Medicine vs. Dentistry

By Charles L. Feitel

Commercial real estate transactions, with an emphasis in the healthcare field, reveal an interesting phenomenon with respect to dental and medical professionals. These findings are quite profound as they relate to the managed care society we as consumers and patients live in. For every one call received from a doctor looking for medical space, two phone calls are received from dentists or orthodontists. While most doctors are extremely cost conscious with respect to rental payments, dentists are usually looking for upgraded suites with cost less of an issue. Doctors often request exclusivity in their lease while dentists are less concerned about the competition. Why? Managed care, managed care, managed care!
Specifically, the practice of dentistry is much less regulated than the medical field. Although there are insurance plans for dental work, there is much less involvement than in the medical field, and the amount of money involved is much less significant. Therefore, since there is less regulation and insurance involvement, it appears as if dentistry is more of a free market system. This in turn allows dental professionals to be more entrepreneurial than their medical counterparts.
Maybe there is a lesson to be learned from this situation More competition and less regulation might help the current health care dilemma in America. After all, this is a free market economy and the competition works in every other field. Should it not work for medicine as well?