Fighting tooth and nail for profits; dental glut turns L.A. tooth doctors into slick marketers.

Fighting tooth and nail for profits

Dental glut turns L.A. tooth doctors into slick marketers

Terry Simon referred a patient to her dentist, who with all the marketing savvy of an insurance salesman, rewarded the Woodland Hills real estate agent with a coffee mug and flowers.

"Nobody could believe the dentist sent them to me," Simon said.

Flowers are sugarless, as are most of the other items dentists are using to promote themselves these days. In fact, market-wise Los Angeles dentists buy promotional T-shirts from catalogs, subscribe to a 1-800-DENTIST referral service and attend frequent marketing seminars.

Dentists have not always been this way, but a nagging oversupply of dentists is putting a bite in the revenues that the average practice can generate.

The 1960s, when the Baby Boomers were in their cavities and braces years, were the wonder years for dentists -- and it is the lucky tooth doctor who has a fast-growing practice. Nowadays, it's hard to make a buck being the neighborhood dentist. There were 157,579 dentists in America in 1987, up from 120,916 in 1970. Meanwhile, the incidence of cavities is falling because of widespread fluoridation.

Dentists have to slug it out like hamburger stands.

Indeed, there are 25 pages of ads for them in the Pacific Bell Greater Los Angeles Smart Yellow Pages.

"Fillings, that a dentist had done forever, have dried up. There has been an increase in competition due to the reduction in need for restorative care," said Cabot Abel, an orthodontist who practices in Santa Monica.

Now dentists take out half-page ads with quips such as "The Dr. Campbell Smile, It's Easy to Get," and "We Cater to Cowards." One advertisement encourages those searching for a new dentist to call 1-800-DENTIST, a Santa Monica-based referral service.

The toll-free number is a marketing cooperative which pools funds from about 750 dentists statewide. The service is advertised on television and radio, and receives about 60,000 calls each month.

The system is ideal for the reserved practitioner because "the rest of Dr. Jones' patients have no idea he is advertising," said Dr. Marc Cohen, who practices in Van Nuys.

Many dentists use a 103-page catalog from Semantodontics Inc., a Phoenix company that sells dentists promotional material. Dentists can purchase appointment cards sporting Peanuts characters, coffee mugs with messages on them and sweatshirts that say, "Behind every successful dentist is a dedicated hygienist."

"I don't think you'll find anything we do that lacks good taste," said Jim Rhode, president of Semantodontics.

Semantodontics even sells "toothpaste squeezers" with the dentist's name imprinted on them.

"They are very practical," Rhode said. Dr. Phillip Devore, who sent Simon the mug and flowers, is one dentist who leaves no cavities in his marketing campaign. He sends birthday cards, welcome letters and thank you notes to patients, and gives them a promotional toothbrush at each visit.

"Every contact you make with them is a form of promotion," said office manager Chickie Kaitz.

The staff decorates Devore's Woodland Hills office on every major holiday including Independence Day and Halloween. And there is a picture album in the waiting room that is filled with photographs of patients and staff members.

When a patient makes several referrals, Devore sends them flowers and a mug, which costs about $30.

"While the mug is sitting there, it lets everybody know who their dentist is," Kaitz said.

Various seminars teach dentists how to market their smiles. USC offers a continuing education class entitled, "Communicating: How to talk to your patients and staff without offending." One course topic is called "Motivating through ideal hours, recognition and caring."

Dentists by nature are not very good communicators. They are technically oriented, said Robert Hankin, former vice president of marketing for the American Dental Association, who periodically gives seminars in Los Angeles.

He teaches his students to link up with important contacts in their community, such as pharmacists and real estate agents.

Pharmacists are the chief source of referrals, while real estate agents are among the first to know who the new potential patients in the area will be, Hankin said.

Hankin encourages the dentist to "take the contacts to lunch."

He also teaches that if a dentist uses the name of a particular pharmacy on the heading of his prescription pad, the pharmacist might then be willing to leave the dentist's business card on his counter.

And in a seminar offered by Semantodontics, instructors teach practitioners "that patients are precious."

Patients must not be treated like customers in a department store who approach the counter to find the sales attendant doesn't remember them, Press said.

Other dentists market molar miracles by mail. Dr. Robert Horlick in Tarzana sends area residents "Valu-Pac" coupons advertising a $15 cleaning and flouride treatment for children. The regular price is $34. And Dr. Edward Vitkin, who practices in Van Nuys, sends out fliers which advertise porcelain crowns and dentures for sale, with "instant credit available" and "low monthly payments."

Patients can also pay their bills painlessly. Many dentists offer VISA, Mastercard and American Express, said Dr. Calman Kurtzman, who practices in Santa Monica.

In the 1960s and 1970s the number of dentists practicing in the United States increased by 70 percent, Hankin said. At the same time, increased fluoridation of water decreased the number of dental problems dramatically. Furthermore, new dentists were paying extremely high rates of interest on their student loans, but were having a rough time getting started. Established dentists weren't taking on as many rookies, Press added.

These events, coupled with the Bates v. State Bar of Arizona decision that allowed professionals to advertise, set the stage for a new level competition.

"Dentists started competing with each other," Hankin said.

When dentists started taking out ads in yellow pages, "some mature dentists thought it was a communist plot," Press said.

PHOTO : Smiling all the way to the bank: Dr. Phil Devore brushes up on his marketing skills