How Would the Elimination of Cavities Change the Dental Industry?

Tooth decay has been the primary driving force in the existence of the dental industry. But what if the incidence of caries in children could be dramatically reduced and possibly eradicated?

Dentistry: A Repair Business

The initiation, continuation, and exacerbation of cavities into adulthood is the lifeblood of dentists. What will dentists, DSOs, and suppliers do if caries are eliminated? One or two surface fillings become three to four surface fillings, then become crowns, then become endodontically treated teeth, then become implants, then become more crowns, and so on. Dentistry has been - and continues to be - a repair business, and what it repairs is the ongoing destruction of caries and the eventual failure of the repair material.

Cavibloc: A New Disruptive Technology

Cavibloc emerged from seven years of research by a team of microbiologists at the Department of Oral Biology at the UCLA School of Dentistry. Cavibloc, which is an extract from a specific type of licorice root that is used in Loloz lollipops, is a new product that could significantly reduce the incidence of cavities. These lollipops are a disruptive technology that dentists and the industry are unprepared for. Adoption will take a generation or two, but it will happen. When you dramatically reduce the incidence of caries, you can reduce the number of dentists and reduce the cost of dentistry.

A New Reality: Dentistry Without Cavities?

What will dentists do when their entire economic model - which is based on repairing the ravages of caries - is markedly reduced? How will they make money if they aren’t consistently delivering fillings, crowns, root canals, and implants? Dentistry has never been farsighted. As an industry, dentistry has been so successful at what they currently do, but they’ve fallen into a trance that the disease dentists treat will remain the same or get worse. But a new dawn is coming. How will dentists prepare to face this new reality?

Dr. Marc Cooper is Chair of Insight Coaching and Consulting. Click here to find out more about Dr. Cooper and click here to connect on Facebook.

How Can You Stay Ahead in the Ever-changing Field of Group Dentistry?

Attend The 2019 DEO Summer Summit: The Emerging Future of Group Dentistry, June 27-29, Phoenix, AZ! All the presentations are focused on giving you the knowledge you need to scale properly by understanding the changes that lay ahead. Click here to learn more and to register. Register now before Early-Bird Pricing ends on March 31!