I know I’m probably preaching to the choir here, but over the last few months I’ve had occasion to ask several people I’ve met who their dentist was. What I heard in response was the name of some corporate entity, usually beginning with the letter “A”. When I then said: “No, I don’t think you understand…Who is your dentist?”, I would get this puzzled look. They couldn’t tell me the name of their dentist because they didn’t know it. I guess they were just seen by whatever dentist was working there that day!
Dentistry as a profession is changing –no doubt. There are currently about 8,000 dentists in the U.S working in large group practices and many more in smaller multi-office groups. Groups are not necessarily a bad thing, but when corporate entities and franchises like Aspen Dental are dictating (contrary to State laws) how dentists can practice in their offices and forcing dentists to adhere to quotas (as recently happened in New York State), the best interests of patients are not being served.
A friend recently said to me that when a dentist doesn’t feel good enough about what he or she is doing to put his or her own name on the sign in front of the office, you probably don’t want to be going there. By the way, it’s against the law in Pennsylvania NOT to have your name on the sign in front of your office!
Buyer beware! Welcome to the age of consumerism!
Please feel free to discuss this issue with me at your next appointment! If you have any questions in the meantime, you can contact me or the staff at my office, Dr. Laurence Stone in Doylestown, PA to discuss any concerns you may have about this or any other issue in the field of dentistry.
