dental marketing

Is Lack of Dental Insurance Driving More Patients to the ER?

January 31, 2012 By Catherine Hughes 2 Comments

Do more people need access to dental insurance?

Uninsured Americans are turning to emergency rooms nationwide to manage the pain from dental problems, according to a 2010 Health Resources and Services Administration report.

The same report reveals that dental emergencies make up between 1.3 percent and 2.7 percent of all ER visits.

USAToday reports the reason is a lack of dental coverage for under-insured and uninsured patients as emergency rooms are treating toothaches, tooth abscesses and other dental care emergencies.

Although that number might seem like only a small percentage, Alan Sorkey, a Louisiana emergency physician, pointed out to USAToday that he treated 226 of the 6,336 patients for toothaches last year.

These dental care-related ER visits create higher costs for taxpayers because many of these dental patients return to the ER two or more times per dental problem to manage their symptoms, according to the ADA. And, while the Affordable Care Act addresses dental care for children on Medicaid, the requirement doesn’t exist for adults, ADA spokesman Robert Raible told USAToday.

The ADA is currently working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to devise an approach to get “broader and deeper numbers and look at key indicators for solutions,” ADA President William Calnon said.

What are your thoughts on this growing dental insurance issue?

For more: Lack of dental coverage sends patients to ER for pain

Filed Under: Dental Care, Dental Insurance Tagged With: ADA, Dental Care, dental insurance, dental marketing, dentist, dentistry, dentists, individual dental insurance

Dentists Prefer Facebook For Their Dental Marketing

January 31, 2012 By Jim Du Molin 2 Comments

Facebook has turned into a popular dental marketing tool for dentists to attract more dental patients.

9 out of 10 dentists use Facebook as their preferred place to network online.

While Facebook is facing criticism over their often-disputed privacy policies, most of the dentists using Facebook use it for both professional and personal networking.

“We are at the beginning stages of our Facebook dental marketing. We are using it as an informational, personable and promotional platform. We are giving our patients useful information, keeping them updated on what is new in our office, and giving away prizes for liking our page. We also give patients $5 off their services when they check in!“ responded one dentist.

The Wealthy Dentist decided to survey dentists to ask what sort of social networking they do online, and whether it was for personal or business purposes.

Dentists use the following social networking sites professionally -

Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
YouTube
Blog
Google Plus

And for personal use?

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Google Plus
LinkedIn and blogging were used the least

Here are some dentist comments:

“We have a business Facebook page which does well for us. I update it regularly and have a couple staff that like to write updates on the wall, too.” (Ohio prosthodontist)

“I haven’t yet figured out what to make of Twitter.” (General dentist)

“I still prefer word-of-mouth recommendations most of all.” (Arizona dentist)

“I really do not have the time or inclination to follow through with these media platforms.” (Massachusetts dentist)

With Facebook about to make a public of offering, which is estimated to bring in about 10 billion dollars, it is time for just about every dental practice that is serious about dental marketing to get on the Facebook bus!

Filed Under: Dental Marketing, Dental Surveys, The Wealthy Dentist Tagged With: dental blogs, dental marketing, dental survey, dental survey results, dental surveys, dentist, dentistry, Facebook, Google plus, Internet dental marketing, LinkedIn, social networking, survey, Twitter, YouTube

Dental Labs: Foreign Versus Domestic (video)

January 31, 2012 By Catherine Hughes Leave a Comment

In the past, it has been reported that some dental crowns and bridges may be tainted with lead.

People quickly assumed the problem was with foreign dental labs, particularly those in China.

The Wealthy Dentist conducted a survey asking dentists a number of questions about foreign dental labs.

One dentist said, “Patients have been systematically kept in the dark when it comes to dental procedures. Patients should be given informed consent when choosing materials.”

Another dentist complained, “Too many dentists are accommodating low insurance payment schedules by buying materials and fabrications that are too cheap. It doesn’t seem to matter that it compromises the health of the patient.”

Click on Play to hear more of what dentists have to say about foreign dental labs –

What has been your experience with dental labs?

Filed Under: Dental Videos Tagged With: dental bridges, dental crown, dental crowns, dental labs, dental marketing, dentist, dentistry, dentists, lead, video marketing

Dental Marketing May Have Helped Dentist Arrest Thieves

January 24, 2012 By Jim Du Molin Leave a Comment

It would seem a little dental marketing can even help reclaim stolen property.

Florida dentist Bill Strupp experienced a dentist’s worst nightmare: having thieves break into his dental practice to steal computers and dental equipment.

They also made off with Dr. Strupp’s sports memorabilia collection which included an official Heisman football, dozens of signed Yankee baseballs and three signed Yankee bats given to him by his friend and dental patient, George Steinbrenner.

He desperately wanted the stolen items returned.

So he decided to use some Internet dental marketing by placing an ad on Craigslist offering a reward for the return of the stolen property. Dr. Strupp must have written a great ad, because someone called offering to sell the sports memorabilia back to him.

That someone seemed like the thief.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that Strupp played along with the caller and promised not to call the police.

“Immediately, as soon as I hung up with him, I picked up the phone and called (Clearwater police) Detective Jonathan Walser,” Strupp told the Times.

In working with the police Dr. Stupp agreed to meet the caller in a local shopping mall to obtain the sports collection and his computers in exchange for $10,000. When the thieves approached Strupp to handover the stolen property, Clearwater police moved in and arrested the suspects.

A search warrant helped find more of Strupp’s missing dental practice items, but not all.

Strupp told the Times, “I’m just flabbergasted that anybody would be that stupid to try to sell something back to somebody after you stole it from them!”

Maybe it was the great Internet dental marketing he used to write that Craiglist ad.

For more on this story see: Dentist bites back: Craigslist ad leads to arrest of two in stolen property case

Filed Under: Dental Marketing, Dental News Tagged With: dental marketing, Dental News, dental practice management, dental theft, dentist, dentistry, dentists, marketing, theft

Yearly Dental Marketing Budgets and Marketing Trends

January 24, 2012 By Catherine Hughes 3 Comments

A recent dental survey revealed that the average yearly dental marketing budget for dental practices is $48,000. In this The Wealthy Dentist survey, we learned that for 9 out of 10 dentists, dental practice websites remain the top priority for marketing budget money in 2012.

6 out of 10 dentists also include Internet dental marketing in their annual budget, while 5 out of 10 allot a portion of the budget to internal referral programs.

Email newsletter marketing and Yellow Pages advertising remain in the dental marketing budget for 53% of the survey respondents, while 30% still include radio advertising and direct marketing.

Less than 10% factor TV advertising into their yearly dental marketing budget, reflecting a national trend towards developing a a media plan that does not include TV advertising.

dental marketing budget

“We hired a dental marketing firm and are getting better results. We think that marketing is the key to getting the number and type of patients you want. Return on investment is good,” said a Virginia dentist.

“We are very happy. Our marketing has shown consistent growth of over 100 new patients a month for the last 4 years. The newest being the low cost, proprietary CRM that we have implemented that is above and beyond anything I have been shown before,” said a general dentist.

Some dentists feel dental marketing costs are too expensive, with one pediatric dentist saying, “It’s too expensive. Everybody raises prices for dentists because they feel we have more $.”

On average, dentists employ eight different dental marketing tactics to achieve their marketing goals.

What dental marketing vectors are the most effective use of your yearly dental marketing budget? Let us know in the comments!

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Survey was conducted by The Wealthy Dentist.