The Group Dentistry Now Show: The Voice of the DSO Industry – Episode 5

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Full Transcript

Bill Neumann:
I’d like to welcome George Radigan of North American Dental Group to the Group Dentistry Now show. George is the Vice President of business development at North American Dental Group. He’s a proven leader in the dental industry. He has been involved in the space for 10 years. He’s worked for three different dental practice management companies, and during those 10 years he’s been involved at over 250 different dental practice transitions, acquisitions. That’s from the larger groups to solo practices and everything in between, so George has a lot of experience and has seen quite a bit when it comes to different types of practices and how they fit into different DSOs and different dental groups.

Bill Neumann:
George currently is leading the development team at North American Dental Group. North American has, currently, 200 locations and they are in 11 states and probably going to grow beyond that real soon. George welcome to the show. Like to just thank you for being here and giving us some words of wisdom and advice to the solo docs and then some of the emerging groups that may be able to take some information and use it to their benefit.

George Radigan:
Great, thank you. I appreciate the intro and thanks for having me.

Bill Neumann:
Sure. So why don’t you give us a little background on North American, maybe take us a little bit from the founding and then kind of to current day and what the vision is.

George Radigan:
Yeah, sure. We started back, actually the first practice started on Halloween of 2008 so coming up on our eleventh year quickly approaching here. We actually started in northeast Ohio, really in the Youngstown region. It started as a buy-in employee typical DSO model where we’d look for the retiring doctor and try to phase new doctors in as that doctor sunset and went into retirement. But we really went into the DSO 1.0 model is what we call it, where we continue to canvas the area. So, we really grew up in northeast Ohio, western PA. As we continued to scale the model evolved over time, and I’m sure we’ll get into that of where we are now, but it really started as a true startup in every sense of the word.

George Radigan:
Our original resource center was in the basement of one of our practices. We were literally working off card tables and egg crates, and as that evolved, we moved next door. Had a larger resource center that we outgrew. Now, headquartered in New Castle with, you know, starting from mods beginnings where we had three, four teammates, to now we have over 250 team mates that support our group. And like you said, 200 practices across 11 different states and quickly growing.

Bill Neumann:
Yeah, that’s amazing. When did things start? What year was that?

George Radigan:
That was the first practice was October 31st of 2008.

Bill Neumann:
2008, okay. So, 11 years. Well, almost.

George Radigan:
Right, yeah.

Bill Neumann:
Tell us a little bit about your background. I mentioned when I introduced you that you have 10 years of experience on the practice management side of things. So, those were other DSOs. Can you give us a little bit about your background?

George Radigan:
Yeah, actually I fell into dentistry. So, after I graduated from college in Ohio I moved up to Boston and went there to play baseball quite honestly. And, got injured. Then, got an internship at a dental implant company called Bi Con implants. So, that was a great experience. I was basically a summer intern and had exposure to all facets of the business from where they were actually performing surgeries. They had CE courses. They had labs. Obviously, they were shipping implants. So, I got a full exposure to at least the dental implant side.

George Radigan:
Then, I ended up moving back home to Cleveland, where I’m from, and ended up getting a job working with a company called First Pacific that helped provide practice management services to private dental practices and financing options. That’s actually where I met Ken, Ken Cooper, who is our CEO. So Ken actually was buying one of my current client’s out of Camp Field, Ohio, which was, I believe, the second location of, at that time, Refresh Dental. So, that’s where I initially met Ken. He and I developed a strong friendship and bond, and shortly thereafter I ended up leaving my position at First Pacific, joined Ken. And was with Ken from the tail end of 2008 til the beginning of ’13.

George Radigan:
In that time we went from two to 35/40-ish dental practices all, again, kind of within the northeast Ohio, western PA market. We completed our first capital deal with Aubrey at the time. Then, looking back on it, it’s a little humbling because at the time I was in my late 20s. Decided the grass was greener, so I ended up actually leaving the company almost immediately after our initial capital deal within six months. Then, I went and spent some time several years at Midwest Dental. So, it was an interesting dynamic going from a true startup company to Midwest Dental, who arguably had the most formalized acquisition structure there was in the industry. Very, very, very, very regulated. Very organized, just really a machine. So, I had a lot of great experience and exposure there but they, you know, Midwest specializes in solo practice acquisition.

George Radigan:
So, I spent some time at Midwest and then, one thing led to another and I ended up several years later at great expressions. It was also kind of a unique learning experience for me. So, I went from a startup to Midwest and when I joined Midwest, we probably had around 100 locations at the time. Then, flipping over to Great Expressions who had over 200 locations when I joined, and had a different model than Midwest, had a different model than any DG going after more group practices, and supplementing them with solo practices. And looking for more of a turnaround route deal. So, it was unique getting the experience from small to medium to large.

George Radigan:
Then, eventually after helped Great Expressions see through a recap with Work Capital in September of ’16. Then, came back to North American Dental Group in February of ’17. So, I did the long way around to end up back to really where I call home.

Bill Neumann:
Sure. That’s a good story though, and you got some really great experience along the way. Certainly benefits what you’re doing now.

George Radigan:
Absolutely.

Bill Neumann:
Tell me a little bit about North American Dental Group, and why North American might be a little bit different than what most would consider a traditional DSO.

George Radigan:
Yeah. Great question. So, like I alluded to earlier, we really evolved over time. So, we started with the traditional, what we call a DSO 1.0, where we would go after the retiring doctor that had two, three, four years left. We would buy, acquire that practice. I use the word buy in this scenario because that’s what we would do. We would buy the practice and then, have the doctor work back, supplement an associate. That model works well. It just, we figured there was a better way to operate.

George Radigan:
So, as we grew over time and we really completed our first partnership with Corner Dental in Toledo, Ohio. We found that there was a little bit different dynamic with groups, and then, there was a lot more buy in with the doctors that had some type of equity partnership in the group. So, we quickly sat down and tried to evolve what we had to try to be on the front edge of where we thought the market was going. So, we really morphed from more of a buy in employee strategy to really what we do now, is we really look for partnership within the doctors.

George Radigan:
so, where we’re unique is we’re not looking… we’re not necessarily looking for the doctor that only wants to work two, three, four years. In certain situations, certain cases, that may work, but for the majority, we’re looking for the good mid-career doctor that wants to be part of something bigger. We’re not buying them out, we’re partnering with them. So, yes there is some monetization of their business where they get some money on the front end to stock away as a reward for what they’ve built. Then, there’s an equity role component where that doctor has the ability to take an equity portion into the parent company of NADG. Then, they’re able to partake in the growth of the company, and realize the wins that everyone else, all the other doctor partners realize that when we have our capital events.

George Radigan:
What we found there is the doctors have much more buy in. They’re an owner in the entire business, there’s a higher sense of pride in operating. There’s a clear delineation between a partner doctor, and a non-partner doctor. Then, we also offer other avenues where we really view the market as the doctors are the people that drive the success of the business. So, how do we get and retain the most talented doctors and keep them happy within the organization?

George Radigan:
We also came up with a program, what we call Path to Partnership, for our associate doctors that may not necessarily have the capital to invest in the company. We have mechanisms where we’re able to finance equity ownership for these younger doctors, again to give them the ability to become an owner and a partner. We treat the company very much like a public business, so our doctors get quarterly statements on how their stock is performing. We have biannual partner meetings with all of our doctor partners, and that’s honestly just a very humbling event. Where we started, the first partner meeting was around an eight-chair board table, to our last partner meeting we had in April with at Dense Fly in Charlotte. They were nice enough to let us use their facilities in Charlotte there. We had over 300 people at our partner meeting there.

George Radigan:
We currently have over about 100, a little over 150 doctor partners in the business. Our goal is to try to get all of our doctors eventually into partnership, and really just share what we’ve been able to build collectively as a group. And let them part take in the upside, along with everybody else.

Bill Neumann:
Yeah, that certainly sounds unique. So, just to kind of reiterate what you said. If I’m a doc that ends up affiliating with North American Dental Group, I have the opportunity to become a doctor partner and then, there’s also for associate docs that don’t have a practice to sell but want to earn in or work their way in, there’s an opportunity there as well?

George Radigan:
Absolutely, yeah. So, the associate doctors, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you the amount of student debt that these doctors are coming out with. So, how do we afford them the ability to become a partner and have ownership in the company? We’ve developed a mechanism where we can stake that for them, and allow them to pay that off over time. We also have a third vehicle of equity. Really the first option is that if you’re an owner doctor you can roll over equity and become a partner through your roll over. The second is the Path to Partnership equity. The third that we have is a joint venture model that we’ve developed, again, with our partners. It’s all very much a collaborative effort.

George Radigan:
Those doctors, after the initial transaction, have the ability to work in partnership with NADG, again, using all the resources that we’ve built up to continue to expand. Their name, their brand, their region, their vision really realize and enact what they wanted to do, and essentially, we just act as their background partner for them to continue to grow. And their financing partner, and really help them do what they’ve set out to do.

Bill Neumann:
That’s great. So, a lot of opportunity, just depends on what you want to do as a doc, right? Certainly, you want dentists that are committed to the business. Recruitment is probably at the top of the pain points for DSOs, right? Trying to retain and also to recruit docs is certainly a challenge. So, you give them some equity in the business, and things to shoot for. Certainly makes a lot of sense.

Bill Neumann:
So, beyond that, the doctor partnership aspect, you also have some other things that are a little bit unique, I think, from a DSO perspective. So, you have this unique relationship with the Cleveland Clinic. Can you talk a little bit about that?

George Radigan:
Yeah. Thank you for bringing that up. I should have brought that up earlier, but really one of the things we’re focused on is patient experience and making sure that we can deliver the best experience for all of our patients coming through our practices. So, with our proximity to the Cleveland Clinic, one of the things that we felt that they’ve done extremely well is training and teaching and leading with empathy. Quickly to kind of go over how they came about it is, Dr. Toby Cosgrow, who is the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic was giving the keynote address at a commencement speech. One of the students came up to him and asked him if he trains with empathy. The reality was the he kind of hit him on his heels and he knew they didn’t.

George Radigan:
She brought up the example that her father needed some type of cardiology work. Obviously, the Cleveland Clinic is the world leader in cardiology. She said, “We did our research and actually decided not to bring our father to the Cleveland Clinic because of you treating your patients as numbers and not as human beings.” That really set him back on his heels. So, they did a companywide initiative immediately to train their staff, and their team and everyone with empathy, and how to treat people as people.

George Radigan:
They partnered with a company called Root Learning that we’ve actually also partnered with. That is a key initiative that we’re kicking off towards the tail end of this year, where we’re mapping out the patient experience just like the Cleveland Clinic did. We’re making sure that from pulling up into the parking lot, from the marketing to how you’re greeted, to how you’re checked out, how you’re treated, how you’re addressed. Everything we’re delivering as best in class, and really trying to lead by example.

George Radigan:
One common theme that, I’m sure you hear at the conferences, is the common question is how big are you? How many practices do you have? How many doctors do you have? There’s really no one that’s out there saying you know, we’re trying to become the best in class. We’re trying to become the best providers, the best care givers. A lot of it is, we’re trying to be big, and that’s great. We’re trying to be best. And I don’t want to make the claim here that I think we’re the best in class, but I think we’re getting there.

George Radigan:
As one of my old college coaches taught me a long time ago, every day you get a little bit better or you get a little bit worse. And I think our team is consciously making decisions every single day to just make it a little bit better, a little bit better every single day. So, I’m real excited about the direction we’re heading, especially with this core focus on the patients.

Bill Neumann:
Yeah, that’s really interesting. I think you’re right, you do hear a lot about big. Grow, grow, grow, and sometimes that, unfortunately, is at the forefront. And some other things fall to the side. So, let’s maybe step back from North American Dental Group for a little bit and talk about overall, like what your experiences are when, whether it’s docs that you’re communicating with that may be interested in selling. You know, what are you hearing from them about maybe misconceptions about DSOs? What’s their thought process? Anythings that kind of stand out? Are there patterns that you hear that kind of bubble up to the top where dentists seem to really be right on, and they understand DSOs, or are they way off? Is there kind of a different education level depending on who you talk to?

George Radigan:
Yeah, I would say the evolution over the little over 10 years I’ve been doing this, and the education of the doctor is really night and day now. There’s still a lot of the misconceptions out there about what dental groups do and how we operate; where I get asked the question all the time of, you know, what’s my quota? Are you going to make me use cheap supplies? Are you going to make me take Medicaid? Are you going to dictate my insurance? Are you going to fire my staff?

George Radigan:
The reality is all the major DSOs, the well reputable larger dental groups, the reality is we all try to accomplish the same thing. We just have different ways of getting there, and no one is going to try to turn your practice into a Medicaid denture mill. No one is going to try to implement Medicaid if it’s not necessary in the practice. No one is going to come in and openly want to fire your entire staff. If any group wanted to make these types of substitutive changes in your practice then, there’s really no reason to even go into… to even buying the practice.

George Radigan:
And I get it, there are a lot of misconceptions out there based off scenarios that someone heard. But the reality is we’re trying to embrace what you’ve built and continue upon that, and really just help you grow your practice. And do it in a responsible manner.

Bill Neumann:
Okay. So, you think that dentists in general are a little bit more educated than they once were, but there still are some maybe things that they’ve heard that may not be 100%, or they may be true for a very small percentage of groups, but not the majority.

George Radigan:
Absolutely. I get asked the question all the time like, how do you compare to this group or how do you compare to this group? My answer is always the same is, like I know enough to be dangerous about that group, but I certainly don’t know enough to tell you exactly how they operate. So, I view my position and what I’m doing as I’m looking for the best transitional fit for the doctor if they’ve made the decision that they’d like to partner as part of a bigger group. I certainly always appreciate the opportunity to tell our story, and how we’re built, and to get into a little more of the details of that. And I encourage the doctors, if you want to go hear how some of the other groups are built or what their mission is, or how their model works then you should because you’re making a life changing decision and you should have the best information on hand to make that decision. The only way you can do that is by hearing everyone out.

Bill Neumann:
I think that’s fair. I mean, if you look at the different models that are out there, I think it can be difficult or a challenge for somebody who maybe knows a little bit, even if they are relatively well educated, and they’re looking to partner with, affiliate with, a DSO. The models are all strikingly different, and some aren’t. Some just have slight variations, which can even be more difficult to then make a decision. Some of it I think is relationship and how you feel about the people, right? The culture, who you’re going to be working with.

Bill Neumann:
So, what advice would you give maybe other DSOs or maybe other dental groups, some emerging groups, like how they can kind of differentiate themselves because I think it does get very confusing. There are more groups out there than ever before. So, how do you tend to vie for the same pool of practices that still exists?

George Radigan:
Right, great question. You’re right, the emerging group market is a $27 billion market and growing. It’s the fastest growing segment in our industry. When you look at the NADG model we partner with groups. We partner with these doctors, and if you look at our groups, none of them operate mechanically the exact same. But I can tell you that there’s one common thread throughout all the groups, is that they all want to be part of something bigger. They’re all extremely collaborative in a group environment. They want to do something to help grow, define, and change the industry in a better way. And they’re all doing that together.

George Radigan:
I can give you an example of Frank Nia, and Alex Tew in Atlanta run their business differently than Dr. Muhummand Mugged in Melbourne. Neither is right, neither is wrong. It’s their way of doing it, and it’s successful. What I would tell the emerging groups is know what you’re good at, and continue to do that. If you’re an MNA model, continue to do MNA. Do what you’re good at, continue to do that.

George Radigan:
And the main differentiating factor between good, bad and indifference, and great quite frankly, is the culture and the leadership that you build within your group. That’s what really attracts us to new groups is the culture, who they are as people, what they really want to do, and how they’re going to lead, and what their vision is of their future group. If we have alignment on that, on all the qualitative end, we’re quite certain we can make the quantitative and financial end work. We feel by partner with doctors that have that culture, that lead with empathy, that have built these groups that want to partner and be part of something bigger, those work out every single time.

Bill Neumann:
That’s great. That’s good advice. So, maybe take us through a little bit about… so, if I’m a dentist and I’m looking to affiliate with somebody, whether it’s North American Dental Group or another group. Can you take me through what the typical process would look like, and then, what a typical time frame might look like as well?

George Radigan:
Yeah, good question. So, most groups do run similar processes. Obviously, you’ll have the initial touch point. Typically a phone call. Followed by some type of diligence request. That’s usually the painful part, where you’re getting financials and practice reports, usually a CPA is involved. Then, typically the group will run their internal model, and come back with questions and clarification points.

George Radigan:
Then, this is usually where it differentiates between groups. So, they’ll either… what we do, depending on the situation, is we’ll either send an informal proposal, or offer if you will, that doesn’t need to be signed. So, the doctor has something tangible to review and sit down and think about. Or, we’ll send a letter of intent. So, the letter of intent obviously will regurgitate what the proposal says, just with a slight bit more legal ease.

George Radigan:
So, once we have a letter of intent signed, and you know, that dating phase is over, if you will. Where that doctor obviously has ample opportunity to come view our practices, come to our resource center, talk to me, talk to other doctors. We really think during that period, prior to a letter of intent, is making sure that there’s cultural alignment, that the doctor really does want to be a part of something bigger. And more importantly, that they’re comfortable with us because we’re going to be their future partners in business.

George Radigan:
So, that initial phase of getting up to a letter of intent, I can’t really quantify a time. I can tell you we’ve done that in several weeks to several years, depending on who that doctor is. It’s also important for us to make sure that that doctor’s financial situation would make the actual, eventual, transaction a win for that doctor. So, it’s important for us that they get a win on the front end to continue on the backend. So, getting up to the letter of intent, I really can’t give you an exact time frame.

George Radigan:
But from our letter of intent to closing, that’s when legal and all the… I lovingly call it death by 1,000 paper cuts. That’s when a lot of the clerical work starts, and from that process, you’re looking anywhere from 45 to 90 days, depending on the size of the group, of the practice, of the deal. So, there’s really no good time frame. I can tell you we’ve done a deal from start to finish, from the initial conversation to closing in 90 days, and I’ve also done a handful in five, six, seven years.

Bill Neumann:
Right.

George Radigan:
It really just depends on that doctor’s motivation and timing and financial situation.

Bill Neumann:
Thanks. So, I’ve got, probably have time for one more question here. But, maybe kind of leave it relatively open, but do you have advice for a dentist that may be looking to transition, to affiliate, with a DSO or maybe determine whether they even are somebody that would be a fit? What should they do? How do they prepare? How do they do their research? What are they in for?

George Radigan:
Right. That’s a great question. Yeah, look, if it’s even a thought in your mind that you’re looking for a transition, and you’re eventually looking to either sell your practice, and you want to sell your practice and work for a couple years. Or, if you want to partner your practice with a larger organization and work for another 10, 15, 20 years. If you just want to sell and walk away. There’s all sorts of different models in the industry, and I’m quite confident that if not all the voids are filled, pretty much 90 plus percent of them are.

George Radigan:
So, if there’s some type of event that you think, or you’re even contemplating, I would encourage you to reach out and talk to the groups in your area. I’m sure you probably know who they are. If not, you can go on to your website, Bill, and find out you know, on a first date basis. But have a conversation. People in my position, we certainly do appreciate the opportunity to just tell this story and educate. We’re not coming in for a hard sales pitch. We’re not selling you a cot roller, or 2X2. We’re talking about making a major life changing decision from a professional and a personal level. We take that very seriously.

George Radigan:
You know, get educated. Hear about the models. Hear what’s out there. Hear everything, look, touch, feel everything you can, and once you have that information, then only you can really make the decision. If it’s better for you to stay on your own, or if it’s better for you to work within a larger group. Or take some other avenue of a transition.

George Radigan:
I would encourage anyone to talk to all the groups if they’re really contemplating that. Find who your best fit is, and to me, the main part of it is, at the end of the day all the groups from a financial perspective, all the major groups I should say, we’re going to end up in the same realm of finances. It’s all going to be nominal difference if any. You really got to find a group that you’re most comfortable with that you can see yourself working with for five, 10, 15 years, and be [crosstalk 00:30:49] that group.

Bill Neumann:
Well, that’s good advice George. I appreciate it. I also appreciate your time today on The Group Dentistry Now show. It’s a lot of information so, thanks for the input. And the history lesson on North American Dental Group and yourself, and then, the advice you’ve given some emerging dental groups, and how to handle acquisitions. And just how to handle things forward, as they move forward. Also, the advice you gave maybe solo practitioners that might be or trying to figure out whether they want to make a transition and affiliate with a DSO, or continue on as they’ve been.

Bill Neumann:
If anybody has any questions they can come to our website, and find out more about North American Dental Group, and certainly reach out, and contact George. His information is on our website as well. So, thanks again George. And thank you everybody for watching The Group Dentistry Now show.

Bill Neumann:
And I would like to welcome our next guest to The Group Dentistry Now podcast. Our next guest has been in sales and marketing role for over 20 years. Has been in various industries, and the dental industry, has been in pharmaceuticals, computer hardware. He currently is the VP of strategic accounts, customer success at Zyris. Rolando Mia, welcome to the show. We appreciate you being here today. And also, thanks for being a sponsor.

Bill Neumann:
Give you a little bit of background on Rolando. So, some of the companies that I’ve mentioned or the industries that he’s been involved in, you may know a couple of them. So, he was with Denmat, also Allergan, and then, he went to… actually, it’s interesting. So, I graduated from Clemson and you went to a rival school. He had got his BS in biology at Wake Forrest. Then, also received his MBA at Wake Forrest as well.

Bill Neumann:
So, one other thing I’m going to warn the audience about is that apparently, Rolando likes to break into song to express himself. So, if that occurs, we’re all prepared for that. So, thanks again for being a sponsor and welcome to the show Rolando.

Rolando Mia:
Not a problem! Thank you so much Bill. Appreciate that. Clemson, my sister-in-law is from Clemson. So, good. As long as you’re not from Chapel Hill, as a Wake Forrest guy, I’m good to go.

Bill Neumann:
Sounds good. We’ll leave it at that.

Rolando Mia:
All right.

Bill Neumann:
You got off easy. So, why don’t you give us a little bit of background on the company. So, you used to be known as Isolite Systems up until relatively recently. So, maybe a little bit of history. Why the organization was started? And then, why the recent name change and what that means? So, I’ll let you take that part.

Rolando Mia:
Sure. Isolite, which is the company I joined about seven years ago has been around, oh, a good 15 years. When you look at it, the company was started by Dr. Tom Hersh. He is a dentist in Malibu. Old time practicing dentist. Think about this, he’s got a wonderful company. It’s been around, we’re doing well, and he still practices. I mean, seven days a week. It’s incredible.

Bill Neumann:
Wow.

Rolando Mia:
I asked him, “Tom, why do you keep working?” Because he loves it. When he came up with the idea he was having difficulty working inside the mouth. Also, he couldn’t have enough light, because see, he said basically as you grow older, he needs more. So, he went to his brother Jim and said, hey, Jim is an industrial engineer. Let’s figure this out. So, over dinner, I think a good 15/16 years ago, they sat down. Jim started tinkering and created kind of what you see today, which is the Isolite System.

Rolando Mia:
Funny story about it is initially Tom wasn’t happy with all the different iterations of the system. So, Jim kept coming back and forth, and back and forth. I would think, the dynamic between him and his brother was such that it finally came to where it is. About a year and a half ago we realized Isolite is the name of the product. And what we were running into is difficulty in people understanding Isolite, the company, has Isolite, the product. So, because we aspire to be more than just isolation of light, we had been playing with the idea of changing the name. We finally did it.

Rolando Mia:
In coming up with the name though, we sat down and we’re like, “Wait a minute. How, or what, can we name ourselves that we don’t lose the brand, the Isolite brand, but also give it something that would be more meaningful than Isolite by Isolite.” So, long story short, we ended up talking to lots of folks. Every time they use the Isolite they smile. So, as we were kind of going through this it was actually Sandy, who’s Jim’s wife, she actually said, “Wait a minute. The muscles in the face that make you smile are the zygomaticus major, and the minoris.” So, we took the Zy and Ris, put them together. Now, you have Zyris. You know, smiles behind everything.

Rolando Mia:
And it’s, kind of think of it, us is the muscles behind your smile. So, we’re still the same company, still the same owners, still the same group of people here. Just the different name. So, that’s kind of how we ended up there.

Bill Neumann:
That’s pretty cool. Yeah, I think most people know Isolite, the… well, maybe as the company and now, the brand. But it makes a lot of sense, and congratulations. The story is interesting. So, you had a dentist, you had an industrial engineer, and a CPA that all got together and created this wonderful [crosstalk 00:36:21]. And all family.

Rolando Mia:
Yeah, absolutely.

Bill Neumann:
And you are located in sunny Santa Barbara.

Rolando Mia:
Yeah. We’ve been in the Santa Barbara forever. We’ve been growing and love the, basically, dynamic around how things are going. So, yeah, absolutely.

Bill Neumann:
Yeah, that’s great. So, let’s talk a little bit about DSOs and group practices.

Rolando Mia:
Right.

Bill Neumann:
Strategic accounts. So, you’re focused really on these, I guess anywhere from the emerging, the real small groups, to the established, the larger DSOs. So, as far as challenges that you hear from your customers that are groups and DSOs, what exactly are they? Tell me a little bit about that, and what you hear when you’re talking to the groups.

Rolando Mia:
Yeah, so thanks for asking that question. It’s interesting. Very recently, well not very recently, we’ve been hearing for quite a while, let me start there, that when you look at the way dentistry is evolving, although the individual dentists are doing well the emergence, the growth of the group practices is really where the business or the dentistry is going. So, as we started digging into that, learn a lot of things.

Rolando Mia:
There are probably four very, very key aspects that we’ve learned in speaking with groups. And, we’re talking elites. The really gigantic, five, six hundred offices, all the way down to 20 bust. First one, the biggest issue that they’re running into is this whole idea of production and efficiencies. What happens is they’re acquiring a lot of offices, or they’re building offices. As they do that, what happens… it’s very difficult for them to establish consistency because what happens is every time they add a new group of offices there’s a certain cadence, or a certain process that those offices are doing. One of the really important things is to establish that consistency and that protocol. So, number one is establishing consistency, and protocol.

Rolando Mia:
The second thing that we’ve been hearing, and this has been very loud and clear. When offices become part, especially an existing office, becomes part of a group. Or, a group builds an existing office, it’s really important for them to be able to maintain and treat their patients in a meaningful way. So, it’s not just consistency in the operational process. It’s this maintaining clinical quality.

Rolando Mia:
A lot of times, an existing group or an existing… will identify an office, or identify a dental practice. The dentist owner will be driving that office a certain way. When the group acquires or that practice becomes part of that group, all the sudden the mindset behind the practice is that we’re part of a much bigger entity. And, there’s a lot of, I’m going to call it, it’s very disruptive to that practice because all the sudden now, doctor is no longer the one driving this. We’re part of a larger entity. What’s going on? How do we do this? Do we continue doing what we’re supposed to do?

Rolando Mia:
So, kind of the out of that is that people become kind of mired in that disruption, and then production, efficiencies kind of go down. So, the second thing is, it’s maintaining the level of, let me call it performance or the level of care and production that they have initially. So, consistency is one. Second is have production.

Rolando Mia:
The third aspect of this is there is, you know, groups are dealing with many, many offices. And the thing that we hear consistently is that it’s incredibly difficult when every single office uses a different adhesive system, uses a different composite system. You know, we were talking, I’ve been talking to quite a few, and several of them said, “You know Rolando, I’ve been dealing with we have 35 different adhesive systems that my offices are dealing with. So, when something goes wrong it is virtually impossible to figure out or diagnose is it an issue of the adhesive system, is it an issue of the office that’s using it? Is it an issue of the protocol that you’re following?”

Rolando Mia:
So, what they’re trying to do is establish more of a set, or call it the formulary of the products, that they can support. Fewer the better because it enables the manufacturers, the vendors, to support those products in a meaningful way. And, it enables the group to ensure that when something goes off they’re able to diagnose and fix it instead, you know, hold on a second. Okay, you’re using one of 40 different types of adhesive systems. Okay, wait, but doctor likes this better and that better. So, that’s an important thing.

Rolando Mia:
The last piece of it is about the people. The mindset, or the dynamic that you see in a single, call it dental practice, is different from what you’re going to see when you’re part of a larger entity. There are different protocols. There’s a process that you have to follow. You want to maintain a level of consistency with regard to the operations. The biggest learning that we’re seeing with regard to the offices, they don’t necessarily have the same level of autonomy. I’m going to call it that. As they used to before, they could just kind of do anything they want. But they do, in that as long as it sits within a certain framework or guideline, which is associated with the group, it works well. It’s just there’s a balance that they have to get through.

Rolando Mia:
So, it’s this whole issue of consistency. It’s this whole issue of production. It’s the mindset of operating in an entity so that you have consistency. The level of care in one office is not dramatically different from the other. Did that kind of answer your question?

Bill Neumann:
It sure does. That was very thorough, and I appreciate it. I think that one of the things that you hear quite a bit, and you’ve really elaborated beyond just the efficiency and the cost savings side. There’s so many other things that go on, while efficiency and cost savings are kind of top of mind when it comes to product selection. But like you said, you have to worry about the integration. You have to worry about the people. You have to worry about how the systems work. And protocol as you mentioned.

Bill Neumann:
So, I think that when you get so focused on just the cost savings and the efficiencies, you know there’s so much more that goes into it. I mean, I think it’s an assumption that you can make things efficient within a system, you know granted there’s excellent training and there are the right protocols. I think onboarding can be important too. So, maybe I’ll talk a little because that’s something I want to hold off one. I do want to talk about training and onboarding as well, and how you do that.

Bill Neumann:
But let’s talk about the products that you have now because you’ve got a relatively new product. But tell me about the couple of products that have been around, established products that you have. Then, I’d like to focus on the newer product, the Isolite3.

Rolando Mia:
So, there’s a kind of foundational set of products. At the end of the day, the Isolite System by Zyris, there are two, three primary components that we have in there. The first one is education. We can address that a little bit later. We’ve learned that when we are effective in educating people on how to use it, why to use it, and the applications it works phenomenal.

Rolando Mia:
The second, by the series of mouth pieces. When you look at the Isolite, there are a broad range of mouth pieces. These were designed specifically to fit the morphology and the anatomy of a patient’s mouth. So, the idea behind this originally, it’s not about a one size fits all, the mouth pieces range from pediatric all the way up to very large. They’re a one-time use only. No silicon or latex. And the way they’re designed is they fit as comfortably inside the mouth.

Rolando Mia:
As a matter of fact, Jim went to great lengths to identify a type of material, a polymer, no latex, no silicon, that’s actually softer than gingival tissue. So, when you place it inside the mouth it’s actually comfortable, and very, very compliant. But it’s still very, very strong. As a matter of fact, you can’t drill through it. I’ve given it to pediatric patients, and I’ve even challenge them to tear it and bite it. They’ll sit there… I’ll say, “If you can tear it or bite, you don’t have to be in the chair during your procedure today.” They’ll sit there and pull on that thing, and you know what? It doesn’t break, but it is very, very comfortable.

Rolando Mia:
The second, the third sorry, piece of the system are the actual, let me call it, the devices or the controls. So, there are three different levels. Two of them were originally designed for the restorative operatories. This is the Isolite3, which you mentioned and the Iso Dry. By the way, the Isolite3 is an evolution of an Isolite2 and I’ll touch on that in a second.

Bill Neumann:
Sure.

Rolando Mia:
The third is the Iso Vac. The Iso Vac is effectively just a controlled app. It was designed because we had a lot of clinicians say, “Wait a minute. I’d love to put this in my hygiene op, but it’s difficult for me from an investment perspective. Is there a more cost-effective way?” The other thing too is, we discovered in the hygiene op, the high-speed evacuator is not being used by the hygienist. So, then our team created an actual control head, where you pull the control head up and you drop the Iso Vac on. Now, you can use it very simply.

Bill Neumann:
That’s great. Smart.

Rolando Mia:
So, the two that are designed for the restorative pop are designed to be full systems. It’s a control and hose, and they’re in addition to what you already have on those chairs. The first one is the Iso Dry. It does everything that the Isolite and the Isolite3 does. Difference is it’s not illuminated. So, you place that on there, and what’s so powerful about that system is incredibly robust and it enables you to treat a lot of patients very quickly.

Rolando Mia:
The final one is our Isolite3. Now, about a year ago, we introduced the Isolite3. Isolite2 is kind of the father of the Isolite3. We received a huge amount of feedback from our clinicians, from people using the system, asking to update, upgrade, and revise a couple of things about those components. So, we did. When you look at the Isolite3 it is effectively the next generation of the Isolite. It’s an integrated design. It doesn’t have as many components as the original Isolite2. So, when you look at it, it enables it to be a lot more robust, and it enables the clinicians… it’s a one-piece design that’s actually water resistant and dust proof. So, that it’s all together. You don’t have to take the thing apart, and it minimizes the potential for parts getting lost or broken or mishandled.

Rolando Mia:
The other thing about that Isolite3, is probably the biggest, is we’ve been asked to add a true cure safe, or non-curing light. So, in addition to a white light, which mimics daylight, and has different levels, we’ve added an amber light. We actually sourced an LED that is about 590 nano liters, which is above the range that any of these light cured adhesive have. So, what’s really cool about that is… actually, one of the dental assistants was upset. She said, “You know. Ugh.” I’m like, “What’s wrong?” “Well, your new Isolite3. My doctor, she’s a perfectionist. Before we had to put things together and there was a short period of time because stuff started curing. Now, we shut everything off. She turns on that amber light and she’ll sit there flexing with her restoration until she gets it perfect – about 10 minutes.” The beauty is, yeah, the outcome is amazing but now it’s taking us longer, but they love it. The amber light does not cure any of the resins, like composites, any adhesives. So, it gives the team time to actually get the restoration together really quickly.

Bill Neumann:
That’s great. Yeah, thanks for the rundown. So, the Isolite3 has been around for a little over a year now. Is that-

Rolando Mia:
Yeah, about.

Bill Neumann:
So, you touched on this. This actually leads into one of the next questions, which is dental assistants. So, what is their feelings? Just the description of the Isolite System sounds like it could be looked at from a dental assistant perspective as potential competition. Tell me a little bit about that, and how dental assistants maybe should feel about this, because I’m sure this has come up before.

Rolando Mia:
So, yes. In general terms, in general terms, dental assistants, once they understand what the system’s about, absolutely love the Isolite. Absolutely love it, and the reason is because one, they’re not tethered to the patients, the doctor. Then, they’re able to perform other duties that they normally wouldn’t be able to do. Now, on the group side, this is probably the biggest piece of feedback that we’ve received, that I’ve receive, is that because of the inherent efficiency of the Isolite, it enables a dental assistant to perform duties and not get behind. And at times, support multiple chairs without the stress associated with having to be back and forth across them.

Rolando Mia:
When you look at it, probably the best way I’d describe this, the Isolite is a disruption in the dental practice. And here’s why, if you look at the role of a dental assistant and the dentist, forever it was taboo, it is taboo, for your dental assistant to leave your dentist because now you’re not retracting, now the dental assistant is not evacuating, now the dental assistant is not handing the clinician his or her instruments to perform the work. All the sudden, you put the Isolite in there. It’s retracting, it’s evacuating. The dental assistants can actually provide what they need, and then if they need to, step away or do other things.

Rolando Mia:
We’re actually telling dental assistants that they can leave the dentist. So, I’ve been working with my dentist for 10 years. If I ever left, they would go berserk. Now, I can actually leave. So, a matter of fact, in several of the offices I’ll go talk to the dental assistant. I’ll go hold on, okay, what was that? Oh, he just started… ah, I’ve got seven minutes. Then, mid sentence she’ll go excuse me. Walk over, hand the doctor a couple things, come back. Sure, let’s go ahead. It gives them that flexibility. So, now they’re able to actually operate a lot less stress, a lot more efficiently and most importantly, it gives them the ability to control or manage how they’re operating in the practice.

Rolando Mia:
Plus, they can get ahead of the clinician. So, yeah. At first, it’s a little bit daunting because the dental assistant feels, “Oh wait a minute. So, this is taking my job.” Once they understand and this is why we educate, they get it. They’re like no, I love this. They actually like it better than the clinicians at times.

Bill Neumann:
Well, that’s great. Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. And I mean, I guess from the DSO perspective, the group practice, again, a lot of the focus is on efficiencies. It really frees up the dental assistant’s time to either see more patients or really focus on things that are more critical than just suction and cheek retraction, and things of that nature. So, I think that’s… yeah, it’s kind of amazing that a relatively simple device can be so impactful in an industry.

Bill Neumann:
So, I think the next question is getting back to what’s important to… besides the efficiency side of things. What’s important to DSOs and emerging groups? One of the things that I hear quite a bit about is training, onboarding, you know how do get my team because my team is not just one person. It could be 100 dental assistants. How do I get them up to speed? So, what do you have in place from that standpoint? How do you kind of help people? Once you get your product on formulary, and how do you educate the staff rather quickly and get them ramped up?

Rolando Mia:
Yeah. Actually, this is probably the biggest issue that we face initially. You know, Isolite is a smaller organization, especially for some of the larger groups. One of the biggest issues was this whole context of support and education. So, what we’ve done, and this is through the… it’s an evolution. We’ve realigned our organization, and we created something called eight steps to awesome.

Rolando Mia:
What we’ve done is you know, this is a key message from Tom and our owners. It’s not about selling more systems. It’s about having people understand how to use it. Eight steps to awesome is a structured methodology, partaking every single practice through how the system is connected, how it’s cleaned and maintained, and then, most importantly, how it’s actually used, the applications behind it, how to size the patient, and then how to actually place that mouth piece and utilize it for the different types of procedures.

Rolando Mia:
We’ve completely realigned our organization, and at first, we played with this idea of maybe we go on sight, and it wasn’t feasible from a business perspective, because what we found was kind of disruptive for the offices. And quite frankly, there was a limitation because it involved a lot of time to travel. So, using a format like this, this video conferencing thing, every single office at any time during the course of their use of our system, especially… and this is something that we require on the front end, that’s why the first part is education. When any office, and it doesn’t matter if it’s one, 10, 50, 100, receives the system and decides to invest or purchase the system, we put them through a video session where we actually schedule it. We schedule multiple sessions with the clinicians.

Rolando Mia:
This includes the dentist, the dental assistants, the hygienist and we take them through how this is used. How it’s connected. We take them through what the components are inside it. We take them through how to connect it. Make sure it’s operating effectively. Then, most importantly, we take them through what’s involved in placing it inside the mouth. And, using it on a day to day basis.

Rolando Mia:
We share videos, we have links, and what’s really nice about this format that we’re using right here, is at any point the clinicians or the team, if they need us, they send us a quick note. Hey, I’m having some difficulties, how do I do this? We’ve got customer success managers, a team and then, we even have dentist on staff. What we’ll do is, almost immediately, we can get on and then, we can very quickly address whatever issues they have.

Rolando Mia:
The other thing too, part of our process involves touching base, not to try to sell or get them to buy more things. It’s simply to answer questions that they may have or, anything that they discover that they’re struggling with. We’ve found that at least now, going a little over a year, year and a half now, this eight steps to awesome process, the onboarding education, especially for new, is working well.

Rolando Mia:
Once thing, Bill, and this is kind of interesting. If a practice actually decides that they want to forgo that education, and forgo the training, we’ll actually ask them to wait. Because what we’ve found is a lot of times people get excited about a system, they invest all the money in it, and because life happens they don’t use it. Then, it becomes a negative thing for them. So, we’ll actually say, you know what, if you can’t go through the education right now, please hold off. When you can, then we can revisit this.

Rolando Mia:
It’s caused a little bit of a… some people go, “Wait, wait, wait, you’re not going to sell this to me?” It’s not that we’re not going to sell it to you. It’s just until you can establish a process for actually using, and education yourself, wait. So, there you go.

Bill Neumann:
That’s smart. Yeah, so I think that answers just about all the questions I had. I mean, I’m really thankful to hear that you’ve got that training because when I talk to DSOs and groups, I mean the onboarding, the training process is so important. You’re right, everybody likes to get something new, and they… we do it as consumers. We don’t read the instructions, and we want to use it, and inevitably we have to figure it out on the backend. So, that can lead to frustration.

Bill Neumann:
So, it makes a lot of sense that you really encourage that training and onboarding process. So, I’d like to thank Zyris and Rolando for sponsoring this podcast today. It’s been a pleasure. You didn’t break out in a song so-

Rolando Mia:
Wait, wait, wait, [singing]. Have you seen the new Aladdin?

Bill Neumann:
I haven’t but, maybe I don’t need to now.

Rolando Mia:
Ha! It was actually quite good. So, anyway, I’m not trying to promote that.So how did I do?

Bill Neumann:
That was great. Well, again, thanks for the sponsorship, and the song. And for our audience that’s interested in the Isolite3, or any of the other Isolite products we’ll have a link at the end of this video podcast that you can click on and find out some more.

Rolando Mia:
Thank you so much. Really appreciate working with you and, look forward to it. Let’s do this more.

Bill Neumann:
That sounds like a plan.

Kim Larson:
Hello and welcome to the News section of our podcast. So nice to be able to talk to our audience about some of the new stories that we cover throughout the month. Let’s start with there’s a new core for Apple White Dental Partners. Now, Core Dental, a smaller DSO, just purchased a larger DSO, Apple White Dental Partners.

Bill Neumann:
Yeah, you don’t see that very often where the smaller group actually acquires the larger group. We’ve been following Core Dental Partners really before they had any practice locations. They had a couple under consideration, and Kim and I have worked closely with Stephen Jones and Dana Soupier. It’s very exciting to see this relatively large acquisition for them and looks like they are going to right… they’re right on target for what their goals, the goals that they had set out-

Kim Larson:
Right.

Bill Neumann:
… about two and a half, three years ago.

Kim Larson:
Yeah, we did an article on them in 2017, and like you said, they didn’t even have any practices. They had some under consideration I think, six practices in the Mid-Atlantic region and they had a very aggressive plan to acquire 50 to 75 practices in five to seven years. Well, now with the acquisition of Apple White Dental Partners and their 35 practices, they are at almost 50 practices.

Bill Neumann:
And I think they’ve doubled what they anticipated now as the goal-

Kim Larson:
They have a new goal. That’s right. They have a new goal. And what’s really interesting about this story is that Dana Soupier and Stephen Jones were pharmacists. That’s their background. And when they went out to start this DSO they were told by many people they would never be able to have a success DSO. And here we are. They had incredible systems and processes in place. That is what they thought propelled them to this great success. So now, they’re taking on Apple White, which again, is a terrific group. Very well respected, and it was a very, very competitive bidding process. A lot of DSOs were interested in them.

Kim Larson:
We had large DSOs going after them. Small, emerging DSOs like Core Dental, and also private equity. But what was really interesting is that Dr. Tom McCoy, who founded Apple White Dental Partners did not want to go with private equity because he said that they just didn’t understand it as, the DSO environment, as well as Core Dental.

Bill Neumann:
Yeah. It’s a really nice success story. So, we’re going to continue to follow Core Dental as they bring in Apple White and work through that affiliation process, which they said would take up to a year. What else do we have in the news Kim?

Kim Larson:
So, we did a great story on Dental 365. They are now the official dental partner of the New York Yankees. Very exciting platform for them to get their message out. Not only for patients, but also for new hires.

Bill Neumann:
Yeah, for recruiting.

Kim Larson:
Absolutely.

Bill Neumann:
For sure. And it’s obviously the… arguably the biggest name in baseball, or one of the biggest names in baseball. Certainly, very, very well known. So, kudos to Dental 365 and the New York Yankees for that partnership. We will see where that takes them in the future as well.

Kim Larson:
So, let’s talk about Rodeo. We have a story on them. I love the title, Rodeo Lassos Private Equity and Saddles Up for National Expansion. This was a really fascinating story in 2008, Dr. Zurebi was leaving dental school, really excited about his first position in a dental practice. He actually got an associateship in an under served area in Fort Worth, Texas. Thrilled about it. Unfortunately, it didn’t meet his expectations. The office was really run down, they didn’t really seem to care about their patients an awful lot.

Kim Larson:
One day, about three weeks into his associateship, tar was falling from the ceiling, and he said… it was falling on him and his patients, and he said, “That’s it! I quit.” So, in 2009 he and a bunch of his buddies from dental school, one of which was Dr. Brian Dugoni, I think you would probably recognize that name.

Bill Neumann:
Yes.

Kim Larson:
Dugoni School of Dentistry was named after his grandfather, Art. So, they started this dental practice in the same neighborhood as that original associateship. They’re very proud to say they’ve now put that business out of… that dental practice out of business.

Bill Neumann:
What I find is kind of interesting and exciting about what’s going on at Rodeo is I really love their marketing. I mean, they really take a lot of pride in what they do. I would say it’s very forward thinking. If you take a look at the videos, I believe we have at least one on the website. But just how they take you through their dental practice, it’s very engaging. Beyond the video, just the appearance, the atmosphere that they create at their practices looks like just a lot of fun to be going to the dentist, which most people don’t associate with fun.

Kim Larson:
This is actually the second dental practice or dental support organization that we’ve covered who has movie theaters in all of their practices. They have 21 practices, and like Bill was saying, they have an amazing video. It actually is called The Wow Video. After I watched it the first time I said wow. It is a one take. It’s about a minute and a half. It is amazing. It takes you for a complete tour of one of their dental practices. They have about, like I said, 21. In January they decided they wanted to expand. They went out looking for BPE and they have now partnered with Bane Capital Double Impact. The reason that they did that is because they share their love of service. They’re ready to expand nationally.

Bill Neumann:
So, Kim let’s move on to the last article.

Kim Larson:
Yeah.

Bill Neumann:
And seems like PDS specific dental services has a lot going on. We talk about quite a few of those things.

Kim Larson:
They have three big things happening right now. It may be the last article that we’re talking about here. Of course we have 600 other articles on our website so, please feel free to stop by.

Bill Neumann:
I think it’s 620 by now.

Kim Larson:
Is it? Okay. 620 additional articles but, let’s talk about PDS right now. They have three big things happening.

Bill Neumann:
Another baseball story.

Kim Larson:
It is. Well, this is a great time of year to be talking about baseball. It is summer. And, so they are actually going to be partnering with Team Smile, who is the nation’s premiere advocacy group that partners oral health organizations with professional athletic organizations to provide dental care to under served children. So, this is their first alliance with the Baltimore Orioles, and PDS is helping out. Actually, it was on May 17th, but the partnership will continue.

Bill Neumann:
Yeah, that’s great. I mean, again, you like to see this. This is from a community outreach perspective. I think there’s a lot of… and from access to care, some of the things that PDS are doing in the state of Maryland and beyond are pretty impressive.

Kim Larson:
Exactly, and PDS is absolutely committed to serving the community. And, if you didn’t catch our podcast that we did a few weeks ago, we actually featured Dr. Jacob Dent, and Kyle Guerin. Right. PDS’s corporate social responsibility director, and they talked about their new special needs clinic in Arizona. So, if you didn’t watch that you should really watch that because it was fascinating to not only see the practice in place, but to hear what Dr. Jacob Dent said about the needs of the people.

Kim Larson:
So, let’s move on to the next thing that PDS is doing here. They are actually expanding to 21 states, and the new state is Ohio. I’m very excited to see them moving east.

Bill Neumann:
Right. Yeah, so Ohio does have quite a few DSOs operating in the state right now. PDS opened, I believe it was their first practice recently, right? In the state-

Kim Larson:
They sure did, yep.

Bill Neumann:
Obviously, they’re going to continue on from there. So, we’ll look to see the growth not only in Ohio but as they move eastward and into other uncharted territory for [crosstalk 01:07:04]-

Kim Larson:
Yeah, that’s great. So, the last milestone we’re going to be talking about today-

Bill Neumann:
It’s a big one.

Kim Larson:
It is a huge one. They just completed two million SERIC Cad Cam same day crowd-

Bill Neumann:
Two million.

Kim Larson:
Two million, two million sorry.

Bill Neumann:
No. You said two million. It’s a lot.

Kim Larson:
It’s a monumental achievement in modern dentistry, and Cad Cam started in the 1980s. It’s pretty popular but only 10% of dentist in the United States currently use it, but PDS practices all have this modern technology in their practices. So, this is an exciting achievement and Stephen Thorn issued a big… had a big certificate there for that company. They were just thrilled about that.

Bill Neumann:
Yeah.

Kim Larson:
Lots of more stories on our website. We have some really exciting things coming out in July.

Bill Neumann:
Couple announcements.

Kim Larson:
Yeah, big announcements. So, stay tuned. We’re going to be having events next.

Bill Neumann:
Thanks.

Kim Larson:
So, welcome to the event section of our podcast. We’re going to start with DEO Summer Summit coming up here in June 27th through 29th.

Bill Neumann:
Yes. So, the DEO Summit will be exciting. I was there last year, and it’s the emerging future of group dentistry. So, they have a lot of new technologies and they’re talking about new things that are going on in the industry. It’s at the JW Marriott in Phoenix. Great, great venue. If you like to play golf, or like to go to the pool or just like warm weather, definitely a place to be.

Kim Larson:
And, we have a coupon code to save $100. GDN1.

Kim Larson:
So, it’s interesting. If you’re listening to this podcast in real time you could probably still sign up for the show. But if you’re listening to it later, be rest assured that they have a fall summit coming up.

Bill Neumann:
They do. And you can check our calendar for details on that. It will be in Orlando, Florida.

Kim Larson:
So, the event after that is in July. It’s Dycima’s DSO Conference. The Definitive Conference for dental support organizations. That’s going to be at the Omni Dallas Hotel July 10th through 12th. It offers a lot of opportunities to learn about current best practices in the areas of legal, regulatory, compliance, tack, taxes, customer finance, billing, operations, M&A, and we have a customer code for… a coupon code for that, GDNNOW19. And actually you save $150 from that.

Bill Neumann:
Yeah, that’s great. So, yeah, that’s July 10th through the 12th. The Omni is brand new. I think it opened last year or maybe a year and a half ago. Huge facility. Great place to attend a conference. Again, it’ll be in Dallas, Texas right in downtown Dallas. So, an event that we’ll be attending.

Kim Larson:
Absolutely.

Bill Neumann:
So, we’re looking forward to it as well.

Kim Larson:
Very much so. And in August the Scaling Up Group Dental Symposium. Very exciting show. Actually, Dr. Wayne Mortenson, the founder, who is a legend in the DSO industry will be speaking. Actually, having a Q&A session. They’re also going to be talking about real estate and data is always a big topic that they talk about. That is a hot topic nowadays. And Mortenson’s Scaling Up Group Dental Symposium will be August 21st through 23rd in Louisville, Kentucky.

Bill Neumann:
Also, an at Omni.

Kim Larson:
Yes.

Bill Neumann:
And this one is relatively new as well. I think it’s only a couple years old. Then, another equally a great location. Louisville is a wonderful time and the Omni is right downtown as well.

Kim Larson:
And actually, Dale Sanford, their VP of marketing and development was on our podcast a few weeks ago. So, if you didn’t see or hear that podcast, we would recommend you listening to that to learn a little bit more about the show if you’re interested in attending.

Bill Neumann:
Right. Yeah, Dale talks a little bit about the event, some of the uniqueness behind the event. Also, talks about the walk through they’re going to have of their new support center that they’ve just doubled in size over… so, even if you were there last year, you took the walk. You might want to go again because it looks a lot different.

Kim Larson:
That’s incredible. Doubled in size.

Bill Neumann:
Yep. And that’s actually the first day.

Kim Larson:
Okay.

Bill Neumann:
And you have to register for that separately. That’s on the 21st, so make sure you do that.

Kim Larson:
Absolutely. We have a coupon code for that as well. You can receive 15% off using the code Group Dentistry Now.

Bill Neumann:
Group Dentistry Now.

Kim Larson:
Group Dentistry Now. The next even Bill, you’re going to be speaking at, Dental Forum, Open Forum 2019. September 11th and 12th.

Bill Neumann:
Yeah, so-

Kim Larson:
And you spoke there last year.

Bill Neumann:
I did. So the Dental Forum is put on by Open Room Events. They’re out of the UK and it is a really unique set up because I always liken it to speed dating. So, you have a limited amount of industry partners that sit across the table from DSO decision makers. You have 15 minutes to pitch your products, have a conversation with them, see if there’s a fit. Then, you move on to the next. So, it’s a day and a half, and yes, I will be speaking.

Kim Larson:
Yeah, what are you going to be discussing there because I know they draw national and international DSOs to their event.

Bill Neumann:
Yeah, talk about global trends, and even the speaking is condensed. So, everything is very, very fast. They try and keep everybody together. So, we’ll have lunch and dinner together, and breakfast. So, it’ll be a lot of fun.

Kim Larson:
Yeah, we just had a story on Canada. I know we have another story coming up on Canada, and the UK and Brazil. So, we are expanding globally as well as DSOs, not only watching US but we’re also doing international DSOs, featuring articles on them on the website.

Bill Neumann:
And the Dental Forum actually has events all across the world, so they’re also international.

Kim Larson:
Very exciting, yeah.

Bill Neumann:
So, what do we have next? What’s the next event?

Kim Larson:
So, ADSO’s Partnering for Growth. I’m very excited about. That’s in ChampionsGate, Florida and that will be September 25th through 27th. We have a coupon code for that one. $100 discount if you use code GDN. And that’s exciting because industry leaders from… we’ll be discussing lessons that they’ve learned, mistakes they’ve made, talk about their successes. And really guide these emerging dental groups as they-

Bill Neumann:
Teach them how to scale up. So, learn from the people that have done it.

Kim Larson:
Absolutely.

Bill Neumann:
And have really mastered it.

Kim Larson:
And if you want to learn about the complete agenda, the speakers list, the bios, sponsorship opportunities, that’s huge for that event, as well as any other information, you can go to Group Dentistry Now. We have all of that, the complete agenda, and stay tuned as it changes. Yes.

Bill Neumann:
And that’s also at an Omni.

Kim Larson:
Another Omni, yeah. That’s wonderful. So, there are a lot of shows Bill. When I started doing this there were not a lot of shows. What do you think about that?

Bill Neumann:
Well, I mean I think that you have, from an emerging group perspective, you have a lot of different options. You probably can’t attend them all, so I think they all have their benefits. But, I think to take a real hard look at who’s speaking, what your goals are, what do you want to get out of the meeting? Is it networking? Is it something that’s more intimate? And I’ll think you’ll find several different options out there. But, a lot of times it just works into your schedule. So, there seems to be one or sometimes two every month.

Kim Larson:
Well, we’ll be, at least one or both of us, will be at all of them. So, if you see us, please stop by and say hi. We’d like to see you.

Bill Neumann:
Yep. Thank you.

Kim Larson:
So, thanks for joining us.

Kim Larson:
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