A New Marketing Campaign

I have read that some company is placing billboards and taking out ads that read:

"It is Easier to Find a Good Dentist Than You Think" or something to that effect.

The reality is that it is damn hard to find a top notch dentist or physician/surgeon than you think.

I have told my blog readers before the criteria that they should use to find a great dentist but I will provide that list again. This is MY OPINION and while there may be one or two additional criteria, this list is pretty complete.

1. The dentist should have 3,000+plus hours of continuing education and none of those courses should be vacation/courses.
2. The dentist should routinely use a rubber dam to restore posterior teeth.
3. The dentist should not participate with many insurance companies because fees are set low by the insurance company and the dentist cannot spend an appropriate amount of time per patient.
4. The dentist should photograph virtually every tooth that they restore for both educational and legal reasons.
5. Quality dentists usually see one patient at a time rather than 2-4 patients at the same time.
6. Quality dentists usually schedule ONE patient for 4-7 hours when treating large cases.
7. The dentist should have a fabulous website with many of their OWN cases on the website.
8. The dentist should not try to do all of the specialties of dentistry in their office and should refer to dental specialists. One dentist cannot be a master of all of the specialties  in dentistry.
9. The dentist should be on the faculty of a dental school

So how do I stack up against these criteria?

1. I have 7,000 quality hours of Continuing Education with much of it with the best dentists in the world.
2. I always use a rubber dam in the posterior region of the mouth when restoring teeth.
3. I participate with NO insurance companies because it is my job to be the best possible dentist that I am capable of being. I can only serve one master: my patient.
4. I do photograph virtually every tooth that I restore and show every patient the leakage and/or tooth decay that was under their old fillings.
5. My shortest appointment is ONE HOUR. My longest appointment this year was 9 hours 45 minutes to treat ONE PATIENT.
6. My large cases are almost always allotted one full day of my time.
7. My website is professionally done and only MY ACTUAL PATIENTS are shown on the website.
8. I am a general dentist that limits my practice to fixing teeth and restoring implants from very simple cases to cosmetic and full mouth rehabilitation. All other treatment is referred out to quality dental specialists so that you are always treated by fabulous specialists. I am not a jack of all trades and a master of none.
9. I am and have been an Clinical Associate Professor at SUNY/BUFFALO School of Dental Medicine with a  visiting status.

Finding a quality dentist is NOT as subjective as you would think. There are STANDARDS by which every dentist can and should be measured.