Advertising information everywhere. dental clinics closing leaving hundreds of patients unattended. Or directly pirate clinics. And a slightly less visible reality: that of patients who come to our office to solve problems that are poorly treated, when not caused, by other so-called specialists.
The patient, the great unprotected
I often wonder who protects al patient and who regulates private health services. I don't know, but what is clear is that they haven't done anything in recent years to protect the user or to regulate the centers.
It is considered that there are more than a thousand clandestine clinics in Spain, without permits and outside the law. This data is very significant of the risks to which a patient is exposed when selecting their dentist.
At a less extreme point are low-quality services. have you ever wondered why medical insurance gives you dental coverage for only €3 per month? Very easy, because you pay nothing to the clinic. The benefits for patients are free services, such as cleanings, check-ups or x-rays, and reduced prices. Perhaps someone may think that “of course, then the clinic collects from the insurance”. Years ago it was like that, not now. The clinic will not receive anything, and must also accept the prices imposed by the insurance. Result: a real fraud in the health care of these patients.
It usually happens when the main factor that is valued when making the decision is the price, but the patient cannot know to what extent what is really at stake is their health.
Cheap services are expensive
However franchises, private insurance centers, dental clinic chains... What are they really? What is your mission in this society? Many people who have been through them could say so. They are unqualified centers or without the capacity to work at the service of the patient, the person, their needs, priorities, expectations and economic possibilities. The result is usually poor because a high economic return is sought, and if it can be and is tightened, very high.
okay, stop. Is it always like this? No, surely not. Sometimes there is a professional who can work well, with quality materials, a person helping by his side, and even with time to be able to carry out the work correctly. But only sometimes.
As paradoxical as it may seem, health is not the profitable part of medicine. Treating a gum infection or tooth decay doesn't bring much revenue. What's more, it's always the hook treatment (like the yoghurts on offer at the supermarket): free gum cleaning, filling €25; total time used for both treatments, fifteen minutes.
We dentists owe ourselves to our patients, we are health care providers, counselors, healers and rehabilitators. And of course, our clinics, built from effort and unsweetened work, are not an NGO. They are companies that have to provide profitability, if it is not clear that they would not continue. Let us not deceive ourselves as users, we do not want to think that a quality service has its fair price at a quarter of what is usual.
The fraud of large dental chains
In recent months we have seen an unusual number of news related to dental clinics: massive closures of chains and fiscal crimes of one of the best known franchises nationwide.
But while the media focuses more on criminal aspects, money laundering, tax fraud and a fairly long etcetera (unfortunately, we are already desensitized to these terms...), health professionals, those of us who choose this profession by vocation, We do not stop thinking about the number of times we have cared for and treated a patient who had the bad luck to fall into one of these “pirate” dentistry centers. The media doesn't talk about this.
For those who do not understand the term, in these clinics they are dedicated to approaching patients to rob them. Serious accusation this without a doubt, but when someone pays for something, service or product or both, and does not receive what was previously agreed, that is fraud, robbery, theft, or whatever you want to call it. And when a commercial entertains and overwhelms at the same time to make the patient fall into the trap, it is a style of approach. And that, unfortunately, is what happens in many of these clinics.
If the patient is cleaned and the tartar remains inside the gum, that is fraud. If a filling is made and the decay remains inside the tooth, that is a scam. If the prosthetic teeth do not allow the patient to eat, that is a deception. If I tell him I'm doing something to him and I don't do it, that's stupid. And if I do something to him that he doesn't need, that can be called a scam. Definitely, patients are exposed. To what? to market rules.
How does it sound to mix in the same phrase market y health? Is our health being traded? Is it possible that there are economic interests in our oral health? Well yes and yes.
It is not surprising that the population has a feeling of vulnerability, distrust and even detachment from this profession. That is why recommendations, word of mouth, previous positive experience, good results, regular good "feelings" every time a visit is made are so important... In short, perceiving over and over again that we are in good hands, that watch over our interests and that this relationship is nurtured on the basis of large doses of trust.