Doctor, Look in the Mirror.

That’s exactly what I did over a dozen years ago when I got my first marketing project in the dental industry. Before I start a project, I try to really understand my topic. I was trying to focus deeply on exactly what a dentist does, something more than the ordinary “they fix teeth.” I thought and thought and couldn’t settle on the essence of a dentist.

Then one morning, as I was shaving, it hit me like a Taser! Looking in my mirror, my imagination flashed, “Oh, this is what Doug (my dentist) gets to do every morning – look in the mirror and say ‘Today I get to go hurt people.’ ”

I’m sorry, Doctor, but that is exactly what I thought. True story. Maybe because I never had a gentle dentist.  Maybe because all my dentists, since I was a kid, actually did hurt me.  Certainly it was because – up to that Taser moment – I never had a dentist that used a laser system.

I know better now. But there are thousands of people who still have that perception of pain whenever they think the word “dentist.”  You can fix that, Doctor. You can take advantage of today’s laser technology education, first to convince yourself that you can perform so many ordinary procedures with no pain at all; and many more with minimal pain. And your patients will spread the word to their family and friends.

There are many reasons to incorporate laser technology into your practice – all to your own benefit.  (See www.BIOLASE.com)  However, for the likes of me and the hundreds of patients who still fear the needle and the drill, please take a serious look at dental laser technology. Change that perception of pain and discomfort to a new image of dentistry: that dentists today manage pain and can even eliminate it.

Next time you’re looking in the mirror, whether to shave or to apply make up, think laser and say to your image, “Today I get to go make people happy.”

Author: Joseph Skillin