Advertising: Is It Causing a Black Eye for the Dental Profession?
P
romotion of your dental practice through advertising is something every practitioner will contem- plate during their practice life.
Now, before you say “Not me!”, realize that advertising includes a wide array of modali- ties, such as websites, social media, flyers, newsletters, stationery, business cards, logos, signage, blogs, advertisements, billboards or any other information that is related to your practice that is distributed. A decision by the practitioner will occur on whether or not to use one or more of these modes and what actually is said on them.
Advertising in dentistry is nothing new. If you go back to the early 1900s, Edgar R.R. Parker “Painless Parker”, took his dental practice on the road after hiring a manager from P.T. Barnum. He developed the Parker Dental Circus, which was a dental chair on a horse-drawn wagon while a band played. He claimed “painless” extractions and had a way of letting the band know it was time to play louder so the crowd couldn’t hear the noises from the patient when he was extracting their teeth. Dr. Parker definitely pushed the limits on advertising and ethics and is the reason for many of the modern-day rules and regulations.
Several of our seasoned dentists can remem- ber when the only advertising that occurred after dental school graduation was simply hanging out their “shingle” with their name. Anything beyond that was unheard of and would cause a dentist who advertised to be dubbed as a menace to the profession. This even included handing out a business card!
Prior to 1977, the American Dental Association prohibited advertising dental services. After two years of working in ne- gotiations with the Federal Trade Commis-
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sion, the ADA’s Code of Ethics regarding advertising was revised. Since that time, advertising has been regulated by state dental boards, and the modes and frequency of advertising has evolved way beyond that of hanging out a shingle and handing out business cards.
The area that usually causes the most con- troversy in advertising isn’t the point of pro- moting one’s practice itself and the services offered, but instead arrive when the ethical standard is crossed in advertising. Advertis- ing claims of being the best practitioner, false or misleading statements, suggesting higher quality of services and giving the public un- realistic expectations are red flags that alarm dental boards and have a tendency to cause ethical issues between practitioners.
My concern is the perception of our profes- sion by those we serve. Do we want to be seen as a group of practitioners fighting and scraping for patients by stating we are the top or best of class? How are we portray- ing our profession when we offer discount coupons for our services to get patients in the doors of our practices? Sit back and think for just a minute how the non-dental public views what they are seeing in dental adver- tisements … do you think they laugh at or mistrust our profession sometimes? I do.
The Missouri Dental Board has rules and statutes as it relates to advertising. At the time of this writing, the comment period has passed for public input into the pos- sible rescinding of the advertising rule in its entirety, which follows a directive from the governor to trim unnecessary or burdensome language in all state rules. The Missouri Den- tal Board has stated that the current statutes cover advertising issues. The Missouri Dental Association’s Board has taken a stance of
concern on this total rescission, because it believes
the statute doesn’t cover all areas of advertis- ing and therefore could be detrimental to the protection of the public. There appear to be areas that need addressing to cause for less questioning of what is or isn’t right for advertising. Stay tuned with the MDA in keeping up on what transpires in relation to these possible changes (information at modental.org/rulechanges).
Whether you decide to advertise or not is completely up to you. The dental profession has always had a great image in the public. That is based on the fact that as a profession we take our ethical standards to heart. We have to make sure that if we do decide to advertise, we don’t infringe on those areas of ethics and tarnish how our profession is looked upon by the public. Any promotion of dentistry should just be that—promotion of what dentists have to offer the public, with- out any suggestion of superiority in services or misleading information that would entice the public into a situation that is detrimental to their dental health. f
Contact Dr. Wyckoff with your comments or suggestions at editor@ modental.org.
