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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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Usama Funes, cofounder and chief operating officer at

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Dentology.

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Doctor Funes, thank you so much for being

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here today.

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Pleasure to be here.

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Just to start us off today, can you,

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introduce yourself and and tell us a little

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bit about your background?

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Sure. So a bit about me, as you

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mentioned, Usama Founas.

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I, started Dentology with 2 of my close

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friends,

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about,

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what is it, 12 years ago or so?

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Prior to that, graduated from Marquette University's Dental

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School in 2010.

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So had some years to be able to,

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fortunately, practice dentistry.

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And in the midst of being able to

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practice and open our own shop,

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really came to love and enjoy the operations

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of the business.

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And if you fast forward today, very fortunate

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to be able to work with an incredible

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team right now currently running about 17 de

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novo practices,

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between 2 different markets.

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Awesome. Thanks for that. Mhmm. Our first question

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today is what are some of the biggest

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issues that you are following in the dental

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industry this year?

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So I think what's interesting is

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I'm guilty of being a headline reader just

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like many people, but at the same time,

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I think it's what's been concerning to see

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sometimes is some of these,

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distressed business situations that have come up. So

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some bankruptcies that have been piled on.

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And then I don't know if this is

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as much of a issue, but it's been

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really interesting to see the quietness

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behind the investment market in dentistry. Typically, in

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years past, and I think this is obviously

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prior to

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the interest rate market being getting higher and

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higher, we saw a lot of money coming

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into dentistry.

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It's been interesting that more recently, it's been

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very quiet, and some of these deals have

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been very, like, kind of under the not

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necessarily under the table, but just more so

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without the need for any PR or any

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mechanism to to show what it's been happening.

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So So but I would say some of

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the the the bigger issue, I think, is

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just seeing some of the distressed businesses coming

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about,

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in our industry.

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Yeah. That's really interesting

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about, like you were saying, the kinda decrease

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in the investments and and the money coming

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into dentistry,

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over the past couple of years.

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Do you think there's, you know, some out

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other outside

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factors that are have kinda led to that

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outside of interest rates, or do you think

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that's kind of the main driver of it?

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Well, I think it just depends on who

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the capital driver is. So when it's private

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equity, it's almost always gonna be more interest

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based because they're gonna be using debt to

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to fund these businesses. And I think that's

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part of it, and I think the the

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other part is,

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I think, in the same vein that tech

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companies have had to really focus in on

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profitability

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and running a little leaner,

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we in dentistry and in health care in

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general are not immune to that as well.

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So I think

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the select group of capital partners are being,

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I mean, for back of letter phrase, more

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selective on who they're trying to put their

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money into and making sure that they really

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side with the ones that are much more

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disciplined with achieving profitability

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or have a predictable growth plan.

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So I think that's kinda where I think

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things are.

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Yeah. That makes sense.

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Something that I'm curious to get your thoughts

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on are,

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what are some things that you're most excited

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about when it comes to dentistry right now?

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Then on the flip side, what are, some

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things that are making you kinda nervous?

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So from an excitement perspective, there's a lot.

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I mean, I to be honest, I think

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it's very cliche because maybe every single generation

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of dentist says this, but I think it's

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the best time to be in dentistry. You

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have this beautiful crossroad

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of having technology

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kind of expand the way it does to

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provide amazing patient outcomes

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mixed in with better

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provider outcomes. And I think the 2 are

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different where we can do the dental work

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on patients, but sometimes when providers have access

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to tools

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that are not always patient facing, it just

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gets them more excited about doing the dentistry.

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So it's seeing technology really evolve itself. So

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things like milling, which has been around in

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dentistry, but to see the speed to which

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things are milling is amazing, where we can

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eventually get to the point where maybe a

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crown only takes a couple minutes to mill.

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We're not there yet, but I I get

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excited about seeing things like that. I get

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excited about seeing

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there's certain dental

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businesses that I'm seeing growing in a way

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that I would never have thought to grow

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the way they have. And without naming names,

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just it's fun to see our colleague kinda

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do well in the industry.

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Some of the things that maybe make me

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nervous

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is, on the flip of that, seeing colleagues

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being interested in capital investment, but not quite

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certain what their vision is, where

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to take money is one thing,

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but to have a vision about where that

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money is going to take you other than

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just go going back into your pocket is

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a very different story.

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So I think that part has gets me

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very nervous of having more and more dentists

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going after private equity dollars,

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but not really having the foundation

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of what their business truly is.

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Yeah. That's that's really interesting, and I think

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it makes sense. Obviously,

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it's good to have the the funding and

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the private

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equity capital and all those things,

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but you don't wanna waste it, obviously. So

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you wanna make sure that you're you're using

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it effectively and will help grow grow your

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practice and your business and all those kind

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of things.

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Exactly. And if you you don't wanna have

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you don't wanna have purely financial outcomes as

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the sole output,

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but, also, if you only have pure clinical

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outcomes and that's your only driver,

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how do you plan on trying to scale

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a business if that's what you're interested in?

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So I it it's this, like, it's this

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interesting road of having to make sure,

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are you solid clinically? Do you have your

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foundations in place? And are you being financially

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smart to be able to take the next

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step?

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Yeah. Definitely. How do you kind of balance

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those those two kind of things at at

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your company and in your practices?

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The word balance might not be the right

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word. It might be, like, teeter totter.

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So I I I say that only because

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you kinda have to strike this nerve of

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where,

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I think, in the end of the day,

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any decision that's made has to fundamentally have

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the clinical basis of what you're doing. Meaning,

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if I want to potentially hey. How do

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we potentially increase, you know, production per hour?

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As a hypothetical example, many dental companies use

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this as a KPI.

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I think it's not that that's not the

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problem you're it's it's like it's it's an

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output that hopefully the problem you're solving is

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how do I help a doctor

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solve more patient issues, or how do I

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help a doctor get better at certain skills,

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Ergo, if that makes sense. Yeah. Absolutely. That

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makes some sense. Yeah. Yeah.

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Awesome. Next question

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that we have today is,

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in your opinion, what will the most effective

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health care leaders need in order to be

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successful,

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over the next 2 to 3 years?

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So I think this question is interesting because

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I think the answer will involve not even

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mattering over the next 2 or 3 years.

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And I can answer this specific 2 or

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3 year mark, but even just kinda going

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more long term. So the next 2 or

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3 years,

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I think what's super important

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is going to be

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the predictability

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of growth in your business. Meaning,

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have you started getting to the point

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that you understand

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the the mechanism and markers of how to

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scale your business if that is something that

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you're interested in. I would say just more

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long term that I think is tried and

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true no matter what is,

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are you somewhat or to some level doctor

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led or provider focused? And I think that's

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really crucial because in a health care business,

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the essential

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the revenue is coming from the providers.

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So just by pure logic and proxy, how

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are you making sure that that not only

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are they taken care of, but that they

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have the resources they need to do extremely

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well, that they have the autonomy to keep

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growing in a manner that they can, that

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they have the support around them, that there

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should be never a question of, like you

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should never want a provider that you work

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alongside

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to ever say I don't have the support

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because that would defeat the purpose of you

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as a health care leader doing what you

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need to do.

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So I think in the next several years,

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it's just

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the the most successful ones would be that

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they have they're in tune and they're tapped

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to the providers in their business.

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Awesome.

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That makes sense.

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What are some things that

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you're kinda looking at doing to make sure

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that, you know, your providers,

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feel like they're well supported and have everything

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that they need?

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So I think from a from a macro

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perspective, I think first being able to have

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access to data. I think that's just, like,

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kind of

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data 101 when it comes to working in

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a space like this is, hey. Do they

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have reporting? Do they have access to seeing

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where they're at?

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I think to go a step below that,

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it's then, I think, having clear expectations

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prehire and during the process of, like, what

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is expected on both ends? Like, what are

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you as a provider expecting? And then, hey.

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Let's tell you what we're expecting from you

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and not necessarily financial, just even just from

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your clinical set perspective.

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I think some dental businesses

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could do well with doctors who primarily wanna

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focus on, like, a very small subset of

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skills.

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But then many of us, including us, want

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doctors who want to dabble in advanced procedures

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with the right training.

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So I think there's that element. And I

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think a step below that is actual true

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mentorship

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in having

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a scalable way to have doctors feel like

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they have someone or some group they can

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go to with questions

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and to have, like, almost like an accountability

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session that goes both ways. What are they

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doing well and could be better? And then

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flip side of that, what can the leader

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do to really help empower them further?

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Got it.

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That makes a ton of sense and

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and sounds like some effective strategies for sure.

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It's it's a hope, and we'll keep going

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at it. And it's a I think it's

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always gonna be a work in progress.

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Yeah. Definitely.

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Obviously, not gonna be perfect, but,

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moving towards just being better and better each

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day,

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is seems like a good strategy.

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Yeah. Trying to. Awesome. Well, I wanna thank

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you for joining us today, doctor Funes, and

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and sharing your valuable expertise and and insights

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into the dental space.

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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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Pleasure is always mine. Thanks so much for

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doing this. No problem. Have a good one.

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Take care. Bye.