Jim Du Molin offers dental marketing news and dental practice management advice for dentists.
A recent British poll revealed that four out of five dentists there think it’s appropriate for dentists to continue to use the “courtesy” title of “Doctor.”
However, dentists are only to use the title in contexts where it is clear they are dentists, not physicians.
Read more: Majority of dentists believe use of Dr title is appropriate
The UK is getting its very first dental surgery inside of a supermarket!
The private dental office is slated to open this week in Sainsbury’s grocery store near Manchester, England. The supermarket has already been offering after-hours GP appointments to customers.
The in-store dentist concept is the brainchild of Lance Knight. Mr. Knight already runs the Ultimate Smile Spa, a cosmetic dental practice in Manchester. He’s hoping the Sainsbury’s Surgery trial will be so successful that it is extended to additional stores.
UK residents are missing an astonishing total of over 100 million teeth — which averages out to just over two missing teeth per person. Over half (57%) of UK adults have missing teeth — and overall, they’re missing an average of four teeth per person.
And here’s another shocker: 20% of those with missing teeth said their dentist had never mentioned that dental implants were a treatment option.
We had the whole team together for a major meeting when Julie shared this bit of trivia with the group. We spent a few moments considering it.
“What happened to them?” Colleen asked, confused. “Where did they all go?”
“It must be all the soccer hooligans getting their teeth knocked out,” Matt declared.
“And you might have heard that the NHS dental care system can make getting a dentist appointment awfully challenging,” Julie added.
The group marveled for a moment that the stereotypes of the differences between British and American teeth really are based in fact.
I haven’t been to a dental trade show in the UK, but I’ve heard that they’re distinctly different from their American counterparts. In the US, you see a lot of dental implants on display. In the UK, you’ll see a lot more dentures and dental bridges.
Earlier in the day, the founder of a major US dental lab had been telling us about the changing face of that industry. Dental labs used to typically be mom-and-pop affairs, not so different from a traditional mom-and-pop dental practice. But their numbers have been steadily eroding, and national dental laboratory corporations have been growing.
It turns out that many UK residents aren’t particularly impressed with US cosmetic dentistry. They scoff that our perfect teeth look like dentures — except, of course, they probably wear more dentures per capita than we do!
Dentists have been warned not to mention Botox or other prescription medications in their dental marketing and advertising by the UK’s Dental Defence Union (DDU).
Moreover, British dentists can’t so much as mention dental Botox treatment on the homepage of their dental websites.
Dentists are permitted to mention Botox and other prescription treatments only on pages within their dental website that patients choose to access.
In its warning report, the DDU is careful never to refer to Botox® by name.
“While a particular brand name of botulinum toxin may be a household name, dental practices cannot actually refer to it in publicity material as it is a prescription-only medicine.”
Dental marketing is one area where the UK is far more conservative than the US, with attitudes lagging years behind out own.
“To illustrate the pitfalls of practice promotion, this issue of the DDU Journal also includes a case study about a dentist facing a GDC investigation after his financial director placed an advertisement in the local telephone directory stating the practice was ‘a centre of excellence’ which ‘specialised in all aspects of dentistry’.
“The DDU was able to help the member draft a letter of response and the GDC accepted he had been unaware of the advert. However it warned him that as practice principal, responsibility for the advert rested with him and in future he must make absolutely sure no misleading statements were made.”
But the DDU advises dentists, “Phrases such as ‘centre of excellence’ should be avoided as well as any claim implying superiority over any other dental professional or practice.”
In the US, the standard is that you must not represent your services as superior to your competitors’, but the term “Dental Excellence” is found in countless practice names and internet dental marketing campaigns across the country.
So… does that mean that it’s okay for UK dentists to strive for excellence, but not to achieve it?
Read more: Beware the ‘B’ word warns DDU as it publishes advertising advice
Another horrifying tale of do-it-yourself dentistry from the UK…
The 42-year-old veteran couldn’t find a dentist to accept his military insurance. After seeing an army dentist in 2003, he said he tried unsuccessfully to get appointments with 30 dentists, none of whom would take government patients.
But he couldn’t very well live with the terrible pain in his teeth. So, over the past two years, he has pulled out 13 of his upper teeth, leaving him with only 2 remaining teeth in his upper arch.
Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet marketing expert for dentists in North America. He has helped hundreds of doctors make more money in their practices using his proven Internet marketing techniques.
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