Author: Scott Rupp

Delta Dental Report Finds Many Are Unaware of Connection Between Poor Oral Health and Serious Medical Conditions

Top 129 Complaints and Reviews about Delta Dental | Page 2

Delta Dental released the 2022 State of America’s Oral Health and Wellness Report, a nationwide analysis of consumer opinions and behaviors relating to oral health. Findings from the Delta Dental-commissioned research of U.S. adults and parents of children ages 12 and younger illuminate what they thought about their oral health and what they did to properly care for it at home and with their dentist during 2021. A few highlights from this year’s report include:

Public interest prevails in getting smarter about oral health’s link to better health

Visits to dentist on the rise

New research finds 9 in 10 U.S. adults want to learn about oral health’s critical connection to overall health.

“While our survey indicates that most adults and parents across the United States understand that oral health is critically important to overall health, it appears that most don’t fully realize the ways oral health is linked to serious health issues. Unfortunately, this lack of understanding isn’t surprising, as people often think of the mouth and body as two distinct parts,” said James W. Hutchison, President & CEO, Delta Dental Plans Association. “One way we continue to partner with the public on their journey to better health is by maintaining our commitment to elevate their awareness of the essential role of oral health.”

To read the full 2022 State of America’s Oral Health and Wellness Report and learn more about the report’s methodology and findings, click here.

About the research

The 2022 State of America’s Oral Health and Wellness Report is based upon Delta Dental-commissioned research conducted between January 19 and January 28, 2022, by Material, a global insights and strategy consultancy, using an email invitation and online surveys to two audiences recruited through an opt-in panel:

Quotas were set to ensure a reliable and accurate representation of the U.S. population of adults and parents with children ages 12 and younger. The report has a margin of error of +/- 3%.

Viper Equity Partners Rises To More than $300 Million Value In Q1 2022

Viper Equity Partners Celebrates A Successful String of Marquis East ...The consolidation of the dental industry has been growing steadily over the last 20 years. Today, 30% of americas dentists have joined one of the 600 DSOs making it the most active market in healthcare. Deal values based on EBITDA have risen above 11x for marquee single offices.

Old-school bloated DSOs have given way to progressive new players with partnership models that have structures favorable to the selling doctors. These groups offer the doctors higher front-end cash with equity rolls that really pay off at recaps or the doctors’ exit. Truly an amazing time for dentists and all dental specialists.

 

A driving force has been Florida-based Viper Equity Partners, a seasoned firm with expertise in deal structure, industry experience and everything healthcare. Leading Viper is David C. Branch, a private equity veteran and founder past CEO of one of the country’s largest radiology MSOs.

The rest of the team are all deep-rooted senior healthcare and finance executives. They credit their success to the depth of understanding of exactly what the job is, and it sets Viper apart from all others. Their reputation industry wide is they work diligently on task and time, produce real valuations, and support their clients and buyers from start to finish on every deal.

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Pacific Dental Services Recognizes National Volunteer Week

Leading dental support organization Pacific Dental Services (PDS) is proud to join Points of Light in celebrating National Volunteer Week (April 17-23, 2022), a time to recognize those who donate their time, money and talents to be a force for good in the world. At the heart of Pacific Dental Services is its culture of service. In fact, PDS created a We Serve department that focuses on service-oriented initiatives such as donated dentistry, fundraising drives and international volunteerism.

For the first time in more than two years, 10 PDS team members and supported clinicians volunteered their time and traveled to Xenacoj, Guatemala last week with the PDS Foundation to provide oral health care at the PDS Foundation Clinica Dental. The clinic was established in 2015 to respond to the widespread need for oral health care. More than half of Guatemala’s population experiences poverty in some form and 13% live in extreme, impoverished conditions. Dental disease is prevalent for more than 16 million people throughout the country.

PDS-supported dentists, dental assistants, volunteers and students from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala served alongside the clinic’s dentist, Dr. Rodrigo Letona Barillas, where they provided more than $172,000 in donated dentistry and created access to care to 165 patients. The Pacific Dental Services Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization whose mission is to improve overall health by improving oral health, through opportunities to serve locally, nationally, and internationally. Its three main programs are special needs dentistry, dental assistant scholarships and international service trips.

“Service is at the heart of Pacific Dental Services and participating in PDS Foundation international trips are one way our supported dentists and team members lend a helping hand to individuals who lack access to care,” said Kyle Guerin, Director, PDS Foundation and Corporate Social Responsibility. “It’s heartwarming to know that we can help make a positive impact around the globe, one smile at a time.”

Each year, Pacific Dental Services provides eight hours of paid volunteer time to each of its employees, or team members, and encourages its supported dentists and their teams to provide high-quality donated dentistry to underserved patients. In 2021, PDS team members and supported clinicians provided $8 million of donated dentistry throughout the year and as part of the annual Smile Generation Serve Day event, volunteered 50,000 hours to worthy charities and organizations, and raised $660,000 for charity: water and more than $500,000 for the PDS Foundation Dentists for Special Needs office.

Smile Generation connects consumers with trusted dentists who are dedicated to providing an exceptional patient experience and advanced clinical care. Now in its 12th year, Smile Generation Serve Day is a nationwide campaign of giving focused on providing donated dental care to patients in need, providing them with cleanings, exams, digital X-rays, extractions, restorations, and more. PDS-supported dental offices throughout the United States open their doors to provide donated dentistry creating access to care for hundreds of thousands of patients.

Awarded for these services, PDS has been named an honoree of The Civic 50 Orange County by OneOC and Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service in 2017, 2019 and just recently in 2021. The award recognized Pacific Dental Services as one of the most community-minded companies in Orange County, as determined by an independently administered and scored survey.

Since its inception in 1994, PDS-supported dentists have been committed to clinical excellence and providing the Perfect Patient Experience to strengthen the communities in the markets we serve. This includes educating patients about the link between oral health and whole-body health – what PDS and its supported practices call the Mouth-Body Connection. Research shows that harmful bacteria and inflammation in the mouth can indicate and even cause systemic conditions throughout the body. Maladies of the mouth, including periodontal disease, may be linked with other medical conditions including oral cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis and more.

Questions To Ask Yourself When Identifying Your Ideal Dental Practice

Dr. Suzanne Ebert

By Dr. Suzanne Ebert

There is no such thing as a typical dental practice. They can range from standalone rural spaces to sleek urban offices, with everything in between. When trying to nail down your ideal, some factors are easy to identify: treatments offered, schedule, and target compensation.

Other factors fall into gray areas, where an “ideal” is harder to articulate. In these cases, you need to think about what sounds most appealing to you.

Ask yourself these questions to begin deciding what kind of practice will suit you best.

Are you a relationship- or volume-driven dentist?

Some dentists build their practices on patient relationships, while others focus on driving volume. The approach is reflected in the practice’s policies and patient expectations.

A practice built around patient relationships may have processes that ensure no one ever waits more than 5 minutes beyond their appointment time. These dentists tend to spend more time with each patient and nurture each relationship rather than delegating this function to staff. These practices may be entirely fee for service and often charge in the top 1%.

By contrast, a volume practice may run multiple treatment rooms simultaneously by delegating as much as possible to auxiliaries. In this model, staff members are the primary relationship builders while the dentists work on doing their tasks as efficiently as possible. These practices tend to accept insurance and make up for lower fees through increased volume.

Both practice styles can be professionally and financially rewarding, but they are typically incompatible.

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VideaHealth Raises $20 Million To Expand AI Dentist Diagnostics

VideaHealth — Zetta Venture Partners

VideaHealth, providers of a dental diagnostic AI solution, announce $20 million in Series A financing led by Spark Capital. Existing investors Zetta Venture Partners and Pillar VC also contributed to the round. The company has raised $26.4 million to date and will use the financing to massively expand VideaHealth’s groundbreaking AI-based diagnostics capabilities to dentists, with the goal of being the leading AI solution for more than 6,750 practices by the end of 2023.

“VideaHealth is bringing standardized care powered by AI to dental care,” said Alex Finkelstein, General Partner of Spark Capital. “The industry needs this type of innovation and the vision, advanced AI capabilities and market strategy of this team will improve dentistry both for professionals and patients, and we’re proud to be an early investor.”

VideaHealth helps identify and communicate dental diseases and other conditions to dentists while they are actively attending to patients. The solution is expected to achieve regulatory clearance for its AI-based clinical image processing within the coming months, something no other vendor has achieved on the market today.

A recent joint study with VideaHealth partner Heartland Dental, which supports over 2,400 doctors in more than 1,600 dental offices across 38 states, demonstrated that VideaHealth’s AI platform helped clinicians detect 46% more caries lesions (cavities) and reduced errors by 10%. VideaHealth lets dentists achieve faster, more accurate diagnoses and enables better preventative care, providing substantial cost savings for patients by reducing invasive care.

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Tips For Building A Successful Dental Practice

Dr. Eddie Harsini

By Dr. Edward Harsini, DDS, owner of Smile Dental Clinics in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Harsini graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Dental School in 1998. He is certified by UCLA Aesthetic Continuum, the 3M Imtec Mini DentalImplants and GRU/AAID Maxi-Course Implant Dentistry.

The first thing you need to build a successful practice is being in a centralized location that has easy access for patients. If you are in an area with 50 or more dentists, you need to find an area that you can create and build your business, and an area where you set yourself apart.

Second, you need to have a great team and great culture in the workplace. Having a great team can take off a lot of the stresses of owning a business because everyone does their job and they do it well. Creating a great working environment and work culture will keep your employees enthusiastic about their job and excited to come to work every day.

Lastly, you must provide great patient care. Most dentists work off of referral because it doesn’t matter how much advertising you do, you want your patients referring their friends and family. This also helps build upyour credibility.

Patient engagement

Patient engagement is really important because if the patient isn’t engaged in the diagnosis, case presentation and treatment plan, then you are basically talking to yourself. You have to have patient engagement because they areultimately paying for the procedure. If they are a passive listener whateveryou say isn’t going to hit home. You have to understand their goals. Sometimes they don’t know their goal, but by asking questions you find out what their ultimate goal is.

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DECA Dental Group Hires New Chief Human Resources Officer

Lyndsay Lord

DECA Dental Group, a leading dental services organization based in Dallas, announced the hiring of a new chief human resources officer, Lyndsay Lord.

DECA is all-inclusive and brings the best minds together to create an exceptional experience in the dental field. Lyndsay has extensive leadership experience from global brands including Hilti, Pepsi, Arrow Electronics, CoreLogic, Sabre, and most recently Team Car Care dba Jiffy Lube. In addition, her passion for building high-performing and values-based cultures makes her an exciting fit for the DECA team.

“We are excited for Lyndsay to join the team. As DECA continues to grow, she will be essential to fostering and preserving our people-centric culture that has been a key to our success,” said Dr. Sulman Ahmed, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of DECA Dental Group.

Last year DECA expanded their team by 61%. Dr. Ahmed continued, “We have always been a progressive company and are proud of the fact that 81% of our employees are women, 45% are minorities, and 30% are Hispanic women. Notably, 56% of our dentists are women. DECA’s workplace is all-inclusive and brings the best minds together to create an exceptional experience in the dental field.”

By adding Lyndsay to the team, DECA continues the growth and diversity within the company. She will be essential in developing and executing a strategy to support the overall business, specifically in areas of succession planning, talent management, organizational and performance management, as well as total rewards.”

With joining DECA, Lord said, “I’m humbled and honored to be appointed as the CHRO for DECA Dental Group. I am inspired by what DECA stands for and its unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. DECA’s modern approach to dental care, which offers quality care to every patient in a convenient location, is transforming dentistry. I’m proud to join their outstanding leadership team.”

Great Lakes Dental Partners Deepens Indiana Expansion with Second Affiliation

GLDP, a Shore Capital Partners portfolio company, provides practice management services to more than 30 partner locations. GLDP provides best-in-class support in operations, recruiting, technology, marketing and collaboration among clinicians.

“We are excited and honored that he chose GLDP as his partner. This is our second affiliation in Northwest Indiana, and we’ll continue to look for similarly impressive partners in 2022,” said Jeff McCall, CEO of Great Lakes Dental Partners on the new affiliation and the company’s plans for expansion.

GLDP is actively seeking dental office partnerships in the Midwest and is backed by Shore Capital Partners’ $112.5 million Fund I to support its continued growth.  Ideal affiliation opportunities include owner doctors who want to partner with functional experts to grow their practices.

About Great Lakes Dental Partners
Great Lakes Dental Partners is a dental support organization (DSO) committed to offering dentists and dental specialists the opportunity to focus on the clinical aspects of dentistry, providing exceptional care for every patient.

With a centrally located support center, operational best practices, access to the latest dental technology, and a best-in-class continuing education program, GLDP is dedicated to advancing dental healthcare in the Midwest.

For more information and a list of clinic locations, visit www.greatlakesdentalpartners.com. GLDP is actively seeking new partnerships in the Midwest. Those interested in affiliation opportunities should contact Fletcher Boyle at fboyle@gldpdental.com.

About Shore Capital Partners
Shore Capital Partners is a Chicago-based private equity firm focused on microcap healthcare and food & beverage investments. Shore supports management partners with capital, business development expertise, and industry knowledge to accelerate growth, fund acquisitions, and generate value to shareholders. Shore targets investments in proven, successful private companies with superior management teams, stable cash flow, and significant growth potential, including organic and growth through industry consolidation. More information visit www.shorecp.com.

Getting The Best Results For Patients

Dr. Michael Gulizio

Response from Dr. Michael Gulizio, DMD, MS and founder of NYC-based Core Smiles

Building a practice these days is more difficult than it was when I started my practice (which was about 16 years ago). At the time I was considering building my own practice, an oral surgeon told me something that I never forgot — that it takes a year to build a day — which meant that for new dentists starting a private practice, it would take a full year of practicing until you would get to the point where you could book a full day of patients.

Today, unfortunately, this is not the case.

The introduction of private equity and venture capitalism into the dental ecosystem has changed the playing field. Dentists graduating right out of dental school are taking positions with corporate-run practices, such as “Tend” and “Dental365.”

They attract young dentists with a decent starting salary because these corporate entities are funded by hedge funds, angel investors, and private equity firms. They put quite a bit of money into the practices they develop by investing in beautifully-designed clinics, the latest technology, and street-level storefront space (which, as you know in NYC, is priced at a premium).

Unfortunately, dentists who work for corporate entities are very restricted in their ability to practice as intended. The reason I know this is because one of the participants in the program that I run at NYU told me that he cannot implement some of the concepts we are educating him on.

When I asked why, his response to me was that the corporate model is purely run to ensure production numbers are met on a daily basis (which, of course, is how corporate-run entities work) and that the very refined procedures taught in my program simply “take too much time” to execute properly in a corporate setting. Some of these procedures include basic adhesive dentistry — such as porcelain inlays and onlays and porcelain veneers. As a result, this model inherently affects the quality of dental care.

Another paradigm shift that has evolved more recently is that many practices, including my own, are incorporating dental specialists on-site. For example, my area of expertise is prosthodontics, the specialty that addresses major bite problems, TMJ treatment, reconstructive implant dentistry, and, more exclusively, esthetic dentistry; however, I am not equipped or trained in periodontal procedures.

When patient treatment requires periodontal intervention, I have had to refer my patients to a periodontist in another office, and, invariably, almost every single time, patients have complained to me that they do not like having to go to another clinic. I now have a periodontist in my clinic — not only is this better for patient convenience, but it is the optimal way to address patient treatment because, on occasion, I will need to work chairside with the periodontist to ensure that my patient gets the best result.

Evolving Dental Education Through Advanced Simulation 

By Dr. Rick Callan and Dr. Jerry Cooper, Promethean Dental Systems.

Dr. Rick Callan

Promethean Dental Systems began in 2019 with the primary goal of improving dental education using advanced simulation. Our team of experienced dental educators, technology specialists, and practice management experts has created a myriad of educational experiences designed to maximize the learning potential throughout the entire dental life cycle: from pre-admissions to retirement. 

Using digital dental technology, dental practice software, virtual didactic presentations, and hands-on simulation (both traditional and haptic), we seek to provide our colleagues the opportunity to increase their knowledge of dentistry, enhance their hand skills and technical expertise, and improve the efficiency of their practice.

Dental Education 

Jerry Cooper

The curriculum of the dental schools in the United States is regulated by the American Dental Education Association through a recurring seven-year accreditation cycle. Although the standards for accreditation are established by the American Dental Education Association, how a school achieves these standards is determined by the school itself.  Dental education has traditionally included the teaching of the basic sciences and necessary dental knowledge through a series of didactic lectures. 

This is followed by many hours of instruction and practice in a simulated environment utilizing a dental typodont.  Following the successful completion of these exercises, a student is permitted to practice these newly acquired skills on a patient in a closely monitored clinical setting. Graduates from ADEA accredited dental schools must pass a national board examination which affirms the knowledge of the science, materials, and techniques required of a professional dental practitioner. To acquire a license to practice in a particular state, each candidate must also pass a clinical examination which tests their diagnostic acumen, technical knowledge, and hand skills.

Dental materials and techniques continue to evolve, enhancing our ability to provide patients the opportunity to experience optimal oral health. Technology is changing not only the way we treat our patients, but also the way we educate our students. Contemporary learning theories and advances in the understanding of the cognitive process serve as guides on how to improve learning and enhance skill acquisition. Dental education and the dental profession should maximize the benefits of these important discoveries. 

Promethean Dental System’s multi-modal approach to learning combines modern learning theory with state-of-the-art technology. We believe students learn best, and retain information (and skills) longer, when they learn the information (or skills) in a variety of ways (multi-modal). This learning is best accomplished over a period of time, with properly spaced exposures to the information or task. Appropriate, timely feedback is also critical to the learning process. 

In addition to the time-proven use of the typodont for simulation of dental procedures, Promethean Dental Systems has implemented the use of the Simodont Dental Trainer. 

The Simodont Dental Trainer is a virtual-haptic simulator that provides a more realistic dental experience for its operator: virtual in the sense that you are working on something that isn’t really there, and haptic as a life-like sense of touch and feel. Add to these attributes the Simodont’s ability to create a self-learning environment, providing immediate feedback, both outcome and informational feedback. This coupled with the purely objective assessment provided by the Simodont makes it an ideal tool for both teaching and assessment. We also are strong believers in the adage that “Assessment Drives Learning.” 

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