reflects continued customer adoption of the iTero scanners and increased Invisalign utilization across customer channels, including teens, adults and young patients.

現在讓我談談我們的前景以及影響我們對今年剩餘時間的看法的因素。我們對第三季度的業績和強勁的同比增長感到非常滿意，這反映了客戶對 iTero 掃描儀的持續採用以及 Invisalign 跨客戶渠道（包括青少年、成人和年輕患者）的利用率增加。

Over the last 18 months, our investment decisions have helped drive and capture demand across all regions and customer channels. We continued spending in many areas and have seen good return on our investments and strong revenue growth. Consumer interest in improving smiles is high and doctor acceptance in the Align Digital Platform is helping drive growth across all regions and market segments.

在過去的 18 個月中，我們的投資決策幫助推動和捕捉了所有地區和客戶渠道的需求。我們繼續在許多領域進行支出，並看到我們的投資回報良好，收入增長強勁。消費者對改善笑容的興趣很高，醫生對 Align 數字平台的接受度有助於推動所有地區和細分市場的增長。

As anticipated in our Q3 outlook, we experienced more pronounced summer seasonality, more noticeably in September and continued into October as practices took more extended vacations and patient traffic flow was sporadically interrupted by regional COVID resurgence, restrictions and other lockdowns. We anticipate these COVID challenges and the general macroeconomic uncertainties to continue into Q4.

正如我們在第三季度展望中所預期的那樣，我們經歷了更明顯的夏季季節性，在 9 月更加明顯，並持續到 10 月，因為實踐需要更多的延長假期，並且患者交通流量偶爾會因區域 COVID 復甦、限制和其他封鎖而中斷。我們預計這些 COVID 挑戰和總體宏觀經濟不確定性將持續到第四季度。

Taking this all into account, as we look at the remainder of 2021, we expect revenues for the year to be in the range of $3.9 billion to $3.95 billion, at the high end of our original guidance range. We also expect our outlook and revenue growth for the second half of 2021 to be in the high end of our long-term operating model of 20% to 30%. On a GAAP basis, we anticipate our 2021 operating margin to be around 25%. On a non-GAAP basis, we expect 2021 operating margin to be approximately 3 points higher than our GAAP operating margin after excluding stock-based compensation and intangible amortization from our 2020 exocad acquisition.

考慮到這一切，當我們展望 2021 年剩餘時間時，我們預計今年的收入將在 39 億美元至 39.5 億美元之間，處於我們最初指導範圍的高端。我們還預計，我們 2021 年下半年的前景和收入增長將處於我們長期運營模式 20% 至 30% 的高端。根據公認會計原則，我們預計 2021 年的營業利潤率約為 25%。在非 GAAP 基礎上，我們預計 2021 年營業利潤率將比我們的 GAAP 營業利潤率高出約 3 個百分點，其中不包括我們 2020 年收購 exocad 的股票薪酬和無形攤銷。

We remain confident in the huge market opportunities for our business, our industry leadership and our ability to execute. We will continue to invest in sales, marketing, innovation and manufacturing capacity to drive our growth and accelerate adoption in a huge underpenetrated market. In addition, during Q4 2021, we expect to repurchase up to $100 million of our common stock through either a combination of open-market repurchases or an accelerated stock repurchase agreement.

我們對我們的業務、行業領導地位和執行能力的巨大市場機會仍然充滿信心。我們將繼續投資於銷售、營銷、創新和製造能力，以推動我們的增長並加速在一個尚未充分滲透的巨大市場中的採用。此外，在 2021 年第四季度，我們預計將通過公開市場回購或加速股票回購協議的組合回購高達 1 億美元的普通股。

For 2021, we expect our investments in capital expenditures to be above $400 million. Capital expenditures primarily relate to building construction improvements as well as additional manufacturing capacity to support our international expansion. This includes our planned investment in our new facility in Wroclaw, Poland, the first in the EMEA region.

到 2021 年，我們預計我們的資本支出投資將超過 4 億美元。資本支出主要與建築施工改進以及額外的製造能力有關，以支持我們的國際擴張。這包括我們在波蘭弗羅茨瓦夫的新工廠的計劃投資，這是歐洲、中東和非洲地區的第一家工廠。

With that, I'll turn it back over to Joe for final comments. Joe?

有了這個，我會把它交給喬做最後的評論。喬？

Thanks, John. In summary, Q3 was a strong quarter, and we're pleased with our performance across the business. Align is uniquely positioned. We have the clinical capability and product portfolio supported by doctor and patient workflows, only accessible through the proprietary Align Digital Platform to address the broadest range of orthodontic cases with the Invisalign system through a network of trained Invisalign doctors who have the expertise to reach more than the 500 million potential global patients.

謝謝，約翰。總之，第三季度是一個強勁的季度，我們對整個業務的表現感到滿意。 Align 定位獨特。我們擁有由醫生和患者工作流程支持的臨床能力和產品組合，只能通過專有的 Align 數字平台訪問，通過 Invisalign 系統通過訓練有素的 Invisalign 醫生網絡解決最廣泛的正畸病例，這些醫生擁有超過5億潛在的全球患者。

As we develop our annual plan for 2022 over the next few months, it's important that we continue to expand our commercial, manufacturing, R&D, clinical, treatment planning and manufacturing operations. And continue to leverage our global quality and regulatory muscles in existing and emerging markets. Reach millions of consumers who want to transform their smile with the most advanced Clear Aligner systems in the world.

隨著我們在未來幾個月制定 2022 年年度計劃，重要的是我們繼續擴大我們的商業、製造、研發、臨床、治療計劃和製造業務。並繼續利用我們在現有和新興市場的全球質量和監管力量。用世界上最先進的 Clear Aligner 系統吸引數百萬想要改變笑容的消費者。

Through advertising, PR, digital, social media and influencer marketing to drive demand and conversion through Invisalign-trained doctors. Increased ortho adoption and teen utilization of Invisalign treatment and train and educate GP dentists on how the iTero Element family of intraoral scanners and imaging systems propel today's dental practice into the future by enhancing patient experience and elevating clinical precision, and in the benefits of digital dentistry with the Invisalign system, trusted by more than 11 million people worldwide to improve their smiles.

通過廣告、公關、數字、社交媒體和影響者營銷，通過 Invisalign 培訓的醫生推動需求和轉化。增加 Invisalign 治療的正畸採用率和青少年使用率，並培訓和教育 GP 牙醫了解 iTero Element 系列口內掃描儀和成像系統如何通過增強患者體驗和提高臨床精度以及數字牙科的好處推動當今的牙科實踐走向未來使用 Invisalign 系統，全球超過 1100 萬人信任它來改善他們的笑容。

We remain focused on strategic execution, accountability, agility, customer service excellence and continuing to make investments to grow our business. This is a multivariable equation that we continue to talk about and that, in combination, we remain uniquely able to offer. As we continue to stay the course with our strategic initiatives, we also continue to navigate the COVID-19 environment and the challenges and uncertainty that go with it.

我們仍然專注於戰略執行、問責制、敏捷性、卓越的客戶服務，並繼續投資以發展我們的業務。這是一個我們繼續討論的多變量方程，結合起來，我們仍然能夠提供獨特的解決方案。隨著我們繼續堅持我們的戰略舉措，我們還將繼續應對 COVID-19 環境以及隨之而來的挑戰和不確定性。

Throughout the pandemic, our top priority has been consistent, the health and safety of our employees and their families, doctors and their staff and that has not changed. The situation with COVID remains very fluid. And with the rise of the Delta variant, many cities, states and countries have issued or plan to issue new guidance including mask requirements, regular testing capacity limits and vaccination mandates. Operating in this evolving environment is challenging for everyone, and we are staying as close as we can to the situation.

在整個大流行期間，我們的首要任務一直是始終如一，我們的員工及其家人、醫生及其員工的健康和安全並沒有改變。 COVID 的情況仍然非常不穩定。隨著 Delta 變種的興起，許多城市、州和國家已經發布或計劃發布新的指南，包括口罩要求、定期檢測能力限制和疫苗接種要求。在這種不斷變化的環境中運營對每個人來說都是一項挑戰，我們會盡可能地貼近形勢。

The shift from traditional analog wires and brackets to a fully end-to-end digital platform is not easy. It cannot be done without very complex and industry-leading technology and talented, passionate people. But the digital transformation in orthodontics is inevitable.

從傳統的模擬線和支架轉變為完全端到端的數字平台並非易事。如果沒有非常複雜和行業領先的技術以及才華橫溢、充滿激情的人，就無法做到這一點。但正畸領域的數字化轉型是不可避免的。

Our technology is prevalent, touching every aspect of what we do for manufacturing excellence, where we currently produce over 750,000 unique aligners a day, to expanding our geographic footprint to over 100 markets, to building a network of over 210,000 trained Invisalign doctors and providing the technology to our doctors in a complete digital system, the Align Digital Platform.

我們的技術非常普遍，觸及我們為實現卓越製造所做的每一個方面，我們目前每天生產超過 750,000 個獨特的矯正器，將我們的地理足跡擴展到 100 多個市場，建立一個由超過 210,000 名訓練有素的 Invisalign 醫生組成的網絡，並提供在一個完整的數字系統 Align 數字平台中向我們的醫生提供技術。

As the inventor of the leading Clear Aligner system, we've been investing in this therapy for over 24 years to get it to where it is today. And yet the majority of the market opportunity remains largely untapped, with over 500 million potential cases starts globally, align is in a rare position to address this market with the Align Digital Platform powered by 2 decades of research and development, manufacturing excellence, clinical data based on more than 11 million patients with AI machine learning and digital tools to help our doctors efficiently communicate with their patients, show and explain any issues and visualize potential treatment options. And together with doctors, we're going to unleash the power of digital for dentistry in orthodontics more than ever.

作為領先的 Clear Aligner 系統的發明者，我們已經對這種療法進行了超過 24 年的投資，以使其達到今天的水平。然而，大部分市場機會仍未得到充分利用，全球有超過 5 億個潛在病例，Align 憑藉 2 年的研發、卓越製造、臨床數據支持的 Align 數字平台，處於難得的地位來應對這個市場基於超過 1100 萬患者的人工智能機器學習和數字工具，幫助我們的醫生有效地與患者溝通，展示和解釋任何問題，並可視化潛在的治療方案。與醫生一起，我們將比以往任何時候都更加釋放正畸牙科數字化的力量。

Thank you for your time today. I look forward to speaking with you on Friday at our Investor Day. We will share more details on the Align Digital Platform and our vision and strategy to make Clear Aligner treatment available to everyone through doctors.

謝謝你今天的時間。我期待在周五的投資者日與您交談。我們將分享有關 Align 數字平台的更多詳細信息以及我們通過醫生向所有人提供 Clear Aligner 治療的願景和戰略。

Now I'll turn the call over to our operator for your questions. Operator?

現在我將把電話轉給我們的接線員來解答您的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Nathan Rich with Goldman Sachs.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自高盛的 Nathan Rich。

Joe and John, you highlighted the seasonal softness in September and that extended into October. I wonder if you could maybe just provide a little bit more detail on what you've seen in October so far and maybe how that compared to September?

喬和約翰，你們強調了 9 月的季節性疲軟，這種疲軟一直延續到 10 月。我想知道您是否可以提供更多關於您在 10 月到目前為止所看到的情況的詳細信息，以及與 9 月相比的情況？

And then as we've seen the latest COVID case spikes subside in recent weeks, have you seen the patient traffic flow that you mentioned, has that started to pick up as COVID cases have ticked down?

然後，當我們看到最近幾週最新的 COVID 病例高峰消退時，您是否看到您提到的患者流量，隨著 COVID 病例的減少而開始回升？

Nate, this is John. As we said, the extended seasonality continued into September and October. And then some of the COVID uncertainty still remains, in some places, more back to normal than others. And -- but that uncertainty remains. Taking all that together, our forecast reflects that. So the total year -- the remaining for the total year reflects everything that we've seen to this date.

內特，這是約翰。正如我們所說，延長的季節性持續到 9 月和 10 月。然後，在某些地方，COVID 的一些不確定性仍然比其他地方更恢復正常。而且——但這種不確定性仍然存在。綜上所述，我們的預測反映了這一點。所以總年——總年的剩餘部分反映了我們迄今為止所看到的一切。

Okay. That's fair. I guess, Joe, maybe a follow-up. I mean you've continued to have confidence in that 20% to 30% long-term range. Maybe we'll hear more on Friday at the Analyst Day. But do you have an initial view on growth for next year? And do you feel like once this period of more pronounced seasonality is behind you, we get back to like a more normalized kind of trajectory for the business as we head into next year?

好的。這還算公平。我猜，喬，也許是後續行動。我的意思是你一直對 20% 到 30% 的長期範圍充滿信心。也許我們會在周五的分析師日聽到更多消息。但是你對明年的增長有初步的看法嗎？您是否覺得一旦這個更明顯的季節性時期過去了，我們會在進入明年時恢復到一種更加正常化的業務軌跡？

Well, I mean, Nathan, just -- yes, we're growing at a pretty good pace right now, right? So it's actually above our long-term growth model, which is 20% to 30%. And as we move into 2022, we'll retain that 20% revenue growth target, and we're happy to discuss it more in detail on Friday.

好吧，我的意思是，內森，只是 - 是的，我們現在正在以相當不錯的速度增長，對吧？所以它實際上高於我們的長期增長模型，即 20% 到 30%。隨著我們進入 2022 年，我們將保留 20% 的收入增長目標，我們很高興在周五更詳細地討論它。

Our next question is from Jon Block with Stifel.

我們的下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Jon Block。

John, this might follow Nathan's sort of path, but let me take a different approach. The new rev range that you gave for this year, you clearly brought it up a little bit. It seems to imply a bit over $1 billion for the fourth quarter. If I assume the scanner up sequentially from the $178 million and $55 million-ish, give or take, in non-case revenue, it looks like case volume is expected to be flat to maybe even down low to mid-single digits sequentially.

約翰，這可能會遵循內森的路徑，但讓我採取不同的方法。你今年給出的新轉速範圍，你顯然提高了一點。這似乎意味著第四季度的收入略高於 10 億美元。如果我假設掃描儀在非案件收入中從 1.78 億美元和 5500 萬美元左右依次上升，那麼看起來案件數量預計將持平，甚至可能依次下降到中個位數。

So a couple of things there. Is that the right way to think about things specific to case volumes? And if so -- I know you touched on this a little bit, but why sort of the different trend line versus prior to COVID, if you would, where that was more up mid-single-digit plus?

所以有幾件事。這是考慮特定案件數量的正確方法嗎？如果是這樣的話——我知道你稍微談到了這一點，但是為什麼趨勢線與 COVID 之前的趨勢線有所不同，如果你願意的話，那是在中個位數以上的地方嗎？

Yes, Jon, I think when you look at prior years, with COVID not in the mix, things were maybe more seasonal. And you could see some of that -- the standard patterns from like, let's say, a Q3 to Q4, given COVID and given some of the uncertainties that you have in certain economies and how they are responding and opening up, things don't always apply to mainly what's happened in the past. So that guidance that we gave is just a reflection of what we've seen.

是的，喬恩，我認為當你回顧前幾年時，沒有混合新冠病毒，事情可能更具季節性。你可以看到其中的一些——比如說，從第三季度到第四季度的標準模式，考慮到 COVID 以及你在某些經濟體中存在的一些不確定性以及它們如何應對和開放，但情況並非如此總是主要適用於過去發生的事情。因此，我們提供的指導只是我們所見的反映。

Okay. Got it. And Joe, just a follow-up. We keep on hearing about the iOS change from Apple on privacy, and you guys have such a broad reach in terms of marketing. But I am curious if you're seeing any impact. Is it impacting leads, yes or no? And if so, could that actually continue into 2022? I would love your feedback there.

好的。知道了。喬，只是一個後續行動。我們不斷聽到 Apple 在隱私方面的 iOS 變化，你們在營銷方面擁有如此廣泛的影響力。但我很好奇你是否看到任何影響。它會影響潛在客戶，是還是不是？如果是這樣，這種情況真的會持續到 2022 年嗎？我會喜歡你的反饋。

I mean yes, Jon, it's a good question. I mean we've seen an impact on it. The thing is, there's a lot of other media you can pivot to in order to find those patients. So have we seen it and have we had to do a certain amount of pivot to do that? Yes. But as far as our marketing efforts, I wouldn't discount them in any way in the sense of that change being material in some sense in the near future.

我的意思是，是的，喬恩，這是一個很好的問題。我的意思是我們已經看到了它的影響。問題是，您可以藉助許多其他媒體來找到這些患者。那麼我們有沒有看到它，我們是否必須做一定的樞軸才能做到這一點？是的。但就我們的營銷努力而言，我不會以任何方式對它們打折扣，因為這種變化在不久的將來在某種意義上是實質性的。

Our next question comes from John Kreger with William Blair.

我們的下一個問題來自 John Kreger 和 William Blair。

I'm curious, now that you've exited another kind of typical teen season, what sort of penetration do you think Invisalign has of total teen starts at this point?

我很好奇，既然您已經退出了另一種典型的青少年季節，您認為 Invisalign 對整個青少年開始的情況有什麼樣的滲透？

Well, I mean, globally -- hey, John, it's Joe. Globally, it's less at 5%. I mean, you look at -- and we'll show you on Friday exactly what we think that is. In the United States, I think our current number is mid-teens? Yes.

嗯，我的意思是，在全球範圍內——嘿，約翰，我是喬。在全球範圍內，這一比例低於 5%。我的意思是，你看看——我們將在周五向你展示我們的想法。在美國，我認為我們目前的人數是十幾歲？是的。

John, I think you know that too, we have so far to go, right? This is a superior treatment, like I said in our script. We can do 90% of the orthodontic cases are out there. It's just us continuing to work really closely with orthodontists and advertise to consumers to explain the benefits of digital orthodontics and move this forward.

約翰，我想你也知道，我們還有很長的路要走，對吧？就像我在劇本中所說的那樣，這是一種優越的治療方法。我們可以做 90% 的正畸病例。只是我們繼續與正畸醫生密切合作並向消費者做廣告，以解釋數字正畸的好處並推動這一進程。

But like I said, this is inevitable. Digital is better. We know it's better. We've made it better. It's more comprehensive than it was before. It's faster, less invasive. I could go on all day. And that's what drives this company. That's our purpose. We know we'll hit it. It's just -- there's just a lot of work to get from here to there.

但就像我說的，這是不可避免的。數字更好。我們知道這樣更好。我們已經做得更好了。它比以前更全面。它更快，侵入性更小。我可以繼續一整天。這就是驅動這家公司的動力。這就是我們的目的。我們知道我們會成功的。只是——從這裡到那裡需要做很多工作。

And that was -- Joe, that was my follow-up. As you talked to your kind of power users or maybe people that are just getting started, you've made the product better, you made the software better. What do you think is the key point of friction at this point to sort of get that adoption rate up, where I think most of us on this call sort of assume it can get to longer term?

那是——喬，那是我的後續行動。當您與您的高級用戶或剛入門的人交談時，您使產品變得更好，使軟件變得更好。你認為在這一點上摩擦的關鍵點是什麼才能提高采用率，我認為我們大多數人在這個電話會議上都假設它可以達到長期？

John, I think it's the classic early adopter syndrome. The doctors who use our product almost exclusively 100% can't imagine not using our product line, right? But they're early adopters in the classical sense. There's 2 things. There's one, there's a clinical confidence people that are out there that we have to convince. And it's much easier than it is today than it was 5 years ago, given products like -- first, given products like mandibular advancement, those kind of things that extend it. And then the predictability of our products.

約翰，我認為這是典型的早期採用者綜合症。幾乎 100% 使用我們產品的醫生無法想像不使用我們的產品線，對吧？但他們是經典意義上的早期採用者。有2件事。有一個，我們必須說服人們有一種臨床信心。而且它比現在比 5 年前要容易得多，給定產品，例如 - 首先，給定產品，例如下頜骨前移，以及擴展它的那些東西。然後是我們產品的可預測性。

Secondly, it's the business equation inside the orthodontic practices that they're convinced they can actually keep up the margins and the growth capability they have for their practices. We understand that. And that's why we have programs like ADAPT that we've put together, John, that orthodontists do want to engage with us, we can show them how to really operate in a digital environment and actually exceed from a margin standpoint and a growth standpoint.

其次，正是正畸實踐中的商業方程式，他們確信他們實際上可以保持他們的實踐的利潤和增長能力。我們明白這一點。這就是為什麼我們有像 ADAPT 這樣的項目，約翰，正畸醫生確實想與我們合作，我們可以向他們展示如何在數字環境中真正運作，並從利潤的角度和增長的角度實際超越。

Next question comes from Jason Bednar with Piper Sandler.

下一個問題來自 Jason Bednar 和 Piper Sandler。

Congrats on the record quarter here. A couple of questions from our side. Yes. One big picture. First for you, Joe. One of the key drivers of growth the past year has been really the adult category outpacing the teens. Really seemed like heading into this quarter could be the proof point quarter and whether that growth would flip back to teens. But adult was again stronger than teens here.

恭喜這裡創紀錄的季度。我們這邊有幾個問題。是的。一張大圖。首先是你，喬。過去一年增長的主要驅動力之一是真正超過青少年的成人類別。真的似乎進入本季度可能是證明點季度以及這種增長是否會轉回青少年。但是這裡的成年人再次比青少年更強大。

So it seems like some good staying power. So I guess, Joe, how do you think about how these 2 segments play out from here, both obviously have a ton of growth potential. But has the business for Align shifted to where we should be thinking about adult growth outpacing that of teens as we look forward to the coming quarters and years?

所以這似乎是一些很好的持久力。所以我想，喬，你如何看待這兩個細分市場如何從這裡發揮作用，顯然都有很大的增長潛力。但是，在我們期待未來幾個季度和幾年的情況下，Align 的業務是否已經轉移到我們應該考慮成人增長超過青少年的地方？

Yes, Jason, it's a good question. But I think it's -- and you'll hear a lot about this Friday, is the demand equation on this business is incredible, right? The 500 million patients we talk about could primarily be serviced through the general dentistry area and then the over 20 million that's on -- in the orthodontic side. I mean that's -- you look at that, you just -- it's a wide open marketplace. So adults have done well, teens will do well. I just think you have to have them both go up.

是的，傑森，這是一個很好的問題。但我認為這是 - 你會在本週五聽到很多關於這項業務的需求等式是否令人難以置信，對嗎？我們談論的 5 億患者主要可以通過普通牙科領域獲得服務，然後是正畸方面的超過 2000 萬患者。我的意思是——你看那個，你只是——這是一個開放的市場。所以成年人做得很好，青少年會做得很好。我只是認為你必須讓它們都上升。

And remember, they're dealing from different bases in the sense of, traditionally, 75% of our cases have been adults and 25% teens. So there is kind of a law of large number on the adult side, but the growth potential is amazing, and we're just going to go after both ends of that equation as aggressively as we can.

請記住，從傳統意義上說，他們處理的來自不同的基地，我們的案件中有 75% 是成年人，25% 是青少年。所以在成人方面有一種大數定律，但增長潛力是驚人的，我們將盡可能積極地追求這個等式的兩端。

Got it. Okay. That's helpful. Look forward to more on Friday then. And then maybe just more of a real-time look and also following up on Nate's question there to start out, but asking also a different way.

知道了。好的。這很有幫助。那就期待週五的更多吧。然後可能只是更多的實時外觀，並在那裡跟進 Nate 的問題以開始，但也以不同的方式提出問題。

Maybe wondering if you could talk about how utilization trends have gone here month-to-month on a regional basis, September, October. And then maybe based on the treatment plans, submissions, other measures of your funnel, what does the utilization look like as we shift from October to November?

也許想知道您是否可以談論按地區（9 月、10 月）每月的利用率趨勢如何變化。然後可能基於您的漏斗的治療計劃、提交和其他措施，當我們從 10 月轉移到 11 月時，利用率是什麼樣的？

Jason, this is John. We've seen some improvements in utilization. And it's a reflection of kind of coming out of that seasonality piece of what we've talked about. And kind of navigating through COVID, but we've been happy with the utilization that we've seen as of late.

傑森，這是約翰。我們已經看到了利用率的一些改進。這反映了我們所討論的季節性因素。有點在 COVID 中導航，但我們對最近看到的利用率感到滿意。

Our next question comes from Elizabeth Anderson with Evercore.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore 的 Elizabeth Anderson。

I had a question on the gross margin line. I think you guys talked about how you're seeing maybe slightly higher manufacturing costs in Clear Aligners and then lower freight and higher freight in iTero so there's other -- higher freight cost there.

我對毛利率線有疑問。我認為你們談到了您如何看到 Clear Aligners 的製造成本可能略高，然後 iTero 的運費和運費較低，所以那裡還有其他 - 更高的運費。

So I was just wondering, as we think about some of the global supply chain issues that we've been reading about and hearing about from other companies, if you could just elaborate a little bit on what you're seeing in both of those areas.

所以我只是想知道，當我們思考我們從其他公司讀到和聽到的一些全球供應鏈問題時，您是否可以詳細說明一下您在這兩個領域看到的情況.

Elizabeth, this is John. I can take that. I think when you look at our overall gross margin, broadly impacted as we talked about additional aligners as we now have ramped up, and we've seen those cases from the last several quarters as doctors make refinements and get patients in to make refinements to the care. We see an improvement there in ASP, but there's some offset in gross margin. But broadly when we look at some of the inflationary pressures and so on, we have long-term contracts.

伊麗莎白，這是約翰。我可以接受。我認為，當您查看我們的整體毛利率時，由於我們現在已經增加了更多的矯正器，因此受到了廣泛的影響，並且我們已經看到了過去幾個季度的這些案例，因為醫生進行了改進並讓患者進行了改進護理。我們看到平均售價有所改善，但毛利率有所抵消。但從廣義上講，當我們看到一些通脹壓力等時，我們有長期合同。

We have got a supply chain where we're driving a lot of productivity and efficiencies through. So we feel we're pretty well balanced as we see some of these inflationary headwinds. Not that it's not a challenge -- it's not that it's not a challenge out there for everybody, but we feel that between the contracts we have and the efficiencies we can drive, we balance it.

我們有一個供應鏈，我們通過它來提高生產力和效率。因此，當我們看到其中一些通脹逆風時，我們覺得我們的平衡非常好。並不是說這不是挑戰——並不是說這對每個人都不是挑戰，而是我們認為在我們擁有的合同和我們可以提高的效率之間，我們平衡了它。

That's really helpful. And maybe I saw that in your outlook, you're obviously talking about around $100 million in share repurchases in the fourth quarter. But your cash balance is moving up nicely. And I was wondering if you could comment on what you see sort of as the -- your sort of preferred level of cash balance and if there's any potential for acceleration on the share repurchase line or things that we should consider in sort of thinking that, that should be a little bit higher than where it's been traditionally?

這真的很有幫助。也許我在您的展望中看到，您顯然是在談論第四季度約 1 億美元的股票回購。但是你的現金餘額正在上升。我想知道你是否可以評論一下你認為的 - 你喜歡的現金餘額水平，以及股票回購線是否有加速的潛力，或者我們應該考慮的事情，這應該比傳統上高一點？

Yes. I think when you look at on balance, Elizabeth, we're very pleased with the cash generation, almost $900 million of CFOA 3 quarters of the year. Phenomenal cash, a lot going back into the business to grow our business, make investments in some of the operating expenditures to grow our business, continue to make investments in capacity and adding capacity, getting closer to our customers.

是的。伊麗莎白，我認為當你綜合考慮時，我們對現金產生感到非常滿意，CFOA 一年中的三個季度接近 9 億美元。驚人的現金，大量資金回歸業務以發展我們的業務，投資於一些運營支出以發展我們的業務，繼續投資於產能和增加產能，更接近我們的客戶。

And then as we've said with our cash, we'll get back to shareholders to repurchase. So we're very happy with how things have progressed. We don't have a magical number in terms of how much cash we should have, but all things in balance, we feel like we're executing to our strategy.

然後正如我們用我們的現金所說的那樣，我們將回到股東那裡進行回購。所以我們對事情的進展感到非常滿意。就我們應該擁有多少現金而言，我們沒有一個神奇的數字，但總的來說，我們覺得我們正在執行我們的戰略。

Our next question comes from Jeff Johnson with Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jeff Johnson 和 Baird。

Joe, I wanted to start maybe on System and Services or maybe John, this for you. But where are we at as what portion of that revenue is kind of the recurring Services side as opposed to the System sales? And in 4Q, we're still hearing about a decent amount of PPP money floating around. Obviously, you've got the incremental launch coming in China and that of 5D. Should we think of 4Q being a better system quarter sequentially? Again, just with seasonality there?

喬，我想從系統和服務開始，或者約翰，這是給你的。但是，與系統銷售相比，該收入的哪一部分屬於經常性服務方面，我們處於什麼位置？在第四季度，我們仍然聽說有相當數量的 PPP 資金在四處流動。顯然，你已經在中國和 5D 中獲得了增量發布。我們是否應該認為第四季度是一個更好的系統季度？再說一次，只是有季節性嗎？

Yes, Jeff, this is John. I mean we've been very pleased with our sequential improvements that we've seen in the Systems and Services and Scanner and Services business. When we look at 5 quarters in a row of kind of really helping us lead the recovery out of COVID and a lot of investments that doctors are making -- our doctors are making in the digital platform, this is an excellent reflection of that. We have a lot of new doctors that started Invisalign this quarter with us, and many of them start with getting an iTero and being able to utilize that within their practice.

是的，傑夫，這是約翰。我的意思是我們對我們在系統和服務以及掃描儀和服務業務中看到的連續改進感到非常滿意。當我們連續 5 個季度查看真正幫助我們從 COVID 中復蘇以及醫生正在進行的大量投資——我們的醫生正在數字平台上進行的投資時，這很好地反映了這一點。我們有很多新醫生在本季度與我們一起開始 Invisalign，其中許多人從獲得 iTero 開始並能夠在他們的實踐中使用它。

So we feel very good about the Scanner and Services business. About 1/3 of that business is Services. So that's recurring. And as we improve and have more of an installed base, that just grows that business. So you've got a very big and growing installed base, coupled with great products that are really driving that adoption. And especially amongst newer doctors coming in, they're coming in with that scanner to really incorporate that digital technology into their practice.

因此，我們對掃描儀和服務業務感到非常滿意。該業務的大約 1/3 是服務。所以這種情況反復出現。隨著我們改進並擁有更多的安裝基礎，這只會發展業務。因此，您擁有一個非常龐大且不斷增長的安裝基礎，再加上真正推動這種採用的出色產品。尤其是在新來的醫生中，他們帶著掃描儀進來，將數字技術真正融入他們的實踐中。

Yes. Understood. And then, Joe, maybe bigger picture question, just on kind of the return in the chair and what docs are seeing for Clear Aligners and Invisalign especially relative to braces. But we've talked to more and more docs just even over the last maybe few months who seem to be really spacing those follow-up visits in Invisalign out to 3 or even 4 months. It's cutting the chair time even in half relative to pre-COVID levels and well below braces.

是的。明白了。然後，喬，也許是更大的問題，只是關於椅子上的回歸以及文檔對 Clear Aligners 和 Invisalign 的看法，尤其是相對於牙套。但在過去的幾個月裡，我們已經與越來越多的文檔進行了交談，他們似乎真的將 Invisalign 的後續訪問間隔了 3 個月甚至 4 個月。相對於 COVID 之前的水平，它甚至將椅子時間減少了一半，並且遠低於支架。

So are you seeing the same thing? I know virtual is helping that a little bit. I think some docs even doing it without virtual just given their confidence in outcomes. But how much is that kind of driving the argument in that kind of secular push into Clear Aligners, especially with staffing issues that maybe you guys are hearing about at some of the offices, things like that?

所以你看到的是同樣的東西嗎？我知道虛擬在這方面有所幫助。我認為一些文檔甚至在沒有虛擬的情況下這樣做只是因為他們對結果有信心。但是，在這種長期推動 Clear Aligners 的過程中，這種爭論在多大程度上推動了爭論，尤其是你們可能在某些辦公室聽到的人員配備問題，諸如此類？

Yes. Jeff, that's one of the key ingredients is the productivity of a doctor's time and the productivity of the real estate within that office. In a digital kind of situation, you can remote monitor it like you do on virtual care, some other products that are out there and doctors are taking advantage of that. But also, there's a lot of confidence doctors have, too, if their patients are using the aligners and they will bring them back every so often and take a look. So that's a big part of it.

是的。傑夫，關鍵因素之一是醫生時間的生產力和辦公室內房地產的生產力。在數字化的情況下，您可以像在虛擬護理中一樣遠程監控它，還有一些其他產品，醫生正在利用這一點。而且，醫生也很有信心，如果他們的病人正在使用矯正器，他們會不時帶回來看看。所以這是其中很大一部分。

Secondly, Jeff, is it -- you can actually work with less labor content and less doctor content and people in the office and also size of the office, too. And you see a lot of orthodontists understanding that and really embracing it. There's also a referral aspect of Invisalign is once a patient has an experience with Invisalign, they're often ready to refer another patient to that doctor much more so than wires and brackets. And they benefit from that because they see an increase in their sales too.

其次，傑夫，是嗎 - 你實際上可以用更少的勞動內容和更少的醫生內容和辦公室裡的人以及辦公室的大小來工作。你會看到很多正畸醫生都理解並真正接受它。 Invisalign 還有一個轉診方面，即一旦患者有使用 Invisalign 的經驗，他們通常更願意將另一位患者轉診給該醫生，而不是電線和支架。他們從中受益，因為他們也看到了銷售額的增長。

And we see that constantly and adapt and we focus on that and can actually predict it to a certain extent of time. So I hope I'm answering your question, Jeff, but that is the whole idea of digital and then we keep talking about our Align digital capability and being able to service a doctor through iTero, being having virtual care on both ends and having the kind of capability and horsepower that we can provide with our algorithms and the extent of our clinical capability is just -- it gives us a huge amount of breadth and capability at orthodontists.

我們不斷地看到並適應，我們專注於這一點，並且實際上可以在一定程度上預測它。所以我希望我能回答你的問題，傑夫，但這就是數字化的全部概念，然後我們繼續談論我們的 Align 數字化能力，並能夠通過 iTero 為醫生提供服務，在兩端都有虛擬護理並擁有我們可以通過算法提供的能力和馬力，以及我們臨床能力的範圍——它為我們提供了正畸醫生的巨大廣度和能力。

Our next question comes from Brandon Couillard with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Brandon Couillard 和 Jefferies。

I actually want to switch gears. You talked quite a bit about the non-case business and the retainer business. Can you just help us understand why your share has historically lagged there? Maybe a sense of what your capture rate is today in terms of the cases that also have a follow-on retainer? And how would you sort of frame the revenue opportunity from these new initiatives?

其實我想換檔。你談了很多關於非案件業務和聘用業務。您能否幫助我們了解為什麼您的份額歷來落後於那裡？就也有後續保持器的情況而言，也許您今天的捕獲率是多少？您將如何從這些新舉措中確定收入機會？

Brandon, it's a good -- it's why we highlighted it. And it's obviously why we've put money into this thing and a focus on over the last years. There are certain things in this business that we all know, but there are so many things to do and focus on that sometimes something that's so obvious like that lacks the attention that you want to give to it. And we've been talking about this over time. So beginning of this year, put a team together to really go after those things.

布蘭登，這很好——這就是我們強調它的原因。這顯然是我們在過去幾年投入資金並專注於這件事的原因。我們都知道這個行業中的某些事情，但是有很多事情要做並且專注於有時如此明顯的事情缺乏你想要給予的關注。隨著時間的推移，我們一直在談論這個問題。所以今年年初，組建一個團隊來真正追求這些事情。

It's hard to say the reason why. It's just we haven't been as focused on retention as we need to be. And many orthodontists like they make their own retainers. They do it because we just haven't been competitive in the sense of how we can deliver, how fast we can deliver, how easy we make it for them. But I guarantee you, if you go out, Brandon, and you query even orthodontists that seldom use our retainers, they'll tell you we make the best retainers in the world.

很難說其中的原因。只是我們沒有像我們需要的那樣專注於保留。許多正畸醫生喜歡自己製作保持器。他們這樣做是因為我們在交付方式、交付速度以及為他們製造的容易程度方面沒有競爭力。但我向你保證，如果你出去，布蘭登，你甚至詢問很少使用我們保持器的正畸醫生，他們會告訴你，我們製造了世界上最好的保持器。

And we should, when you make 750,000 unique parts a day, right? We know what we're doing, the fits are exquisite when you have an iTero scanner to be able to do that. And we set this thing up as a play for doctors that they can feel confident that we'll get these retainers to them in a quick amount of time. They're going to be terrific retainers, something they're proud to really get to their patients. And we've had great feedback on this so far.

我們應該，當你每天生產 750,000 個獨特的零件時，對嗎？我們知道我們在做什麼，當您擁有 iTero 掃描儀能夠做到這一點時，非常適合。我們將這件事設置為醫生的遊戲，他們可以確信我們會在短時間內為他們提供這些保持器。他們將成為了不起的保持者，他們為能夠真正接觸到他們的病人而感到自豪。到目前為止，我們已經收到了很好的反饋。

So I can't apologize for the past or give you the whole history why we haven't done it, but I feel really good about the progress we've made so far.

所以我不能為過去道歉，也不能告訴你我們為什麼沒有這樣做的整個歷史，但我對我們迄今為止取得的進展感覺非常好。

That's great. And then just a question on the scanner business. I mean pretty remarkable strength for a while now. Can you just help us understand like where kind of the sources of this momentum? And is the NIRI study the type of data set that can move the needle with GPs?

那太棒了。然後只是關於掃描儀業務的問題。我的意思是現在相當驚人的力量。您能幫我們了解一下這種勢頭的來源嗎？ NIRI 研究的數據集類型是否可以與 GP 一起移動？

You all often talk about clinical studies, especially with intraoral scanners, but just trying to get a sense of how significant being able to go and have this data that might be for a GP that doesn't use digital impressioning today or might be on the fence.

你們都經常談論臨床研究，尤其是口內掃描儀，但只是想了解能夠獲得這些數據對於今天不使用數字印模或可能在柵欄。

Yes. I think NIRI really helps. I really do. It's one of those -- in electronics, we all know there's killer apps, right, killer applications? When you can see caries, cavities, right, we use the clinical term. But when you can see cavities without ionizing radiation, and Brandon, what's amazing when you see this, too, what happens is the enamel almost becomes invisible. It's almost translucent. You can see through the enamel right to where the caries is. And there's a certain amount of training that has to be done in order to do it.

是的。我認為 NIRI 真的很有幫助。我真的。它就是其中之一——在電子領域，我們都知道有殺手級應用程序，對吧，殺手級應用程序？當您可以看到齲齒，蛀牙時，我們使用臨床術語。但是，當你可以在沒有電離輻射的情況下看到空腔時，布蘭登，當你看到這個時，令人驚奇的是，牙釉質幾乎變得不可見。它幾乎是半透明的。你可以透過牙釉質看到齲齒所在的位置。為了做到這一點，必須進行一定數量的培訓。

And look, I grew up in an ionizing radiation business. I know what it is in CT and X-ray and it's -- that radiation component is better today than it used to be, but it still exists and patients are still concerned with it over time. And to be able to do this in a sense in a safe way and in a quick way like we do it. You know what it is to put bitewings in a chair, and it's terrible in a test chair, right? Bite down, turn your head sideways, I could go through it all day.

看，我是在電離輻射行業長大的。我知道它在 CT 和 X 射線中是什麼，而且它現在的輻射成分比以前更好，但它仍然存在，隨著時間的推移，患者仍然關心它。並且能夠在某種意義上以安全的方式和像我們一樣快速的方式做到這一點。你知道把咬翼放在椅子上是什麼感覺，放在測試椅上很糟糕，對吧？咬下去，把頭轉過來，我能熬一整天。

And this is a quick scan, 1 minute scan, 1.5 minute scan. It pops up on the screen. You can have a conversation with the patient and say, "There it is and what it deals with." So yes, I think it's a killer application. Will it convince all GPs to buy iTero? No. But then you have to look at exocad, that critical workflow between labs and GPs really sets us up nicely for restorative pieces.

這是快速掃描，1 分鐘掃描，1.5 分鐘掃描。它在屏幕上彈出。你可以和病人交談，然後說，“它在那兒，它在處理什麼。”所以是的，我認為這是一個殺手級應用程序。它會說服所有 GP 購買 iTero 嗎？不，但是您必須查看 exocad，實驗室和 GP 之間的關鍵工作流程確實為我們提供了很好的修復件。

Soon to announce Smile Architect, which really allows doctors to use restorative orthodontics as a standard of care. We'll talk about that more Friday. So -- and look, I'm biased. I've been in the -- I'd say, the medical imaging equipment business for 15 years of my life, counting iTero, this is the best scanner in the marketplace. And then we're just out to show it and to prove it.

即將發布 Smile Architect，它真正讓醫生可以使用修復性正畸作為護理標準。我們星期五再談。所以 - 看，我有偏見。我從事醫學成像設備業務已有 15 年了，算上 iTero，這是市場上最好的掃描儀。然後我們只是展示它並證明它。

Our next question is from Chris Cooley with Stephens.

我們的下一個問題來自 Chris Cooley 和 Stephens。

Congratulations on the record quarter. Just for me, as we all start looking forward to the upcoming event here this Friday and Saturday, maybe a bigger picture question. As we think about the business, you've made significant investments in technology not only in pioneering the category, but expanding its indications for use. You subsequently invested in chairside, really facilitating the diagnostic aspect.

祝賀創紀錄的季度。就我而言，當我們都開始期待本週五和周六在這裡舉行的活動時，也許是一個更大的問題。當我們考慮業務時，您在技術上進行了大量投資，不僅是在開創這一類別，而且還在擴大其使用適應症。您隨後投資了主席，真正促進了診斷方面。

And as the business is now kind of inflecting here 2 straight quarters of $1 billion plus, do we think about the next stage of investment really kind of going back to a prior question being tools that enable or enhance the productivity of the clinician or patient flow?

由於該業務現在連續兩個季度超過 10 億美元，我們是否認為下一階段的投資真的會回到之前的問題，即啟用或提高臨床醫生或患者流程的生產力的工具?

Is it more to marketing at the consumer and clinical level? I'm just kind of thinking about how the business now pivots for that next stage of continued growth at this greater scale. And I have just one quick follow-up after that, if I may.

是否更適合在消費者和臨床層面進行營銷？我只是在思考業務現在如何以更大規模的方式實現下一階段的持續增長。如果可以的話，在那之後我只有一個快速的跟進。

Chris, it's a really good question because obviously, as we're going through our AOP for next year and putting those things together. But when you say pivot, I wouldn't use the word pivot, I'd say that we extend what we're doing. And then we place bets accordingly and where we think we'll get the best return. We -- I've got to continue advertising. We have [a peer] system. We have a wonderful brand. We have to leverage that piece.

克里斯，這是一個非常好的問題，因為很明顯，因為我們正在通過明年的 AOP 並將這些東西放在一起。但是當你說樞軸時，我不會使用樞軸這個詞，我會說我們擴展了我們正在做的事情。然後我們相應地下注，並在我們認為我們將獲得最佳回報的地方下注。我們——我必須繼續做廣告。我們有[對等]系統。我們有一個很棒的品牌。我們必須利用這一塊。

But specifically, and this goes to the last questions we had, too, doctor productivity is a big deal. And when you look at our Align Digital Platform, inherently, that's what it's about. It's how do you make doctors more productive to make sure that we don't go back and forth with a ClinChecks? Or how do we make sure that from our standpoint that we can respond quickly to customer issues. And we're investing heavily in all those things and making good progress.

但具體來說，這也涉及我們遇到的最後一個問題，醫生的工作效率很重要。當您查看我們的 Align 數字平台時，本質上就是這樣。您如何提高醫生的工作效率，以確保我們不會在 ClinChecks 中反複使用？或者我們如何確保從我們的角度來看，我們可以快速響應客戶問題。我們正在對所有這些事情進行大量投資並取得良好進展。

It's expensive. A lot of things that you have to do when you're really grounded in software and making those changes. We have really great talent here that knows how to do that. We've been actually working the productivity of ClinCheck and those things for 3 to 4 years and it's just starting to bring technology to the marketplace. So you're right. We're not pivoting toward that. We've been investing in it. But you'll see the combination of that more and more as we enter next year in the second half of next year too. John, anything to add?

它的價格昂貴。當您真正紮根於軟件並進行這些更改時，您必須做很多事情。我們這裡有非常優秀的人才知道如何做到這一點。實際上，我們已經在 ClinCheck 和那些東西的生產力方面工作了 3 到 4 年，它才剛剛開始將技術推向市場。所以你是對的。我們沒有轉向那個。我們一直在投資。但是隨著我們明年下半年進入明年，您會越來越多地看到這種組合。約翰，有什麼要補充的嗎？

No. I think that's the investments that we continue to make. It's about productivity. It's about growing in this digital orthodontics and our doctors expect it. And our tools will provide that.

不，我認為這是我們繼續進行的投資。這是關於生產力。這是關於數字正畸的發展，我們的醫生對此充滿期待。我們的工具將提供這一點。

That's great. And if I could just squeeze in a quick follow-on. I just want to make sure it doesn't look out of proportion, but I just want to make sure we didn't miss something there on the deferred piece in the quarter, I think it was approximately $84 million. Anything just COVID-related that we should be mindful of there? Or is that just normal course of business when we look at the deferred revenue component for the 3Q?

那太棒了。如果我可以快速跟進。我只是想確保它看起來不會不成比例，但我只是想確保我們在本季度的遞延部分上沒有遺漏任何東西，我認為它大約是 8400 萬美元。有什麼只是與 COVID 相關的事情，我們應該在那裡註意嗎？或者當我們查看第三季度的遞延收入部分時，這只是正常的業務過程？

Thanks, Chris. It's completely normal course of business, nothing COVID-related within there. Just deferred revenue that we'll recognize in future periods.

謝謝，克里斯。這是完全正常的業務過程，其中沒有任何與 COVID 相關的內容。只是我們將在未來期間確認的遞延收入。

Our next question comes from Mike Ryskin with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Mike Ryskin。

A couple of quick ones for me, but I'll try to tie them together into one, on the Scanners and Service revenue. I noted that your digitally submitted cases continues to grind higher pretty close to hitting 90% maybe in a year or 2. I'm just wondering, as you continue to place iTeros into the field, how often are you sort of placing a second or third unit versus getting a new one out there versus a competitor placement where you're displacing someone else potentially?

對我來說有幾個快速的，但我會嘗試將它們結合在一起，在掃描儀和服務收入方面。我注意到您以數字方式提交的案例繼續提高，可能在一兩年內達到接近 90%。我只是想知道，當您繼續將 iTeros 放入該領域時，您多久會放置第二個或第三個單位與獲得一個新單位與您可能取代其他人的競爭對手安置？

And then as a follow-on to that, sort of building off of, I think Elizabeth's question earlier on the supply chain. Anything specific to semis that we should be thinking about? It's just a question that's come up a lot, some of our other names, I want to make sure we tie that off as far as it relates to Scanners.

然後作為後續行動，有點建立在，我認為伊麗莎白早些時候在供應鏈上提出的問題。我們應該考慮什麼特定於半決賽的事情？這只是一個經常出現的問題，我們的一些其他名稱，我想確保我們將其與掃描儀相關聯。

Mike, from a Scanner standpoint is obviously, we have a great scanner. And I think your question asked more about saturation more than anything. Our feeling is you got 2 million dentists out there or orthodontists, right. And each of them actually, if you're going to run a digital practice, you need more than one scanner. You need a scanner per chair. So you think, let's just say, the average doc has 3 chairs and there's 2 million doctors out there. We're just touching this thing.

Mike，從掃描儀的角度來看，顯然我們有一台很棒的掃描儀。而且我認為您的問題更多地涉及飽和度。我們的感覺是你有 200 萬牙醫或正畸醫生，對吧。實際上，如果您要進行數字化實踐，它們中的每一個都需要不止一台掃描儀。每把椅子都需要一台掃描儀。所以你想，讓我們說，平均醫生有 3 把椅子，那裡有 200 萬醫生。我們只是接觸這個東西。

We've got a 50,000 unit installed base. And obviously, this is a growth equation. It's not one where we're looking to plan out in some time. And obviously, it's a portfolio of churns over time because the technology moves fast too. So it creates some of its own demand through obsolescence, too. John, on the supply?

我們擁有 50,000 台的安裝基礎。顯然，這是一個增長方程。這不是我們希望在某個時間計劃出來的地方。很明顯，隨著時間的推移，這是一系列流失，因為技術發展也很快。因此，它也通過過時創造了一些自己的需求。約翰，供應？

And from a supply standpoint, obviously, we're mindful of concerns and things that go on from a global supply chain, but we feel comfortable that between the inventory we have and some of the things that we've been able to do that we can manage through any supply chain concerns that are out there.

從供應的角度來看，顯然，我們注意到全球供應鏈中的擔憂和事情，但我們感到很舒服，在我們擁有的庫存和我們已經能夠做到的一些事情之間，我們可以解決存在的任何供應鏈問題。

Our next question is from [Devin Misra] with Berenberg.

我們的下一個問題來自 [Devin Misra] 和 Berenberg。

[Dev] here for Ravi from Berenberg. I want to kind of revisit the marketing side. I think you guys have been ramping up marketing spend and the long list of things with very large percentage increases noted earlier. Where are you seeing higher ROI in regards to marketing? Are there any specific regions?

[Dev] 來自 Berenberg 的 Ravi。我想重新審視營銷方面。我認為你們一直在增加營銷支出以及前面提到的一長串具有非常大百分比增長的事情。在營銷方面，您在哪裡看到更高的投資回報率？有具體地區嗎？

And then also just going back to a question on growth of teens versus adults. If we kind of look at the marketing spend on things that you've noted, it seems like a focus is on the teen side, which is kind of indicative that, that's where you'll see more growth and stronger returns. So any color around that? And then I have a quick follow-up.

然後也回到關於青少年與成年人成長的問題。如果我們看一下您注意到的事情的營銷支出，似乎重點是在青少年方面，這有點表明，這就是您將看到更多增長和更強回報的地方。那麼周圍有什麼顏色嗎？然後我有一個快速跟進。

Yes. First of all, from a marketing spend standpoint, I mean, we really do understand, by region, our kind of return on investment and what we get. I'm not going to share that over the phone, but we're very aware of that and what it is. We also -- when you asked about the teen advertisements, there's a seasonality for teens around the world, too. So you'll see like in the quarter we just came out of in the second quarter, we were going into the teen season. It's big in China, big in the States.

是的。首先，從營銷支出的角度來看，我的意思是，我們確實按地區了解我們的投資回報和我們得到的回報。我不打算通過電話分享，但我們非常清楚這一點以及它是什麼。我們還 - 當您詢問青少年廣告時，世界各地的青少年也有季節性。所以你會看到，在我們剛從第二季度出來的那個季度，我們進入了青少年賽季。它在中國很大，在美國也很大。

And so you'll see a larger part of our advertising budget go toward that in order to capture that demand. But yes, this is part of how we go to market. We have a great brand. That brand needs to be enhanced with patients, and we want those patients going to doctors asking for Invisalign. And we have some very good capability here from a marketing standpoint to exercise that. John, anything?

因此，您會看到我們的大部分廣告預算都用於滿足這種需求。但是，是的，這是我們進入市場的方式的一部分。我們有一個偉大的品牌。這個品牌需要通過患者來增強，我們希望這些患者去看醫生並要求 Invisalign。從營銷的角度來看，我們有一些非常好的能力來實現這一點。約翰，什麼？

And what we've learned over time is we're -- it's not one size fits all across all the markets. You're trying to maximize return on investment. And in certain markets, you're doing things that are different than others, maybe more established markets, you try something different. Maybe other markets that we have, where we can advertise, we try different things.

隨著時間的推移，我們了解到的是我們 - 它不是一種適合所有市場的尺寸。您正在嘗試最大化投資回報。在某些市場，你做的事情與其他市場不同，也許是更成熟的市場，你嘗試不同的東西。也許我們擁有的其他市場，我們可以做廣告的地方，我們會嘗試不同的東西。

But I think the key is we understand what levers to pull. We've learned a lot over the last several years. We're very excited about these opportunities. And as Joe said, we have the best brand, the best global brand out there, and we want to be able to reach those potential patients in the way that they are living their lives. And that's the philosophy that we have. And we talk a lot about that front end, the top of the funnel metrics, and we're very excited about what we're seeing as we've gone through the last several quarters.

但我認為關鍵是我們了解要拉動什麼槓桿。在過去的幾年裡，我們學到了很多東西。我們對這些機會感到非常興奮。正如喬所說，我們擁有最好的品牌，最好的全球品牌，我們希望能夠以他們的生活方式接觸那些潛在的患者。這就是我們的理念。我們談論了很多關於前端，漏斗指標的頂部，我們對過去幾個季度所看到的感到非常興奮。

Okay. Great. And then kind of following up on that direct-to-consumer focus question earlier on. There was a launch of that teeth whitening solution. And a couple of years ago, there was a Align shops that, via litigation with SEC, was kind of a focus point there.

好的。偉大的。然後在早些時候跟進那個直接面向消費者的焦點問題。推出了這種牙齒美白解決方案。幾年前，有一家 Align 商店，通過與 SEC 的訴訟，成為那裡的焦點。

So as we envision kind of where the direct-to-consumer side of Align business goes, how does that teeth whitening solution and how does that fit in? I'm trying to see it seems like there's a big push toward direct consumer with the -- with that side coming up. So any color on that would be helpful.

因此，當我們設想 Align 業務直接面向消費者的方向時，該牙齒美白解決方案如何以及如何適應？我試圖看到，隨著這一方面的出現，直接消費者似乎有了很大的推動力。所以上面的任何顏色都會有幫助。

I mean if your question implies a direct-to-consumer kind of a moat, that's not us. It's not what we do. It's about what -- but we always have an e-commerce site. We have a great brand called Invisalign. Patients ask us all the time for whitening cleansers, chewies, things associated with it. And we're just exercising that capability.

我的意思是，如果您的問題暗示了一種直接面向消費者的護城河，那不是我們。這不是我們所做的。它是關於什麼的——但我們總是有一個電子商務網站。我們有一個很棒的品牌，叫做 Invisalign。患者一直向我們詢問美白清潔劑、咀嚼片以及與之相關的東西。我們只是在行使這種能力。

It's one with the whitening standpoint, we probably should have been more aggressive on before. But again, it's one of those things that we decided to focus on recently. And we're getting great feedback from the doctors in doing that. And so it only makes sense. It's classic brand extension, and we're going to leverage that Invisalign brand as well as we can.

這是一種美白的觀點，我們之前可能應該更積極一點。但同樣，這是我們最近決定關注的事情之一。我們從醫生那裡得到了很好的反饋。所以這才有意義。這是經典的品牌延伸，我們將盡可能利用 Invisalign 品牌。

We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Shirley Stacy for closing comments.

我們已經到了問答環節的尾聲。目前，我想將電話轉給雪莉·斯泰西（Shirley Stacy）以結束評論。

Thank you, operator. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. This concludes our conference call. We look forward to speaking to you again on Friday at the Align 2021 Investor Day in conjunction with our GP Growth Summit here in Las Vegas. If you have any future questions, please contact Investor Relations. And thank you for your time, and have a great day.

謝謝你，接線員。謝謝大家，今天加入我們。我們的電話會議到此結束。我們期待週五在 Align 2021 投資者日與我們在拉斯維加斯舉行的 GP 增長峰會再次與您交談。如果您未來有任何問題，請聯繫投資者關係部。感謝您的寶貴時間，祝您有美好的一天。

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束。您此時可以斷開線路，我們感謝您的參與。