I get regular e-mail complaints about Clear Choice Dental Implants Centers through one of my websites. Clear Choice operates a chain of dental implants centers around the country. I thought I would share this one that came through yesterday, about an experience someone had at the Las Vegas Clear Choice:

“After my initial visit to this place all they seem concerned about is the damn money. Well we’ll need so much before we can do this or that is always their answer. I was to go in for my second consultation and exam prior to surgery today. I cancelled the appointment. I spoke with the sales person last night and after our talk I started having reservations about this company. Still the emphasis on their damn money prior to me coming in. Then in our discussion it came out that these people have only been around for a little more than 5 years and only have a little over 10,000 customers. That is nationwide. After I hung up I thought hard and long about the conversation. The fact that concerns me the most is they are nationwide and only have 10,000 patients to account for. The second concern is only a little over 5 years in the business. Putting implants in people’s mouths needs highly skilled and trained people. The person I work with is starting to sound like a used car salesman and doesn’t give a damn about you or your health. Even the brief talk with the actual doctor at this site seemed cold and uncaring. I have cancelled today’s appointment and am now back to searching for a solution for my problem.”

– Dennis from Nevada

My comment:
While I do believe that Clear Choice tries to recruit dentists with strong expertise in both dental surgery and implant prosthodontics, their sales tactics are what come under repeated criticism. They conduct aggressive marketing campaigns that draw in a lot of prospective patients to their presentations. They offer them a free CT scan. Then they present an exorbitantly high fee for a one-day procedure – in the neighborhood of $40 to $50,000. And what I hear from people is that they will offer a significant discount if the patient signs today, a high pressure sales tactic that people aren’t used to seeing in the health care industry. All of these dealings happen before they see the dentist, so that the time is spent by sales personnel and clerks who are at a lower pay rate. So while there is only a small percentage of those who come who sign on to their program, there is a handsome profit on those who do, enabling them to pay their dentists salaries and bonuses in the high six figures to seven figure area.
– Dr. Hall