
Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD
Editorial Director,
Dentaltown Magazine
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Each year we provide the dental community with an opportunity to share information
about the products and services you use in your practice every day. The
Townie Choice Awards strips away the complexity and confusion surrounding other
awards and takes the ballot directly to the people. We want every dentist in our community
to vote on the Townie Choice Awards because your voice has an impact on
our profession. Dentists use this annual survey to make purchasing decisions and
manufacturers get a peek into their product penetration on the front lines. Over the
years I have fielded several frequently asked questions. Here is a simple guide to the
Townie Choice Awards.
How can you say something is the best?
This is an opportunity for every dentist in our community to share information
about the products and services that they use every day. Certainly, if a product is not
living up to expectations, it will not win an award. If it works and they use it the most
it must be good.
Why are some products missing?
Any dentist who has seen a copy of the Henry Schein dental catalog understands
that there are thousands of dental products on the market. The Townie Choice Awards
ballot represents a certain amount of products and services that we believe are the most
widely used. In other cases a product is missing because its use is so narrow that it does
not fit into an existing category and we want to represent products that compete with
others to determine the dentists’ choice. Finally, while every dental company is invited
to enter products in the categories represented, some choose not to participate. Please
remember that every question has the option for a write-in vote to accommodate a
missing product or company.
Why do some questions on the ballot list a company name or family of products,
rather than a specific product?
This is simply an effort to simplify the number of choices on the ballot as there are
many product categories where a company may have many versions of the same product.
If we listed each one, the ballot would be too cumbersome and tedious. A good
example of this need is burs. The companies that manufacture burs offer many different
sizes, shapes and grits. In the context of our survey, we want to know the brand of
diamond you are most likely to use above all others, and the same for carbides.
What does it mean when a company wins a Townie Choice Award?
The sample size of dentists in this annual survey is large enough to make the
results a strong predictor of market penetration in many of the categories included
on the ballot. In simple terms, the products that win are often the most popular in
that particular category and many would conclude the best in class. Of course we
realize that most categories have multiple products that are very effective in their category
and for that reason we provide results beyond first place.
What’s in it for the voters?
Any Townie who finishes the ballot is automatically entered into a $1,000 drawing.
The winner will be drawn in October and will also appear on the cover of the
December issue of Dentaltown Magazine, in which we reveal the results of the Townie
Choice Awards. Please take a few moments to vote for your favorite products and
services in the annual Townie Choice Awards ballot. Visit the home page of
Dentaltown.com and click on the Townie Choice Awards icon in the menu on the
right-hand side of your screen to begin voting.
Thanks in advance for your participation. |