Independent consultancy firm Crowe has found that dentists in private practice who are IDA members save between €955 and €2,136 per year, due to exclusive financial benefits, compared to non-members.

Following an extensive review of IDA membership benefits, Crowe confirmed that “most dentists can expect to at a minimum save the cost of their membership fee and typically considerably more.”

Non-members are consequently paying more and missing out on benefits worth over €2,000 per annum in many cases.

Value for Money

Last year, the Irish Dental Association asked Crowe to undertake an external review and validation of the financial and other benefits of IDA membership for private dentists to demonstrate the value for money of the membership fee. A separate exercise on the benefits for public service dentists will be undertaken next.

The report from Crowe depicts the financial advantages of membership through real-life examples and validated data. The examples were drawn from a range of practice types and locations, involving interviews with dentists in some instances, to illustrate the impact of the Association membership for different circumstances.

Crowe note that IDA have negotiated a number of cost-effective commercial services which can be of financial benefit to their members. These financial deals are exclusive to IDA members and cannot be availed of by non-members.

These include (but are not limited to):

• Discounted credit card merchant services
• Discounted continuous professional development (CPD) courses
• Discounted landline and broadband packages
• Discounted Professional Indemnity Insurance fee
• Income protection
• Insurance
• Access to confidential advice
• Reduced advertising rates in the IDA journal and website

Click here to view the range of discounts and benefits available to IDA members.

According to the Crowe report, “all the dentists interviewed expressed that they felt that they were financially better off by being a member of the IDA than if they were not members.”

Having reviewed a number of scenarios and locations, they concluded that private dentists who are IDA members save between €955 and €2,136 per year compared to non-members.

Representation remains a key issue

When asked by Crowe to rank the benefits of membership of the IDA, dentists indicated that “Representation of the profession in negotiations with Government Departments, HSE and other relevant bodies” was a top reason for their IDA membership.

“This suggests that while the financial benefits are important to members, the representation that the Association offers members at a national level is of significant importance and is the principal reason why many join the IDA in the first instance”, according to the report.