I asked my nephew if he wanted a game of cards and was told he couldn’t as he “didn’t have the app on his phone”. I had to explain to him that in the ‘old days’ people would actually have a physical pack of cards they would have to shuffle and deal, just as they would have to get a pen to write in the answers to a crossword or Sudoku puzzle; the notion seemed utterly alien to him. It was interesting though that in spite of the difference in the method of play, there is continuity as the games themselves remained the same. We followed cards with riddles (sourced from the internet - just to prove I’m not a technophobe) the trickiest of which was one known as the Monty Hall Problem.
The Monty Hall Problem is a brain teaser on the subject of probability. Imagine a game show where a contestant is asked to pick one of the three doors in front of him. Behind one of the doors is a prize, behind the others stand goats. After choosing one door, the host then opens one of the remaining doors before asking the contestant whether or not they would like to stick with the door they originally chose, or swap. What is the right thing to do? Though it may at fi rst appear that it would make any difference, actually the chances of getting the prize increase if the switch is made. While such puzzles may appear abstract, the concept of switching to get a better deal is one that was brought home by the recent Competition and Markets
Authority report into energy prices. The report stated that from 2012 to 2014 more than 95 per cent of dual-fuel customers of the ‘big’ firms would have saved money by switching tariffs or suppliers.
For dental practices there are perhaps two ways of looking at that news. Firstly, as a customer, is your practice getting the best deal it can or is it paying too much? Then secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is there a step change looming in customer behaviour that will have an impact on dentistry. Loyalty has always been highly prized in dental practice; there has traditionally been a focus on building a relationship up with a patient over a long period of time and gaining trust but is that likely to continue? With many practices turning to the increasingly popular cosmetic market the public understanding of what dentistry is could well see a fundamental change that dental businesses will need to react to in order to survive. In this issue of The Dentist we have a business feature begining on page 38 which includes articles discussing how to make the most of what you can offer patients currently, as well as looking to the future.
Personnel/personal
Change is occurring in terms of personnel in dentistry as well, Barry Cockcroft has stepped down from his position as CDO, at the time of writing no announcement had been made on the replacement, while John Milne has moved from the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee to join the CQC. It is a changing of the guard, the end of an era – but is change necessarily for the
best?
The BDA will certainly be weaker for losing a respected authority like John Milne, although it is hard to see how the CQC will not
be improved by his influence. As for the CDO – I’m sure there will be many who will be glad of the change, but is switching best?
Going back to the Monty Hall Problem you only know for sure when the door is opened.