North Carolina dentist legally changes his name to keep practice on top

APEX, N.C. (WPVI) -- How far would you go to be better than the competition? One dentist in North Carolina went to extreme measures to make sure his dental practice stayed on top.

David Draper legally changed his name to "David Better" so he could keep the name of his dental practice, "Better Dental."

David started Better Dental in Apex four years ago. After just a few months, local dentists were complaining to the North Carolina Dental Board about his practice's name.

"They were claiming to the dental board that our name, 'Better Dental', gave us an unfair advantage in the marketplace," David said. "That people were coming to us because of our name."

The board launched an investigation and ordered David to change his business name, shut down his website, and change his logo.

"We had a lot of branding, a lot of money, and a lot of effort and a lot of belief and faith in the notion of Better Dental," David says.

At the hearing, one of the dental board investigators told David, "Hey it's a shame your name isn't Better. Your name is always fair game."

That gave David the idea. He talked to his attorney and his wife and decided to legally change his last name to Better so he could keep the name "Better Dental" forever.

"(My wife) was not fully on board at first, to say the least," David said. David's wife and children still go by the name Draper. David also admits he has a hard time remembering he's David Better.

"I introduce myself still as Dr. David Draper, just how I've been doing it for many years now. To say 'Dr. Better' takes me a minute."