Hey there, dental professionals and industry enthusiasts.
Picture this. It's October, and you're in the
middle of one of the most transformative
experiences of your career. You're at the Becker's
Fall Future of Dentistry Roundtable in the vibrant
city of Chicago, fresh off an incredible 3
days at the Hyatt Regency. Imagine yourself inspired
and invigorated
after attending captivating keynote sessions by none other
than the legendary boxing world champion and CEO,
Lila Elite, and the extraordinary
professional basketball player, Caitlin Clark. See yourself engaged
in lively discussions,
exchanging ideas, and collecting a stack of business
cards from fellow dental experts and potential partners.
You've networked with over 350
attendees and learned from more than 80 speakers
who are at the forefront of dental innovation.
You sat in on educational sessions exploring topics
that elevate dental care as a critical element
of whole person health. You've witnessed firsthand how
digital technology is revolutionizing
patient outcomes
and how both large DSOs and independent practices
are flourishing. Get ready to transform your career
and don't miss out on this incredible
opportunity. The Becker's fall future of dentistry roundtable
is from October 30th to November 1, 2024.
Get registered by going to beckersdental.com
and clicking on the events page.
Hello. This is Arianna Portallatin with the Becker's
Dental and DSO Review podcast.
I'm thrilled to be joined today by doctor
Ronald Saffer of my orthodontist.
Doctor Saffer, thank you so much for being
here today.
It's my pleasure.
Thank you for inviting me. Yeah. Definitely. To
start us off, can you introduce yourself and
tell us a little bit about your background?
Yes. I'm,
an orthodontist.
I graduate
2,002 from NYU College of Dentistry.
And, you know, a couple years later,
I was working for a pediatric
dental group in the tristate area. And then
2 years later in 2004, I, opened up
my first office in Ewing, New Jersey.
And,
I grew that practice, that office to a
pretty good size, substantial size by 2012 and
introduced a lot of operational efficiencies and things
into the practice.
And, at that time, I decided that why
why do I why am I limiting myself
to just one community and one, location? And
why don't I take this, you know, great
service that we're doing for the community
and extend it to other communities in in
New Jersey? And that's what we did. We
started, you know, adding more locations. Currently,
we have about,
9 locations
in New Jersey. I have 8 locations in
New Jersey and one in Pennsylvania.
And, we have 5 locations under contract,
that belong to 2 practices.
So we're looking to, expand farther,
and continue the growth and success.
Great. Thank you for that.
To start us off, what are some of
the biggest issues that you're following in the
dental industry right now?
Well, I think the greatest trends right now
are, really the artificial intelligence,
the rise of the aligners.
There you know, we're seeing more and more
patients asking for aligners, and aligner technology has
really,
improved substantially,
you know, within the past few years. Not
only there are more companies offering,
you know, greater solutions, but also,
the technology itself has really been improved. And
aligner aligners really, you know, work really well
these days for majority of our patients. So
we're offering those to more and more patients
than,
a bigger portion of our, practice or patients
are are, you know, choosing aligners versus braces.
So that's the aligners,
the there's advances
in digital technology
with scanners, digital custom brackets, and braces.
So all of these really offer to the
patient a more definitely
a lot less invasive,
procedures
for the patients, more convenience. They don't have
come as many times to the office. But,
like, with braces, typically, treatment takes 2 to
3 years. You have to come every single
month.
You have you kinda have broken braces, broken
wires, you know, taking your kid or yourself
out of,
you know, work.
So all of those can really cause a
lot of inconveniences with with aligner treatment. Most
of those inconveniences go out the door and
it offers a really great patient experience. So
that's really the greatest trend in orthodontics.
You know, obviously, work force changes,
and other things,
the trends in the DSO market,
more dentists offering aligners,
and orthodontic treatment. So all of these are
factors that are playing in our orthodontic market
these days.
Okay. And I'm also curious, what are you
most excited about when it comes to dentistry
right now? And is there anything that makes
you nervous?
Yeah. I mean, excitement. I I love technology.
So I'm very excited about all these advancement
in technology, robotics. I I do see a
future where, you know, there's
gonna
What I think makes most of us nervous,
particularly the older you get, is the speed
up change, you know, the changes that we
need to do in order to match the
changes that are happening, you know, in the
in in the industry. So training,
incorporating the equipment, buying the equipment,
you know, changing the way we do things,
based on the changes that are happening in
the marketplace. So those are things that kind
of not necessarily make me nervous, but make
me think I wanna, you know, wanna take
proactive action.
Okay. Yeah.
Speaking of, new technology, I know you mentioned
that that's something you're very excited about. Can
you tell me a little bit more about
the role
that, these new emerging technologies such as AI
and robotics, what kind of role that can
have in the orthodontics field specifically?
Yeah. Well, I mean, a lot. Well, aligner
technology is already,
an AI technology. So, I mean, that was
introduced 25 years ago. So I should say,
you know, as far as pioneers of
incorporating AI technology into,
you know, dentistry,
you know, we've we've made quite a headway
by now.
But there's obviously a lot more right now.
We're talking about, you know, technologies like Chat
GPT and, things of,
same as chat GPT that can be employed
in marketing, in operations, in HR.
So those are really, what really is gonna
change the landscape within the next 3 to
5 years is, all of those AI technologies
that are gonna be introduced,
in our administrative work, in our in our,
you know, clinical work. And the clinical work,
as I mentioned, you know, AI is mostly
in the
realm of treatment planning. So for instance,
one of the things that, you know, is
already happening and will take place is, like,
treatment planning, diagnosis, and treatment planning. And, of
course, you know, as a as a dentist
or a physician,
the ultimate decision is gonna be at the,
you know, by the clinician. They have to
make the decision, but AI can be very
helpful
in in providing,
accurate diagnosis for conditions
and also proposing,
you know, treatment plans for patients.
So, those are really also very exciting,
areas in in dentistry that can, you know
and especially in orthodontics because orthodontics is a
little bit more complicated when you wanna propose
treatment plans.
Patients might need surgery. They might need extractions,
you know, growth modification, different types of things,
then, that's where the AI can come in
and and play a great role.
Yeah. Definitely sounds,
exciting.
Last question here. What would most effective health
care leaders need to be successful in the
next 2 to 3 years?
Well,
okay.
Well, definitely there I I think one of
the greatest things,
I I love what,
Eric,
Hoffer,
who said it's a great quote that I
love to, to repeat, which is in times
of change, learners inherit the earth while the
learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with
a world that no longer exists.
So it it's really the truth and the
reality of the situation that in times of
change,
the learners, the ones that are continuously learning
and wanting to update and renovate and
move with the change will inherit the earth,
while the learned
will find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with
a world that no longer exists. And so
that's
what is what needs to happen is with
the leaders, they have to have a vision
for future.
They need to adapt their style
to the changes and to their vision. And,
so I think those are the 2 adaptability,
is would be one of the greatest
qualities to have at this time and also,
having a vision for future.
Yeah. Definitely. And, just adding on to that,
is there anything that you can share about
how your leadership style has changed just throughout
the years of owning your practice and opening
up new offices?
Yes.
You know, I I would say if I
was going to go to Ron Safar 1.0
to Ron Safar 2.0, you know,
I I was much more,
you know, trying to do things
on on my own and, you know, really
orthodontics
and just being in business for the past
24
years. One thing that has really changed taught
me has been that I you know, you
can only accomplish things with great teams
and building great teams,
that support you, are are with you along
the way.
You know, that that is what really makes
a great company is the is the team
and the employees and the culture that you
really try to foster. So,
that is really what I've really learned as
my, experience as an orthodontist for the past
20 years. I'm building a team. We currently
have 80 80 team members,
you know, and,
it's it's really delightful to see how the
team members,
they actually,
you know, have
completely they completely understand the vision, the mission,
and they they have incorporated all those core
values that we, you know, continuously
emphasize.
And, they actually wanna do things. It's not
that they're doing things because we tell them
to do things, but they're doing things because
they really want to do those things. And
that's really beautiful to see.
Great. Well, thank you so much for sharing
that. Yeah. Those were all my questions. So
thank you so much for joining us today,
doctor Safra. It's been a pleasure speaking with
you, and I look forward to connecting with
you again in the future.
Okay. Great. Thank you. Yes. Thank you for
having me, and,
wish everybody best of, luck with everything.
Yes. Definitely. Have a good day. Bye bye.