Dentists in Sears

[SoxTown]

Just saw a commercial for dental exams at Sears, the retail chain trend has spread into dentistry. What profession will be next?

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[RLK]

Just saw a commercial for dental exams at Sears, the retail chain trend has spread into dentistry. What profession will be next?

Proctology

 

[rpames]

Proctology

Commercial settings will be spreading to any field in which they can make a profit.

 

[Ben Chudner]

It would be interesting to hear a dentist's take on this. I have a very limited knowledge of that profession, but from what I have seen (my wife consults dentists), they have been smart in how they have handled managed care. Very few dentists in my area have to take a lot of insurance. If they now have to compete with a low cost dental provider, this can be serious trouble. In our profession at least, insurance has kept patients comming into our offices. Whether or not that is really a good thing is still questionable.

 

[drbizzaro]

Just saw a commercial for dental exams at Sears, the retail chain trend has spread into dentistry. What profession will be next?

imagine surgical procedures... "i'm just going to walmart to get a colonoscopy"

or gynecology at walmart... "two checks for the price of one!"

 

[rpames]

imagine surgical procedures... "i'm just going to walmart to get a colonoscopy"

or gynecology at walmart... "two checks for the price of one!"

FREE PAP-THURSDAYS!

 

[aphistis]

It would be interesting to hear a dentist's take on this. I have a very limited knowledge of that profession, but from what I have seen (my wife consults dentists), they have been smart in how they have handled managed care. Very few dentists in my area have to take a lot of insurance. If they now have to compete with a low cost dental provider, this can be serious trouble. In our profession at least, insurance has kept patients comming into our offices. Whether or not that is really a good thing is still questionable.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=2608947&postcount=18

I think "taking over" rather overstates the matter. Corporate dental offices exist, yes, but I don't expect retail chains to cut into dentistry any more than they have, for example, primary care medicine. From the retailers' perspective, pharmacy & optometry are ideally suited for their business model. A dominant fraction of the revenue they produce is generated by the sale of drugs & optical appliances, which makes them easily integrated. Dentistry & medicine, on the other hand, rely much more heavily on the services they perform, and much less on salable goods leaving the office, which I think makes them much less attractive to retail corporations. Does that mean I think dentistry is immune? No way. But I don't think what you're portraying is likely to happen anytime soon.

 

[drbizzaro]

FREE PAP-THURSDAYS!

that's a good one!

 

[Envision]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=2608947&postcount=18

I agree with aphistis. it would seem professions that focus's primaily (or at least marginally) on a product, such as optometry and pharmacy, can become integrated into retail much more easily and beneficially than professions that focus more on hands on services. Like rpames said, "retail will spread anywhere it can make a profit" and i doubt commercial medicine or dentistry or even protology would be very profitable considering they rely heavily on performed procedures. In any case i don't think medicine or dentistry will be commercialized the way optometry or pharmacy have.

 

[Ben Chudner]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=2608947&postcount=18

I hope, for the sake of dentistry, you are right. Be careful, however, to not be short-sighted. We already know that Wal-Mart is moving into the eye insurance business to compete with Cole Vision (Sears, Target, LensCrafters, ect). If that works for them, and I have seen enough to know that it will, what's to stop them from offering affordable dental insurance. This is a market that seems somewhat untapped. Then, when all Wal-Mart dental insurance subscribers can only be seen in a Wal-Mart Dental office there's a ton of patients that are removed from the private practice market.

Maybe it's a little "the sky is falling" but I would watch this closely.

 

[drbizzaro]

I hope, for the sake of dentistry, you are right. Be careful, however, to not be short-sighted. We already know that Wal-Mart is moving into the eye insurance business to compete with Cole Vision (Sears, Target, LensCrafters, ect). If that works for them, and I have seen enough to know that it will, what's to stop them from offering affordable dental insurance. This is a market that seems somewhat untapped. Then, when all Wal-Mart dental insurance subscribers can only be seen in a Wal-Mart Dental office there's a ton of patients that are removed from the private practice market.

Maybe it's a little "the sky is falling" but I would watch this closely.

well with companies like walmart taking over different procedures, i see it better having them "attempt" to take over everything... that way all medical professions will end up fighting walmart/commercial chains, and they'll have a huge battle on their hands

 

[nomorelaw]

There has been a dental office in the Sears near my home for 20+ years. From what I have heard they are not cheap. I guess they are doing something right.