Dental industry trends that dentists want to leave behind

Three dentists connected with Becker's to weigh in on the question: "What dental trends do you hope disappear in 2023?"

Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Rick Mars, DDS. President of the Dental Care Group (Aventura, Fla.): The dental trend that I would hope to see disappear in 2023 is the perception that dentistry is a commodity and not medically necessary for patients. More specifically, patients have been conditioned to believe that dentistry is primarily about cosmetics, and this has taken a back seat to the mouth/body connection. Don't get me wrong, a beautiful cosmetic smile is paramount to a patient's confidence and a priority in my practice, but a healthy mouth is the highest priority. As long as advertisers promote whitening toothpastes and not periodontal health, the burden of educating our patients will remain solely the job of dental professionals. As a result, many patients become focused on the economics of treatment and not the benefits of treatment. Every patient in our office is educated on the overall benefits of a healthy mouth, and it would be awesome if advertisers and toothpaste manufacturers would lead the way in promoting the overall advantages of a healthy mouth to the entire body.

Charles Rim, DDS. Oregon State Hospital (Salem): In the next upcoming years, I hope to see the negative impact from the COVID-19 pandemic disappear in the dental industry. The cost of delivering dental services rose with increase in cost for materials, labs, workforce wages, property lease, and additional fees as individual dental offices faced turbulent times to stay afloat in the inflation-impacted economy. As the country is recovering from the pandemic, I hope to see more stability in supply chain distribution, better communication with accurate information, and improved risk management for the likely future calamity. As numerous industries are negatively impacted by the pandemic through restrictions and fragmented policy formulations, especially in the healthcare settings, one can capture lessons learned from the past and ongoing recovery efforts, and the dental industry can prevail and continue to provide essential health service in the community.

Douglas Solow, DDS. Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs at Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of the University of Southern California (Los Angeles): I am hoping for stabilization of our staff. This includes fewer staff transferring to other employers or leaving the workforce. I am also hoping that there will be more applicants for the open positions that are created by this attrition.

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