This month, several dental industry leaders spoke with Becker's about their strategies for growth, the presidential election and the biggest challenges facing DSOs.
Here are is what seven dental leaders told us in September:
ClearChoice dentist combines clinical excellence, passion to transform patient care
Dr. Elfatih Eisa. Dental practice owner at ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers (Greenwood Village, Colo.): What inspired me to lead this new center is a passion that is deeply rooted in me for helping people. Over the years, I’ve developed specialized skills in implant dentistry and managing complex cases related to TMJ and orofacial pain, and it’s incredibly fulfilling to know I can make a real difference in the lives of my patients. The ability to restore not only function but also confidence through these treatments drives me every day. Watching my mentors, who have been able to extend their expertise and compassion to patients in need, has been a significant source of inspiration. Their commitment to improving patient care has shown me the true impact of what it means to lead a practice with purpose and dedication.
The biggest asset for Aspen Dental
Jaclyn Tomsic, DMD, MD. Oral surgeon at Aspen Dental (Chicago): The biggest advantage Aspen has is the continuing education they offer their doctors. We have The Aspen Group [University] and the clinic in Chicago. There's a huge educational center there where they offer educational credits pretty much year round. Obviously, you have to travel to Chicago for that, but it's open to all Aspen doctors. We also have resources online for online CE credits. Specifically for specialists, we also have a dedicated implant team ... So there are a lot of resources they provide to their doctors to stay up to date. That's a huge asset to the company because as a healthcare worker, we're dedicating our lives to be lifelong learners, so to have all of that available to us is really great.
Imagen Dental Partners' unique strategy for driving inorganic growth
Andrew Jones. COO at Imagen Dental Partners (Scottsdale, Ariz.): A number of groups use debt to grow, and in environments where you're struggling to grow organically, it becomes more difficult to service that debt. So one of the differentiators for Imagen is we don't use debt in that way, and that allows us to be more aggressive in our ability to grow, which is [why] inorganic growth has not slowed down during this time period.
Voters care about dentistry – why the candidates should too
Melissa Burroughs. Director of policy at the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health: I think for a long time, policy makers weren't talking about oral health issues, just because it was kind of a forgotten issue, one that really wasn't getting attention across the board. There's definitely been more conversation around this, with a lot of policy makers trying to make the most of that conversation moving forward on rural health once it was clear how popular these issues were.
The new challenge for DSOs in 2024
Avi Weisfogel. CEO at Freedom Dental Partners: You have to understand the specifics of what banks are looking for, and if you don't, you'll never get it off the ground. Then, it's all right, where's our funding coming from going forward? How are we going to go ahead and monetize this, where every DSO wants to acquire practices. Where does the money come from? If you don't put your structure together properly and have a solid track record of how you're going to do business, again, where's the money going to come from when you want to go out and acquire practices? It just isn't there … If we look at the real struggles, I'm going to prepare this structure with the idea that we want to have some type of investment here, so we can start to take some chips off of the table. Rather than having 100% of my assets sitting in this specific stock, maybe some of those chips come off the table. If you haven't planned that properly, you probably never will be able to take one chip off of the table, and then everyone's gone. Maybe their life was better working together, but the goal wasn't just to work together. The goal was to work together to create something special. So it's understanding this market that is everything right now.
How 1 healthcare veteran is elevating oral surgeon success
Brian Lawson. Vice President of Business Development at Max Surgical Specialty Management (Hackensack , N.J.): Max is unique in that it's a true surgeon-led and surgeon-empowered organization, and I believe we have an opportunity to build something truly special and differentiated in this industry that will last a long time. A key factor in achieving success will be to get the message out about what makes us different. So one of my initial goals is simply to meet and build relationships with all of our surgeons to fully engage them in the business development process so we can lock arms and help build an organization composed of blue chip, growth-oriented surgeons who are aligned with how we see the world. Max's focus on partnering with oral surgeons within the Northeast region provides a truly unique operational support system for our practices that no other organization in this space can offer, and gives practices that are already having success some extra support to allow them to reach their full potential.
Why DSO expansion benefits from de novo practices
Jim Mizouni. Senior Vice President And Chief Development Officer at Sage Dental (Boca Raton, Fla.): The key to successfully entering a new market, especially with de novos, is establishing your brand as quickly as possible. This involves recruiting outstanding team members, as well as clearly articulating your brand differentiation to potential patients through both paid and non-paid marketing channels.