I am frequently struck by how rarely the older woman is portrayed in the media, particularly when it comes to personal services like dental care.

In family dentistry, the all-too-common imagery involves children. For example, posters in bus shelter or flyers in the mail from dental offices use a young family or just as often, young kids on a swing.

This approach ignores the fundamentals of demographics and income distribution in North American and European economies. The reality is that older women are now more numerous in many communities than children, have far more funding available for dental services, and generally are more in need of dental care.

Yet, because of the conventional imagery used by dentistry, this critical and growing segment often feels over-looked and misunderstood by the family dental office.

So says Bridget Brennan in her book Why She Buys (Crown Business Publishing, New York, 2011). Brennan makes a convincing case that gender is more powerful to purchasing services such as dentistry, than age, income or race. She also contends that the “Dr. Mom” effect is under-appreciated by many services. Women often assume the role of primary caregiver and healthcare manager for their families. They are the ones to encourage their husbands to see a doctor or a dentist; indeed, it is reported that 80% of family healthcare decisions are made by women.

Brennan gives several strategies for pitching more to these influential consumers and given their importance, one wonders why we don’t see more of her approach. Perhaps it is because the art directors in advertising firms are young men, or perhaps it is just continuation of the same old same old stock photos and conventional thinking.

For our community advertising program of Prevora, we tested many images and messages for the older woman. We have found the landscape painted by Brennan. Older women feel left out, unappreciated or ignored; they rarely report their dental professional caters to their special needs. They often resent the cosmetic promotions and the focus on other types of patients at their dentist. “What about me and what about my wish to keep my teeth for life?” is a good synopsis of our market research.

So, the Prevora newspaper inserts which advertise this new preventive service for the high risk adult, takes a fresh approach. We use real life older people in our ads, and convey their particular wishes for dental care. Hopefully, we will start to give recognition to Dr. Mom.

Ross Perry