Mediadontics FAQs (frequently-asked questions)

Mediadontics, dentistry's first infomediary, was founded in 1989 as HBI International. In 2001, the name was changed to better represent the company's business of publishing and providing data solutions relating to the dental sector. We manage and operate our own data warehouse from our Southern California office.

The word "infomediary" was coined by John Hagel in his 1996 article entitled "The Coming Battle for Customer Information" in the Harvard Business Review. It is a combination of the words "information" and "intermediary" and describes the business of using data to match parties with compatible goals or interests. For example, Mediadontics uses information to match dental consumers with practices. We also match practices with services and suppliers.

1-800-DENTIST advertises on behalf of dental practices. It then refers prospective patients who call the toll free number to its client practices. Since 1-800-DENTIST is an advertising agency, it has profiles on its clients only. Mediadontics, on the other hand, profiles all US and Canadian dental professionals and practices, without limitation or bias.

Dental Products Reports is also a cooperative advertising service. It distributes advertising to dentists and others, primarily in its trade publications. In addition, Dental Products Reports sells its subscriber lists to suppliers and services but, since it collects little information about its subscribers and confirms even less, this service is of limited use for targeting.

Our information is aggregated from many public and private sources including licensing authorities, dental organizations, directories, schools, hospitals, insurance companies, and others. We also conduct surveys via direct mail, telephone, and online. Our data center operates around the clock and our information is often updated several times a day.

No! We find spam to be repulsive and will not sell, trade or give away email addresses; however, if your product or service is relevant to dentistry and of superior quality and reputation, you may submit a proposal for inclusion in our Newsletter and or request a targeted distribution to some or all dentists (and/or practices) in our database who have opted in.

Actually we license data. The difference is more than semantics.

First, a mailing list is nothing more than names and addresses. As one can see at WebDentistry.com, which uses a lite version of our database, our data is much more than just names and addresses. For marketing professionals, the distinction, and the benefit of in-depth profiling, is quite obvious.

The second difference is that our data is not for sale. Our database is copyrighted and we retain ownership and the right to control how it is used. We have good reason to take care how our licensed data is used and will not tolerate its abuse as such would ultimately reflect on us and diminish the quality of information made available to us. If your reputation is good, your purpose is acceptable, and your method is above reproach, we will probably license data for your purpose.

We license data in many forms including databases of all sizes and in just about any format. We've licensed custom databases designed for practice brokers, dental suppliers, dental laboratories, schools, financial managers, continuing education providers, insurance companies, professional organizations, directory services, and advertising agencies.

If you are not currently using a mainframe, you probably don't need one. Let us know what you want to do and we can help you. We've designed "mini" databases for use in Palm and other types of PDAs as well as databases for corporate mainframes.

Several years ago we were approached by a publicly traded dental practice management company. At their request, we designed a mini database for each recruiter to use while in the field. Since then we have been building mini databases for recruiters, sales reps, and others who need access to data when they are away from their desk and can't connect wirelessly.

Yes, but some uses may require an additional license. You can host a licensed database on your own server, you can host a licensed database on one of our servers, or you can purchase a subscription to a shared database that we host and manage.

Lists and databases are individually priced by: size (e.g. 1,000 practices vs. 10,000 practices); scope (e.g. addresses only, fax numbers, credit score, etc.); source (e.g. email, download, diskette, mailing labels, etc.); and subscription (e.g. single use, unlimited use, etc.).

Our core business is defined by our custom data services. These services are competitively priced against other comparable services but, since our level of quality is so high, we're sure you'll agree that Mediadontics delivers much more for your money.

For smaller businesses or for enterprises trying data for the first time, we have a variety of low cost "off-the-shelf" solutions which you can license via our online store. If you don't find what you want at the online store, call us at (626) 921-4227 because we have many off-the shelf solutions which are not listed online.

Mediadontics offers a host of data services including background and credential research. Hospitals and academic institutions do their due diligence and likewise a dentist's reputation can be harmed by association with the wrong party. We therefore strongly recommend dentists request information on other dentists prior to hiring, associating, partnering, or buying a practice.

We will match or beat any written quote or advertised price for a comparable data product. For further information, call us at (626) 921-4227.