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Dentists are sick and tired of dental insurance companies dictating fees and treatments. Just over half of the dentists in this survey said that they had mostly or completely stopped accepting dental insurances.

“We still work with hundreds of insurance companies by filing the paperwork, etc,” said an Ohio dentist. “But by not being ‘in-network’ on any plan, we get paid for what we do.”

Dropping insurance can raise a dental practice’s bottom line, but it can also cost them patients. One-third of respondents felt that dropping insurances was not a financially realistic option for them.

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In this survey, we asked dentists if they do a regular mailing to their patient base – and you dentists were split right down the middle! While 51% said it didn’t seem worth the effort, 49% think it pays to keep in touch. But fully 90% of dentists say they send out appointment reminders. “The best advertising is treating the patient as a guest in the office,” said one respondent.

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When we asked dentists how far their average patient travels for treatment, most said about 5-10 miles. However, anecdotes abound of patients who have kept their dentists even after moving hundreds or thousands of miles away. Not surprisingly, rural patients travel farther for treatment than do urban residents.

“Some patients will travel 30+ miles,” wrote a rural dentist, “and then there is the fellow who comes twice a year from the Netherlands…”

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