Its like a Taco Bell employee on the taco assembly line calling themselves a 'Chef'
I take offense to this statement. I graduated from dental school and passed a regional board. I take pride in the work that I do. Taco Bell isn't the only corporation. Ruth's Chris makes a pretty good steak, and it's a large company. If I'm not happy with the contact on a crown, I redo the crown. I go after that root that snapped off of a RCT'd #14. There is no less quality in the work that I do than any of my peers.
The problems that dentistry faces will not be solved by cynicism or by repeated old phrases. If you want to talk about the pros and cons of DSO's, or the ethics of 3rd party financing, let's talk. Maybe we can use this thread as an actual forum for the benefit of dentistry. However, if you are looking to tear down a company, or accuse people who disagree with you as being fake people or computer generated, the problems won't get solved.
Corporate dentistry has gained popularity in response to a void in the market. As stated by someone earlier, many new grads are looking for a good environment to get up to speed, and make decent money while doing so. Many older dentists are tired of running a business. This is why corporate dentistry is gaining popularity. In my opinion, small private offices are going to be the majority for a long time to come. As retiring dentists realize that they can't just dump off fillings to a new grad (because school doesn't cost the same as it did 30 years ago), but they actually need to have a system in place for bringing in an associate and selling the practice, small offices will become more attractive for us young guys.
The average dentist will be sued at least once in their career (at least that's what I was taught). And when your turn comes, the patient's lawyer will paint the picture that you are the scum of the earth and only wanted their money. They will say stuff about you personally that you will hope that nobody else hears. With about 400 dentists seeing millions of patients, that's a lot of opportunity for mud slinging. Looking through the lawsuit, a lot of the "shady" stuff going on are things that are taught frequently at the ADA annual convention. The concept of rocks, sand, water (leaving space for high production) has been taught by practice management "guru's" for decades. Setting production goals is a staple of many, if not most, dental practices. The goals are reviewed during morning huddles.
If you know anything about the majority of dentists, we are head-strong people who take pride in our work. The few Aspen dentists that I have met (maybe 10 or so), are not "yes men". I can assure you that if the clinical decisions were taken from the dentists, the company would not last. I repeat that I have never had anybody, dentist or non-dentist, dictate treatment to me. I have been in control since day 1.
I'm not much for arguing, maybe that's why I never posted before (and yes I've been reading SDN and dentaltown for 7 years). It just offends me to be judged by people who have never seen they way I treat patients, or the work that I do. I'm happy to continue to be a part of this thread (if another viewpoint is appreciated), but let's not do ourselves a disservice by oversimplifying the issue or being disrespectful.