Every day we meet people contemplating restorative dentistry. Simply put, they need new permanent teeth to replace a missing tooth, teeth, or even a whole mouth restoration. It’s a very private and difficult decision because it involves personal appearance, how one speaks, and the nutrition ne can consume. We now it is a very hard decision to make, and most of our patients have gone lengthy periods of contemplation, research, and emotional turmoil. When these patients finally come through our door, it is my hope they have kicked the tires at other facilities offering “teeth in a day” and other claims that may or may not be realistic. Here are a few things you need to know when selecting a restorative dentist to provide you with new replacement teeth.
Many of the well-known marketed names in the dental implant industry are franchises owned by equity investors who make money off of leveraged buy-outs and quick hits (like flipping a house) for profit. The largest name in dental implants has been bought and sold nine times. The second largest is run by someone with no formal education in Dentistry and has authored a book on how to maximize profits buying and selling dental practices. It is also financed and owned by equity investors, as is the third largest name in the industry, and so on. These are the names that pop-up first as paid ads on Google. They spend tremendous amounts of money advertising and fly in sales teams to the various offices around the country to promote their procedures to prospective patients.
These sales teams receive a commission. At your initial consultation, ask them where they are from – do they live locally? It’s important to know your Dentist and be able to see the same Dentist each time when undergoing restorative procedures. You want the same professional each time – the one who is most familiar with the structure of your mouth and the one who most understands your needs and the desired outcome.
These large dental implant franchises are neither locally nor privately owned. As a result of being owned by equity investors outside the dental world, the loyalty, or business obligation, is to provide a return to the investors. That is why they invest money with these business analysts and strategists. The investors expect their investment to grow. The investment return obviously comes from profits made by these dental implant franchises, and we all know how profits can be maximized – by decreasing expenses and increasing revenue. As a restorative Dentist in private
practice, I want to be able to select the materials I use for restorations – the ones I feel will be best for the patient, and not ones an accountant in another State requires me to use because they are the most cost effective for the whole franchise.
The large dental franchises have relationships with labs around the country which they own or may have worked out strategical relationships with as an additional source of revenue for investors. This means your new replacement teeth are manufactured outside the dental office that does your work, by people unfamiliar with the structure of your mouth, and in some cases outside the United States. I think the Dental professional most familiar with your needs and desires should be the one crafting your new permanent teeth. I am very proud of our private in-house lab, and I personally craft every new permanent tooth myself. It’s the only way I know my patient is getting the personal and direct attention deserved when it comes to restoring one’s smile.
I think it really comes down to this… you want the business decisions of a dental practice to be made by a dental professional and not by outside equity investors. As a restorative dentist, we are only as good as the smiles we create.