Do dentists get money for promoting brands?

[Deleted User]

Hi, I recently went to the dentist for the fist time in over a decade! Very little needed to be done, just a clean and a removal of a broken tooth. My dentist gave me sensodyne enamel protect toothpaste (small sample tube) and said this is what I should be using but gave no rationale as to why. I normally use an own brand as it's cheaper (and superdrug mark theirs as cruelty free). Is my dentist doing some product promotion or should I be forking out for the branded expensive toothpaste?

Comms69

Yes, they can be paid to promote certain products. That said they are professionals and I wouldn't want to suggest they promote any old rubbish for a few quid.

brook2jack

Actually no dentists can not promote brands for pay in their practice , it is specifically forbidden by the GDC and they would be struck off , neither can they refer to other dentists for pay or or other financial inducements. Indeed there has been a great furore over the adverts with “dentists” in promoting a particular product on the TV.

Eg from the GDC
Endorsing products
You should only recommend particular products if they are the best way to meet a patient’s needs. If you endorse products, you must ensure that you only provide factual information about the product which can be verified by evidence. You should also be careful not to express or imply that your view is shared by the whole profession.

Also from GDC

1.7.5 You must refuse any gifts, payment or hospitality if accepting them could affect, or could appear to affect, your professional judgment.


Sensodyne, oral b , corsodyl, Colgate , polygrip etc give free samples to hand out to patients. The dentist gets no financial or other reward and the patient gets some free handy sized toothpaste etc.

welshdent

I’ve never been paid to recommend any brand nor do I know of anyone that has been. We get free samples of some products which we dish out to patients who may benefit from them. But we certainly get nothing in return.

System

Likewise, I have been given free samples of toothpaste in the past, but the dentist did not say I had to use that brand. I did start using it, because I liked it, but I wasn't told to

Toothsmith

avogadro wrote: »

Likewise, I have been given free samples of toothpaste in the past, but the dentist did not say I had to use that brand. I did start using it, because I liked it, but I wasn't told to

That’s the reason the companies give it to us!

If people see it ‘at the dentist’ they think it must be ok, but no one is directly recommending it.

If patients have a sensitivity problem, I generally recommend a sensitive toothpaste (assuming no other cause is diagnosed!) and give people some of the different samples we’ve been given to try to see if any one works better for them.

If they want a ‘whitening’ toothpaste, I tell them that toothpastes don’t whiten teeth, but rather than spend money on one, have a couple of our samples, and prove to yourself they don’t work!! (We don’t get whitening toothpaste samples that often!!!)

But the best use of sample toothpastes are to put in your toiletry bag when you travel!!! One tube is generally god for a week away!

But no - we are not paid to promote anything.

And I wouldn’t have samples of products I didn’t like. I refuse samples of mouthwash.

brook2jack

Toothsmith you should accept the mouthwash samples , the listerine is really good for cleaning out washing machines, run it through on a hot wash, it gets rid of residues etc

Other than that I don’t hand out mouthwash either.

suejb2

brook2jack wrote: »

Toothsmith you should accept the mouthwash samples , the listening is really good for cleaning out washing machines, run it through on a hot wash, it gets rid of residues etc

Other than that I don’t hand out mouthwash either.

Mouthwash is also good for softening hard skin on your feet, give 'm a soak.

Toothsmith

And there was me thinking it was useless!!!

Someone should suggest it to SmithKlein Beecham!

jenniewb

OP if it helps make any sense; my Dentist has a pot full of Colgate samples at the reception desk, they sell Oral B tooth brushes and Tee-pee interdental sticks but the only suggestion I've had was to use Sensodyne Pronamel tooth paste because I have reduced enamel on my teeth and this apparently is the best on the market at helping with that and tbh it's the only tooth paste I can use without suffering so much sensitivity I "forget" to eat anything hot/cold or breathe through my mouth for days if I use anything else!
So in my Dentists, they have just about every brand going, I get the feeling someone got a bit slap-happy with the "yes" box on the samples sheet!

Toothsmith

Hey - those samples keep us going too! The only time I had to buy toothpaste in the last 25 odd years was last year at the airport when I realised I’d forgotten to pack any!!!