I supose this fustration influenced my view on the smile pod business model. However if they can get more patients dentally aware then it is good for everyone (especially patients). The same goes for having hygienists who don’t need referals. We should use it to our advantage. How about a free 15 minute hygiene appointment to new patients and an offer to come back for dental assesment. Would you call that a Kedo Mr Barrow?

My one concern is that patients who leave these hygiene appointments would feel they have had a full dental check up. They would feel that the hygienist would surely have told them if there were any problems. I’m afraid that as far as I’m concerned this would not be the case. I would hope that we dentists are the experts in diagnosis and might be needed for this, as would radiographs and other diagnostic tools.

Finally an integrated team does not have a master or slave but it does have a boss. This could be a hygienist or dentist or other. It ensures that all employees are working for and protecting the company brand. I would rather see this model than two seperatly self employed hygieists and dentists who pass work to each other in the same building.

P.S. I’m enjoying this debate on this… but feel a bit sorry for smile pod. I think all the comments here are about the concept of a hygiene only practice not the business specifically. None of us have been to the practice so it’s not really fair to comment on smile pod as a business which I’m sure it is working well. looking back over the last comment I apologise if I caused any offence.
Chris
.-= Chris O’Connor´s last blog ..Technicians Tips =-.

Phil has encapsulated my position entirely.

This is what grips the most about the Smile-Pod concept – the ability to make a business out of the very thing hygienists are capable of but legally cannot as yet: Accept self referring patients in order to increase access to dental services generally and provide all clinicans with an additional opportunity to see the ‘lost’ 50%. Apparently misusing the trusted hygienist brand adds salt to the wound. I have received a reply to my email to Harvey but I remain unconvinced by his assertations.

In every day practice I often see patients who require the attention of a dentist for broken or decayed teeth and I advice them accordingly. I will also sell (yes we are a point of sales) cosmetic treatment by advising them that the stained edge on a composite or poor margin of a crown or filling ect… can not be sorted by hygiene scaling polishing stain removal I would also explain that for some this has a tangible benefit to the holistic dental health This is what I would term a synergistic approach to dentistry.

A perfect practice would be when a patient journey starts with options. Which clinician they would like to see? Removing barriers, if the patient only wants smoking stain removed but has cavities they are unaware of, the hygienist could inform them of this they then have the option of informed choice. Ignore or treat. This natural team approach would help to build trust between patients and dental professionals by not forcing unwanted treatment whilst providing open access to the type of service a patient wants but providing access to a full dental service, if required

A lot of people object to paying £45 for a check up just to allow them to visit to a hygienist.@£35 In the same way as I would having to pay £55 for an MOT if I wanted to get an oil change on my car!!!

Firstly who is better at giving RSI and OHI; a dentist or a hygienist? As I often tell my patients the answer is a hygienist. They do it more often have had more specialist training in this area; they are the hygiene experts. Smile pod are missing a trick by not employing them.

Second. What is the unique selling point of this business. They make going to the dentist easier by not doing any dentistry? They mislead patients with prices for almost exactly the same treatment which is banded for no apparent reason? I always thought the aim of any dental treatment is to diagnose and treat dental problems whilst improving OH and the oral environment. The aim is not just to give people a high polish on damaged and decaying teeth. Futhermore all dentists should, and largely do, provide acclimatisation treatments to help nervous patients. However they have the advantage in that they can also offer sedation, hypnosis or other important adjuncts and can begin to do the necessary dental work once a trust has been established.

Thirdly, the days of dentists (or hygienists) working alone in little rooms is surely at an end. We should be working towards an integrated team approach to dentistry where everyone in the surgery does the work they are most qualified to do and delegate the other work accordingly. For example a surgery could have a endodontist, restorative dentist, hygienist etc all working in harmony under one trusted brand. This would surely be a more attractive business for a patient (I’m certain it would provide a better overall dental service to a patient). For me a hygienist only practice is a significant step back from this.

Yet having said all that I have a feeling this business will succeed because it is very well marketed. It focusses on the areas of dentistry that appeal to most patients. White teeth and fresh breath. To me this just highlights how important it is for dentists to market their services better. Smile pod can and will only succeed because the brand of dentist is so mistrusted and people are not educated enough about the importance of dental health (not just dental aesthetics).

So in conclusion I would say that we (as dentists) need to find a way to market dental health better whether that is by marketing the systemic problems associated with bad oral health, the negative effect in quality of lifecaused by loosing posterior function or becoming edentulous, or the large contibution to halitosis that dental decay makes (just a few ideas).

The hygienists are right to want to protect their brand from dentists misusing it, but it says a lot about the dentist brand that some of us feel the need use it in the first place.
.-= Chris O’Connor´s last blog ..Coronal Coverage For Root Filled Teeth Part 1 =-.

Mr Grahame. This has been possible for some time circa 2006, and for you to suggest it’s a new concept baffles me.

There are quite a few DCP’s employing dentists already!