In response to Clark Howard’s
opinion on dentists and mid-level providers, he’s dead wrong or could be.[1] And he doesn’t understand the sector of
patients who do and don’t seek to have proper oral health care. If Mr. Howard had a heart-attack today, price
of care would be the last thing on his mind.
Would he negotiate before they installed the stint or after?[2] His perspective is steeped in ignorance. The
answer is not as Mr. Howard would suggest, devoting energy and time and money
to creating a lesser trained dental provider to deliver a poor approximation of
comprehensive dental care (in Georgia). [3]
This opinion comes from the lack of understanding of what a dentist is trained
to do. Clark Howard is living back in
the 20’s, the 1820’s, where the only thing a dentist did was pull teeth and cut
hair.
A recent example in our office was
the discovery of suspicious cells on the underside of the patient’s
tongue. Ultimately (and hopefully), our
discovery and recommendation will save this patients life. Our early detection of cancer comes from years
of (university) training and experience that transcends the old view of what a
dentist does for that 15 minute examination during your regularly scheduled
hygiene appointment. Contrary to your physician’s
health care, the cost of delivering dentistry is under constant pressures from
the free market system.
The answer to providing adequate
and broad based oral health care lies in educating patients about the value of
good oral health, who can best deliver the care, and how consumers can obtain
and maintain that care. Marred by an old
view of dentists and dentistry, Mr. Howard is stuck in a mindset that all
dentists do is just drill-and-fill. There is much more to the art and science of
dentistry than Clark Howard is remotely aware.
Our society needs to understand
the need to regularly maintain their oral health and that dental care for them
and their families is not optional. We
need to instill in our society the need to maintain an oral health care regimen
and visiting the dentist is a part of that regimen. I find it interesting that Clark Howard wants
to put you in a position where you bargain for your health care needs.[4] Where he fails in his advice is to
differentiate between oral health care and retail dentistry.
With regards to the specific
point of creating mid-level providers as has happened in Alaska, census data
demonstrates that 43% of our “public” health care providers aren’t busy because
patients don’t show up for their appointments. This is not a lack of dentists,
rather a lack of utilization of the care available. While there is no empirical evidence as to
‘why’, one would speculate it is because like Mr. Clark Howard, a large portion
of the public fail to value the real benefits to oral health care. Take a credible, but uninformed spokesperson
like Clark Howard, and the notion that all dentists do is drill-and-fill and
we, as providers are starting 10 yards behind the starting line.
The real solution is better
patient education.
If we can answer your questions
or you have comments, please feel free to weigh in on this matter.
Novy Scheinfeld, DDS, PC
290 Carpenter Drive, 200A
Atlanta (Sandy Springs), GA 30328
404-256-3620
Related Articles
[1] http://www.clarkhoward.com/news/clark-howard/health-health-care/dentistry-too-expensive-for-many-americans/nCpN/
[2] http://www.clarkhoward.com/news/clark-howard/health-health-care/negotiate-better-deal-dentistry/nFyQs/
[3] http://www.clarkhoward.com/news/clark-howard/health-health-care/dentistry-too-expensive-for-many-americans/nCpN/
[4] This isn’t to suggest that we as a discipline of
health care aren’t competitive. The free
market system has kept dentistry fairly moderate in terms of cost compared to
the annual leaps in insurance coverage and physician/hospital care.
Maintaining smart oral hygiene and tending has many edges mentioned below. productive mouth care not solely suggests that use of quality improvement product however it additionally suggests that payment time victimization the correct ways suggested for the care of your teeth or mouth.
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