sedation dentistry

Dental Marketing: Negative Online Review Appears as a Facebook Page

September 27, 2011 By Catherine Hughes 6 Comments

In the past The Wealthy Dentist has written about negative online reviews in such articles as “Appeals Court Says Yes to Dentist Lawsuit Against Patient for Online Review“ and “When a Dentist’s Relationship Goes Bad on the Internet“ — both stories about harmful dental critiques posted on review sites like Yelp and Angie’s List.

But in August of this year, Chris Cook of Bakersfield, CA, pushed negative online reviews to a new level.

It was reported in dental news site DrBicuspid.com that Mr. Cook took his 5-year-old son to see Bakersfield pediatric dentist Edward Dove, DDS, for a tooth extraction. Mr. Cook claims Dr. Dove mistreated his son during that visit by extracting a tooth before the child was adequately sedated.

According to DrBiCuspid.com, Cook stated that his son vomited up most of the sedative, screamed, and urinated on himself while allegedly being held down by three dental assistants during the procedure. Allegations Dr. Dove vehemently denies.

Chris Cook decided to take matters into his own hands and created the “I Hate Dr. Dove of Bakersfield” page on Facebook, attracting more than 200 members in its first 48 hours.

Luckily for Dr. Dove, Facebook does have a policy for pages with the word “hate” and considers them in strict violation of their terms of service. They swiftly moved to shut down the dental hate page.

Cook was undaunted by the Facebook boot, turned around and created a second Facebook group page, “Bakersfield dentist DOES NOT ROCK!!!!!!!!!” which is still up and active.

Dr. Dove has handled the situation by defending his treatment in the press and pointing to his 23 years in practice without a single disciplinary action. He has chosen not to engage with Chris Cook on his Facebook page, and was quoted in Dr Bicuspid as saying, “I think my reputation will be hurt a little bit, but right now I just want to calm down,” Dr. Dove said, “This guy is going ballistic, he’s trying to smear me, and I’m getting bullied.”

But should Dr. Dove be more concerned?

Just how significant are bad reviews for the future of your dental practice?

A new survey by market analysis firm Cone, Inc., found that four out of five consumers have reversed purchase decisions based on negative reviews found on the Internet. Another survey by Ratepoint found that 40 percent of consumers indicated they are more likely to consider a local business when they respond to a negative online review.

In the case of a Facebook page being dedicated to hating a dental practice, a dentist has little recourse since the unhappy page creator would have to allow the dentist to join the group page in order to issue a response.

Dentists have had little luck in defamation lawsuits when it comes to negative online reviews since the courts tend to look upon unhappy reviews as free speech. In a recent defamation case in California, a dentist has been ordered to pay $80,000 in attorney fees to the parents who posted a negative online review.

So how do you combat something like a negative Facebook page?

By making sure your dental practice has more than one website that appears on the top pages of Google when your business (and personal) name is searched online. Also have your own Facebook page, or pages for each type of treatment you offer. Have a Twitter page and make sure your practice is listed in as many dental directories as you can find. The idea is to control what appears on the first page of Google about your dental practice. Regular press releases help with this too.

For solutions to multiple name search and directory listing go to: www.InternetDentalAlliance.com.

For more on this story see: Facebook Pulls Plug on Angry Dad’s Antidentist Page

Filed Under: The Wealthy Dentist Tagged With: dental editorials, dental management, dental marketing, Dental News, dental practice management, dentist, dentistry, dentists, Internet dental marketing, negative online reviews, sedation dentistry

Dental Humor: Tim Conway as the Dentist (video)

September 16, 2011 By Catherine Hughes Leave a Comment

tim conway the dentist Tim Conway is probably best known for his appearances on The Carol Burnett Show where he was known to use unexpected humorous tricks in an attempt to make his fellow actors fall out of character and burst into laughter.

One example, is the following sketch where Tim Conway and Harvey Korman are at the dentist office, and Conway is the dentist.

Conway sticks his hand with Novocaine and realizes his hand has gone completely numb. He then attempts to hang forceps from his fingers, which causes Korman to begin to break character.

From this point on all Harvey Korman is trying to do is stop his own laughter.

Such incidents were so prevalent on the show that whenever Tim Conway did a sketch with Harvey Korman, the rest of the cast members would place bets on how long it would take for Korman to start laughing uncontrollably.

Enjoy our Friday random video -

Filed Under: Totally Irrelevant and Random Tagged With: Dental Care, dental humor, dentist, dentistry, dentists, friday random videos, sedation dentistry, viral videos

Sedation Dentists: What is the Cost of Sedation Dentistry? (video)

June 21, 2011 By Catherine Hughes 1 Comment

The Wealthy Dentist conducted a survey that asked dentists about the cost of sedation dentistry.

The cost of sedation dentistry varies widely among dentists. Of course, if you are a dental patient spending thousands for cosmetic dentistry, then sedation fees are just a drop in the bucket.

The average fee for oral conscious sedation is about $300. Some dentists don’t charge, whereas others ask as much as $650.

A third offer IV sedation, charging about $500. But intravenous sedation fees ranged from $250-$800. Only 6% have general anesthesia capabilities. Ranging from $320 to $1200, anesthesia costs around $700.

“My IV sedation fee is based on the amount of time needed to complete dental procedures,” said a Florida pediatric dentist.

“Most of the time I don’t charge for the sedation as these are usually very large (20K plus) cases,” reported a Texas dentist.

To hear more of what dentists had to say about sedation dentistry, please click play and watch the following survey video -

Conscious sedation dentistry helps lower patients’ anxiety and marketing sedation dentistry to the anxious dental patient is a smart way to bring in new dental patients.

What do you charge for oral conscious sedation at your dental practice?

For more on this survey see: Sedation Dentistry: Cost of Peace of Mind

Filed Under: Dental Surveys, Dental Videos Tagged With: conscious sedation, dental survey videos, IV sedation, laughing gas, nitrous oxide, nitrous oxide sedation, sedation dentistry, Sedation Dentistry, sleep dentistry, survey, survey video

Dentist Referrals: Dental Implants, Cosmetic Dentistry & Braces

November 2, 2010 By Julie Frey 7 Comments

Dentists tend to restore dental implants but refer out dental implant surgery, this survey found.

The average dentist often refers out braces, sedation dentistry, and root canals, while keeping cosmetic dentistry, and denture patients.

When it comes to pediatric dentistry and gum disease, dentists refer some patients out and treat others in house.

Overall, the average dentist refers out less than 20% of patients.

Here are some dentist comments on referring patients:

“Impacted wisdom teeth and molar endodontics are referred out 100%. Everything else is decided case by case.” (North Carolina dentist)
“Some patients have such poor dental insurance for certain procedures, I’d rather let a specialist do the treatment.” (Nevada dentist)
“I think most dental implants should be placed by either oral surgeons or periodontists because in my community, a lot of the dental implants placed by general dentists fail.” (Alabama dentist)
“I refer out general anesthesia, but most anxious patients do well in office with oral sedation.” (New York dentist)

Filed Under: Dental Care, Dental Implants, Dental Surveys Tagged With: braces, cosmetic dentistry, dental implants, dentist, dentures, root canals, sedation dentistry

The Sedation Dentist – As Seen on TV’s ‘Glee’

October 5, 2010 By Julie Frey 4 Comments

There’s a new dentist on the pop culture scene! “Dr. Carl” has joined the cast of TV’s ‘Glee.’

In last week’s Britney/Brittany episode, the whole glee club has musical fantasies about pop star Britney Spears while under the influence of Dr. Carl’s hallucinogen-laced sedation dentistry.

Sedation Dentistry on Glee

The popular TV show chronicles the adventures of a high school glee club. One of the school’s teachers is dating Dr. Carl, a local dentist played by John Stamos.

The dentist visits the glee club for a dental outreach, where he discovers that some of the students have terrible teeth. Cheerleader Brittany’s are the worst of the bunch.

Brittany: “I don’t brush my teeth. I rinse my mouth out with soda after I eat. I was pretty sure Dr. Pepper was a dentist.“

Brittany goes to visit Dr. Carl for treatment.

Dr. Carl: “So, Brittany, you, uh… You have the worst teeth I’ve ever seen. You have cavities in every single tooth. That’s got to be some sort of record.“
Brittany: “Please don’t pull all my teeth. When I smile I’ll look like an adult baby…”
Dr. Carl: “All right, we’ll put you under a little general anesthesia – you won’t feel a thing.”
Brittany: “Like roofies?”
Dr. Carl: “Yeah, totally.”

While Brittany is sedated, she has vivid musical dreams of Britney Spears. When the cheerleader wakes up, Dr. Carl tells her that she’ll have to come back the next day, as he wasn’t able to fill all of her 68 cavities.

When cheerleader Santana accompanies her friend Brittany, Dr. Carl is reluctant to work on Santana, as she has perfect teeth. But the cheerleader is determined, telling the dentist, “Get up in my grill, ‘cuz Brits and I wants to get our anesthesia on!“

All of the students visit the dentist, and all have musical fantasies of Britney Spears. The reason for this is explained later in the episode:

Artie: “The nitrous oxide dentist uses a mild hallucinogen.”

“Studies have proven that it induces vivid dreams,” the student explains. “Often the last thing the patient thinks of, the subconscious moves to the forefront. Since we’ve all been thinking so much about Britney, you know, it stands to reason…”

Sedation Dentistry in Real Life

Of course, people who watch this episode will hopefully understand that it does not accurately represent sedation dentistry. The “hallucinogen” reference makes it clear that Dr. Carl is not your average sedation dentist.

Nonetheless, from a dental perspective, a few aspects of this episode are troubling.

Most bothersome is the ambiguity between general anesthesia and nitrous oxide sedation. Dr. Carl tells Brittany he’s giving her general anesthesia – and there’s no anesthesiologist, no oxygen monitors, no assistant. Later in the episode, we learn that Dr. Carl in fact uses nitrous oxide.

The difference between general anesthesia and nitrous oxide was at the heart of a dentist’s recent lawsuit against Yelp reviewers. The dentist sedated a child with nitrous oxide and put in an amalgam filling. The child’s parents later posted extremely negative comments about the dentist, saying she had used too much general anesthesia on the child. (The pediatric dentist does not offer general anesthesia.) The parents were also upset that the dentist used a filling that contained mercury, although they had signed a consent form saying as much prior to the child’s treatment.

The Consequences of Dr. Carl

The fact is, Dr. Carl is now the most visible dentist in today’s pop culture landscape.

As a profession, dentists could do a lot worse. John Stamos’s Dr. Carl is handsome, charming and funny. He’s not nerdy or awkward or cruel. Refreshingly, he doesn’t at all play into the ‘Marathon Man’ stereotype of dentists as pathological sadists.

Dr. Carl is giving sedation dentistry a lot more exposure than it normally gets. On the one hand, it’s great to let people know that sleeping through their dental work is a viable option. On the other hand, this is clearly not an accurate representation of sedation dentistry.