Are You Ready For The Next Wave In Dentistry?
The history of the public's perception of dentistry may be viewed as consisting of three waves. I use the term "Feel Well Dentistry" to describe the first wave. During this wave dentists were thought of as who you called to get you out of tooth pain. The next wave, spearheaded largely by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD), is "Look Well Dentistry.” When cosmetic dentistry hit the scene the public began to perceive the dentist as able to improve one’s appearance, not just alleviate pain.
The third and current wave is "Be Well Dentistry.” Empowered by an abundance of emerging science, Be Well Dentistry focuses on the connection between oral and general health and wellness. Current research and scientific understandings eliminate the boundaries and barriers that have traditionally existed, which heretofore have separated the health professions. Researchers, health professionals and their patients are now working together to better understand these linkages, now termed the “oral-systemic connection,” and the importance of co-managing health problems created by oral and systemic inflammatory burden.
Be Well Dentistry is now placing dentists in their rightly deserved position as being oral physicians. As modern healthcare comes to fully recognize this distinction it offers increased ability to diagnose, treat and prevent systemic illness. Of all the ‘waves’, Be Well Dentistry will prove to have the biggest impact upon healthcare as the lives of millions will be saved and improved.
It is not a question of whether, but when this becomes reality. In fact, the general public has already begun to move in this direction, as evidenced by television programs like Dr. Oz featuring topics such as Can good oral health save your life?, and Whoopie Goldberg’s appearance on The View discussing her issues with periodontitis.
Let’s Get Organized
In October of 2010 an organization named the American Academy for Oral Systemic Health (AAOSH) was founded by Dr. Chris Kammer and a small but dedicated group of oral healthcare visionaries. In 1984 Chris’ father Jack founded the AACD which has grown to be an internationally recognized organization of over 7,000 Members. AAOSH promises to do for “Be Well Dentistry” what the AACD has done for “Look Well Dentistry.” The formation of this organization could not have come at a better time as research continues to unequivocally demonstrate connections between the health of the mouth and that of the body.
AAOSH is an organization of health care leaders and health professionals dedicated to the relationship of oral health and whole body health. Its vision is to improve inter-disciplinary healthcare and collaboration, and the health of people everywhere by changing public and professional awareness of the mouth-body health links.
Do Well By Doing Good
Those familiar with the organizations Climb For A Cause and The Smile Tree recognize the above adage, attributable to Ben Franklin. It’s basically a corollary to Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’ which holds that people tend to do the most good for society as a whole when pursuing interests important to them. “Win-Win” conveys a similar sentiment.
I mention it here because offering “Be Well Dentistry” affords practice owners the opportunity to grow their practice while simultaneously helping more patients in more ways. In other words, it is a quintessential example of doing well by doing good. (Those interested in a more comprehensive treatment of this important topic are invited to visit the Climb For A Cause website, or read Joe Blaes’ article on dental cause marketing).
Having Isn’t Knowing
Once a practice has committed to learn about, acquire, and offer products and services to help patients and their community lead longer, healthier, and happier lives, it must also determine how to best ‘get the word out’; in other words, conceive and implement a “Be Well Dentistry Marketing Plan.”
The first requirement, as with any marketing tactic, is to effectively translate and package the benefits offered given audiences in ways that first creates awareness, then generates interest and desire, and ultimately induce action.
Your Three-Pronged Plan
Armed with the ability to truly differentiate your practice and offer the above-referenced win-win situation, you are ready to conceive and implement your three-pronged marketing plan to build your “Be Well” dental practice. The three prongs of you plan are: Physician Referral, Patient Marketing, and Hyper-Targeted External Marketing.
1) Your Physician Referral Strategy
Be Well Dentistry represents one of the best opportunities to collaborate with medical professionals including cardiologists, internists, obstetricians, sleep physicians and diabetes specialists. As more manifestations of the oral systemic link become known, this list will surely grow. It is all about opening those doors of communication and offering assistance to your colleagues in allied medical fields to improve the health and longevity of the patients they serve by collaborating with you.
Your first step is to develop your contact list or database of allied health professionals, the composition of which depends on which specialists and health concerns you choose to focus. It will determine your approach and what you offer to these potential referral relationships and networks. Another factor in compiling your contact list is geographic proximity. The more convenient it is for a potential referral source’s patients to visit you, the more likely they will. The list may be acquired manually by referring to locally printed and online directories, or it may be acquired through a list compiler.
Once you’ve acquired your contact list, the next step is to select your communication channels (e.g. email, direct mail, website optimization, social media, etc.), then craft your messages for maximum impact. You will want to ensure your website and collateral materials support and are consistent with your Message so current and prospective referral sources understand what is special about your practice and how you can help them and their patients. Provide detail on how you specifically work with a referred patient, to give the referral source the confidence that your treatment of and communication with that patient will make your referral source ‘look good.’
2) Your Internal Marketing Strategy
It is important to learn to communicate with your patients of record who may not yet know about your “Be Well” dental practice. You will want your internal communications to effectively convey to your existing patients these valuable additions to your service offerings. Many of these patients will be unaware of the importance and significance of the oral-systemic connection and how it ultimately affects their health.
It’s well to remember that people are naturally resistant to and skeptical of change, even change that is good for them. Resist the urge to come at your patients like the proverbial ‘bull in the china closet’, opting instead to gently communicate over time your transformation to a “Be Well Dentistry” practice.
Email ‘drip marketing’ campaigns, open houses, and complimentary screenings involving medical professionals in your referral network, are all good ways to share your commitment to overall health and wellness with your patients.
3)- Your ‘Hyper-Targeted’ External Marketing Strategy
Targeting people known to have or likely to be at risk for such systemic conditions as diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers and sleep disorders is now possible thanks to the availability of compiled lists and ‘pay per click’ ads using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
As with your current patients it remains important to proceed at the prospective new patient’s pace. As you meet your patient’s immediate needs your communications should be inviting to these patients to better ensure you’ll have the opportunity to help them along the path toward embracing Be Well Dentistry when the patient is ready.
It is, of course, your choice how you wish to brand your practice. I’ve found that by ‘speaking the patient’s language’ and offering choices with which they are comfortable, your practice can actually help move your new (and current) patients from Feel Well and Look Well Dentistry into Be Well Dentistry, which is of course where everyone deserves to be.
Adapted from article originally published in Dental Products Report, November, 2010, and used by permission. Click here.