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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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experiences of your career. You're at the Becker's

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Fall Future of Dentistry Roundtable in the vibrant

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city of Chicago, fresh off an incredible 3

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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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and CEO, Lila Elite, and the extraordinary professional

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player, Caitlin Clark. See yourself engaged in lively

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discussions, exchanging ideas, and collecting a stack of

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business cards from fellow dental experts and potential

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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

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sessions exploring topics that elevate dental care as

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a critical element of whole person health. You've

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witnessed firsthand how 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. Hello. This

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is Cameron Cortejano with the Becker's Dental and

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DSO review podcast.

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I'm thrilled to be joined today by doctor

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Andrew Goldsmith,

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owner at North Shore Dental. Doctor Goldsmith,

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thank you so much for being here today.

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Ma'am, my pleasure. Thank you.

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To kick us off, can you introduce yourself,

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and tell us a little bit about your

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background?

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Yeah. I've been in dentistry for 26 years.

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I am a founder of a group called

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SmileSource, which is the largest network of independent

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dentists with over 750

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locations.

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I'm a private practice dentist in Houston, Texas,

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and I'm also host of the How Dent

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Podcast where we answer people's burning questions about

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how things are made in dentistry.

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And that's me in a nutshell.

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Awesome.

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Thanks for that. Kind of the first question

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as we get into it here, what are

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some of the biggest issues,

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in dentistry that you're following this year?

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Yeah. The biggest issues I'm following in dental

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currently are,

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I would say, first, trends with dental service

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organizations.

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I believe there's going to be

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an even larger push with consolidation in the

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dental industry.

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I see that it's really picking up momentum,

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and the industry continues to remain highly fragmented.

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Secondly,

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trends with insurance companies and compensation as a

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whole. I believe that insurance companies are looking

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for ways to cope with inflation,

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and as a result, are scrutinizing

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treatment and treatment plans in a much more

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sophisticated

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way through tools like AI and data analysis.

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Being aware of this gives everyone

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the accountability

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to continue to focus on patients in an

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altruistic way.

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And as a business owner, I follow the

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economy and look for macro trends

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and opportunities.

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And finally, I'm also looking for opportunities in

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marketing and advertising

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to position

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my office and our offices for growth.

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Cool. Yeah. Those are definitely

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trends that I'm hearing and seeing about industry

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wide, and they're all kinda interconnected, you know,

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especially with the economy and the the DSO

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consolidation and talked a little bit,

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about inflation.

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In in the DSO consolidation space, it's been,

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at least from my point of view, a

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little bit slower

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this year.

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Do you see that kind of turning around,

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going forward and

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into the last couple months of 24 and

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and into 25 at all?

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I do see it turning around. I think

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where we're seeing the trends shift

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is away from the mid to large size,

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mergers and acquisitions to more smaller mergers and

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acquisitions. And so I think you're seeing

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companies,

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instead of, you know, instead of the money

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flowing towards larger groups like 50,000,000 EBITDA and

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up, I think you're seeing a trend of

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there's more money being pushed towards companies that

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are maybe 10,000,000 EBITDA and less or right

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around that range. So I think that there's

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there's more roll ups occurring in the smaller

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groups now.

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Got it. And what do you think is

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kinda,

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causing that shift from the bigger to the

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smaller?

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I think because a lot of the lot

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of the large groups

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have sort of

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not necessarily maxed out their size, but they

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are they're starting to compete with each other,

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and they're starting to have their own growth

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pains.

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The smaller groups still present a larger opportunity

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because it's all growth.

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So I think that's where we're starting to

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see or why we're starting to see some

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of the money shift towards

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smaller groups.

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Got it. That makes a ton of sense.

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Something that I'm curious about to hear from

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you are,

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some things that you're most excited about when

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it comes to the state of dentistry right

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now, and what are potentially some things that

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are making you a little bit nervous?

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Yeah. I would say that the things I'm

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probably most nervous about is

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whether or not we're gonna have a more

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pronounced

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recession than what we've already experienced. So that's

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something that I've kept my eye on, and

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I think it's something that people just need

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to be

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prepared for, you know, to make sure that

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we're not

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robbing the cash resources out of practices and

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businesses

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and make sure that we are prepared for

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some sort of downshift.

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I would say what I'm most excited about

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is that we are experiencing another technology jump

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in health care in general,

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in large part due to the introduction of

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AI into different aspects of practices,

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but also in all the advances

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that accompany that technology.

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So we're starting to see

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that take more effect and have a more

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pronounced impact on the business side of practices

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as well.

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Yeah. Absolutely.

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AI and other other tech, like 3 d

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printing and and those kind of things have

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definitely exploded

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this year. And I feel like at least

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it might not be this now, but in

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the future,

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AI is kinda gonna

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be necessary for all dental practices

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to Yeah. To incorporate.

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Yeah. I agree with that.

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Oh, you kinda touched on the potential recession.

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If, you know, something like that happens, what

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would kinda be the impact

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on on dental practices and dentists, do you

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think?

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I think there's gonna have to be

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I think leaders are gonna have to be

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hyper focused on really three things,

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rebuilding from losses realized

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by whether it was a pandemic

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or by a recession,

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and that's really through focusing on core business

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principles like overhead, profitability, and productivity. And then

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I think it's gonna be a

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profitability, and productivity. And then I think it's

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gonna be essential for practices to focus on

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building brand loyalty. You know,

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patients are shopping now more than ever, so

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health care companies need to distinguish their brands

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and build followings. And then I would also

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say, you know,

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the

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distinguish their brands and build followings. And then

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I would also say that

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health care companies in general need to get

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better at promoting their value propositions

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through

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robust sales and marketing programs to make sure

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that

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people

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are nobody likes to be sold anything. Right?

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But people like to buy. And so

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positioning your dental practice or your health care

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practice in such a way that people want

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to buy what it is that you're offering,

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I think, is essential, especially if we have

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some sort of downturn.

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Absolutely. That makes a ton of sense.

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You just touched on it a little bit,

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but,

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within the next 2 to 3 years, what

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do you think that the most

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effective health care leaders

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throughout the the industry and sector

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will need and and need to know in

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order to to,

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be successful?

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I think one of the key essential ingredients

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is gonna be differentiation.

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Dental practices, health care practices in general will

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need to differentiate themselves

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from larger

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groups,

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and that differentiation

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will lend itself towards brand loyalty.

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If

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a consumer

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sees a dental practice

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as

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just another

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consumable product, then people buy consumable products based

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on price. You know, if you're buying gasoline,

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you buy it based on price. If you

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buy milk, you buy it based on price.

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If they see a dental office only as

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another consumable product,

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then we're only competing against price.

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But through differentiation,

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they can position themselves so that they are

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a more desirable product

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or service that patients will essentially want.

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Yeah. I think that's a great

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analogy and a great point about,

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you know,

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dental care is not just

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about

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the the price of the cost. It it's

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important to your overall health, and, you don't

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want cost to be the only factor in

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kind of your decision making.

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Right. Yeah. Exactly.

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Well, thank you so much for joining us

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today, doctor Goldsmith, and thank you for sharing

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your valuable expertise

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and insights

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into the dental industry and and space.

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It's been a pleasure speaking with you today,

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and I look forward to connecting again in

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the future.

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Likewise. Thank you so much.