What is the advantage cycle for new dental procedures and how long does it typically last?
The window during which a new procedure provides marketing differentiation to early adopters before word spreads across the profession and the differentiation erodes. Each iteration of new technique or technology has its own advantage cycle, and the cycles are getting shorter because information now travels faster among dentists. Three procedures from recent years illustrate the curve. Fast Ortho still has years of advantage cycle remaining because most dentists have not yet adopted it or feel uncomfortable offering it. Facelift Dentures similarly sit in a period of meaningful differentiation for early-adopting practices. The Pinhole Surgical Technique for gingival recession sits earlier in its cycle and is still in the infancy phase of advantage. Surgically inclined practitioners considering new differentiators have a real opportunity to capture early-cycle gains before broader adoption commoditizes the technique. The general lesson is to watch the profession for new procedures, evaluate them on clinical merit and patient appeal, and adopt the ones that fit before the advantage window closes. Late adoption of a now-commoditized technique offers no marketing benefit.
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