From airplane crashes to dental chairs: When finance takes the controls (instead of those who know how to fly)
We’ve all seen the images of the Air India crash in 2025.
There are few words for such a tragedy. But major accidents are rarely isolated events; they’re the result of choices, detours, and small compromises accumulated over time.
Let’s rewind.
For decades, Boeing was a company built by engineers for engineers. Its motto? “Engineer the answers.” Leadership had a technical mindset focused on safety, innovation, and quality.
Then came the turning point: the 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas. The new CEO, Harry Stonecipher, wasn’t an engineer—he was a financial executive. His message was clear: “We’re not going to be an engineering company anymore. We’re going to run it like a business.”
From that moment on, the priority shifted from building perfect planes to maximizing profits. And the price of that shift came with interest:
- 2018–2019: Two 737 Max disasters (Indonesia and Ethiopia)
- 2020: Boeing admits to manipulating the MCAS certification
- 2024: Another serious commercial incident
- 2025: The Air India crash closes the loop. The engineers are finally back—too late.
In dentistry, we’re watching a disturbingly similar pattern unfold. More and more clinics are opened and run by investors—not dentists. Cut-price deals, free checkups, “hygiene for 19 euros” draw in patients who end up receiving unnecessary treatments or dangerous shortcuts.
When conservative care is “too slow,” extraction and implant placement becomes the fast, profitable route. But placing an implant properly isn’t easy: bone and gums recede, natural contours are lost, and without skillful management, the result is long, artificial-looking smiles.
Meanwhile, the corporate dental chains collapse:
- Dentix: bankrupt in 2020, 57 clinics closed, thousands of patients abandoned
- Idea Sorriso: same year
- Rimini Dental Center: collapsed in 2014
- Doctor Dent: shut down in 2025
- Visodent: rapid closures across Sicily (2025)
When the people in charge only look at Excel sheets, this is what happens—straight into a crash. Sometimes there are no bad intentions; it’s just a lack of understanding. But the damage is the same: patients suffer, families are misled, trust is lost.
Every safe landing begins with a well-planned takeoff.
In aviation—and in dentistry—what matters most is who’s flying the plane.
Doing dentistry right doesn’t guarantee perfection—every mouth is unique, and every case is a challenge. But when the wrong people are at the controls, problems aren’t a possibility—they’re a certainty.
And you don’t need a black box to figure that out.
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in Perio-Implant Advisory, a chairside resource for dentists and hygienists that focuses on periodontal- and implant-related issues. Read more articles and subscribe to the newsletter.
