dental survey Archives - The Wealthy Dentist

Dentist Salary: 2 Out of 3 Dentists Say They Are Not Wealthy (video)

June 26, 2022 By Jim Du Molin Leave a Comment

According to the ADA website, the average dentist salary for an independent private dental practitioner who owns all or part of his or her practice in 2009 was $192,680 for a general practitioner and $305,820 for a specialist.

Considering the state of the economy, we wondered if this is still an accurate financial assessment of dental incomes.

The Wealthy Dentist conducted a survey asking dentists if they think that they are wealthy. Two out of three dentists said no, they are not in fact wealthy.

“The idea that all dentists are wealthy is absurd,” wrote a Minnesota dentist. “The public has no idea what it costs to run a dental clinic. Lab bills are $12,000 a month. Salaries are $20,000 a month. Add in equipment, rent, liability insurance, and of course, endless supplies, and now you have some very serious overhead. In reality, dentists must produce so very much revenue before they pay themselves that very few dentists are truly wealthy.”

Click on Play to watch the video and hear what dentists are saying about being wealthy –

Do you feel that most dentists are wealthy? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.

Filed Under: Dental Videos, The Wealthy Dentist Tagged With: Dental, dental practice management, dental survey, dentist salary, dentistry, dentists, recession

Dentists State Powerful Reasons for Supporting Fluoride in Water

June 26, 2022 By Jim Du Molin Leave a Comment

Some dentists think that the water fluoridation debate is a non-issue.

“With over 65 years of research and practical experience of this proven safe and effective public health measure, it amazes me that this is still an issue,” complained one dental professional.

In our most recent survey, 68% of dentists said that they support the fluoridation of public water supplies, while 32% said fluoridating our drinking water is unnecessary.

Here are some dentist comments from this survey…

Fluoride is beneficial —

“My parents grew up with good oral hygiene and habits, but without public fluoridated water. They both had numerous cavities restored while growing up. My brother and I are in our 40s and grew up with fluoridated water. Neither of us have had any caries! I’m a big proponent of properly fluoridated public water.” (Ohio prosthodontist)

“It eliminated caries in American urban cities until “boutique bottled water” became fashionable.” (New York periodontist)

“I practice in the county where Muskegon was the control city when Grand Rapids started fluoridating their water in 1945. 80-90% of my patients had fluoridated water when their teeth were developing. With probably 99% accuracy I know whether they had city water (with fluoride) or well water (no fluoride). The difference in decay rate is substantial.” (Michigan dentist)

“I am a proponent of public water fluoridation for its known effects over the past 70 years. The shift to bottled water is diminishing that effect I believe so other modalities should be looked at such as adding it to salt as they do in Europe. Perhaps that would make McDonald’s fries a wee bit healthier!” (Pediatric dentist)

“How could one not support this? As a dental professional?” (Indiana dentist)

“It’s a no-brainer.” (Alabama dentist)

“The most cost effective means of caries prevention for all age groups.” (General dentist)

“If we have ever demonstrated that preventive measures can work, it was done with fluoride. Why do we need to prove this again and again and again???” (New York orthodontist)

Fluoride is bad science —

“This is based on old science and needs to be stopped. Infant warnings should be on water bills.” (Dental hygienist)

“Should not mass-medicate without the will of the masses! There are controversies that are appalling. The truth is in question about the benefits versus the risks. The opposition should be given an opportunity to present scientific data.” (Florida dentist)

“The ADA is out of touch. It is a Civil rights issue for black-American infants. The cost is too great to remove from their drinking water so they are in reality being forced-medication. Most of this expensive bio-hazard does not get on the teeth it is used to wash clothes water lawns. You can get fluoride in many products OTC that is sodium fl and not untested bio-hazard waste from fertilizer plants. The fertilizer plants should have to pay for the safety tests.” (General dentist)

“Dental decay is not caused by a lack of fluoride in our water supply.” (Pennsylvania dentist)

“High concentrations currently can have adverse affects on the systemic health of medically-compromised adults. Ingestion of H2o with fluoride is ONLY beneficial for children during adult tooth formation, but many children do not drink water consistently or may be risking fluorosis from fluoride intake from multiple sources, including water.” (Illinois dentist)

“The systemic ingestion of fluoride has shown no significant decrease in decay, but has been shown to damage the body including the skeletal system, the pineal and thyroid glands and the brain causing lowered IQ’s in children. There is also no way to control the dosage of this medication. There are plenty of products containing fluoride that can be used topically, the most effective application, for those who want to use it and it doesn’t need to be in the public water supply.” (Texas dentist)

“No dose control and too many systemic effects, with too many of the general population at risk.” (Texas hygienist)

“Scientific evidence shows NO beneficial effect on teeth when ingesting in water. Too many systemic problems with accumulation, however, so need to stop fluoridating our drinking water.” (General dentist)

A political issue —

“Fluoridation is the worst “public health” fiasco ever foisted upon an unsuspecting populace.” (Arkansas dentist)

“The major problem here is that city water jurisdictions pay for fluoridation and state/federal welfare pays for dental treatment. If either paid for both, fluoridation would be everywhere.” (Oregon dentist)

“It is BAD public policy to medicate via the public water supply.” (Dental implantologist)

“If any city wants to op out (of fluoridation) then fine. Just don’t use tax money to fix your children’s teeth!” (California dentist)

“It’s a form of govt mind control! (tongue firmly planted in cheek).” (Oral surgeon)

“Sad state of affairs here in Florida when science takes a back seat to politics-again. It shows the decline of thinking so pervasive in America.” (Florida dentist)

What are your thoughts on fluoride in drinking water?

Filed Under: Dental Surveys Tagged With: Dental Care, dental fluorosis, dental survey, dentist, dentistry, dentists, fluoridated water, fluoridation, fluoride, fluoride in water, fluoridized water, survey, water fluoridation

The Most Important Dental Marketing Vector

June 26, 2022 By Jim Du Molin Leave a Comment

In a recent The Wealthy Dentist survey, the respondents pointed to internal marketing as their most important dental marketing vector.

As dental practices have been forced to focus on increasing dental practice revenue, one of the key components, it seems, has been internal marketing.

Internal marketing relies on dental patient referrals. If the dental practice lacks in quality customer service, or does not build strong dentist-patient relationships, then any attempts at internal marketing will likely fall flat.

In the most recent the Wealthy Dentist survey we asked dentists what is the most important marketing vector for their dental practice.

67% of the dentist respondents answered that internal marketing is their most important dental marketing vector. 19% responded that Internet dental marketing is their most important marketing vector. 7% felt direct mail marketing was the most beneficial, while another 7% felt traditional media like newspaper, TV and radio were the most important.

Here are some of the comments we received from dentists on this survey:

“Internet and internal marketing are neck-and-neck, followed by direct-mail marketing.” (Arizona dentist)

“Internal marketing and word-of-mouth clearly bring in the BEST new patients for us. We receive the most new patients from Internet and direct-mail marketing. Printed dental phone book marketing is fast becoming one of the least important marketing vectors for us because the return on investment is getting smaller and smaller.” (Ohio prosthodontist)

“How do you define important? The internal is the the most important, but the Internet brings most of our new dental patients.” (General dentist)

“Direct mail marketing but with more of a focus on growing online marketing.” (Minnesota dentist)

“Word-of-mouth marketing, with the Internet a close second.” (North Carolina dentist)

“Internal marketing followed by our dental website.” (Pediatric dentist)

“If you treat your dental patients like you would treat your family, then the best ‘marketing’ or good word-of-mouth takes care of itself! We really only market our dental practice by being active in our community and being very good to our patients and we get about 30 new patients every month.” (Alabama dentist)

“The newspaper works well in conjunction with our website and TV advertising.” (California dentist)

“Internet dental marketing, but it should be referral from other patients and that does not seem to be happening.” (Illinois dentist)

“Word-of-mouth is always number one and under that would be focused direct mail marketing, although Internet marketing is catching up but the quality of dental patient seems to be always less.” (General dentist)

“Our website.” (California orthodontist)

While there are many dental marketing vectors, they have to be utilized properly to get the desired results. Remember, quality dental marketing combined with a quality dental practice are critical to implementing a successful dental marketing program.

Together, they will grow your dental practice, which ultimately leads to more dental referrals and greater profitability in the long run.

Check out The Wealthy Dentist’s full internal dental marketing and communications campaign for a 4-phase program designed to add 10 additional patients per month to your practice.

Filed Under: Dental Marketing, Dental Surveys, The Wealthy Dentist Tagged With: Dental Marketing, dental practice marketing, dental survey, dental surveys, dentist, dentistry, dentists, internal marketing, Internet dental marketing, marketing, survey

Dentist Survey Results: How Do Your Dental Exam Fees Compare?

June 26, 2022 By Jim Du Molin Leave a Comment

We’ve done a few dental management surveys recently on various fees, including root canals, dental implant and crown, and fees for missed appointments.

This time, we wanted to know about typical fees for a dental exam with dental hygiene treatment and x-rays.

We often get responses from dentists all over North America. But in this survey, all of them came from dentists practicing within the United States.

Dental exam fees varied a lot!

They ranged from a low of $27 (from an urban dentist in Florida) to high of $380 (from a suburban California dentist).

Most of the fees below the median of $191 came from dentists in the southern part of the United States. This makes sense, since the cost of living is typically lower.

“$56 is a recall exam; it is thorough. The initial exam is $65.00 and is more so, and lasts longer.” South Carolina general dentist

“$170 is our fee for a 6 month recall visit which includes prophy, exam, and 4 BWX [bitewing x-rays].” Louisiana general dentist

Fees at the high end of the range were mostly reported by dentists in areas known for their high cost of living, notably California and New York.

“New patients receiving a comprehensive exam, full mouth X-rays and prophy is $380. Existing patients for periodic exam, bitewings and prophylaxis is $249.” California dental office worker

A Texas dentist expressed her frustration with her patients’ resistance toward paying for basic preventative dental care:

“I think it doesn’t matter what our fees for this service are because the general public is always going to perceive it as too high no matter what it is. They just don’t value preventive dental care as much as they value their cars’ engines. I always ask people who tell me they haven’t been to the dentist because they don’t have dental insurance if they get the oil in their cars changed at least twice a year, and if so, who pays for it? Do they have insurance for that?”

Are your fees for a typical dental exam higher or lower than our survey results?

Filed Under: Dental Surveys Tagged With: dental exam fees, dental survey

Dental License by State Drives Many Dentists Crazy (video)

June 26, 2022 By Jim Du Molin Leave a Comment

As we all know, dentists are licensed by state dental boards and they can only practice in the state where they are licensed.

And this drives a lot of dentists crazy like the one who complained, “This is SUPPOSED to be a free country where people can relocate as desired. this current system is just regional protectionism. It sucks!”

The Wealthy Dentist conducted a survey that asked dentists if once a dentist is licensed in one state, should he or she be allowed to practice anywhere in the U.S.

Watch this video to hear what dentists had to say on universal licensure –

What are your thoughts on universal licensure? Should dentists be allowed to practice anywhere in the U.S. under one license?