Dental patients are better-informed consumers of dental services then they have been in the past.  There are more dental practices available today, and patients can be more selective in their choice of a dental practitioner.

The present consumer-driven market has forced dental practices to respond to the personal needs of its patients in order to retain them in a practice for the long-term.  There are numerous options for patients seeking dental treatment, and dental insurers are being selective about practices that are allowed to join a preferred provider network.  It is truly a consumer's marketplace, and the dentist and his/her professional staff must be patient-centered if they are to succeed in developing a positive doctor-patient relationship.  This is essential for retaining patients in the practice, the acceptance of treatment recommendations, and in managing risk in today's litigious social climate.  Patient-centered care is now a matter of providing quality care in terms of the performance of dental procedures coupled with a caring manner in which those procedures are performed.