Dental implant marketing is all about the present and the future, and that’s how it should be.
But every now and then, it doesn’t hurt to look back at our past.
Today, we’re going to look WAY BACK. In fact, we’re going to look back to one of the earliest recorded mentions of dentistry in world history.
Early Dental History
Here it is – one of the earliest developments on the timeline of dental history:
· c. 2200 B.C. – Sumerians, the Mesopotamian people who built an impressive ancient civilization in modern-day Iraq, proposed the first explanation for tooth decay: tooth worm!
Repulsive as the idea of tooth worm is, it may have been suggested to ancient people because of the cylindrical structures in human teeth. According to research, there are tiny, hollow, worm-like structures attached to the tubules in a human tooth. This theory may explain depictions like the one above.
Other explanations include actual Guinea worms, or Druncunculus medinensis, in well water – worms that people mistakenly believed came from their teeth or other explanations.
Treatments may have included trying to lure the worms out with magic spells and potions. These were undoubtedly highly disagreeable processes.
Not to mention ineffective.
This explanation of tooth decay was, however, quite enduring. It is found in the writings of Greek philosophers and poets and in the literature of ancient Egypt, India, Japan, and China.
As late as the 1300s, the great French surgeon Guy de Chauliac still proposed tooth worm as the cause of the cavities in his patients’ mouths!
Using History as a Context for Dental Implant Marketing
Of course, all this was long before anyone was thinking about dental implant marketing, but the history of the business of dentistry is still valuable for our work today for a number of reasons.
Although you need to be sure your patients have strong stomachs before you share the tooth worm theory with them, this larger historical framework is valuable both for conversations with patients and even as a novel context for dental implant marketing.
For one thing, this kind of information should make us all more thankful to live in the modern era and can help to highlight what a tremendous blessing modern dental implants really are.
What are some other valuable reasons to share dental history with your patients?
- Sharing this information can help to position you as a dental – and history – expert in the community
- It helps to re-ignite wonder in jaded moderns over marvelous advances like contemporary dental implants.
- Stories well told both educate and inform your audience – and patients will be delighted to unexpectedly encounter this treat at their dentist’s office.
- Since facts like this are rarely used in dental implant marketing, this context could position your ads to stand out.
- It graphically demonstrates how far dentistry has advanced in its knowledge of teeth.
All of these points are valid reasons for using dental history both in your conversations with patients and as a context for your dental implant marketing.
Would you like to take your marketing on almost as great a leap as dentists’ knowledge of teeth since ancient times?
Consider enlisting the services of Client Connection Group today!
We have a proven track record of dental implant marketing for our client dentists from coast to coast, delivering full implant calendars through our educational social media marketing.
Further Reading by Client Connection Group