The Journal
group of population as their patients and as they
say, one size of shoe doesn’t fit all, one price for
a particular job doesn’t suit all the dentists from
different areas of the same city or different
cities.
5. Competition and pricing associated with
it : By resorting to the “neighbourhood
competition” or the commonly called
marketplace pricing, dentists accept the
commoditization of their products or services
(lack of differentiation). Neighbourhood
competition pricing is a resting place for clinics
that have given up to fight in the competition and
where profits end up being razor thin or simply
saying, hand to mouth. Before setting the prices
based on your neighbours, focus on your own
goals – primary or secondary. If you want your
practice to become a niche practice which will
house latest gadgets in years to come along
with offering exceptional patient care services,
your charges should be higher than your
neighbours. There are many dentists who
charge too low for few services and too high for
a few other services based on what your
neighbour charges. These things ought to have
a little bit of consistency, otherwise it confuses
the patients. Identification of goals of ‘where we
are and where we want to be’ in years to come
should be the primary factor in deciding
charges. If your financial targets are falling
short, it is an impending sign of raising your
charges. If you don’t have any goals, create and
mark them today as dentists have a
comparatively shorter shelf life of practice. Your
goals of where you want to be and how you will
reach there go a long way in chartering your
future course of action. Finance plays an
important role in deciding your future expansion
plans and earning finance requires keeping
charges at more than a basic level. My strong
advice to all budding dentists is that they should
find ways to differentiate themselves or their
products or services so as to create additional
value for specific market segments and be
ambitious enough to grow and carve a niche for
them rather than just sticking out their neck for
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finding what the neighbours charge.
6. Knowledge and attitude towards ethics
with fellow dental practitioners : Ethics is a
science of ideal human character and behavior
in situations where the distinction should be
made between what is right and wrong, duty
must be followed and good interpersonal
relations should be maintained. Dental ethics is
a moral obligation that encompasses
professional conduct and judgment imposed by
the members of the dental profession. The
Dentists’ Code of Ethics regulations laid down
by the Dental Council of India (DCI) in 1976 and
revised in 2014 reiterates that it is the duty of
every registered dentist to read these
regulations, understand his responsibilities and
abide by the same when concerned with
consultations and treatments offered to fellow
dentists (colleagues). According to the revised
regulations, it is not mandatory to offer free
consultations and treatment to the fellow dentist
and their immediate family. An ethical challenge
that every fresher faces is a poor knowledge in
ethics and attitude amongst the fellow dental
practitioners. Dental ethics has to be like a
uniform code and every dentist should wear the
same one, but alas it's not the way we wish it to
be. Dental ethics represents a set of principles
of professional conduct, rules and
responsibilities, starting with respect for
autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and
justice – the founding ethical principles that
govern any dental practice.
7. Effective marketing for newer practices
and conflict in advertising vis-à-vis DCI rule
book of advertising : The new DCI rule book
has softened the stand for the advertisements
of dental clinics. The revised code quotes that it
is not unethical to advertise dental clinics
provided the decorum and moral obligations
were maintained. The global position on the
issue of ethics of advertisement by dental
professionals has drastically changed over the
last few decades.A Dentist or a group of
Dentists may advertise provided that they
Vol. 14 No. 2
May-August 2018