Profit and implants – the elephant in the room

Colin Campbell explains that whilst implant dentistry can be a profitable avenue, it’s important to do it in an ethical way.

There is no question that people are drawn to implant dentistry because they think it is a profitable avenue in dentistry. In essence I don’t have a significant problem with that as long as everyone understands that the only way to do this is to do it ethically and allow the profits to follow and not the other way around.

The only way to do this is to get good before getting profits instead of trying to get profits before you get good. To get good means structured training, mentoring, advice and assistance all the way though.

We have done all the calculations at The Campbell Academy and we know that a quality implant service providing 50 dental implants a year or more is a profitable self-sustaining service, which allows investment in the practice, investment in the team and profits for the principal. Nobody complains about this (at least of all the patients) when the treatment provided is appropriate and high quality. The issues arise when people chase profits before quality and education.

Ethical dentistry

The ability to provide high quality dental implant treatment tends to attract patients to the practice who need other high value treatments; such as restorative work, orthodontics and other aspects of cosmetic and aesthetic dentistry. It gives the practice the opportunity to develop and to attract more of the same kind of patients therefore to grow as a sustainable, profitable business, whilst providing ethical dentistry. Dental implants can be the underpinning force of this as there is still a select band of people that can provide good implant treatment.

For dentists entering into their implant careers though it is important to understand that this requires a wide range of skills. These being communication, case planning, surgical and restorative skills, not to mention business skills like marketing and finance in order to build a successful infrastructure around an implant service that provides ethical treatment of the highest possible quality.

At The Campbell Academy we have tried very hard to put together a programme that encompasses all of the above with experts from many different areas in implant dentistry. If you are keen to look at this and keen to start out, then please think about contacting us. We will be able to teach you the essence of discussing with patients the possible treatment options available to them in an ethical and honest way. Price treatment plans appropriately, consent patients properly and plan cases with or without a mentor to provide the best possible outcomes. We will even show you how to measure things in the long term, so you can show patients how successful your practice has been and therefore generate more business. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It is likely the journey will last three to five years to get to a competent and reasonable level, and you have to be signed up for that with people that you trust to make your way through.


For more information please contact [email protected] or www.campbellacademy.co.uk.

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