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
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 Cameron Cortejano with the Becker's
Dental and DSO review podcast.
I'm thrilled to be joined today by doctor
Sandeep Rawal, senior vice president of implant support
services at Aspen Dental. Doctor Rawal, thank you
so much for being here today.
Thank you for having me.
Just to start us off today, can you
introduce yourself and tell us a little bit
about your background?
Sure. So first off, thank you for having
me. It's it's really an honor and a
pleasure to be here today. As you mentioned,
I'm senior vice president of implant support services
for Aspen Dental,
and I'm a proud University of Florida Gator,
an alumni who graduated doing my undergrad in
dentistry at the University of Florida
back in 2006,
and then went on to do my prosthodontics
at the University of California in San Francisco,
where I graduated in 2009. I spent over
10 years in private practice
and then joined Aspen Dental in 2019
to help support the implant
initiative.
Awesome. Thanks for that.
What are some of the biggest issues
that you've been following so far in the
dental industry in 2024?
Listen. I think there's a couple of things
going on in the industry today. One of
the biggest challenges we face here at Aspen
Dental
and all DSOs in general is this perception
around dental support organizations.
And,
you know, look. There's really people out there
who believe that DSOs are all about the
numbers
and making a profit versus being focused on
patient care.
Each DSO has its own model and philosophies
and how they approach clinicians and the care
presented to patients. But, look, it really comes
down to, for us, this notion that
we understand that clinicians,
they have so many
options or opportunities of how however many different
models
of practice that are out there. And and,
really, that what is important for them
and what is important for their careers
becomes
really, I think, the differentiator with how they
decide
truly
who's the best support organization
to to to join. And so for example,
you know, it's important for us,
and it's important for them obviously,
that they have really strong continuing
education.
Like, what kind of learning
growth and development journeys do they have,
and
what kind of dentistry do they actually wanna
be offering
to the people that they serve?
Right? And so
being in a DSO that gives them the
opportunity to grow and develop in ways that
they find meaningful, I think, is really super
important. It's a challenge for sure to be
able to offer clinicians
those avenues of growth and development.
It also comes down to what kind of
lifestyle they want. Right? Do they wanna be
in an in a model that has ownership,
right, if that's a goal they have? So
there's many different factors that really come into
play today with,
I think, challenging
the this notion of
what can a, dental support organization do for
a clinician.
Definitely.
What are some things at Aspen that you're
kinda proposing and and talking to these dentists
and clinicians about when Yeah. They're they're thinking
about Yeah. That's great. That it's a great
question, you know, because look. At Aspen Dental,
everything we do is built around 22 real
main considerations,
one
being
the patient experience.
How can we best serve
people?
How do we help heal them? How do
we offer them care that has positive outcomes
with predictable
ways of getting there with positive experience.
It's so important to us. Right?
But we also not just focus on what's
the best experience for patients,
but we also focus on what's the best
experience for providers. Right? And we have a
clear vision of what we're aiming to accomplish
when it comes to
a way to create an environment for doctors
to be able to live the life they
want, practice the dentistry
that they want, and offer the care that
they want so that patients get the outcomes
that they want. And that's really what we're
focused on, and that encompasses some of the
things that we talked about that were challenges.
Like, what kind of learning and development journeys
do we create? How do we think about
innovation? How do we embrace technological
change in the in the industry?
How do we make things
easier for patients and providers
when it comes to offering care? You know,
those are the things that we focus on
day in and day out to be able
to hopefully,
you know, create a positive environment where we
can have,
providers effect change for the people that they
serve.
Got it. That makes a ton of sense.
Something that I'm curious to get your thoughts
about
are what are some things that you're excited
about when it comes to dentistry right now,
and what are some things that are potentially
making you a little bit nervous?
Well,
I think, you know, my my title kinda
says it all. I'm really excited about this
notion of dental implant therapy. Right? And the
trajectory
that we have with implants
changing how we deliver
dental care or dental health to the people
we serve. There's not been,
more of a a dramatic shift in how
we think about tooth replacement
in the last
20, 30 years than it is with dental
implants, and it's really changing the trajectory
of what we're able to offer patients.
Right? Look. For a very long time,
dentures were as good as it got for
a person who has or is losing all
their teeth. Right?
You know, for a lot of years, the
best we could offer
to people was
a solution that wasn't as good as teeth,
but it was the best we could offer.
Right? It was the best we could do.
And today, technology is changing that, especially when
it comes to dental implant therapy.
Right? We're able to offer solutions to patients
that are far
superior
and gives them the ability to have teeth
that look like teeth, feel like teeth, and
actually function like teeth compared to removable
dentures
in ways that are so close
to what it was like to have their
natural teeth.
And it's exciting because we can do this
not just
today from the standpoint of, like, the therapy
we we offer with dental implants, but also
how we deliver that therapy through technological innovation,
through the ability to make
things
easier
and take less time and save on effort
and make it more affordable
because of, you know, the areas that we're
focused on with innovation around specifically things like
implant dentistry.
You know, that excites me. It's never been
a better time to impact a person's life
through dental care
than it is today, especially with what we
have with technology and implants.
Right? And there's been quite a few barriers
for patients. Let's be honest. Right? When we
think about
implants and we think about the investment
that it costs and the convenience and the
fear factor and the process itself,
right, there have been some significant barriers
why patients
feel like these therapies are out of reach.
They're not attainable.
Right? And
instead,
at Aspen Dental, we are so focused
on breaking down those barriers, providing
patients the ability to get these implant solutions,
do it in ways that are simple, reliable,
and obviously more accessible so that there's
a better and easier ability for the patient
to say, yes.
I I want that therapy. And so we've
really had
an unbelievable,
experience doing that over the last many years,
which excites me. Right? You know, another great
example of this is the level of investment
and commitment we have to
to being at the forefront
of changing how implant dentistry is delivered
to patients. And with that, I know a
great example is,
you know, I've had the honor,
truly one of the greatest honors of my
life,
to help spearhead the initiative of our tag,
the Aspen Group Oral Care Center For Excellence,
which is a cutting edge state of the
art facility in Chicago,
which is
offering
not just
multiday,
contemporary
implant training so that doctors learn the very
best and innovative practices on how to deliver
care to patients,
but also
in that same hand live hands on experience
delivering care to the people who need it
the most.
And it's been life changing at the WellCare
Center. We've now donated
upwards of, you know, year to date,
close to $8,000,000
of donated dental services out of one
location in the heart of Chicago to those
who need it the most. And it's been
really an honor and privilege to be part
of something
so impactful
that changes not only the trajectory and career
of the professionals that we cert support, but
also the patients who need it the most.
And so, you know, I'm excited about these
things. I'm excited about being able to change
the course of
how we all, as an industry, think people
should
be supported or or or impacted when they
lose a tooth or teeth for that matter.
I do get nervous. I think there's a
lot of
investment that needs to be made when it
comes to supporting
not just what dentistry looks like today, but
what will it look like tomorrow.
Because dentistry is changing rapidly, and it is,
in some ways,
the responsibility of those who can to be
able to continue to make those investments, to
devote the time, the effort, the energy, to
be able to continue to impact patient care
as well as
how providers
find, you know, positivity in their own professional
growth and development. So there's a lot going
on in dentistry, I guess, is the long
way short way of saying my long answer,
but, you know, I am excited. I think
there's a lot of great things on the
horizon to come.
Definitely.
It's really cool
just to see the development of of dental
implants over the years, and it's really awesome
that you're able to, you know, donate all
all that care at the
oral health center of excellence and and give
those that need the care,
the ability to get it.
Yeah. It's been it's like I said, it's
probably one of the greatest honors of my
professional career, if not my personal life, just
to be able to be a part of
something like that. I mean, we're able to,
like I said, donate dental services to the
people who need it the most at no
charge to them. You know, the doctors that
come through and get trained at the oral
care center for excellence go back and make
an impact
in their own communities, giving back in their
own way to the people who need it
the most. And so it's just a kind
of
you know, it's a multiplicative
effect of of care and caring we're able
to deliver to those who need it. So
pretty pretty amazing.
Yeah. That's awesome.
Our last question today as we start to
kinda wrap up, in your view, what will
the most effective health care leaders need in
order to be successful,
over the next 2 to 3 years?
You know,
I think that's a really interesting question
because there's so much that is changing in
dentistry. And if you really think about being
a leader in health care, I think there's
a couple of things that we need to
focus on. Number 1,
you have to make a commitment to be
an early
adopter proponent
and, quite frankly,
a believer in the latest
technologies
that may or may not be
part and parcel of how you, you know,
think about dentistry today.
You know, the next few years, we're going
to seismic
change
in how we offer dental care, at least
in North America and this country. Right? Whether
it's through the use of how we leverage
data, artificial intelligence
technologies,
digital technology when it comes
to diagnostics, when it comes to manufacturing, when
it comes to operations. There's so much evolution
occurring within the industry.
And
I think as a leader, you have to
be
you have to take the responsibility that you're
going to be at the forefront of that.
It's not good enough to say we will
continue to do things the way we've done
them over the last 5 years, 7 years,
10 years, and wait for those innovations. Because
most of the innovations that we see today
that are coming out are truly impactful to
how we can actually deliver patient care and
make meaningful
positive
benefit to the people we serve through technology.
And so I think it's our kind of
onus. It's the responsibilities
on us as leaders in health care to
be able to deliver
innovative
care
evolving with the time, so to speak. Aspen,
look. We we we've already seen how AI
improves diagnostics and treatment planning, but there's still
so much that we can apply within our
own organization. Right? We're we're at the forefront,
and we still think we're at the tip
of the iceberg, so to speak. Right? Whether
it's the patient experience, whether it's the clinical
experience, whether it's the team experience. How do
we make scheduling easier? How do we make
it so that we can,
create better environments for work life balance? How
do we think that we can
diagnose and treatment plan more predictably to get
more predictable outcomes for the patients? There's so
much going on right there. And as that
rate of change increases,
guess what?
Patient expectation only moves
as fast. Right? Like, patients
really do expect
that their health care providers live in the
same world that they do, right, where there
is a new innovation or a new smartphone
coming out every year. And so I think
as a dental support organization,
you know, we are uniquely positioned to have
the infrastructure
and the resources
to be able to drive innovation at scale
and really to to change the, hopefully, the
nature of the entire industry,
which is not just exciting, but it's, you
know, definitely something I'm very proud of.
Yeah. Absolutely. I definitely agree with you on
the impact of AI and and new tech
and dentistry, and it is still so new.
But as you're saying, it it's only gonna
continue to progress and advance and improve, which,
I think will just help everyone involved, whether
that's a DSO,
the dentist themselves, or patients.
Yeah. It it's it's really you know, it's
it's I I will tell you this anecdotally.
You know, I've had the really great fortune
of being able to lecture all over the
world for many, many years, and,
I've always been saying,
you know, how we practice dentistry today isn't
what we're gonna be doing in 2 years.
And
every year that goes by, it becomes
more and more relevant and more and more
impactful because it's so true. The rapid change
of what we're doing
as health care providers
to heal people
layered in with technology and innovation in ways
that you know what? Like, I don't recognize
dentistry today compared to when I went to
dental school. And maybe that makes me a
little old. Right? But the reality is it's
exciting. It's refreshing,
and it really does
change the nature of how the the patient,
the person who sits in our chair, how
they experience the care they're given. And so
it's just a really exciting time to be
part of this profession.
Yeah. Definitely. That makes some sense, and I've
been hearing that,
around the industry as well.
Well, I wanna thank you for joining us
today, doctor Ramon, and sharing your valuable expertise
and and insights into the dental space.
It's been a pleasure speaking with you today,
and I look forward to connecting with you
again in the future.
You know what? Thank you for having me.
It's it's really an honor and a pleasure
to be able to spend a little bit
of time talking with you, so thank you.
Of course. Have a good one.
Cheers. Take care.