Consumer-driven Dentistry

Putting power in the hands of the consumer is happening in every industry. This trend is now manifesting itself in dentistry in many ways. It is also generating new opportunities for entrepreneurs as demonstrated in this video. https://youtu.be/wo8HT6OeyZQ By putting the power in the consumers’ hands and channeling the consumer’s intention, the power is shifting from the provider (dentist) to the consumer (patient). How will organized dentistry react to this shift in power? What impact will it have on dental practices small and large? How will insurance companies react to consumer-driven dentistry? Just like Uber affected transportation or Amazon disrupted retail shopping, how will preventive-centric dentistry and patients being able to self-assess their dental conditions affect dental practice? There are companies positioning themselves to dethrone the dominant power brokers, dentists and insurance companies in order to champion patients, which will directly and powerfully impact the future of dentistry. As I have said repeatedly over the last few years, dentistry is not undergoing evolutionary change, which is simply an extension of the past. Evolutionary change is gradual and incremental - change that elaborates and embellishes what already is. The system stays basically the same: rotary phone to push-button phone. Dentistry is undergoing revolutionary change - rapid, occurring all at once, fundamentally altering the very nature of the system; e.g. caterpillar to butterfly. The whole system is being replaced by a new system. Consumer-driven dentistry will cause a revolutionary change in dentistry.