This month, several dental industry leaders spoke with Becker's about the most pressing issues and trends in the field, including DSO consolidation, cybersecurity threats and medical-dental integration.
Here are is what six dental leaders told us in June:
The process behind Sage Dental's 'opportunistic' acquisition strategy
Jim Mizouni. Chief Development Officer at Sage Dental (Boca Raton, Fla.): We’ve also observed a slight effect of over-saturation in highly competitive markets. Recruitment remains intensely competitive, with more entities looking to expand into attractive markets than there are available doctors, hygienists, dental assistants and specialists. To succeed, it's crucial to become the employer of choice, attracting and retaining top clinical talent.
We anticipate some competitive consolidation, with disciplined DSOs like Sage potentially gaining market share by acquiring practices from struggling competitors. Additionally, technology is a critical dynamic for future positioning. We are investing in AI technologies and testing 3D printing to facilitate services that enhance patient care, such as same-day crowns, and to positively impact lab costs and structures.
The growing threat dentists may not be prepared for
Huzefa Kapadia, DDS. Detroit Sterling Dental and Kapadia Dental Care (Waterford, Mich.): If they can hack into these larger systems that are much more complicated than a dental office, I think most general dentists are probably not prepared at all to deal with something like that. I'm assuming most maybe wouldn't even pay. If it's a very significant sum of money, they'd just be like, "Okay, well I don't think I can pay this." I don't know what we would do at that point. It's a problem if all your patient records are electronic.
This DSO doesn't want to buy your practice
Angela Weber, president of Smilebliss Orthodontics (Metairie, La.): I think DSOs were focused on the next acquisition. Now, what we're seeing is DSOs are tightening their belts. They've slowed their acquisitions and are trying to streamline their existing portfolio for efficiency. They may realize, "Okay, I've got 200 locations, but I've got 200 locations doing things 200 different ways." So they're starting to shore up their own house and determine what services they will provide. [We've been] hearing a lot of doctors saying, "I have the same problems now that I had prior to selling, but now I don't have as much control to solve them. I'm kind of just sitting around waiting for somebody else to solve them." There's now this realization that maybe a DSO doesn't solve all of the problems. We're all going to have the same challenges: bringing on talented people, training them, dealing with the turnover and getting new patients in the door. That's where we spent much time and energy building our model, the marketing, consulting and operational playbook so any Smilebliss employee understands and believes in the mission. "Smilebliss" says it all. That's what we want. Smilebliss inherently brings a strong foundation for a doctor to build a team and positive culture. Our consultants help practice owners have the right people in the right roles so they are ready for growth because growth will come.
The trend concerning 1 dentist
Abdallah Awada, DDS. ClearChoice Dental Implant Center (Ann Arbor, Mich.): We're noticing a significant spike in the commoditization of dental implant treatment in the U.S. [There's] an ever-increasing focus on price and speed above everything else, which both are very important factors in access to care and treatment success, [but] I believe delivering treatment to a patient in a timely manner is equally as important as calling the treatment a success, doing the right treatment, putting the teeth in the correct place, having integrated implants and all of that. To make the focus almost solely on [price and speed] can sometimes be a disservice to the patient. That is something I always keep front of mind as I adopt innovations for patients and as I work to deliver them this care in a more affordable and timely manner, is to make sure that at no point in this process are we compromising treatment outcomes, success, precision [or] customization simply for the sake of treating the process as a commodity.
Why 2 MDs testified before a Senate committee about oral healthcare
Myechia Minter-Jordan, MD. President and CEO of the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health: Dental health is more than a nice smile. We want people to understand it has incredibly significant impacts on overall health and wellbeing. We want people to understand that chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, dementia and adverse birth outcomes all have a direct correlation with oral health. We want them to also understand that dental disease can threaten family financial stability. It can keep children home from school and adults from being able to work. It can cause pain that is incredibly debilitating that people cannot activate in terms of their own activities of daily living. We want our healthcare system to be holistic and integrated so that we as patients and as people in this country can have improved overall health outcomes and we can continue to reduce the cost of care in this country.
Why 1 dentist decided to get a medical degree
Lisa Simon, MD, DMD. Associate physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston): There are so many ways to do this, and arguably going to medical school is the least direct or longest way to do it. For me, a big part of it was that being a proceduralist, a dentist who can put your hands on someone and make a change in their bodies was really valuable, but I also wanted to have space within my clinical life to address and acknowledge all these things that were coming up along the margins that dentistry wasn't equipped to handle. Patients told me they were having a really difficult experience at home, or if their blood sugar was really high, or if their blood pressure was really high, I wanted to think about those things too. So from a personal perspective, maybe I learned that as much as I loved practicing dentistry, I really wanted to be somebody's primary care provider too.