The Riddle of the Missing Tooth Faerie

The South African Dental Association (SADA) today warned that during the last number of years, once thriving dental practices have been going bankrupt while emigration continues to void the profession.

Maretha Smit, Chief Executive of SADA said in a statement that payouts to dentistry from medical aid schemes have been reduced from 8.4% in the late nineties to 2.2% last year. “It is time that members of Medical Schemes start asking serious questions and demand that benefits in this area of basic medical care are re-structured. If not, there will be very few dentists left in a country that can hardly afford the further loss of any of its medical services, let alone dentists.”

Maretha further pointed out that in the context of the current economy and the pressure brought about by medical schemes which are not providing adequate cover for essential dental procedures, the man in the street is placing dentistry low on the list of essential needs.

“Dentists in South Africa are by no means smiling. The high outlay for basic equipment, and the staggering costs of materials, most of which are imported from abroad, leaves very little room for a fair profit. And, very few patients understand that their Medical Aid Schemes are responsible for this failure for basic dentistry to be made accessible and that the scheme rates offered to dentists, in the majority of cases, fall way below the actual costs of good average treatment and service.”

Maretha Smit also expressed SADA’s dismay at the way in which reality television shows are distorting the perceptions that the public holds of dentists and dentistry and how, in a developing country such as South Africa, these shows are diverting the attention from the real need for good general dentistry and dental services to our communities.

“We are gravely concerned about media reports that South African dentists are smiling because of the profits they are making. These reports are distorted out of context and the impression is created that dental practices are making huge profits. This is simply not true of a profession which is known be struggling to keep its doors open to the public.

The reality of the matter is that true profits on cosmetic dentistry - the more profitable of the dental services – run between 10 – 20% only!”

Maretha continues: “Most serious businessmen will smirk at such low profit margins which, in themselves, again are much higher than the profit margins for most dental specializations in South Africa and, significantly higher than that for general dentistry! If the profit margins in elective dentistry is this minute then one can very well understand why so many dentists are leaving the country. Dentists must be allowed an opportunity at earning a decent professional income – very few people can be expected to be dedicated to a vocation without any reward whatsoever.”

It is time that the public is made aware that dentistry in South Africa is a profession under threat and that it is a threat that extends to every household and every family of this country. Unless, the crisis in dentistry in South Africa is addressed soon there will be no smiles from anyone around and the question will be as to whatever had happened to the tooth fairy.


Johannesburg, Friday 6th January 2012

TEETH CHATTERING TWITTER TATTLING TALE

In a chat at a gathering of Western Cape dentists well-known Joburg-based media man Mixael de Kock said that the time has come to make peace with the fact that social media is here to stay. The professions can only benefit from participation and engagement on social sites, provided it is done in an appropriate and planned manner.

This past weekend, Mixael spoke at the Summer “Chattering” of the South African Dental Association (SADA) Western Cape Branch, hosted at a Cape Town City Bowl hotel which was themed the “Star Wars of Dentistry”. Despite this upbeat take on social media, he remains of the opinion that the mainstream media will retain the edge in leading public opinion for many years to come.

“Specifically in Africa, traditional newspapers, television and radio will continue to show positive growth until such time as mobility connects the majority of Africans to the web”, said Mixael. “Also, until bloggers’ posts are perceived to be as credible and responsible as that put forward by qualified journalists, the mainstream media will retain its pre-eminence in the shaping of worldviews.”

“While conventional advertising is being displaced by social media, it will never replace informed and educated opinion which, for now, largely remains the preserve of the time-honoured traditional media.”

Mixael made reference to his colleague Anton J van Rensburg’s views expressed in the December issue of the marketing industry’s mouthpiece, Advantage and said: “I fully concur that the social media mix is an extremely important and a relatively low-cost option that can have a direct impact on public perception but at the same time, I must stress that it is not the silver bullet that many makes it out to be.”

Mixael is of the opinion that there is a tendency to over-value opinion expressed in social media. “In the good ol’days, organisations did not rush to public lavatories every morning to refute the previous night’s graffiti. Cyberspace today fulfils the role of the toilet walls of yesteryear and a lot of reaction to these social media scribbling boils down to overreaction by over-zealous public relations and marketing practitioners.”

But he also stressed that there are many pitfalls awaiting the unwary and stated that one should never underestimate the downside of the social media. Mixael used as a case-study, the huge public fall-out that followed the recent Duren debacle when a junior ad agency employee twitter-tattled on God’s intention with male private parts.

“Another one of the key problems with cyberspace is that it creates virtual and surreal worlds which serve as the hide-outs for the mentally disturbed and the socially inept and where unsuspecting users may easily fall prey to cyber criminals.”Mixael concluded his chitchat by stressing the importance of erring on the side of the conservative when evaluating social media and warned that one should be realistic as to what may be reasonably achieved through time spent on the net.

“The most important thing to remember is that when on the web one should take special care in meaning what you say and saying what you mean and that you should always do so accurately, in good taste and mindful of impeccable manners and common sense.

If this is done, the chitter-chattering can’t go wrong!”

Johannesburg, 6th December 2011