Dentaltown April 2014 - (Page 12)

howard speaks column The Changing Landscape of Dentistry When I was a kid, pharmacists had their own pharmacies and optometrists had their own eye clinics. Now these models have been replaced by Walgreens and CVS, with EyeMasters and Pearle Vision. In France they actually have ATM machines for prescriptions. A physician loads the prescription onto a medical card and a patient can pick it up anywhere there is one of these machines. The machine dispenses however many pills the electronic script is written for, puts a sticker on the bottle and drops it into a drawer, the same way you'd grab chips from a vending machine. Prescriptions are now a commodity. When we go get glasses, most of us don't care if we look into a machine to tell us we have 20/80 vision because that number goes to a lab tech who crafts the lenses. Most of us are more worried about how the frames look. Glasses are now a commodity. It's like "The Jetsons" where a mechanized robot brushes George Jetson's teeth, shaves his face and dresses him based on a scanner view of his body. What we once thought was futuristic and unattainable is here and now! All this has me thinking about dentistry's model and how it's changing. What will the dental landscape look like in 2050? Will dentistry go the way of Walgreens and EyeMasters? I asked several of my colleagues this question and they shared their opinions, which we feature in this issue (page 64). Let's talk about the reality. Dentistry's unique selling proposition is surgery. We work in an operatory. Our hands and fingers are in someone's mouth. It's not the same as a pharmacy or an eye clinic. It takes human hands and human eyeballs to perform dentistry. Commodities are things you buy on price. When you buy corn, you don't care if it's from Iowa or Nebraska. The silliest ad campaign I've ever seen is the Florida orange juice one. Have you ever heard anyone at the grocery store asking for Florida oranges because they don't want the ones from Arizona? My practice is 25 years old. I have a lot of contacts from Dentaltown who have significant roles in the business to consumer (B to C) marketplace, and we all agree: half of America buys dentistry on price. Some of these people do perceive dentistry as a commodity and some buy on price simply because they don't have money. If they have bad dental insurance and their insurance says they can only go to one doctor in town, they'll go to that one doctor in town. This phenomenon is going to be around forever. There are people who are poor who really do value dentistry and there are rich people who don't value it. The other half of America has strong opinions about who gets to work in their mouths. The relationship with their provider has a huge impact on their choice of dentist. Have you ever once based whether you want a prescription filled at Walgreens on which pharmacist is going to be there? No! You just want to know when Walgreens is opened and if it has a drive-thru! The argument is that corporate dentistry fuels the side that says dentistry is a commodity. These companies are representing a brand instead of an individual dentist. They're often marketing on price, rather than procedure or specialty by Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, Publisher, Dentaltown Magazine continued on page 14 12 APRIL 2014 » dentaltown.com http://www.dentaltown.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown April 2014

Dentaltown.com Highlights
Howard Speaks: The Changing Landscape of Dentistry
Professional Courtesy: The Employee Preview
Continuing Education Update
The In Criminal
Smile Design Using Direct Composite
Where to Get Office Manual or Employee Manual, etc.?
Unfreakingbelievable Oral Cancer… You Literally Might Lose Your Appetite (I Did).
24 Ways to Pass Go: Keep the Marriage and Money Police at Bay
Cancer is a Scary Word
Emergency-turned-cosmetic Case
Office Visit: Smile Design with Dr. John Nosti
Corporate Dentistry
Dentaltown Research: Endodontics
New Products/Industry News
Continuing Education: Common Implant Mishaps
What’s New With Hands-free In-Office Communication?
Product Profile: Bayshore Dental Studio
The Hitch With Staff Incentives
Product Profile: Ivoclar Vivadent
Ad Index
Identifying the Office Manager Position
Untreated Perio
Perio Reports
Perio Program Feature: Creating a Perio Program for your Practice
Dentally Incorrect

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