dental practice management Archives

Dentist Survey: How Many Hours Does an Average Dentist Work? (video)

January 18, 2020 By Jim Du Molin Leave a Comment

The Wealthy Dentist conducted a survey that asked dentists how much they work each week.

Of the dentists who responded to the survey, we found that dentists’ average work week is about 35 hours.

A dentists’ work week involves more than just treating patients, there are also dental practice management issues that have to be attended to. Dental practice management involves smart decisions about how much time to spend providing dental care.

“When I cut back to four days a week fifteen years ago, my income went up, not down!” said a California dentist.

Click on play to watch the survey video and hear the survey results –

How many hours a week do you work and how much of that is spent treating patients?

106-Dentist_Work_Week.mp4

Filed Under: Dental Videos, The Wealthy Dentist Tagged With: dental practice, dental practice management, dental surveys

Dental Marketing: Negative Online Review Appears as a Facebook Page

January 18, 2020 By Jim Du Molin Leave a Comment

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

Dentists: Do You Treat Kids? (video)

January 18, 2020 By Jim Du Molin Leave a Comment

The Wealthy Dentist conducted a survey that asked dentists if they treat pediatric patients.

Pediatric dentistry isn’t as profitable as cosmetic dentistry, but it’s rarely about the money.

Pediatric dentistry is a good thing to do for your community, but only if you like doing it.

“If you treat children like gold, you’ll see their mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, and grandparents as well!” said a Virginia dentist.

Pediatric dental patients can provide a whole new set of family patients. But not all doctors are cut out to be a children’s dentist.

“I break out in hives when I treat anyone under 18!” said an Indiana dentist.

Click on play to watch the survey video and hear the full survey results –

Filed Under: Dental Videos, The Wealthy Dentist Tagged With: Dental, Dental Management, dental marketing video, dental practice management, dentistry, dentistry for children, dentists, kid's dentist, pediatric dentistry, videos

Dentist Annual Fee Increases: Dental Management

January 18, 2020 By Jim Du Molin Leave a Comment

Dentist annual fee increases aren’t universal in a recession economy, suggests this survey. While half of dentists (54%) report that they have raised fees in the past year, it’s been over a year since their last fee increase for the other half (44%). And 2% have even lowered their dental fees.

Those who did raise fees did it by an average of 4.5%. “Staff realized how important it was and influenced me!” said one dentist. “I was hesitant at this time, but they insisted because of how expenses are increasing, etc, not because they want raises. They know the difficulties of today running a practice.”

It’s worth noting that not one pediatric dentist in this survey said they had raised fees in the past 12 months. “I’m holding fees steady this year. Economy and all,” said one children’s dentist.

Dental consultants tell dentists they should be raising dental fees each and every year as a part of their dental management. Here are some comments from dentists on the topic:

“I’ve had patients leaving to find a network dentist for a few dollars savings. A fee increase does not seem wise or humane.” (Texas dentist)
“In a down market, reducing fees can offer a competitive advantage.” (California periodontist)
“Don’t increase across the board. Some up, some the same.” (Periodontist)
“Although we have raised our default fees, my fees are primarily based on the complexity and difficulty of the case.” (Dental implant dentist)
“Will be meeting soon to review our costs and the economic situation.” (North Carolina oral surgeon)
“This year I raised them 5%, similar last year The demand for my services is high.” (West Virginia TMJ dentist)
“Difficult to raise dental fees during these difficult economic times.” (New Jersey dentist)
“Once per year we increase fees at least 3-4% to keep up with annual inflation. A few fees are increasing more than 4%, like gold dental crown fees.” (Ohio prosthodontist)
“We kept the basic services the same (prophys etc) but raised the other fees. We find that patients do not notice the increase unless we increase the prophy and exam fees.” (California dentist)
“Since some of our co-pays are based on a percentage of our registered fees, we had to increase our fees.” (New Jersey dentist)

Filed Under: Dental Surveys, Practice Management Tagged With: dental fees, Dental Management, dental practice management, dentist, dentists

Taxpayers Footing the Bill for Braces in Texas

January 18, 2020 By Jim Du Molin Leave a Comment

The business of charging taxpayers for putting braces on kids’ teeth has exploded in Texas over the last three years according to a story by WFAA-TV in Dallas.

In 2010, Texas spent $184 million on Medicaid orthodontics — more than the rest of the United States combined.

I want you to understand, right up front, that I’m tremendous proponent of just about any program that put dollars in dentist’s pocket for providing quality dental care. Time to be honest, this level of government pork could only have been arranged in a smoked filled back room in the dead of night.

While Texas struggles with its Medicaid budget, 34 dental organizations collected more than $1 million in Medicaid orthodontics last year.

Orthodontic treatment for children is generally an elective cosmetic procedure that many parents spend thousands of dollars on for their children. Very few dental insurance carriers cover orthodontics or elective procedures such as teeth whitening.

But in Texas, Medicaid pays dentists for orthodontics per procedure, instead of a lump sum for the “finished mouth” of straight teeth, according to WFAA-TV. This has made Medicaid orthodontia a lucrative dental business in Texas.

So much so that just three years ago, dentist Richard Malouf’s All Smiles Dental Centers of Texas collected $5.4 million from Medicaid orthodontics. Since that time, All Smiles’ Medicaid orthodontics billings nearly doubled to $10.2 million. This caught the interest of Chicago-based hedge fund Equity Partners who recently acquired All Smiles Dental for an undisclosed sum.

Now Texas dental clinics are being bought up by hedge funds, making Wall Street the ultimate destination for millions of taxpayer dollars as reported by WFAA.

The following is a video of WFAA’s investigative report –

Nowhere is the lucrative business of Medicaid braces more evident than with dentist Richard Malouf’s mansion in Dallas. It is a massive French chateau with a pool house, big enough for the average American family of four to live in. The Maloufs also own the mansion next door. According to tax records the combined value of the two properties is more than $14 million.

It is known as the house that braces built.

Dr. Malouf isn’t alone in offering Medicaid braces; there are five other dentists’ offices that provide Medicaid orthodontia on the same half-mile street in Dallas. Many of them advertise free braces under Medicaid. Jefferson Dental is one such dental operation and, according to WFAA, it is owned by hedge fund Black Canyon Capital of California.

During a struggling economy, many question whether this is the best use of taxpayer dollars. A Medicaid dollar that is spent on braces is a Medicaid dollar not being spent on fighting cavities and procedures most dentists feel are necessary.

It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds. I really want to see the which legislators initiated and signed off on this this piece of legislation and who the lobbyist where who pushed it through.

I not sure other state dental boards should hire them or hang them?

For more on this story see: Tax Money for Unneeded Braces Goes to Hedge Funds