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Hey there, dental professionals and industry enthusiasts.

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Picture this. It's October, and you're in the

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middle of one of the most transformative

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fall future of dentistry roundtable in the vibrant

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days at the Hyatt Regency. Imagine yourself inspired

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and invigorated after attending captivating keynote sessions by

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none other than the legendary boxing world champion

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lively discussions, exchanging ideas, and collecting a stack

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of business cards from fellow dental experts and

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potential partners. You've networked with over 350

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attendees and learned from more than 80 speakers

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who are at the forefront of dental innovation.

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You sat in on educational sessions exploring topics

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that elevate dental care as a critical element

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of whole person health. You've witnessed firsthand how

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digital technology is revolutionizing

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patient outcomes

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and how both large DSOs and independent practices

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are flourishing.

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Get ready to transform your career and don't

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miss out on this incredible opportunity. The Becker's

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fall future of dentistry roundtable is from October

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30th to November 1, 2024.

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Get registered by going to beckersdental.com

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and clicking on the events page.

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Hello. This is Cameron Cortejano with the Becker's

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Dental and DSO review podcast.

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I'm thrilled to be joined today by doctor

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Jordan Cooper, owner of Cooper Family Dentistry and

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partner at MB2 Dental.

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Doctor Cooper, thank you so much for being

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here today.

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Cameron, thank you for having me.

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To start us off, can you introduce yourself

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and tell us

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a little bit more about your background?

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Sure, Cameron. So I'm a dentist.

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I was actually born to a dental family.

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My dad is a a dentist. My mom

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was a practicing hygienist for several years.

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I started in here with my dad

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in Cooper Family Dentistry in 2006

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after I graduated from the University of Tennessee.

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And then I started my first,

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practice outside

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of Cooper Family

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in 2007

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and I went on to build a DSO,

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over the next decade,

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which I then sold in 2015

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to a local private equity backed group here.

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And then after that,

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I actually,

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I published a book about the saga of

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all that called Chasing the Blue Marlette, and

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it it became a bestseller on Amazon. I

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think maybe we can put a link to

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that in the show notes.

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And, then in 2018,

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I ended up joining MD 2. And

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since then, I've helped

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them do some acquisitions here in Arkansas, and

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I have several clinics here through MB2.

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And,

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I have a real estate company that I

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have developed during that time that's doing really

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well. And I plan to write a second

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book over the next couple of years. I've

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actually found a publisher, and we're getting started

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on that right now.

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It's been a it's been a fun adventure.

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Awesome. Thanks. Thanks for that introduction.

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What are some of the biggest,

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issues that you're following

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in the dental industry

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this year?

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Well, of course, I am keeping my eyes

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on the consolidation

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of dentistry across the United States.

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This has been going on for about a

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decade now, more or less. And

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as we look at the industry, as it

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becomes 30%, 40%, maybe even 50% consolidated

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over the next 5 or 10 years, kind

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of looking at the lay of the land

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and just kind of monitoring

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the future

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of practice ownership, I would guess,

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is one of the biggest issues we are

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going to say

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as more and more students

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graduate dental school without planning on owning,

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their own dental practice or having a partner

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to to grow with.

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So, we're kind of watching the landscape change

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and seeing the preferences

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of younger dentists and

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how the how the future will,

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dictate

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the business model here.

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Yeah, definitely. I think that,

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at least so far in 2024,

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the consolidation of the industry

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has not been as rapid as maybe,

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in years past, especially with COVID and all

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those things.

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Do you

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anticipate that the consolidation will kind of swing

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back,

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and increase

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over the last couple of months of 2024

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and kind of headed into the next couple

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of years?

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Well, I do, Cameron.

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You know, in the fall, the merger and

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acquisition activity tends to pick up, so we

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do see more closings in the fall.

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I've heard of a few groups recently getting

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some funding. With MB2, we acquired a huge

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debt facility

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in March of this year, so we are

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able to continue acquiring practices

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for the foreseeable future.

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There are a few others out there that

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are still

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acquiring practices right now.

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I feel like it's going to pick up

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a little bit the next 6 months and

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then,

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you know, everybody's eyes are on the presidential

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election, which is super pivotal

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for the economy. So I think a lot

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of

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that activity

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will be affected by,

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the next president of the United States

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and, their temperature on business here.

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Yeah. I think that that is a sentiment

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that

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is being shared by a lot of dentists

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and DSOs, kind of just being patient right

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now,

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and kind of waiting to see how the

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landscape

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shapes up, like you said,

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over the next coming months, especially

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with the upcoming

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presidential election will obviously play play a big

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role into that?

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Yeah. I think so. I think the banking

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industry has been upended a little bit, and

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I think there's some cards left to play

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there. Hopefully,

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things will

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continue being okay and maybe the Fed can

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drop the rate a little bit over the

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next year, but

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the banking industry is

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is going to have to back a lot

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of this stuff. So just have to kind

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of see how that plays out.

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Yes, definitely. That makes sense.

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Something that I'm curious about

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is to know what you are most excited

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about when it comes to the dental industry

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right now and what are some things that

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are potentially making you a little bit nervous?

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Well,

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you know, we we're excited about AI. We

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looked at all the things it could

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do for dentistry.

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And I look at it as a great

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tool for younger dentists,

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a great tool for patient communication.

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I think that it's gonna play into all

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of our practices. We piloted,

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one of the AI systems,

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earlier this year.

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It it's really it was getting close to

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being ready, but I didn't feel like it

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was ready. So we piloted it in, I

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think, 5 or 6 offices that we have

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here in Arkansas.

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And I decided to hold out for a

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little while longer as they're getting those those

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softwares more integrated with our operating systems, our

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practice management software. But I think within the

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next year or 2, we will definitely jump

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on that. And I think it's gonna transform

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the industry

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from our perspective. And also, I think after

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that, you're gonna see insurance companies and dental

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offices having to communicate,

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in a different way. So,

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I'm excited about it. I think it'll be

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good long term. I think there will be

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some growing pains with that, and I'm looking

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forward to seeing

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how we incorporate that to make the experience

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better for the patients than the younger dentists.

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It does make me a little nervous as

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well because I think it's gonna change the,

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the way we we do billing and coordinate

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with the insurance company. And, you know, the

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other things that make me nervous, like we

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mentioned, are just

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the economy. You know, private equity has been

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involved in now for 8 or 10 years,

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and and private equity is looking at things

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like AI as well. You know? And so

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those AI investments are really sexy,

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and the the returns if you pick the

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right AI investments may be really great.

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So I'm hoping that the private equity stays

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in our sector long enough to continue to

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consolidate the industry

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in a way that's beneficial for everyone.

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Yeah, definitely. I've it seems like

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almost every

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dentist or DSO exec that I speak to,

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kind of their top trend that they're always

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following is,

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AI and the implementation of that. Just because

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it is still so new in dentistry,

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we don't know exactly what kind of form

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it's gonna take when it comes to that

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integration

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implementation. But it seems like, for pretty much

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everyone, they're excited to see,

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what form it takes. And

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most feel like it'll be very beneficial for

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for everyone involved, especially

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dentists when it comes to their diagnosis.

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But also patient communication

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is gonna be a huge thing,

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and AI will definitely

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seem to be able to help in that

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aspect as well.

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You know, I I agree with that because,

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you know, when we're talking about younger dentists,

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which a lot of CSOs and grapes employ

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quite a few younger dentists,

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when you diagnose

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a tooth with a cavity or need in

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a root canal and the patient says, well,

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I don't know you. I didn't have this

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6 months ago,

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and you have a screen there where the

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AI has confirmed your diagnosis,

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it's more readily accepted by the patient. And

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I think in the long run, it's better

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for the doctor, it's better for the patient,

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to go ahead and address those things. And

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it it just it helps build confidence in

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the diagnosis

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of the younger dentist,

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which I have seen that be a problem

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as

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some of the older dentists have transitioned out.

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You have a a younger dentist comes in,

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and they find certain treatments that need to

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be done. Maybe the older dentist was being

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ultra conservative

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or they're close to retirement and weren't maybe

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fixing everything. And the patient says, well, I

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didn't have this before.

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And it sure is nice to have an

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AI with a bright red example,

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the caries or the decay on the tooth,

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there to show the patient. So that just

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brings a little bit more confidence for the

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the younger dentist.

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I think that'll be a big help for

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everybody, honestly.

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Yeah. Definitely.

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It it definitely helps when,

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you can kinda show the patient exactly what's

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going on, and it's,

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not just like a 2 day 2 d

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x-ray that

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they've probably never seen anything like that before.

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So

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being able to,

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implement I AI definitely will help. That's right.

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And then, you know, your other staff can

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do it as well, and I think it's

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a more efficient model because maybe the people

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are getting their teeth cleaned,

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and the hygienist can show them what the

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AI says before the doctor even comes in.

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I think that's the future of all that.

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Yeah. Absolutely. I agree.

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What

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do you think the most effective healthcare leaders

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need in order to be successful within

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the next 2 to 3 years going forward?

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I know we talked about consolidation

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and AI being those big trends in dentistry,

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but

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anything

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outside of that, you think?

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Well, beyond AI,

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I just feel like it's really important

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for healthcare leaders, medical,

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dental

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and beyond

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to keep

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all of us keep our eye on the

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ball with the macro picture. The world is

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changing very rapidly.

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And,

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you know, we may be looking at

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some systemic changes

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throughout the world,

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the way that we do a lot of

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things. And

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like we talked about earlier, a lot of

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it depends on the government. And

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I I really I'm hoping for good outcomes

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with all that stuff. But I think it's

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important to be focused on

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how all those things play out the next

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2 or 3 years,

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so we can see what the future will

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hold for everyone.

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You know, it's easy to get in a

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rut and just see what's in front of

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your face, but

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I I feel like we have to look

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to the future and see

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what some of these alternative

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health care

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plans

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may hold for dentistry for us.

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Definitely. That makes sense.

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I try not to get real political. I

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I just think it's important for everybody to

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keep their eye on the ball, if that

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makes any sense.

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Yeah. Definitely. Makes sense.

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Well, doctor Cooper, thank you for joining us

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today and and sharing your valuable

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expertise and insights

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into the dental industry, especially when it comes

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to

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private equity and consolidation

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in AI.

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It's been a pleasure speaking with you today,

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and I look forward to connecting with you

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again in the future.

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Thank you for having me, Cameron. Have a

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great afternoon.