Clinic chains: Cheaper but less reliable?
Much like restaurant chains, dental clinics are opening up franchisees across the city. And these provide you with a menu too — by listing the different treatments they specialise in, along with their prices, special offers and bulk-order discounts.
At present there are at least four dental chain clinics operating in the city.
These clinics work on the principal of buying implants and other prostheses and material required in dental treatments in large quantities, therefore providing cheaper treatment. Chain clinics are brands in themselves, unlike private clinics where a well-known or established doctor commands a premium in fees.
“As we are a dental chain, we have a 10 to 15% cost advantage. We buy implants directly from the company, bypassing the distributor, dealer, and importer. Hence, we get the implants for cheaper and pass on the benefit to patients,” said, Vikram Vora, CEO, Mydentist, a chain of dental 34 clinics in Mumbai and Pune.
Although many patients opt for these chains which claim to be ‘affordable’, dentists who run private clinics doubts the expertise at such clinics. “We have come across patients who opted for treatment at such chain clinics, but then came to us after complications arose from treatments done there,” said Dr Gaurang Shah who runs a private clinic in Bandra.
“Newspapers carry advertisements for implant treatment and teeth makeovers every day. These treatments cannot be done in a day by any technology or doctor, but people go for them and are conned into paying enormous amounts,” said a senior dentist from a private hospital, adding that dental clinic chains are akin to “furniture shops”.
Another way in which dental clinics cut treatment costs is by hiring new dental graduates and paying them salaries.
“As a patient, you don’t want to be attended to by a different doctor every time you visit the clinic. These clinics aim to standardise dental procedures, which is not possible,” said Dr Sagar Shah, who runs a clinic in Girgaum.
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