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In Defense of the In-office Dental Store by Dr. Chris Kammer

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How can we as a profession tolerate the claim that 90 percent of patients with gum disease in the average dental practice go untreated?1 Can we police ourselves and agree that this is unacceptable and that change must occur? I hate to admit it, but I know for certain that at one time, that was my practice too. I finally got fed up and decided it was time for a radical change. I couldn’t tolerate the bleeding gums and the continuum of disease. There was more that I wanted to do to attack this disease, so I decided to stop telling people to floss more because that just wasn’t working. People’s gums just kept bleeding at every sixmonth visit. The ultimate in-office system and home-care regimen needed to be brought forth and it was time to pull out all the stops.

That led me to create a simple system for the average dentist like me to begin to identify, diagnose and treat every level of periodontal disease in the office. I dreamed up a name for the highest level of gum health that would conjure up superhero-like characteristics. I called it “Gums of Steel” and I wanted it to become my patients’ ultimate oral health goal. Now in order to support all of our in-office treatments and therapies for supreme oral health I needed to make sure my patients were practicing state-of-the-art home care too. I became determined to put the best tools in their hands and make sure all of our patients purchased and walked out of the office with them. So we set up our own Gums of Steel dental store right in the office.

Many dentists don’t want to be viewed as a retailer. This is a huge obstacle because some dentists are afraid of the perception that their patients might have to them selling products in their practice. These colleagues worry that their patient is thinking “Isn’t that dentist rich enough already? Why is he nickel and diming me to sell these products? Is he trying to make even more money?” To all dentists with these worries I ask this: why are you paralyzed with a fear that prevents you from making it convenient, easy and affordable to bring your patients an enhanced level of both oral health and whole body health that plays a part in adding years to their lives? Do you care more about your unreasonable worries or helping your patients live longer and better? C’mon folks that’s an easy answer! As a trusted health professional coach you need to show some emotion and passion to your patients about the critical health component that is home care. You need to help your patients find the best ways to care for their mouths and they need to walk out of your office with these tools.

If you aren’t steering, coaching and inspiring your patients toward the absolute best home-care tools and regimen then you are guilty of supervised neglect. Maybe some dentists just don’t believe that gum disease is contributing to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer, but it is – and you can’t be casual about your recommendations for home care. This is a life and death matter and it is imperative that you demonstrate to your patients how much you care because they will respect and appreciate that you have gone to great efforts to offer the best major name products at the best prices, and what could be more convenient than having your team put all those products in your patients’ hands as if they were the ultimate health concierges. Your patients need weapons to battle this disease from their home. If they walk out of your office with the tools they need, they have the best fighting chance to control the disease.

Now maybe you are wondering, when you give out free toothbrushes in your office, who is going to want to pay a large chunk of change for the best high-tech electric one that you recommend? Can people even afford the best weapons? We are currently living in a challenged economy. Consumer Reports National Research Center found that 48 percent of us are saving money by skipping doctor visits. Now we all know that the general public oftentimes considers dental health to be less essential and more elective than medical health, so this number is likely much higher when it comes to people avoiding dental care. When people are scraping to get by, they figure the teeth can wait, especially if nothing is hurting.

So, are we listening to people or are we still doing things the way we have always done them? Are we still recommending the most expensive tools for home care? If their numberone concern is that they don’t have the money, then we need to address it. We have to stop making dentistry a luxury. People still care about their health but they are struggling to afford what they know they need. Tell your patients that because you care so much about their health, that you have done the research to find the best products at the best prices. Emphasize to them that all of your patients are raising the bar on their home care because we now know that it is more important than ever before (explain oral systemic) and that you want to make it as easy as possible for them to walk out the door and maintain their state of health by using the ultimate home care systems available. Folks, if you can’t fire them up about taking care of their oral health, who will? Even if you believe they’ll go to the store and get the list of products you have recommended, the reality is that most will not. The real world creeps up on them with overwhelming distractions which take their focus off their health. Now here’s the part where I become a little bit bolder and challenge dentists by pleading: Please don’t shift your attitude into neutral about the critical home-care component of your patients’ oral health. You must take more of a proactive interest in it. You are the trusted professional and you have a powerful influence, so use it for your patients’ health. Let your patients know that your recommendations are for the best and most affordable items. These are the best-selling products that I sell in my Gums of Steel dental store listed in order of popularity:

1. A One-pound Bag of Sugar!
I’m not kidding. This is our top seller and what a wonderful buzz that gets people’s attention. Of course, I’m talking about xylitol, 100 percent natural birch sugar. If this puzzles you, please read my Dentaltown Second Opinion article about the oral health benefits of xylitol called “I Brush My Teeth with Sugar.” When I educate my patients about xylitol, they all want to take a bag home! I tell them they can buy a pound at Whole Foods for $15 or they can take a pound off our shelf for $10. Best deal to dentists I’ve found costs $5.50 per one-pound bag (includes shipping) from Xlear.com.

2. Waterpik Ultra Water Flosser
Everyone knows that brushing and flossing can’t match the 6mm depth sulcular cleaning of an oral irrigator, right? Plus, you can deliver your favorite medicament deep into the pockets as well. Waterpik is the name brand that people recognize and its best model is about half the price of the irrigators we used to sell out of our office (Hydrofloss, Oxyfresh), plus Waterpik ships for free. Our patients scoop these up but primarily because we strongly recommend them. Let’s face it, most patients are terrible flossers. Steer them toward something that works better and you’ll be surprised what a difference it makes for your patients. We sell them for $45.

3. Sensonic Professional Toothbrush
This is the most powerful ultrasonic brush on the market and we sell them for $55. Why make people pay more than $100 for an electric brush? Sensonic is another Waterpik product and we sell it for about half the cost of the better-known power brushes. I’ve never seen these brushes in the stores and I truly feel this is our profession’s best kept secret and truly an amazing find. I’m into my third year of using my very first one!

If you started with just these three top-selling products you could keep your dental office store very simple and experience brisk sales right away. I would also recommend that the dentist and hygienist use the products that they sell. You need to learn about them, use them and then confidently recommend them to your patients.

The final items that I recommend for your dental store, if you want to follow the Gums of Steel store model, would be Pharmaden neutraceuticals, Closys mouthrinse from Rowpar Pharmaceuticals and EvoraPro, an oral probiotic from Oragenics. In time you may expand your selection of xylitol products and seek out additional products from Spry (Xlear), Dr. John’s Candies and Zellies.

A few tips to help you move products would be: take your profit off the items sold and split them with your team. Or donate your profits to your office team’s favorite charity. You could even place a sign on your store display mentioning that a portion of all of the product sales goes to that charity. Plus it will be extremely difficult (if not impossible) for your patients to find a better deal on the prices you are giving them. Now you are the superstar of home-care promotion. Win-Win!

If our profession ever hopes to make a dent in the Surgeon General’s reported stats that 80 percent of the population has gum disease, we need to take a more active role in guiding our patients toward the very best home-care tools and protocols. When all dental offices become comfortable retailing out of their offices, patients will benefit from the expert recommendations, the convenience of having the best products readily available, and the financial savings offered, and watching their mouths and bodies get healthier too!

References
  1. Triage 2005


Author's Bio
Dr. Chris Kammer is president of the American Academy for Oral Systemic Health (AAOSH) which is a very motivated group of dentists, physicians, hygienists and other enthusiastic health advocates. Their next annual meeting in June will feature Dr. Oz’s writing partner, Dr. Michael Roizen, who is the head of Cleveland Clinic’s Integrative Medicine and Wellness Center. To learn more about the organization and the summer meeting, check out www.aaosh.org.

For more information on the Gums of Steel Hygiene Transformation in-office protocol and dental store, contact Dr. Kammer at drchris@thesmileexperts.com.
Dentaltown Magazine
September 2025
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