Lasting Impressions | Fall 2017

16 © NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY NSU COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE © 17 Southern California by 1997. Brad Guyton, D.D.S., M.B.A., M.P.H., who serves as PDS vice president of clinician development, said the company expects to add 80 offices this year alone, with as many as 10 of those in Florida. To help it do so, PDS has estab- lished relationships with top dental schools. At the CDM, the company’s institute partners with the college in offering education events on topics such as communications skills, marketing, and practice management. This interaction helps supplement the education the students receive while in dental school with real-life business cases and education. It also gives some select students the opportunity to interact with the PDS team to see if there might be a good career fit. “Our strategy is to find win-win relationships with top dental schools through partnering with them in real-world education. This allows us the opportunity to bring something of true value for the school and stu- dents. It also helps the students see how different we are from the rest of the pack,” Guyton said. “When they learn about how much potential exists in our supported practices, and they are driven clinicians focused on clinical excellence and serving others, a part- nership is born—and everybody wins.” Guyton said PDS identified NSU’s College of Dental Medicine as one it wanted to be aligned with about seven years ago. He cited the CDM’s current leadership under Linda C. Niessen, D.M.D., M.P.H., M.P.P. “We have a great deal of respect for Dr. Niessen and the way she has taken the school to another level,” Guyton said. “A second factor is we see firsthand the caliber and quality of the graduates. That is why the College of Dental Medicine is a top school for us. These students come out of dental school prepared.” Owner dentists who have hired NSU dental graduates concur. Kate McCann Lee, D.D.S., hired 2015 alumnus Farid Mastali, D.M.D., for an office she was opening in Wildwood in Central Florida after he applied to a job posting. One way CDM gradu- ates stand out, she said, is that they are trained in CAD/CAM (computer- aided design, computer-aided manu- facturing)—a technology that allows dentists to create and seat crowns in their office in just two hours. “I really liked that the College of Dental Medicine faculty members are teaching their students CAD/CAM dentistry, which is what we focus on in our offices,” McCann Lee said. “There are only a couple of schools in the country that are doing that. NSU’s CDM grads are coming out much more prepared to transition into our offices that have this technology.” She also is impressed with the amount of clinical experience graduates have with crowns, bridges, and implants. Mastali, who practices at Wild- wood Dentists not far from his hometown of Orlando, said he had researched dental support organiza- tions before choosing PDS. “They tend to offer most of the modern dentistry and run their offices like a private practice,” he said. “I was looking at a dental office where I can really do quality dentistry.” The first dental support organiza- tions were launched more than 40 years ago. While some new dentists prefer the traditional practice model, the Association of Dental Support Organizations states that supported dentists control all aspects of patient care, like those in private practice. “The creation of dental support organizations has allowed dentists to maximize their practice with the support of professional office manage- ment,” the Association of Dental Support Organizations states on its website. “The DSO model enables dentists to focus on the patient while delivering excellent dental care.” Guyton reemphasized the same point. “We partner with the dentist to support the business needs of the practice,” he said. “Dentists always have the full clinical autonomy they must have to best support the needs and wants of their patients.” PDS-supported dentists agreed. They call the shots in patient care, while the company handles the business side of their practices. “If I want to hire somebody, I decide who I want to hire. They do the paperwork, payroll, etc.” Stokes said. “If I have a problem, they take care of it. If something breaks down, they get it fixed. They also do all the marketing to bring patients in.” McCann Lee echoed that sentiment. “PDS is really good at running offices. Their job is to support my practice. They have efficient systems in place to run my office and let me concentrate on the practice.” Janki Patel, D.M.D., a 2013 CDM graduate, is an owner dentist with the PDS-supported Johnson Ferry Dent- istry & Orthodontics in Marietta, Georgia. She said she has little interest in handling accounting, insurance, and the like. “I get to focus on what I like to focus on,” she said. “I can con- centrate on patients and treatments.” Another plus to teaming up with PDS, dentists said, is the opportunity to earn far more than they would in a traditional practice. That’s because there’s a limit to how much a dentist can earn practicing solo. PDS-supported practices usually have multiple dentists practicing in each office, including specialists. So, if a patient who comes in for routine care needs an implant, there’s no need to refer the patient to an outside specialist. That makes the dental office more profitable, they said. Guyton said the typical associate dentist earns between $120,000 and $160,000 in the first year of practice, while those in PDS-supported prac- tices can easily earn at the top end of that range. The average solo practice owner earns about $185,000, while PDS-supported owner dentists can easily make twice that amount, he said. “The magic lies in our integrated specialty model and how closely our supported clinicians work together and mentor one another,” Guyton explained. “They are productive, not because they are on an assembly line. It is because they have bigger practices with associates working for them and specialists. They are more productive and more profitable with each patient because they can serve more of the patient’s needs and wants.” There’s also the potential to have an ownership stake in more than one office, which boosts an owner- dentist’s potential income. McCann Lee, whose main practice is Aurora Modern Dentistry in Aurora, Colora- do, said she chose to build her prac- tice by owning more offices. She now has an ownership stake in a number of practices. Patel, who said her office “is doing extremely well,” will soon be hiring more dentists to help her treat the growing number of patients. Eventually, she, too, wants to expand. “I do want to own more offices in the future and expand,” she said. “The potential is huge.” u “Dentists always have the full clinical autonomy they must have to best support the needs and wants of their patients.” —Brad Guyton Janki Patel says her affiliation with Pacific Den- tal Services allows her to focus on patients and treatments at her clinic in Marietta, Georgia.