Virginia Dentists Suspended For Trading Dental Work In Exchange For Opioids, Resulting In One Fatality

The opioid abuse crisis in this country seems to know no bounds. Now, doctors in our industry are part of the problem. But more than anything, it’s irrefutable proof that in this day and age of fake news online and systemic corruption, that you absolutely need to demonstrate that you run a trustworthy, transparent practice.

This terrible tale leads us to Virginia Beach, VA, where two dentists were allegedly running a scam that involved trading dental work for drugs and prescribing opioids, including hydrocodone, to known drug abusers. Resulting in over 4,000 prescriptions and one fatality.

As of this writing, both doctors are under suspension and not allowed to practice. But more importantly, these doctors are making it harder for good, hardworking dentists to run a legit, respected practice.

The media was all over this story, and families in Virginia Beach heard all about what was going on. These dentists were behaving like criminals who were taking advantage of the system. And naturally, folks in VB probably began to wonder, “Well, what if MY dentist is doing that? How can I trust them?”

Humans are untrusting creatures by nature and in particular when it comes to choosing a dentist, which majority of the population inherently wants to avoid due to dental fear or anxiety. Especially these days in the era of social media and a polarizing political environment, patients wonder if people are trying to take advantage of them. They’re just not sure who they can trust to provide dental care to their family and friends.

But in our modern era, something else has happened. Something that is pretty amazing that allows you to build INSTANT trust without speaking a word or face-to-face interaction and, no matter the objection of the potential patient. See…

The Modern “Word Of Mouth” Referral Has Moved From Offline to Online!

Trust me… you are 100% losing referrals, production, market share and PROFIT (pure cash flow) to other doctors down the street who have their “Google House” in order, with loads of FRESH AND CURRENT Google reviews, videos of their best patients bragging about them, blogs, photo websites and other online reputation marketing that they’ve been doing for over 10 years, while you might be relying on “outdated” marketing methods, like a “website” (which is just a glorified brochure in this day and age), word of mouth, playing on Facebook, or worse yet, you’re doing NOTHING to attract referrals and new patients.

Please allow me to explain, let’s say Kelly, a great patient of yours refers you to Suzy down the street because she just moved into the neighborhood. Does Suzy ever call to book an appointment? Maybe, maybe not. Data from Comscore tells us that 93% of the time she is going to Google you and your business. If she goes on Google and sees that you’re branded as the best dentist in town, using the tools I referenced above, then she’s going to call. There is instant trust. I was just talking about this with Dr. Nathan Ho, who is a tremendously successful dentist in the Dallas area and influencer in the industry to over 6,000 dentists on his podcast, called Dental Win-Win. He consistently gets large cashing paying cases because the patients already come in trusting him because his “google house” is 100% in order. In the modern era we live in, you have NO CHOICE but to do these things or you will go the way of the “dodo” bird and become the next Kmart or Blockbuster…EXTINCT. And I don’t say this to scare, the data backs up my statement, you simply will not survive, and I’ve seen this all too often over the last 15 years!

Tools and systems have arisen to help standardize trust, and thereby facilitate better decisions when it comes to picking your dentist based on what their patients have said about them.

The best local platform on the planet to facilitate this process, bar none, is Google. No other media outlet (yes, Google is that prolific that it’s now considered part of the media!) has the traction, respect and transparency they do.

Google’s “local business” platform is the best avenue for establishing your practice and yourself as reliable, hardworking and honest. The reason behind this is that Google encourages your existing patients to leave an honest review of their experience with you. By doing so, they are helping define you as a service provider, and whether other folks in the community should use your services.

There’s no better time in history to create a windfall of business for your practice through Google. Instead of falling victim to public suspicion of dentists and other doctors in the community, use Google to build an aura of trust and quality. Plus, the entire thing is free!

Patients don’t understand the difference between a respected service provider and “the cheaper, easier alternative.” That is unless you actually show them why and how there’s a difference.

Too many doctors believe that
“What used to work will keep me successful forever”.

This is why it’s so essential that you control the conversation between you and your prospective patients. And the best way to do that is through your own powerful marketing, led by loads of FRESH and NEW beaming Youtube videos and Google reviews from real patients of yours bragging about how you impacted their lives and made everything simple and easy.

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take and it’s time to take action and let me help your practice improve profit and cash flow via more quality fee for service patients…

If you’d like to learn more about how to utilize Google and other online platforms to attract more highly qualified patients WITH MONEY…click here for a proven practice specific dental marketing game-plan => https://lsfd1.wpenginepowered.com/game-plan

Have Fun & Do Something Great!
Graig Presti
CEO Local Search For Dentists ®, The ONLY 4-TIME Inc. 500/5000-Approved Dental Marketing Agency
CEO New Patients For Life™
#1 Best Selling Author
Dental Economics Magazine Author & Contributor 

PS- Life does get in the way but THIS is the simplest way to keep patients on track, reactivating patients and SPARKING that REFERRAL fire all in one fell swoop with almost ZERO effort what so ever….

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One of my private clients (who will remain nameless) is already breaking his competition in half ….buying practices, just killing doctors who won’t change.

So, if you’re struggling with making heads or tails of what to do that can specifically help you grow your practice then this action plan is a “glove fit for you”.

Check it out by clicking the link below:
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