I Saw the Future in Vegas

Without a doubt, Las Vegas is a city of extremes. No other city can offer the same extravagance and superficial displays of affluence as this city can. Of all places in the world to visit, this one provided me with a glimpse of what the future holds for the field of dentistry.

During my visit to “Sin City” I quickly realized that hotels, restaurants and stores push the definitions of “biggest”, “most” and “cheapest” to the extremes of absurdity. One place boasts they have the fattest burger, another has the spiciest patty, and yet an other has the unhealthiest burger.

On our way to the Red Rock Canyons for a hike with the kids, we drove through a suburban neighbourhood that had more than a dozen plazas all in a row and each commercial unit within each plaza was dedicated to dentistry or medicine.

In keeping with Las Vegas marketing tactics, many of the dental offices advertised their services and each was, in my opinion, more ridiculous than the next. Row upon row of pylon signs offered promotions and promises in varying hues of annoyingly oversized fluorescent lettering. As we continued our drive we were bombarded by the messages from the dental offices which promised being the cheapest, or the most effective, or using the fastest tooth whitening system in “The West”.

The promotions grew increasingly more desperate and, in my opinion, verging on unethical.

One office offered new patients free tooth whitening while the neighbouring office offered the unrealistic promise of “free bleaching for life!” (a promise also made by a local dentist in Thornhill)  Another practice provided discounted rates for treatment to new patients only, while yet another promoted “your first appointment is on us”.

The most absurd advertisement I came across was plastered on a massive billboard and it read “Let us take out your teeth for under $200!” Maybe you can explain this one to me, who pays who?

I also noticed that several dental offices are owned and operated by parent dental corporations, advertising that patients could have their treatment at any of their affiliated locations. This is the other significant change I have noticed; a trend has begun where dentists open multiple retail-style practices. The largest dental corporation owns 326 dental offices across the United States (and guess who invested $1.3 billion dollars and is the majority stakeholder – the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan). I wonder what kind of personal attention and care a patient receives in those McDental types of practices.

Is this what dentistry in Canada will morph into? Tasteless and desperate marketing ploys? Devaluing the profession with gimmicks and teaser rates? Corporate take-overs by faceless entities who usually only care about maximizing profits? I sincerely hope that my fears and suspicions will not materialize here in Canada. But from what I’ve experienced, we Canadians aren’t too far behind our American counterparts when trends set in.

This is where my dental office sets itself apart. The Doctors, Hygienists and Support staff are committed to providing an experience that is unlike anything you have ever had. We aim to provide a quality of care that we are sure will exceed your expectations.

We are constantly honing our skills by learning new techniques, using sound principals with advanced technology, and practicing with a philosophy of treatment that focuses on reducing the risk of requiring more invasive and costly procedures for our patients in the future.

We do not use gimmicks, teaser rates or incentives to entice patients to join our practice. We treat all of our new patients with the same respect and dignity as our long-time, loyal patients. This is our core value and the reason for our office’s success.