Parking-Lot Dentistry Finding Its Niche
Samantha Taube stepped out of the MGM Grand into the bright sun to walk to the parking lot. After a short distance, she approached a trailer, entered, sat in a dentist’s chair and had her teeth cleaned.
Down on the Strip, Beverly Egan, a poker dealer at the Stardust Resort and Casino, sat in air-conditioned comfort, in another mobile dental office restfully decorated in pale blue amid menacing power drills and X-ray equipment. Ms. Egan had popped out to have X-rays taken before scheduled dental work. She, too, appreciated the convenience.
The mobile units are courtesy of On-Site Dental, a Las Vegas company founded seven years ago by Chris Davenport, who is not a dentist but an entrepreneur. His company’s basic service combines technology, mobility and the American penchant for saving time.
On-Site Dental owns two trailers, each fitted with two dental offices in which dentists and hygienists see about 1,000 patients every Monday through Saturday in the parking lots of 11 casinos in Las Vegas.
Most of the patients are employees covered by the casinos’ dental insurance plans, which pay up to 80 percent of the costs of most dentistry. Entertainment headliners and chorus line troupers, who may have the greatest need for dazzling smiles, are contract employees with their own insurance. No plans pay for cosmetic work, like veneers and tooth capping.
Photo by Jared McMillen.
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