Incisal Edge Magazine released their very first “top 32” list. Not shocking only 14 of the “Most Influential People” are actual dentists. Incisal Edge is published by Benco Dental.
1. Jeffery Slovin – DentsplySirona 2. Rick Workman – Heartland Dental 3. Howard Farran – Dentaltown website – Dentaltown Magazine 4. Stanley Bergman – CEO of Henry Schein 5. Martha Somerman – Dir. of National Institue of Dental and Crainofacial Research 6. Steve Bishop – Group President of Procter & Gamble 7. Marco Gadola – CEO Straumann Holdings 8. Ben Carson – Potential Secretary of Health and Human Services 9. Kathleen O’Loughlin – Executive Director of the American Dental Association 10. Michael Graham – SVP ADA Division of Government and Public Affairs 11. Gordon Christensend – Practical Clinical Courses 12. Amir Aghdaei – Group Ex. VP KaVo Kerr Group/Danaher Corp. 13. “Dr. Doe” – Some plaintiff who is suing Henry Schein, Benco and other suppliers 14. Michael Cohen – Founder of Seattle Study Club 15. Steve Thorne – Founder of Pacific Dental Services 16. Mike Simpson – U.S. Congressman of Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District 17. James Glidewell – CEO Glidewell Laboratories 18. James Ingebrand – President 3M ESPE Dental Division 19. Kevin Jackson – SVP Delta Dental of California 20. John Kois – Founder The Kois Center 21. Don Moody – Partner at Waller, Lansden, Dorth & Nashville 22. Linda Niessen – Dean at Nova Southeastern University’s College of Dental Medicine 23. Michael Helgeson – CEO of Apple Tree Dental 24. Gary Price – CEO Dental Trade Alliance 25. Susannah Schaefer – CEO of Smile Train 26. Jack Dillenberg – Dean of Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health 27. Ed Snyder – Managing Director of Northcoast Research 28. Gwyneth Paltrow (yes the actress) – Oral Cancder Foundation Activist 29. Roger Levin – Founder and CEO of The Levin Group 30. Ann Battrell – CEO of American Dental Hygienists Association 31. Major Gen. Rososevelt Allen – Chief of Dental Corp, USAF 32. Peter Dubois – Executive Director of California Dental Association
My list would have been much different! (or maybe it would have been the title)
Huh? Well, that’s the headline of Pacific Dental Service’s (PDS) press release dated December 28, 2016.
IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Dental Services® (PDS®) today announced that it is teaming with the American Dental Assistants Association (ADAA) to provide additional membership benefits and services to dental assistants in the PDS-supported environment.
With the common goal of ensuring the public receives the best quality dental care, PDS and the ADAA will continue their shared mission by providing hundreds of dental assistants with additional resources needed to obtain that objective.
With their ADAA membership, dental assistants in the PDS-supported environment will be offered: free online continuing education; additional insurance coverage options including professional liability, (because they are going to need it!) accidental death and dismemberment; and participation in the ADAA Fellowship and Mastership programs. (huh?) In addition, the dental assistants will receive: a free subscription to the Dental Assistant Journal; the monthly ADAA Update E-newsletter; membership in State and Local Chapters; and leadership position opportunities.
As the oldest, largest professional association for dental assistants in the country, ADAA has been elevating the careers of dental assistants for over 90 years. Since Juliette A. Southard formed the association in 1925, ADAA has been the foremost advocate for the dental assisting profession and is widely recognized as the voice of the dental assisting profession in America. One of ADAA's goals is to advance the dental assisting field in a manner which will enhance the delivery of quality dental care to the public.
Dr. John E. Kasper, ADAA Executive Director, stated, "As the premier dental assisting community in America, ADAA is proud to welcome dental assistants from the PDS-supported environment into the ADAA family. The partnership with PDS represents a giant step towards advancing the dental assisting profession in America, and ADAA is excited about the wonderful opportunities this relationship provides." (Oh, I bet ADAA and PDS is “excited”, maybe not the actual assistants so much though)
Judith Forsythe, Director of Dental Assistant National Strategy for Pacific Dental Services said, "I am thrilled to be a part of this partnership between Pacific Dental Services and the ADAA. PDS and its supported clinicians value the role of the dental assistant and this partnership is yet another way to show we are always looking to enhance the dental assistant's career within the PDS-supported environment. "
About Pacific Dental Services Founded in 1994, PDS® is one of the country's leading dental support organizations, providing Supported Autonomy that allows dentists to concentrate on clinical excellence and the highest levels of cost-effective comprehensive patient care. PDS originated the PRIVATE PRACTICE + model to allow dentists to focus on their passion: serving patients.
About the American Dental Assistants Association (ADAA) The ADAA is America's oldest and largest dental assisting association serving over 310,000 dental assistants in the United States. It is dedicated to the development and recognition of professionalism through education, membership services and public awareness programs. The ADAA is a strong advocate for legislation mandating credentialing for clinical dental assistants and greater recognition of the assistant's role in the professional dental team.
My takeaway is PDS has sold their dental assitants to the ADAA, in return PDS plans on teaching ALL memebers of the ADAA the PDS way of milking the cow dry. (the cow being patients).
Apparently so. It also appears they do NOT care thousands of children are abused and have their mouths mangled by said Dental Serivice Organization. It seems to me, the children have been sold to the DSO’s. Interesting, being that it comes from the Black Causus, right? Just saying!
From Dentistry IQ:
“As part of its policy priorities for 2017, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) has resolved to support the nation’s leading dental support organizations (DSOs) in their mission to provide affordable, quality dental services to underserved populations across the United States. The policy resolution, “HHS-17-17: A Resolution to Stand in Support of Dental Support Organizations,” was ratified during the NBCSL’s Annual Legislative Conference, held Dec. 2-5, 2016.”
Dr.
Michael W. Davis maintains a general dental practice in Santa Fe, NM.
He serves as chairperson for Santa Fe District Dental Society
Peer-Review. Dr. Davis also provides a fair amount of dental expert
legal work for attorneys. He may be contacted via email: MWDavisDDS@comcast.net
Corporate Dental Branding- What Dental Consumers Need to Know
A brand is a
name, term or symbol which one company uses to differentiate its products and
services, from that of another company.1 Corporations employ numbers
of different strategies in branding. Healthcare professionals are generally
fairly ignorant on corporate branding practices, as this is not an element of
their formal education. By contrast, those parties which beneficially own
corporate dental practices retain individuals well-skilled and well educated in
all forms of retail sales, marketing, and finance. Their abilities include a
plethora of differing and complex branding methodology.
In its
simplest form, a chain of corporate dental clinics may seek direct brand
recognition by consumers. They may market “outstanding dental care at
reasonable prices”, all associated with their brand. Branding may be part of a
marketing program to generate public goodwill via broad mechanisms, ranging
from well-publicized charitable events to sponsoring a NASCAR driver.2 Branding
may also be associated with the business model of dental Medicaid care.
Unfortunately
for the corporate dental industry, many of their more established brands have
become associated with abuses to the public welfare.3-9
(Author’s
note: References only cite a mere handful of well reported abuses generated
from corporate dentistry, disclosed by government officials.)
Dental clinics
managed and directed by non-doctor corporate management often have a troubling
record, which the public is witnessing. Likewise, dentists who may be employed
in such workplaces are also witnessing abuses to the public interest generated
and facilitated by brand-name companies in corporate dentistry. As such, many
in the public are avoiding dental services offered by branded corporate dental
practices. Further, these branded corporate practices are finding
employee/doctor attraction and retention increasingly challenging. One
corporate chain recently reported over 10% loss in total dentist staff for a
one-year period.10
Crowd Sourced Branding-
Numbers of
branded corporate dental groups are increasingly discovering their branded
identity has negative consequences. In fact, the term “corporate dentistry” is
an example of “crowd sourced branding”, in which the public assigns a company a
brand (positive or negative), versus the traditional method of branding, in
which a company designs their branding scheme.
Some dental
corporations have fought back by explicitly marketing their distance from
“corporate dentistry”. One such ad from a corporate dental chain openly states,
“You Hate Corporate Dentistry and So Do We”. The veracity of their claim seems
highly suspect, especially when one views their multiple settlement agreements
with multiple states’ attorney generals. However, corporate dental management
is evidently far more concerned with negative fallout of crowd sourced branding,
versus presenting truth in the public marketplace.
To further
counter the negative public impression of corporate dentistry generated by
crowd sourced branding, numbers of corporate dental chains market the
misrepresentation of doctors, and not faceless Wall Street types, as owning
dental practices. The reality is very different and highly disturbing.
Numbers of
dental chain corporations establish specific individual doctors to act fully as
sham-owners, who have no control of management, the sale of “their” asset of
the dental practice, or control of clinic bank accounts. In fact, these
shame-owner dentists have no idea how the funds generated by “their” dental
clinics are allocated; depositions in the Small Smiles mass action lawsuit made that abundantly clear.
Other
corporate dental chains establish a group of dentists acting as sham-owners,
via the accounting mechanism of a professional corporation (PC). Again, these
doctors have no true and valid ownership privileges of dental practices, as
beneficial ownership passes to non-doctor corporations, often private equity
investment firms. Some of the world’s largest and most well-known private
equity firms currently are or formerly have been the beneficial holders of
corporate dental chains, which direct patient dental care.Examples
include Morgan Stanley11, Valour Investments Ltd.12,
Carlyle Group13, American Capital Strategies13, FFL
Partners14, Gryphon Investors15, MSD Capital (holdings of
Michael Dell family)16,17, etc.
