New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Dental365 is determined to build on its commitment of advancing dentistry in the future as the company celebrates its 10-year anniversary.
Dental365 has grown to support more than 130 practices across New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Founder and CEO Scott Asnis, DDS, and Joshua Gish, DDS, president of Leading Edge Specialized Dentistry, recently spoke with Becker's about Dental365's accomplishments and what the future holds for the DSO.
Editor's note: Responses were lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: What are some of the fundamentals that have led to Dental365's success and growth?
Dr. Scott Asnis: It's been a great 10 years and a lot of hard work. First and foremost, this company was founded and is still run by practicing dentists. We do have a very unique understanding of the day-to-day stresses that come from being a dentist. The fundamental that has led to our success is quite simple, we help dentists be successful. We do provide tremendous support to our dentists, like giving them access to our Dental365 University. We have a mentorship program and a fellowship program for our younger docs. Our belief is the best way to help our doctors is through experiential, hands-on learning. Dr. Gish and I are experienced private practice clinicians, and we stand out from the other platforms because we're unique. We understand consumerism in dentistry, and really what that means is that we develop and deliver evidence-based dentistry that uses the highest clinical protocols, and we treat every patient like they're special, providing an exceptional experience from the minute they walk in the office.
Q: Dr. Gish, it has been said that you're building a dental health ecosystem. I would love to hear how you define that and how that has created synergies in the business.
Dr. Joshua Gish: It's something we really believe is changing the face of dentistry, and it's been very successful for our business. We think of a dental health ecosystem as a network of dental professionals who are positioned to protect the integrity of dental care a patient receives throughout their entire dental health span. So we're providing access to high quality dental care by general dentists and then every specialty within dentistry as well. The ecosystem we nurtured with Dental365 and Leading Edge Specialized Dentistry really improves access to care. It elevates the clinical outcomes we're able to provide, and it creates a seamless patient experience, which is very important to us, and that's regardless of the treatment complexity. We know who patients are referred to, what they're referred for, what treatment was performed, and even down to what the clinical outcome is. It allows us to make sure patients are treated the way that they deserve.
Q: Dr. Asnis, can you talk a little bit more about how being dentist-led and dentist-founded has shaped Dental365 over the course of the company's 10 years?
SA: It has shaped our business in that our focus is on supporting our doctors so they can provide the standard of care to patients. Dentistry is hard, and doing good dentistry is even harder. The patients are always our first concern. To help our doctors to achieve the standard of care, we have a three-prong approach. We as dentists have a great continuing education program, the Dental365 University. We have our more mature dentists help mentor in a mentoring program, and for our younger docs, a fellowship program. Many of our premier dentists who have joined us are able to mentor the next generation of dentists. It's allowed us to have high standards and give good clinical care. Most recently, we've had a fellowship program for the newest doctors, and this has been a great success for us. It’s allowed them the opportunity to watch and learn from some of the best clinicians in the seven states we’re in.
Q: We have heard that Dental365 is very selective when it comes to adding practices. Can you share a bit more about that?
JG: The truth is that we’re a true integrated platform. We’ve got definitive ideas on what it takes to provide outstanding clinical outcomes. We align our doctors to be true partners who are invested in the success of our offices. We’ve actually said no to over 300 practices in the past year because we strive to protect our office mission of high-quality dental care delivered in state-of-the-art facilities. It’s important to us that we have real transparency with our acquisition doctors. We always give them true, informed consent about what our expectations are, what’s going to change, what’s not going to change, and that just nails in the values we hold so dear. We don't want to put people in positions to fail, and sometimes that means admitting they're not a good fit for us and we're not a good fit for them. We consider ourselves to truly be very fortunate to have the opportunity to speak to so many dental professionals in our region who want to be a part of changing dentistry with what we're doing at Dental365, and we're really proud of the selective nature of our business.
Q: What might make a practice not a good fit for the company? Are there factors like practice size or revenue that you take into consideration?
JG: I wouldn't say we have any definitive metrics about size of the practice or revenue. That's not what's important to us. What's important to us is that they're going to be good partners of ours, that they want to come on this journey with us and really elevate dentistry. We're not looking to buy a practice and have somebody move on. We really want them to be our partners and be willing to understand our mission of exceptional patient experiences and outstanding clinical outcomes.
Q: Dr. Asnis, what are some of the key milestones you're most proud of when you're looking back at the company's last 10 years?
SA: Dr. Gish and I are proud of so many accomplishments. In less than 10 years, we grew from one location in Brooklyn, N.Y., to now approaching 140 locations in seven states. Thirty percent of our supported offices are actually specialty offices. We're able to support successful offices in urban, rural and suburban locations. We do this without sacrificing the fundamental principles that Dr. Gish and I keep talking about, of clinical excellence with a great, frictionless patient experience from start to finish. As soon as they walk in the office, it starts. We've also embraced new technology to benefit our patients' care and for great oral health. It's very important. Most recently, we've begun to train our doctors as oral physicians, using saliva testing as a diagnostic tool. We strongly believe salivary testing will be part of the future of the standard of care.
Q: Dr. Gish, what does the future hold for Dental365?
JG: It's fair to say that no matter what the technological advancements are in the next 10-20 years, healthcare will always be about patients, and that's never going to change. We're truly in the people business, and we hold that very dear to our heart. We're not only navigating our way through patient-focused dental care, but we're guiding the future. We're really stewards of our profession. We're committed to an excellent patient experience and outstanding clinical outcomes, and also to implementing these paradigm-changing technologies like saliva testing. We're pushing the field of dentistry. We've really created a company of like-minded dental professionals and provided them a pathway to professional success. Our practice model and our clinical philosophy is really what's going to propel Dental365 to shine through what we expect to be a great consolidation of dental providers in the near future. We've proven that we've been able to rehabilitate ailing dental platforms, and we create value by implementing our core values to our doctors and to our patients. The truth is, the best is yet to come. We have a lot ahead of us.