02 January 2023

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What to expect, focus on in 2023: dental experts weigh in

Mary Guiden

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Dr. Tricia Quartey, a dentist based in Brooklyn, New York, and a spokesperson for the American Dental Association, said that in 2023, staffing will continue to be a hot topic and issue for practices. 

When she spoke with Dentistry33 at the Greater New York Dental Meeting in late 2022, she talked about the importance of pacing herself — as a new mom — being involved in her community and organized dentistry and responding to consumers’ needs in the new year. 

Watch a video interview with Quartey on our YouTube channel.

Dental marketing

For dentists and dental teams looking to ramp up marketing efforts, Dr. Christopher Phelps said that marketing is based on trial and error. “It’s fishing,” he said in an interview, or “fishing with multiple fishing poles.”

In his new book, “The Complete Book on Dental Marketing,” released in September 2022 by Edra Publishing, Phelps explains that there’s not one thing you can do to get yourself 100 new patients every month. 

“But I will say that there are easily four or five things you can do every month that will get you 20 or 25 quality patients to get you to 100, if that’s your number,” he said. “Don’t be so dead set on the mindset of: I need this one thing. Track your goals but stay focused on being successful with multiple smaller things.”

The future of dental insurance

Another Edra Publishing author, Dr. Travis Campbell, said he expects the trend to continue of insurance companies reducing their contractual fee schedules and the amount of claim reimbursement. 

“This trend is driven in large part by employers, who are the major purchasers of dental insurance,” he explained in an interview. “As with most businesses, employers are trying to reduce their own costs and overhead in response to inflation. When premium rates don’t go up and inflation increases, insurance companies must do something to modify their own costs.” 

Campbell said he also has seen a growing trend of dentists dropping network contracts. 

“Some dental corporations and DSOs are considering dropping insurance contracts altogether, which would be a first in history,” he said. “If that does begin to happen, it will be interesting to see how insurance companies will respond. They don’t really care whether an individual dentist or 50 or 100 drop a network, but they will take notice if thousands drop and some of these larger DSOs could drive significant change in dental insurance practices.”  

Campbell also said a longer-term prediction is that a major shift will occur in the dental insurance industry, whether it’s absorbed by medical or whether it takes a whole new direction. 

“A move to medical coverage is the most likely now, but it will be an interesting shift when it does happen,” he said. 

Learn more about Campbell’s book on our site.