A marketer's take on practice building

Abstract

This article proposes a new method for increasing new patients in a dental practice. It augments the practice externally by increasing the dentist's presence in the local community through the following ways: (1) distributing a consumer dental product to local community groups such as emergency rooms, ambulances, and kids sports teams, (2) lecturing about dental trauma at local organizations, and (3) creating positive press about the dentist and his or her practice. The practice is also built internally by giving out CDPs to selected patients. By initiating this program, a dentist can substantially increase the number of new patients in his or her office. With the increase in new patients, the dentist will be able to raise fees, be more selective in the parts of dentistry he would like to perform, and become free from third-party payment. The dentist who appears focused on providing the best care to everyone in the community will shortly see new patients entering his or her practice. With this program, a dentist can focus on marketing and building the practice without the stigma frequently associated with these activities. The dentist now appears altruistic instead of driven to make more money by building the practice. This image, along with the contacts initiated in the program, will provide the dentist with a strong, very public image that will attract new patients.