Why must dental specialists do direct-to-public marketing rather than relying on referring doctors for big cases? Because the referring general practices are not marketing for big cases themselves, so the big-case patients are not entering those practices in the first place, and the few who are there often get mishandled before any referral happens. The chain breaks at the source. Most generalists run referral-friendly practices but do not actively market for full-mouth reconstructive, complex implant, sedation, or major aesthetic patients. The patient base sitting in those practices skews routine. Even when a big-case-candidate patient is present, the generalist often does not [...]