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DrBicuspid.com is Biased against Dentists

10 Responses

1. Linda, on February 9, 2010 at 12:13 AM said:

   Dr. Pruitt,

   AARP-ugh! Far too liberal and pro Obama for me – now consider these two alternatives:

   • http://www.americanseniors.com
   • http://www.amac.us/

   Linda

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2. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, on February 9, 2010 at 7:14 PM said:

   Linda, If a person purchases the dental plans you recommend, will he or she be allowed to see the dentist of their choice?

   I tried to find out the answer to this question myself, but for even a basic question to be entertained, I would have had to “register.”

   How good is that?

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3. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, on February 9, 2010 at 7:19 PM said:

   Look what Dr. John Hamm posted on DrBicuspid today:

   “Yesterday, Dr. D. Kellus Pruitt, a vengeful dentist who says that he was kicked off of DrBicuspid (?), posted a scathing comment on DentistryiQ titled “DrBicuspid.com is biased against dentists.”

   http://community.pennwelldentalgroup.com/forum/topics/drbicuspidcom-is-biased

   In the article, Dr. Pruitt blames Editor in Chief Kathy Kincade and Editorial Director of IMV Publishing Brian Casey for selling out to advertisers. He calls your Website “DrPublicRelations.”

   Anyone from DrBicuspid care to dispute the allegations? From witnessing the obvious protection you’ve afforded Delta Dental, I’d say Dr. Pruitt has a point – even if he is a bombastic, unprofessional hothead.”

   _____________________________________________________________

   Breaking news! Dr. John Hamm just got kicked off of DrBicuspid.com.

   I guess Kathy Kincade and Brian Casey can’t tolerate journalistic accountability. What cowards!

   ###

   It looks like the moderator of PTWA stopped censoring me. In-your-face insults like hers never work out well because nobody respects anonymous people. I intend to put an end to this kind of crap one dinosaur at a time if necessary.

   Just to be sure the lesson sticks, here’s what I posted this morning on the PTWA blog “This Just In”

   ——————————————————————-

   If one googles “PTWA,” guess what shows up on the first page.

   My criticism of capricious bureaucratic censorship in the land of the free appears to be so popular that it could make it to your first hit by the end of the week.

   I bet it leaves a mark. It should cost someone a job.

   D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS

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4. Dr. Pruitt, on February 15, 2010 at 7:01 PM said:

   D. Kellus Pruitt is banned from DrBicuspid’s Facebook

   DrBicuspid.com kicked me off of their Facebook this morning. Here’s what is hilarious in an ornery way: All I had posted on their site was “Good morning, DrBicuspid.”

   http://www.facebook.com/pages/DrBicuspid/47917043976?ref=mf

   John Hamm, who may or may not be related to me, had this to say to DrBicuspid in a comment posted under my morning greeting on their Facebook:

   “I just received word that Darrell Pruitt is no longer allowed to visit this DrBicuspid Facebook. He also said you blocked him from viewing your articles on DrBicuspid.com. What did he do to deserve this? Are you going out of your way to piss him off? It looks like you’ve succeeded.

   He said you deprived him of access to your ADA-approved site because of things he said about DrBicuspid on Twitter. Is that true? Regardless of what he said, are you really that petty, DrBicuspid? He scares you, doesn’t he.

   If you haven’t noticed, you only have 19 Facebook fans. Do you think you can you afford to get even more dentists angry with you? So are you now going to block me as well?

   I’m posting this comment under Darrell’s morning greeting to you so that he will receive a copy to share with friends. I think you made a regrettable mistake.”

   Whom do you serve, DrBicuspid?
   ________________________________________________

   I’ve watched DrBicuspid.com slide further and further away from dental patients’ interests. A recent article by Editor in Chief Kathy Kincade titled “Studies urge adding adult dental benefits to Medicare” was nothing more than a strategic press release for Delta Dental, yet there was nothing in the article which would suggest it was anything other than journalism.

   Did you know that IMV, DrBicuspid’s parent company, has PR contracts with the National Association of Dental Plans as well as the ADA? Immediately after I was kicked off the DrBicuspid.com Website a year ago today (for criticizing the ADA and the NADP), the ADA announced that DrBicuspid was chosen to be a featured ADA vendor because “DrBicuspid is unbiased.” (See “DrBicuspid, the ADA and split allegiances.” February 15, 2009.)

   http://community.pennwelldentalgroup.com/forum/topics/drbicuspid-the-ada-and-split

   That’s incredible, DrBicuspid President Ashok Shah.

   D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS

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5. Darrell Pruitt DDS, on February 17, 2010 at 2:54 PM said:

   Ashok Shah, can we negotiate a peace?

   I think the president of DrBicuspid.com knows that I could keep branding him, his employees and his company indefinitely. And even though this has been swell fun for me – if for nobody else – I think there is now something more worthwhile within our reach – Truth in Advertising.

   I made an offer of peace with Mr. Shah this morning on Twitter. I think he should accept my offer. After all, he too is a businessman.

   On the other hand, if Mr. Shah should choose to continue to insult me, he’ll continue to pay my fee.

   ———————————–

   (Posted on Twitter by “@Proots”)

   Good morning, @drbicuspid. Are you and I at a point where we can start negotiating more openly? Is there anything you want from me?

   Would you like John Hamm to remove his comment from your Facebook page?

   An offer: If I receive an apology from both Kathy Kincade and Brian Casey for depriving me of my 1st Amendment Right, it will disappear.

   What’s more, we’ll immediately be on better terms, Ashok Shah. I’m actually a nice person if I’m treated with common respect.

   We’re both businessmen. You’d like me to quit pounding on your employees and ruining your business, and I want to move on to other things.

   Let’s get this over with and bring a close to this chapter. What do you say, Ashok?

   D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS

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6. Dr. Pruitt, on March 14, 2010 at 9:16 PM said:

   Am I an unfair person? Am I cruel?

   These troubling doubts couldn’t come at a more pivotal time in my four year battle for accountability in the dental industry.

   At last, with inestimable help from readers like you, I am re-taking for dentists our rightful spot as the leaders of dental care in the nation. As a group, we almost never complain publicly, but I claim most dentists would agree that stakeholders in the industry routinely interfere with dentist and patient treatment decisions. Stakeholders’ ultimate interests are profit and/or power. On the other hand, dentists’ ultimate interests are successful management of dental problems for patients who value the service, and profit. That’s as good as it gets in the land of the free.

   Outsiders who cannot be held accountable for their interference will reliably cause harm for our trusting patients – most of whom have no idea what is really driving their choices in treatment. Admit it, Docs. We all know the shameful truth about accommodating stakeholders at the expense of our patients, don’t we? Have you never taken an x-ray for insurance purposes? Did you also charge the patient for the needless irradiation? That would be called “The game.” Patients always pay more than they should for needless procedures caused by outside interference.

   Until this weekend, right here on Pruitt’s Platform, there was no demonstrable incentive for vendors to be truthful when advertising dental products on Facebook. Until I stood my ground and refused to be swept aside in the traditional way by a command-and-control type, marketing companies that post on his Facebook, such as DrBicuspid.com, had never been shown that they can be held publicly accountable for questionable sales pitches anywhere they post them.

   In my defense, I maintain that a worthwhile example was made of a prominent source of biased information in my neighborhood, and that even as my charismatic opponent draws (underdog) sympathy, you can be certain that this adventure has already caused an improvement in attitude for an untold number of other salespeople. Nevertheless, I take full responsibility for hurting someone’s feelings. Was this chunk of transparency worth the pain it caused? I say yes. He’ll get over it. And I’ll eventually disappear from his first search page as long as I keep from mentioning his name. I can do that.

   As I again re-assess what I’ve accomplished in the last few days to see if I missed something, I’m left wondering what others – including close friends and one family member – would have me do to effect such meaningful change so quickly in a less painful way. More than one friend has suggested that I back down and leave him alone. So I will. But as far as he knows, I’ll be watching what he sponsors. The fact that I am still not allowed to comment directly on his Facebook is just a silly formality anyway. To grant me a more convenient, direct portal would have been the sensible thing to do, in my opinion.

   Because of unexpected objections, I’m left stunned and not quite knowing what to do at a critical time for dentistry. Just this week, Dr. David Madow of The Madow Group Facebook, deleted a meaningful conversation I was having with a dental management consultant concerning CareCredit’s relationship to the FTC’s Red Flags Rule. The consultant (whose name I’m now reluctant to mention) told me and other readers that CareCredit is simply a credit card, and is not affected by the Red Flags Rule. I asked her to confirm her glaring misstatement and gave her a week before I corrected the bad information myself. I was direct, but I was not rude. Nevertheless, sometime in the last week, Dr. David Madow deleted the conversation without warning. Do I just let that go?

   Or what about Dr. Larry Emmott, the hi-tech expert who on Friday once again touted unproven benefits of digital dental charting on his Facebook, but still fails to address significant drawbacks to electronic dental records – the product he sells. Can I safely leave him alone with a naive audience? If I don’t speak up, who will tell his customers the truth about data breaches? When will that be?

   If I quit bothering vendors and PR types, will everything turn out just swell with a lot less pain? What do you think?

   D. Kellus Pruitt, DDS

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7. Darrell Pruitt DDS, on May 16, 2010 at 8:45 PM said:

   Please stop by any time

   Invite one’s high-ranked adversaries in life to sit at the dining room table with friends and family? Believe it or not, that’s old school. I call it “representation,” and it’s at least as old as the Jewish religion.

   Do you think my direct, West Texas approach to addressing differences of opinion in dentistry shock anyone with traditional insulation? Are shy, indignant TDA officials justified in reportedly feeling big-time “fed up” with me? Sit back and watch me give those anonymous bozos something to measure their allegiances against later in this spamphlet.

   Over a year ago, when then ADA President Dr. John Findley permitted an unknown ADA hired gun to take shots at me while hiding behind DrBicuspid’s managing editor Brian Casey (as far as I know), I noted the worn out advertising trick that successfully got me suspended from the DrBicuspid Website. But I let it slide. It looks like the rookie mistake was all mine.

   That was months before incoming ADA President, Dr. Tankersley, hinted in an interview with Judy Jakush for ADA News Online that most of his work would be “under the radar screen.” Be honest. Did you catch the fat clue before I pointed it out? If Vladimir Putin said such a thing, would it surprise any more humans on Earth than if the ADA President says his favorite way of doing business is clandestinely? Unfortunately for President Tankersley, when it came his turn to call on his stealthy veterans to quietly silence me once again, he never imagined that his team’s aim is so incredibly slow, yet still wild enough to accidentally shoot one’s own foot.

   As an ADA member, do you feel like you should be offended, but are having difficulty expressing exactly who you are angry with? I understand. I’m patient. So tell me. Why shouldn’t I invite leaders in dental publishing as well as ADA officials to be my friends on Facebook? Is the proposed ADA Member Code of Conduct (Resolution 82) flexible enough that it can be used to sanction certain ADA members for asking certain officials to be their friends in certain circumstances?

   It wasn’t lost on me that a month or so ago, the ADA changed a designation on its dead-end Facebook page. Now, the only news the site offers is the list of a growing number of “people” instead of “friends” – 4700 of whom are awaiting the Facebook opening. When they get turned away as planned, they can be called “enemies.”

   Which rule would “improperly inviting ADA officers to be friends” fall under? I bet if none of the other 9 well considered rules can be bent to fit, Rule number 10, “Failing to avoid a conflict of interest,” is like a one-size-fits-all monkey wrench. So if the Code of Conflict is voted into law this October, can I expect an ADA authority with a name on a badge to officially cite me? Of course not. That’s silly. ADA officials don’t wear badges with names.

   Sometimes important people from impersonal large cities where character is often measured by credentials and contacts, naturally underestimate the penetration of social networks in small towns. It’s only fair to warn such a newcomer that failing to at least RSVP to a personal invitation to one’s home is flat rude, and is always frowned upon by every member of the community.

   To allow novice Directors between Austin and Chicago to take advantage of this real-time social network lesson, I posted this on Twitter today:

   @theTDA, this is an important message to carry to your boss to relay to Executive Director Mary Kay Linn.

   Mary, if you have outstanding accusations against me, hit me now. Otherwise, if Jurisprudence contacts me later, I’ll offer you friendship.

   Proots

   I just thought of something: If I get sideways with ADA President-elect Dr. Raymond Gist, it could become a yearly duty of ADA Presidents to get Proots kicked off of something during the course of their term.

   Although it would be swell fun for me, tradition is over-rated. Let’s have some solutions.

   D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS

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8. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, on September 17, 2011 at 6:39 PM said:

   Dr. BiCuspid

   Consumers can’t trust DrBicuspid.com PR hacks for the same reason employers can’t trust Delta Dental sales reps – They are deceitful people.

   http://www.drbicuspid.com/index.aspx?sec=sup&sub=pmt&pag=dis&ItemID=308519

   Since Delta Dental pays for Editor-in-Chief Kathy Kincade’s salary, one shouldn’t mistake DrBicuspid.com for an unbiased news source in the dental community. Money talks as well as censors dissent when paid to Kincade. I know her. We’ve met.

   In late 2009, without warning or explanation, Ms. Kincade blocked this practicing dentist from posting simple questions following Delta Dental’s transparently deceptive press releases on DrBicuspid.com. Only a few months before, my relationship with Kincade had started out friendly enough. I had never visited DrBicuspid when Kincade noticed my fondness for writing on other internet venues (possibly without reading the content). I accepted her invitation to contribute to DrBicuspid.

   It wasn’t long before I embarrassed DrBicuspid’s naïve, resident electronic dental record expert as well as Delta Dental’s PR team when I asked them by name for evidence to back up their favorite sales pitches. Other than Kincade, who couldn’t see that coming?

   The reason Kathy Kincade and DrBicuspid.com cannot be honest with readers is simply because unethical leaders in the industry, like Delta Dental officials, cannot tolerate transparency.

   D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

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9. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, on September 17, 2011 at 10:16 PM said:

   Win some – lose some

   I see I’m pushing the envelope of tolerance … again.

   Every now and then, my writings border on mean, and the vitriol puts downward pressure on my readership numbers. Since I’m not in the advertising business, I’ve learned to accept the adjustments. Numbers aren’t everything.

   Today, when I suggested that DrBicuspid’s PR hacks and Delta Dental sales reps are deceitful people, I immediately lost a few readers from a couple of the venues I use (since then, the numbers have mostly returned). So how could I have better described an editor in the dental industry who censors dentists to protect advertisers? Deceitful also fits public relations experts who claim Delta Dental has a “comprehensive certification process” for its preferred providers, but refuse to share the details of their quality control measures with dentists.

   Perhaps those who fled from my opinion were sympathetic friends of DrBicuspid and Delta employees. Or maybe they were themselves employees who felt more guilt than pride. Regardless of hurt feelings, I stand solidly behind the ugly truth in any business – including stakeholders in the dental industry: If employees deceive naïve customers as part of their job, they are deceitful people. Dishonesty cannot be completely blamed on one’s boss.

   In more cheerful news, this morning, a friend told me: “You see through the bullshit and your targets realize that. That’s why they scurry into the low lying brush.”

   I want to thank those of you who still stick around to read what I have to say – even if only occasionally. Colleagues who also desire more transparency in our profession will agree that I am only publicly discussing topics which most dentists dare mention only privately. Ignoring deceit in healthcare is unprofessional.

   D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

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10. Darrell, on January 31, 2012 at 11:27 AM said:

    The W. K. Kellogg Foundation’s 5 bad ideas

    Each passing day brings more evidence that the biggest HIT blunder in the history of dentistry is taking its toll on American dentists’ trust in leadership. Nevertheless, CDT royalties and greed have made dentalcare’s reclusive parasites especially difficult to get rid of. Since they are incapable of defending themselves, they choose to censor me just before hunkering down.

    Years ago, the increasing danger and expense of EDRs over paper dental records for both dentists and patients could no longer be ignored by ADA leaders who understand dentistry – forcing ambitious stakeholders in the ADA to quietly stop advising dentists to go paperless. Nevertheless, today, an anonymous Sidekick Magazine moderator and a 2nd tier dental consultant named Dr. Bill “The Dentrix Dentist” Busch suspiciously censored this dentist’s concerns about the cost and safety of EDRs they carelessly promote. I intend to make them regret their unethical behavior enough to keep their names off the internet forever. After all, what are the unresponsive stakeholders going to do about it? Respond?

    Publicly breaking silence after publicly censoring an earned enemy is perhaps the most difficult thing to do for slow-thinking tyrants. That’s unfortunate. If you’ve got balls, I’d suggest you start with an apology, Bill. But if you want to bring an attitude, that’s OK with me as well.

    Elsewhere in the industry, growing concerns for the welfare of dentists and patients haven’t stopped reckless stakeholders in the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the DentaQuest Institute, the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry and other hangers-on from misleading the public for self-serving reasons. They clearly don’t care for dental patients. As a matter of fact, we are our patients’ only natural advocates, Doc. And even though stakeholders would have you believe that blunt, marketplace conversation is unprofessional, it’s impossible to fulfill your Hippocratic obligation to protect your patients by being a good little quiet dentist.

    Last week, DrBicuspid.com features editor Donna Domino posted “Report outlines 5 elements for improving oral healthcare” on DrBicuspid.com.

    http://www.drbicuspid.com/index.aspx?d=1&sec=sup&sub=pmt&pag=dis&ItemID=309643&wf=1099

    She writes: “Accountability, data collection, and new ways of delivering care are critical if the U.S. is going to improve the quality of its oral healthcare, according to ‘Oral Health Quality Improvement in the Era of Accountability,’ a new report funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the DentaQuest Institute.”

    Paul Glassman DDS, the stakeholder who authored the biased study, is a dental instructor at the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry. His list of “five elements for improving oral healthcare in the U.S.” should frighten every American, starting with the requirement that dentists purchase EDRs that have thus far completely failed to protect dental patients’ identities:

    – Increased use of electronic dental records and integrated health records

    – Better measurement of oral health outcomes

    – New payment and incentive mechanisms

    – Expanded delivery of care by nondental professionals, as well as new types of allied dental professionals

    – Use of telehealth technologies to reach people in remote areas.

    “Telehealth” for dentistry? Really, Dr. Glassman? Will an internet connection with a real dentist thousands of miles away help prevent dental therapists from losing a poor Americans’ root tips in mediastinal space? It’s the poor who can least afford complications.

    Here’s my interpretation of how stakeholder plans for dentistry developed: Early on, the dental instructor and anonymous Kellogg Foundation leaders recognized that picky Americans will naturally prefer for their families to be treated by fully trained dentists rather than lower quality dental therapists. That is why stakeholders plan to scrap the uncontrollable, archaic reward system where dentists compete fiercely for patients who have the freedom to choose their dentists. “New payment and incentive mechanisms” will replace the natural, self-cleaning free market forces common everywhere else in the free world. The stakeholders’ adjustable EDR-enabled algorithms will permit stakeholders to control of the value of dentists’ work in real time for the common good – according to dentists’ voluntary but permanent NPI numbers. Do you remember how ADA leaders rushed members to sign up for the 10-digit identities but refused to discuss what would be done with them? Now you know.

    Would Dr. Glassman prefer his family be treated by fully trained dentists or 2nd tier dental therapists. Like 2nd tier dental consultants, dental therapists are cheap because of corporate sponsorship.

    D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

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