I wrote earlier about a letter I received from a Clear Choice attorney in September, 2009, threatening me to not mention their company in my blog. Instead, I continued to post complaints I had solicited from people who had visited Clear Choice clinics, and added comments that it appeared that Clear Choice was trying to silence those complaints.
On April 15, 2010, I received a call from Denver, from Stephen Boyd, the CEO of Clear Choice, with a different approach. He was concerned about the posting of complaints. But rather than being confrontational, he was friendly. He talked about some things that we had in common, and went on to explain the philosophy under which his company operated, and then offered to me a tour of their Phoenix facility by one of the two dentists there.
It was interesting, because they had clearly been talking about me at their headquarters, wondering how to handle the complaints I was posting, and he had done some research into my background.
When I got through with the phone call, I reflected on the wisdom of his approach. I am not one who responds to intimidation. It arouses my suspicions and steels my resolve to uncover the corruption that intimidation tactics try to conceal. It’s much better to just discuss difference in ideas and ideals, and often some understanding can be reached.
I disagree with Clear Choice’s approach. But after talking with Mr. Boyd, I feel less antagonistic about those disagreements. They tend to recommend that a patient have all remaining teeth extracted and then have the All-on-4 technique to anchor an implant overdenture. I would encourage a patient to save as many teeth as they can. Mr. Boyd said that often, when that is done, the patient has to come back in a few years and have those teeth extracted. With the Clear Choice approach, he said, they have the one procedure and they are hopefully done for life. Okay, I can understand that. I disagree, but I understand.
I decided to take him up on his offer to take a tour of their Phoenix facility. Stay tuned for another blog posting where I report on that tour.
- David Hall