Hello. This is Cameron Cortejano with the Becker's
Dental and DSO review podcast.
I'm thrilled to be joined today by doctor
Usama Funes, cofounder and chief operating officer at
Dentology.
Doctor Funes, thank you so much for being
here today.
Pleasure to be here.
Just to start us off today, can you,
introduce yourself and and tell us a little
bit about your background?
Sure. So a bit about me, as you
mentioned, Usama Founas.
I, started Dentology with 2 of my close
friends,
about,
what is it, 12 years ago or so?
Prior to that, graduated from Marquette University's Dental
School in 2010.
So had some years to be able to,
fortunately, practice dentistry.
And in the midst of being able to
practice and open our own shop,
really came to love and enjoy the operations
of the business.
And if you fast forward today, very fortunate
to be able to work with an incredible
team right now currently running about 17 de
novo practices,
between 2 different markets.
Awesome. Thanks for that. Mhmm. Our first question
today is what are some of the biggest
issues that you are following in the dental
industry this year?
So I think what's interesting is
I'm guilty of being a headline reader just
like many people, but at the same time,
I think it's what's been concerning to see
sometimes is some of these,
distressed business situations that have come up. So
some bankruptcies that have been piled on.
And then I don't know if this is
as much of a issue, but it's been
really interesting to see the quietness
behind the investment market in dentistry. Typically, in
years past, and I think this is obviously
prior to
the interest rate market being getting higher and
higher, we saw a lot of money coming
into dentistry.
It's been interesting that more recently, it's been
very quiet, and some of these deals have
been very, like, kind of under the not
necessarily under the table, but just more so
without the need for any PR or any
mechanism to to show what it's been happening.
So So but I would say some of
the the the bigger issue, I think, is
just seeing some of the distressed businesses coming
about,
in our industry.
Yeah. That's really interesting
about, like you were saying, the kinda decrease
in the investments and and the money coming
into dentistry,
over the past couple of years.
Do you think there's, you know, some out
other outside
factors that are have kinda led to that
outside of interest rates, or do you think
that's kind of the main driver of it?
Well, I think it just depends on who
the capital driver is. So when it's private
equity, it's almost always gonna be more interest
based because they're gonna be using debt to
to fund these businesses. And I think that's
part of it, and I think the the
other part is,
I think, in the same vein that tech
companies have had to really focus in on
profitability
and running a little leaner,
we in dentistry and in health care in
general are not immune to that as well.
So I think
the select group of capital partners are being,
I mean, for back of letter phrase, more
selective on who they're trying to put their
money into and making sure that they really
side with the ones that are much more
disciplined with achieving profitability
or have a predictable growth plan.
So I think that's kinda where I think
things are.
Yeah. That makes sense.
Something that I'm curious to get your thoughts
on are,
what are some things that you're most excited
about when it comes to dentistry right now?
Then on the flip side, what are, some
things that are making you kinda nervous?
So from an excitement perspective, there's a lot.
I mean, I to be honest, I think
it's very cliche because maybe every single generation
of dentist says this, but I think it's
the best time to be in dentistry. You
have this beautiful crossroad
of having technology
kind of expand the way it does to
provide amazing patient outcomes
mixed in with better
provider outcomes. And I think the 2 are
different where we can do the dental work
on patients, but sometimes when providers have access
to tools
that are not always patient facing, it just
gets them more excited about doing the dentistry.
So it's seeing technology really evolve itself. So
things like milling, which has been around in
dentistry, but to see the speed to which
things are milling is amazing, where we can
eventually get to the point where maybe a
crown only takes a couple minutes to mill.
We're not there yet, but I I get
excited about seeing things like that. I get
excited about seeing
there's certain dental
businesses that I'm seeing growing in a way
that I would never have thought to grow
the way they have. And without naming names,
just it's fun to see our colleague kinda
do well in the industry.
Some of the things that maybe make me
nervous
is, on the flip of that, seeing colleagues
being interested in capital investment, but not quite
certain what their vision is, where
to take money is one thing,
but to have a vision about where that
money is going to take you other than
just go going back into your pocket is
a very different story.
So I think that part has gets me
very nervous of having more and more dentists
going after private equity dollars,
but not really having the foundation
of what their business truly is.
Yeah. That's that's really interesting, and I think
it makes sense. Obviously,
it's good to have the the funding and
the private
equity capital and all those things,
but you don't wanna waste it, obviously. So
you wanna make sure that you're you're using
it effectively and will help grow grow your
practice and your business and all those kind
of things.
Exactly. And if you you don't wanna have
you don't wanna have purely financial outcomes as
the sole output,
but, also, if you only have pure clinical
outcomes and that's your only driver,
how do you plan on trying to scale
a business if that's what you're interested in?
So I it it's this, like, it's this
interesting road of having to make sure,
are you solid clinically? Do you have your
foundations in place? And are you being financially
smart to be able to take the next
step?
Yeah. Definitely. How do you kind of balance
those those two kind of things at at
your company and in your practices?
The word balance might not be the right
word. It might be, like, teeter totter.
So I I I say that only because
you kinda have to strike this nerve of
where,
I think, in the end of the day,
any decision that's made has to fundamentally have
the clinical basis of what you're doing. Meaning,
if I want to potentially hey. How do
we potentially increase, you know, production per hour?
As a hypothetical example, many dental companies use
this as a KPI.
I think it's not that that's not the
problem you're it's it's like it's it's an
output that hopefully the problem you're solving is
how do I help a doctor
solve more patient issues, or how do I
help a doctor get better at certain skills,
Ergo, if that makes sense. Yeah. Absolutely. That
makes some sense. Yeah. Yeah.
Awesome. Next question
that we have today is,
in your opinion, what will the most effective
health care leaders need in order to be
successful,
over the next 2 to 3 years?
So I think this question is interesting because
I think the answer will involve not even
mattering over the next 2 or 3 years.
And I can answer this specific 2 or
3 year mark, but even just kinda going
more long term. So the next 2 or
3 years,
I think what's super important
is going to be
the predictability
of growth in your business. Meaning,
have you started getting to the point
that you understand
the the mechanism and markers of how to
scale your business if that is something that
you're interested in. I would say just more
long term that I think is tried and
true no matter what is,
are you somewhat or to some level doctor
led or provider focused? And I think that's
really crucial because in a health care business,
the essential
the revenue is coming from the providers.
So just by pure logic and proxy, how
are you making sure that that not only
are they taken care of, but that they
have the resources they need to do extremely
well, that they have the autonomy to keep
growing in a manner that they can, that
they have the support around them, that there
should be never a question of, like you
should never want a provider that you work
alongside
to ever say I don't have the support
because that would defeat the purpose of you
as a health care leader doing what you
need to do.
So I think in the next several years,
it's just
the the most successful ones would be that
they have they're in tune and they're tapped
to the providers in their business.
Awesome.
That makes sense.
What are some things that
you're kinda looking at doing to make sure
that, you know, your providers,
feel like they're well supported and have everything
that they need?
So I think from a from a macro
perspective, I think first being able to have
access to data. I think that's just, like,
kind of
data 101 when it comes to working in
a space like this is, hey. Do they
have reporting? Do they have access to seeing
where they're at?
I think to go a step below that,
it's then, I think, having clear expectations
prehire and during the process of, like, what
is expected on both ends? Like, what are
you as a provider expecting? And then, hey.
Let's tell you what we're expecting from you
and not necessarily financial, just even just from
your clinical set perspective.
I think some dental businesses
could do well with doctors who primarily wanna
focus on, like, a very small subset of
skills.
But then many of us, including us, want
doctors who want to dabble in advanced procedures
with the right training.
So I think there's that element. And I
think a step below that is actual true
mentorship
in having
a scalable way to have doctors feel like
they have someone or some group they can
go to with questions
and to have, like, almost like an accountability
session that goes both ways. What are they
doing well and could be better? And then
flip side of that, what can the leader
do to really help empower them further?
Got it.
That makes a ton of sense and
and sounds like some effective strategies for sure.
It's it's a hope, and we'll keep going
at it. And it's a I think it's
always gonna be a work in progress.
Yeah. Definitely.
Obviously, not gonna be perfect, but,
moving towards just being better and better each
day,
is seems like a good strategy.
Yeah. Trying to. Awesome. Well, I wanna thank
you for joining us today, doctor Funes, and
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.
Pleasure is always mine. Thanks so much for
doing this. No problem. Have a good one.
Take care. Bye.