Anthony Gedge revisits his 2020 predictions for private dentistry and asks whether practices are ready for patients to compare prices, treatment promises and clinical responsibility.
I got the patient behaviour broadly right. Jane would find a practice on her phone, look at reviews and images, have a remote first conversation, consent digitally and use app-based monitoring. That is now familiar.
I got the practice economics wrong. I forecast smaller clinics, half the reception team and fivefold profitability with the certainty of a man who had not yet met the real cost of finishing a case. Technology has not removed diagnosis, accountability or the need to get a patient back through the door when a case drifts.
Orthodontics exposes the problem first. Jane can put two aligner quotations beside each other and compare appliance and headline price. She cannot tell, from a smiling photograph, whether assessment, monitoring, refinements, finishing and escalation are comparable. The fee has to explain the clinician’s work when the case stops being straightforward.
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