"A Beacon For Choice in Dentistry"

OUR VIEW
OF
TODAY'S DENTAL CULTURE

• Free Choice/Fee for Service Dentistry is not Adequately Represented In and By Organized Dentistry, Despite the Best of Intentions of Most of Its Delegates and Leadership.
  
  
• The Insurance/Third Party Payer Industry Is in the Process of Creating an "Oligopoly" Over Health Care, and May Legally Do So. Organized Dentistry, on the Other Hand, Has Strict Laws Under Which It May Compete. However, the Organizational Decision To Compete Has Yet to Be Made.
  
  
• Organized Dentistry Holds Direct Reimbursement Out as an Opiate, a Savior, to its Membership. Direct Reimbursement is a Pipe Dream Which, For Predictable Reasons, Hasn't and Can't Work. Other Reimbursement Models Exist Which Allow Greater Opportunity for Success.
  
  
• As Long as We Have Licenses to Practice Dentistry, We Have the Power to Shape the Destiny of Our Profession. We Need to Develop Organizational and Individual Recognition of This Fact.
  
  
• There Will Always Be People, Institutions, and Industries That Will Attempt to Usurp or Control the Power Conferred to Us By Our Licenses. We Need to Develop Organizational and Individual Proactivity in Recognition of This Fact.
  
  
• Organized Dentistry Spends The Vast Majority of Its Marketing Resources on Promoting Itself to Dentists. This is a Waste of Money and Energy and is a Symptom of Organizational Insecurity. Organized Dentistry's First Mission Should Be to Market Optimal Dental Health to the World. At This, It Is an Absolute Failure.
  
  
• The Time Has Come for a New Paradigm in Professional Marketing and Promotion. The Public Literally Shops Differently Than it Did Decades Ago, and Thus Requires a Different Approach for Marketing.
  
  
• Four Years of Dental School is No Longer Enough, and Inadequate Preparation Will Fuel Mediocrity in Dental Care.
  
  
• Women Dentists Are a New and Significant Force in the Marketplace, and Organized Dentistry Has Not Recognized or Responded to Their Special Concerns, Needs, Motivations, and Attitudes. Therefore, Women Are the Cannon Fodder of Managed Care.
  
  
• Foreign-Trained Dentists Are a New and Significant Force in the Marketplace, and Organized Dentistry Has Not Recognized or Responded to Their Special Concerns, Needs, Motivations, and Attitudes. Therefore, Foreign-Trained Dentist's Are the Indentured Servants of Managed Care.
  
  
• The Standard of Care in Dentistry Will Go Down Further if Auxiliaries Are Not Educated and Empowered to Provide Broader Clinical Services Under Direct Supervision. Free Choice/Fee-for-Service Dentistry Will Require Greater Partnership With Qualified Auxiliaries in Order to Compete in Today's Managed Care Marketplace.
  
  
• Across the Nation, Most Boards of Dentistry and State Legislatures Are Reactive, Not Proactive, in Dealing With the Medical/Dental Safety of their Citizenry. They are Manipulable by Special Interests, Current Events, and Media Attitudes and Are Often Irresponsible to Science.
  
  
• Paying Dues to Dental Organizations Has Never Assured That Your Particular Interests Are Represented. In Today's Revolutionary Marketplace, if You Want Your Interests Represented, You Must Stand Up and Vote With Your Voice, Your Time, and Your Wallet.
  

Please use the "BACK" button on your browser, or select to return to the Navigation Page.

Last Update 7/5/97