Dentaltown Magazine
June 2005

The dental industry faces a seemingly insurmountable challenge: Dentistry is feared and undervalued. Why? Because consumers don't know how much dentistry has changed or how much has been learned about the connection between oral health and overall health.

Dentistry remains one of the most under-promoted services in the country. Where does dentistry rate in your patient's mind as a spending priority? Anywhere near Mercedes-Benz® or SONY®? Mercedes-Benz and SONY are very effectively spending millions of dollars in advertising, creating the impression that their products will change your patients' lives. Virtually no one is educating the public or convincing people that taking care of their teeth can have a profound effect on their lives.

Currently, the responsibility of marketing dentistry remains with individual practices, and that isn't going to change in the near future. The truth is, dentistry has never been more exciting and had more to offer than it does now, but roughly over 100 million Americans don't see a dentist regularly, which means they don't know a dentist can change their lives. Isn't it your professional responsibility (as well as in your best interest) to tell them?

After spending nearly 20 years in the dental industry and handling more than four million dental referrals, this is what we've learned about your target audience. There are actually three different kinds of dental consumers: Preventers, Procrastinators and True Emergencies. Of the three groups, about 20 percent are preventers. They know they need to see the dentist on a regular basis and call us, ready to appoint. Roughly 30 percent are true emergencies. They are focused on their immediate problem, not their future dental needs. Once you get true emergencies in the chair, it's your job to show them how caring you are and how important it is to see you regularly. About 50 percent are procrastinators. They have avoided going to the dentist, usually have high treatment needs and are more than likely fearful.

On the whole, people who call us looking for a dentist are women between the ages of 25 and 45-wives and mothers who make the medical decisions for the family. This isn't just our target demographic, it's yours too. So, let me give you some insight into what these consumers ask for when they contact us.

Working professionals use the excuse they can't take time off from their jobs to go to the dentist. As a result, one of the most common requests we receive from callers is for dentists with extended and/or Saturday hours. So why not take a day off during the week or stay open every other Saturday? Even practicing one Saturday a month can help you add patients who work 9 to 5 and are more likely to have a decent income and/or a favorable insurance plan.

People also frequently ask for dentists who are gentle with children and/or fearful patients. Consumers are always impressed by offices with children's playrooms and videos or by dentists who offer nitrous and a very caring chairside manner for fearful patients. An office with state-of-the-art equipment helps ease patients' fears as well. Like it or not, many of them do associate dentistry with pain, medieval equipment and procedures as well as an uncaring professional who provides a necessary evil; an evil to be avoided until the last possible moment. Now, we know your office isn't Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory, but consumers are totally ignorant about dentistry. And the only way to cure ignorance is with knowledge.

Knowledge begins with communication. Newsletters, Web sites, e-mail. Inform the patients in your community you have what they want: gentle doctor and staff, extended office hours, state-of-the-art equipment, no/low-charge evaluations. And when they visit, know that your office environment speaks volumes. Educate patients about the importance of regular dental care and let them know dentistry has changed.

The economic fact is that the promotion of dentistry at large helps all dentists, and when professionally done, doesn't denigrate the profession but rather informs a desperately uninformed public of a service that can literally change their lives.

Fred Joyal co-founder and CEO of Futuredontics, Inc./1-800-DENTIST. His vision for 1-800-DENTIST is to continue to provide a consistent flow of pre-screened patient referrals to its thousands of member dentists while encouraging millions of consumers to visit the dentist on a regular basis. Fred also lectures regularly, covering various topics such as patient loyalty, dentistry as a retail business, practice marketing, new patient acquisition and many others. For more information about 1-800-DENTIST, call 1-888-573-3684.