Oral Health Price is Right
So last week I returned from an amazing annual dental conference experience and I couldn’t help but notice how much more inspiring those things are when a bunch of dentists aren’t doing all the talking. And that’s one reason why I’m writing.
It’s a curious time when there are zero cab lines at McCarran Airport in Vegas but two parking tickets on my windshield at LAX. Guess it would help if my ultimate vehicle had a spot for a license plate up front but two citations in a parked car seems excessive (unless the plates also serve as my mailing address.) Anyway, if the LAPD is set on pumping my money out of the economy at $70 a pop these days, it’s back to Ontario, even if I get to see Sacramento on the way to Sin City and other destinations now unknown.
But for dental patients and even the 50% of you that stay away, now may be the best time ever to invest in your oral health and travel non-stop to the dentist. And I’m saying this before I’ve paid my bills and after I’ve written my side of our annual team member growth conferences, so I’m about as objective as I’m gonna get.
So the speakers at the conference were really powerful because they engaged us with possibilities like making a difference for others and being inspired by the experience and then passing it forward. As I sat there listening along with Office Manager Dalila and Dental Assistant Extraordinaire Dani, I felt okay about the stuff we do with non-profits outside of the practice. But I was touched even more by the prospect of communicating what was possible for folks within the friendly confines of this column and dental practices.
Today, a trip to the dentist can open a window of opportunity for affordable good oral health and even a higher standard of life. Dentistry is a preventive approach and seemingly everyday research strengthens the connection between oral and general health.
Some good economic news is dental insurance programs provide earlier and more complete benefits for preventive care. And if you don’t use the benefits you buy with the premiums you pay, you lose the benefits and the money. So how many readers out there blew $1,000-2,000 in 2008 by not seeing the dentist?
A comprehensive exam, x-rays, and a trip to the hygienist can actually save your life (or add an average of seven years to it if you learn to manage gum disease.) One American an hour dies of oral cancer; gum disease is being linked to hypertension, heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, and low weight premature births. An oral cancer exam takes five minutes as does the charting that diagnoses gum disease. And if you’re fortunate enough to have dental insurance, the program will pick up all or most of the tab.
If you do not have dental insurance benefits, your own health investment wouldn’t quite cover the car I rented for three days in Las Vegas. We always explain things around here in terms of the dental problem, the solution, and the consequences of doing nothing. And the consequences inevitably include greater expense, loss of chewing body parts and poorer health.
Seems like today, dentistry is actually becoming a buyer’s market. There is no reason to accept impersonal service or treatment by the numbers; you should feel good about the choices you make. Dentistry is a service business and uncertain economic times can inspire more personalized care and better deals…like 24 month no-interest financing (that can actually create new opportunities for care you want…like Invisalign.)
So if it’s been a while, a visit to the dentist might be close to the best deal in town. And I guarantee it’ll be way more fun than two parking tickets (I’ve never been impressed by a barrel of monkeys.)
