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6 Reasons You Should Offer Facial Enhancements to Your Patients

6 Reasons You Should Offer Facial Enhancements to Your Patients
Nicholas Navarro

 From an outside perspective, dentists are thought of as the men and women who know teeth. We’re generalized and often minimized as knowing crowns, cuspids, and cavities; and sometimes the pigeonholing isn’t only done by our patients- we do it to ourselves. Often, we exclude and limit our services based on our own professional stereotypes- preventing us from not only offering a more expansive treatment regimen to our patients, but also from expanding our personal and professional breadth. The introduction of facial enhancement treatments in cosmetic dentistry has been slow-coming, and while more and more dentists are picking up the practice, we’ve found that it is still a stigmatized practice amongst professionals- we find ourselves unable or unqualified to present it as a treatment option. But we’re wrong. We are able to; we are qualified. We are prepared. We are capable, and we are certainly talented. All we need now is the right motivation. In your search for inspiration to be the best CD you can be, here are the top six reasons we believe you should take the lead, and bridge the gap into offering facial enhancements to your patients.

 

1. We don’t only know smiles, we know faces.

We look at teeth, and we look at them a lot. Regardless of our dental discipline- orthodontics, cosmetics, periodontics- the majority of our work strictly involves the oral cavity. Our education however wasn’t limited to teeth. We learned about the entire orofacial region; the muscles and the bones, as well as the form and the function. The depth of our knowledge includes a strong foundation upon which we can structure and offer facial enhancements to our patients.

 

2. It’s a walk in the park.

Without context, that statement seems like a stretch. However, the reality is that we perform various facial injections on a daily basis- and are well trained in their application. Picking up the administration of facial enhancements, especially for dentists practiced in the delivery of local anesthetics, has a shallow learning curve.

3. It’s a wonderful supplement.

In my decades practicing as a cosmetic dentist, I’ve developed a fascination with helping patients achieve a youthful look. It is my firmly held belief that the smile is the truly the foundation of the entire face- but it is only the starting point. Helping patients renew their youthful appearance should include facial enhancing treatments, and offering this full range of services allows us to develop stronger, longer-lasting relationships with our patients as we see their treatment and growth from start to finish.

 

4. It’s medically viable.

Beyond excelling as a lateral treatment option for cosmetics, facial enhancements, specifically neurotoxins like Botox Cosmetic®, can be used as an alternative treatment for TMJ disorders. While Botox Cosmetic® treatments are presently experimental; evidence strongly suggests it is a viable treatment option.

 

5. The best of the best think we’re capable.

Organizations like the AAFE (American Academy of Facial Esthetics), the ADG (Academy of General Dentistry), and the AACD (American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry) all agree that dentists should be able to administer facial enhancements, and many state boards* agree with this belief. If the academies and organizations we identify ourselves by have faith in our competence as practitioners, why should we continue to exclude ourselves from offering this treatment? That’s right, we shouldn’t.

 

6. It’s value building.

While our relationships with our patients should come first and foremost, we can’t ignore the cost benefit of offering facial enhancements to our patients. The profit margin can lean heavily in favor, all while allowing us to offer the best treatment available to our patients at a reasonable price. The mandate is in the math.

Offering facial enhancements to your patients shouldn’t be an option, but a requirement in the treatment we provide, and have found reasons to begin to incorporate these solutions into your treatment plan. Thought of more reasons? Sound off in the comments and let us know what reasons you can think of for why dentists should offer facial enhancements!

 

* For a full list of state dentistry boards and their views on the administration of facial enhancements, read this pdf from DentalBoards.org for a state-by-state list.

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