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July 2009 | Dental Products Report
Products in practice: marketing

Let your laser show the light

If you’ve got it, use it and make sure your
patients are aware of it.

by Stan Goff

Photo: Dr. Kim Kutsch

As the price has come down, especially for diode models, more dentists have either added a laser to their armamentarium, or indicate they plan to do so soon.

But having said that, laser owners are still in the minority. In DPR’s recent 2009 Technology Survey, 17% of the responding GPs indicated they own a soft-tissue laser, while the figures for owning hard-tissue or dual wavelength lasers are still in single digits. That’s why Dr. Chris Owens, President of Advanced Laser Training Inc. reminds those of you in that minority to make sure you make both current and would-be new patients well aware of your handy lasers.

“First of all only a small percentage of dental offices have a laser so you definitely want to put ‘Laser Dentistry’ on your Yellow Pages ad, your business cards and any external signs you may have at your office,” Dr. Owens said. “The perception among the public as to laser dentistry is high- tech, high-quality dentistry that should cost more than average dentistry. The patients who are attracted to your office as a result of you offering laser dentistry are typically people who are seeking out high-quality dentistry and are willing to pay for it.”

Because it is critical to have your entire staff on board, Advanced Laser Training offers new laser owners an eight-hour course on how to implement the machine into their office successfully while involving the entire office. The company also offers a full line of patient education brochures that explain the advantages of laser dentistry over traditional dentistry.

Getting started
Help is out there. The Academy of Laser Dentistry is an international association that not only stresses the safe and effective use of laser technology, but also educates dental practices in efficient ways to implement the technology.

Biolase Technology not only sponsors World Clinical Laser Institute educational events throughout the world, but the manufacturer of the Waterlase MD and the ezlase lasers has a Web site devoted entirely to laser marketing (waterlasemarketing.com). The site features steps on how to get the team excited, how to generate word of mouth and market in the waiting room, and even includes a link for a patient letter that can be customized to let all of your patients know you’ve purchased a laser.

Alan Miller, President and CEO of AMD Lasers LLC, which recently released its low-cost Picasso diode laser, said laser doctors should make sure they take advantage of electronic media. Not only do many patients use the Internet for information and to communicate via e-mail, but this faction of people is even more inclined to be interested in lasers and high-tech procedures.

“Obviously the world‘s changed,” he said. “A lot more patients looking for dentists are looking through the Internet. So obviously, the doctors who are promoting through the Internet and their own Web sites that they’re a laser dentist and they do have this high technology, it gives them an advantage over a dentist who doesn’t. Laser dentistry sounds cool, so being a laser dentist definitely has it’s advantages.”

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