Are Dermal Fillers and Dental Drills a Good Idea?
Consider the pros and cons of incorporating facial anti-aging treatments into your dental practice before moving forward.
Injectables, such as dermal fillers and Botox, are in high demand.
There is quite a bit of debate surrounding wrinkle treatment in the dental office. Is it appropriate? Are dentists qualified? Do patients even want Botox and dermal fillers from their dentists? There is no simple answer. It depends on your dental practice.
Pros and Cons of Anti-Aging Treatment
The advantages are clear. Injectables, such as dermal fillers and Botox, are in high demand. These procedures require no special equipment and minimal storage space. They are quick to administer, fitting nicely into your schedule. Most importantly, they can be very lucrative.
The disadvantage is that cosmetic injectables may not be profitable, or even legal, for your specific practice. Here are five important things to consider before moving forward:
1. Legality —Before delving into facial esthetics, check with your state dental board, or ask your lawyer for guidance. While some states allow dentists to offer injectable treatment with no special licensure, it is prohibited in others. In most locations, the laws are somewhere between the extremes, allowing the procedures with certain regulations or certification.
2. Branding — Because the combination of cosmetic dental and facial treatments is rather novel, it is memorable. If your focus is high-end cosmetic dentistry, the new procedures would fit your brand well. However, if you want to be known for family-friendly holistic care, it could repel your target market.
3. Business plan — A detailed, written business plan is an excellent tool for guiding practice growth. If you have one, refer to it. If your business plan isn’t a formal document, think about your professional hopes and goals. How do you envision your practice developing over the next few years? How will these new procedures fit in?
4. Patient interest — Review your patient demographics and most requested procedures. You need a patient base that is already interested in cosmetic treatment. If people aren’t requesting teeth whitening and smile makeovers, they aren’t likely to want dermal fillers.
5. Competition — Find out how many cosmetic dermatology practices are in the vicinity of your office. People are less likely to schedule these procedures with a dentist if there is a dermatologist right down the street. On the other hand, if they have to travel a great distance to see a dermatologist, they will be eager for a more convenient option.
What You Need to Do
So, you’ve decided that facial anti-aging treatments are a good fit for your cosmetic dental practice. Where do you start? The answer is training — and plenty of it. You might find a quick and affordable course that promises to teach you everything you need to know. However, this is not a topic to be over-simplified.
Inadequate training can lead to a variety of problems. When too much of a product is injected, the result can be an over-inflated or “frozen face” appearance. Too little product will leave wrinkles and signs of aging. If the wrong product is used, or it is not injected in the optimal location, results can be unexpected and unattractive. Any of these possibilities could be a recipe for unhappy patients, as well as diminishing your reputation for quality.
Experienced dermatologists will be able to determine what wrinkles are caused by muscle rigidity, volume loss, or skin laxity, and exactly where the problem originates. They carefully select the right product, using a precisely measured amount and strategically chosen injection sites. The result looks natural, healthy, and young — this is what patients expect from anti-aging treatments.
Do not begin offering the treatment until you feel confident that your practice can deliver quality that rivals any cosmetic dermatologist. Budget adequate time and funding to allow for extensive training of anyone who will be administering injectables. Simply stated, if you are going to do it, then do it very well.
About the Author:
Naren Arulrajah is President and CEO of Ekwa Marketing, a complete internet marketing company that focuses on SEO, social media, marketing education, and the online reputations of dentists. With a team of 180+ full time marketers, www.ekwa.com helps dentists who know where they want to go, get there by dominating their market and growing their business significantly year after year. If you have questions about marketing your practice online, call 855-598-3320 to speak one-on-one with Naren.
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