With the exponential growth of social media and the Internet, the world of advertising is changing quickly. With so many dentists to choose from, especially in metropolitan areas, and so much information available online, many dentists are concerned about patient retention and attracting new patients and are therefore feeling the need to hop on board the social networking bandwagon or be left behind. Quite often, dentist's moral compass can be lost in the process. This session will highlight the changes in advertising regulations along with the professional implications of marketing and advertising strategies in dentistry. A number of effective and professional alternatives in marketing will be presented along with a ten step plan to improve the dentist's image
Interactions between dental patients, dental staff and the dentist can often create complicated ethical and professional challenges. Discussions in this session will examine several cases which highlight ethical conflicts and help integrate the RCDSO Codes and guidelines into dental practice situations. Issues such as child neglect, domestic violence and insurance co-payment can often confound many dentists when they try to do the right thing. By following a patient-centred perspective and careful analysis of the factors that may impact on the profession and the community, dentists should be better prepared to deal with a wider variety of professionally challenging issues.
About the Speaker
Barry Schwartz is Assistant Professor at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London Ontario and is Course Director for Practice Administration where the focus is on critical thinking, interpersonal-communications and applied ethics. He received his DDS and MHSc in Bioethics from the University of Toronto. Dr. Schwartz was in clinical practice for 25 years. He conducts ongoing research projects at Western and has published many articles both nationally and internationally on the subject of dental ethics. He was awarded the Fellowship in Teaching Innovation Research Award at the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Schwartz has been recognized as a Fellow of the Pierre Fauchard Academy and a Fellow of the American College of Dentists for his contributions in dental ethics.