Meet The Speakers

Dr. Christensen will take a look at: How will delivery of oral care change with DSO’s dominating in delivery of services? What will happen to private-practice practitioners? What will the dental-office workflow be like? How will dental auxiliary roles change? How will dental continuing education change going forward? What does the future hold for private practitioners? What can you do now to set yourself up for the future?

Dr. Sulman Ahmed will address questions such as: What does the future have in store for emerging group practices? Where might multiples be going? What is the outlook for private equity in the emerging-group space? What growth strategies will win out in the near future? What can group practices do now to set up their businesses for future success? What’s changed in the DSO world in the last few years? What’s driving the growing number of DSO’s? What trends are we seeing among DSO’s? What you should be aware of in the coming years? And, how do you get your DSO to thrive — regardless of the market?

Dr. Snyder will examine questions of vertical integration: how has Kaiser used this technique to expand their reach in dentistry? How can hospitals leverage existing resources to take advantage of this trend? How can providers improve patient outcomes while keeping costs low? What is vertical integration, what does it look like, and how will it affect your group practice?

Dr. Alon Mozes, CEO and co-founder of Neocis, will explore questions like: How has technology progressed with regard to artificial intelligence, computer vision, navigation, MEMS sensor, and semiconductor technologies? What will continue to drive innovation in the capability, performance, autonomy, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness of robots? What will robotics look like in dentistry over the next decade and how will it affect the practice of dentistry?

Maria Melone will address questions such as: How will future DSO’s approach practice acquisitions? What is trending with acquisitions versus de novos? How will valuations change in the future? What can emerging groups do now to set themselves up for future acquisitions? How can emerging groups compete with large DSO’s when acquiring? What acquisition strategies will win out as the industry consolidates? What trends are we seeing with deal structures that may or may not continue into the future? What are the biggest threats to valuation multiples? What is a leveraged buy-out, and how does it factor into acquisitions in the dental industry? What are the biggest challenges for emerging group practices looking to grow through acquisition?

Artificial Intelligence is no longer a futuristic technology—it’s here now. Experts from Stephen Hawking to Elon Musk believe it will cause the biggest, fastest technology disruption in human history. This keynote presentation, by the former CEO of an AI research company affiliated with Caltech, explains the five key things to understand about AI in order to thrive in AI invasion and avoid becoming roadkill in its wake.

With the increasing difficulty to access dental care, due to cost, location, and payer; along with the mounting evidence that links systemic disease with oral disease, the demand for dental therapists / midlevel providers is rapidly escalating. How will dental therapists change the way dentistry is delivered? How will group practices take advantage of dental therapists working at a much lower hourly cost than their dentists? How will dental therapists change the market, scope, and procedures done by the group’s dentists?

Breakthrough technologies are rapidly occurring in clinical dentistry, marketing and patient management. How will dsos recognize which are the winners and which are the losers? Which technologies do you adopt, and which technologies do you pass on? And, those technologies that you select, how do you implement them across the spectrum of your practices? Ultimately, if you don’t stay ahead, you’ll fall behind.

When you arrive at 3 to 5 locations, it is often difficult to secure financing to continue your growth.  Previous banking relationships now are unwilling to lend you money or extend you credit. Finding the right banking partner that understands the group dental business and is relationship-based, a bank that can take you to that next level of 10-plus practices is critical.  How do you find the right banking-partner?  When do you begin this relationship?  What do they require?  What role do they play?  Angela N. Baker,VP of President Professional Practice Group at Village Bank and Trust will be addressing this essential area of financing at the 2018 Summit. 

A new model of bringing specialists into your practices has been created. A model that matches values, culture, and personality of the specialists with the group's. An additional feature of this model is the resident dentists are trained by the specialists to deliver much of their specialty care.