Dentists Would Rather Treat Denture Patients than Refer Them to a Prosthodontist
The Wealthy Dentist Survey Results: Do You Offer In-House Dentures?
In our most recent survey, we asked dentists if they offer in-house denture services. A whopping 94% of our respondents said yes, their practices can meet the needs of denture patients. Only 7% report that they refer denture patients out to a prosthodontist. Said one dentist: “I only refer out the most difficult cases. I do not like sending profits out the door.” Another commented, “I do some dentures, and I would like to do more, but denture patients can be a pain to deal with.”
- “The needs of the patient take precedence… When the patient’s needs require the services of a specialist, the dentist refers to the specialist.” (California dentist)
- “It’s a great idea.” (New Mexico prosthodontist)
- “Prosthodontists certainly cannot make dentures better than I can.Send all of your cases to me, a dentist.” (Texas dentist)
- “They are a great place to send your nightmare patients.” (Illinois dentist)
- “They have less experience than I do.” (Missouri dentist)
- “My 1978 University of Southern California Dental School graduating class was taught how to perform denture services. I never enjoyed doing dentures until I began offering dental implants for support and retention; now every complaint has a solution.” (California dental implantologist)
- “Why? Unless it is maxillo-facial reconstruction work, what do they know that I do not?” (Pennsylvania dentist)
- “Prosthodontists are invaluable for allowing me to charge what I need to make quality dentures… I can show them my prosthodontist’s fee, and they know they are getting a bargain.” (Michigan dentist)
- “Thank god for them…because I, like most other dentists I know, can’t stand doing removable….” (North Carolina dentist)
- “We have no prosthodontist in our area. Both of our doctors are well-trained & abreast of technologies.” (Georgia dentist)
Check out the complete in-house dentures survey results.
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June 28th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Sorry, your survey is so flawed it sounds like a biased political survey. The respondents gave misleading responses that would totally mislead an uninformed person, especially the public. First, dental colleges no longer require hands on training for dental students with regard to dental technology. Every dental college pays hired experienced dental technicians to operate the schools dental laboratory and create dental appliances the student provide to Clinic patients. Second, when a DDS say’s he provides “In-House Dentures”, nine times out of ten he or she means they take their own impressions but rely on dental technicians to create the prosthetics in an actual in-house lab or send the work out to a commercial dental laboratory…Dentist do not provide personal hands on creative services for dentures, partial dentures, crowns, bridgework or other removable appliances. As for prosthodontist, they too for the most part send their denture work out to a commercial dental laboratory technician..It has been estimated by the Prosthodontist Organization that slightly less than 2% of the nations licensed dentist can create a denture with their own hands. The simple truth is that they lack the education and hands on training, it has nothing to do with their intelligence, only their lack of training….After all, you can’t name one State Dental Board that requires an applicant for licensing to actually create a denture as part of the Licensing Board Examination.
I have no problem with “In-House Dental laboratories” which are staffed with qualified dental technicians. What I have a problem with is misleading the public as to who actually hands on does the creative work in those so called “in-house” labs, when it comes to dental appliances.
I have one additional gripe. The quality of “One day Dentures” is another grossly misrepresented appliance. One day dentures look like they came off a mass production line that produces “look-a like” fits all dentures. The tooth arrangements are all but identical 98% of the time. Tooth size, shape and color tend to be limited to three or four choices instead of being selected to specifically fit the patients needs for a balanced characterized appearance.
Having operated a commercial dental lab for twenty years followed by a Denturist private practice for another twenty two years .I referred and received referrals from regular DDS, prosthodontist’s,and oral surgeons. 35% to 50% of my practice was dealing with failed cases provided to patients by regular DDS, and the majority of those failures was due to poor impressions, missed bites and especially the wrong tooth cusp degree selection.
It’s a well known fact that patient satisfaction with dentures, when compared to dentures provided by Dentist to those provided by Denturist, Denturist patient satisfaction is in the high 80% while Dentist patient satisfaction is below the 50% rate. Dentist and Denturist working in the same office as equal partners have provided denture patients a vastly improved level of satisfaction and at the same time provided the dentist the ability to use chair time for more productive and profit producing procedures.
Isn’t it time to accept the fact that an office staffed with a Dentist, Denturist and Hygienist would provide the patient the best of all dental health worlds. It’s time for the ADA to get over it’s effort to continue to protect an out dated dental monopoly over the “sale” of dentures. It’s time to give the public real, qualified, affordable denture professionals with-in the dental family. It’s time to dump unnecessary egos and give dentistry an opportunity to really provide dental health to “everyone”.