Very Dental Thoughts

“Dental insurance” isn’t even close to being actual insurance. Real insurance is about investing a small amount to help manage the risk of rare but potentially catastrophic events.

Let’s say you need a procedure. Perhaps a filling or a crown. You have a choice between two dentists to do the procedure for you. You can choose yourself at this moment or you can choose yourself 10 years ago. Or 5 years ago. Or 20 years ago. The point being you are choosing yourself at a time when you had significantly less experience than you do right this second.

Dentistry is procedure based. Generally speaking, we do all kinds of procedures to fix problems with the teeth, gums and jaws. That’s what dental school trained us to do. With the exception of some newer “medical model” treatments, most dentists spend their days doing fillings, crowns, root canals, extractions, placing implants, making removable prostheses and doing periodontal therapy. These procedures typically have a starting point and end point (except dentures in dental school…those never really end) that is easily denoted.

I want you to think about the worst patient problem in your practice. When you peel back the layers, it’s almost certainly about money.