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Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.

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My name is Chanel Banger, and I'm recording

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live at the Becker's Healthcare

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fall of 2024

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feature of dentistry roundtable.

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I'm currently sitting with doctor Cedric McDonald,

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the president of Victory Dental Center LLC.

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Doctor McDonald, thank you so much for joining

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me today. Thank you, ma'am. Perfect. Well, to

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get us started, could you please introduce yourself

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and tell us a bit about your background?

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Yes. My name is Cedric McDonald, as you

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alluded to,

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2007 graduate of Howard University

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College of Dentistry.

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I ended up,

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accepting a residency

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spot at, UNC

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Chapel Hills Hospitals.

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Did it a 1 year GPR.

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Afterwards,

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moved to Greenville, South Carolina,

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took a job assignment in public health. Even

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though that job was rewarding, I always had

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a entrepreneurial spirit.

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So while I was working there, I ended

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up starting Victory Dental Center.

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So was going between Greenville and Charlotte for

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about a year and a half, and then

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ended up selling my home and just

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planted roots there. So, I've been there for

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14 years,

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and,

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that's where I am now.

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Perfect. Thank you so much for that introduction.

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And now you've already mentioned that you were

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an entrepreneur

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and you're a dental leader.

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With that, what key experiences have shaped your

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leadership journey in the dental and DSO industry?

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Oh, you're ready for this one. Okay. So

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I think it's a compound and a continuum.

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You know, going from residency,

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that experience of, you know, actually being a

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hospital dentist, working in the VA,

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working in public health, all within that, residency

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really helped you see

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patients and,

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you know, people from all walks of life.

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So

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transitioning to the public health sector was,

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really seamless,

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And your heart really goes out to, you

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know, the the population that you're serving and

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you wish you could do more.

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But then transitioning over to private practice, you're

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still seeing people from all walks of life.

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You know, there there's, you know, people

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that live over here. People live over there,

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but the needs are the same.

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The next part of that, I would say,

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I ended up

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starting a second practice,

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a pediatric practice,

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that, you know, ran in conjunction with my

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general practice.

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And, going from a general practice to a

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pediatric practice,

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was a job in itself.

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A lot of life lessons. I ended up

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selling it to kinda restructure everything and, moving

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ahead now,

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developing the DSO platform,

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where I wanna eventually,

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hit my business too.

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Got it. And in your practice, do you

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have any, can you talk about your growth

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strategy and patient care?

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Yeah. So I I market

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really a lot.

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The growth strategy is to basically, you you

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have your

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foundation, which is your hours of of operation.

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For me, that's Monday through Friday.

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I work 2 Saturdays a month as well.

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And it's a lot of work that goes

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into that, but I have a strategic

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day to day,

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schedule that really helps me out.

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I I am of,

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the belief of bulk scheduling,

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meaning I do most of my heavy lifting

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early.

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And, in the afternoons or evenings,

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I cruise out with hygiene.

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So, it helps you prevent a little bit

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of a burnout,

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even though you're working 5 to 6 days

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a week. But, again,

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the philosophy and the vision is to have

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other doctors come in,

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to fill those days and, where I can

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go ahead and elevate this into a a

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larger DSO.

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Absolutely. And can you talk about the challenges

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that dental and DSO leaders are facing, and

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how are you addressing them at your practice?

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I think we gotta go with common denominator.

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1 is the workforce.

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Workforce,

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fee reimbursement,

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revenue cycle management.

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You know, you really have to, you know,

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create your budget,

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stay within your budget as much much as

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you can, but, you know, go ahead and

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scale as much as you can, when you

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can. And,

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you know, your your your staff might not

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understand, but it's, you know, partly it's not

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for them to understand. It's it's it's more

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for you as the owner to understand that,

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you know, this is the best way for

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you to become really profitable.

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Absolutely. Well, I wanna thank you for your

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time today, doctor McDonald. But before I let

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you go, you've already shared some advice for

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leaders.

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Could you maybe share a few more, like

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what essential qualities or skills should emerging leaders

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in this industry cultivate?

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Personal development, professional development. I used to hear

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that a lot, you know, in dental school

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and residency, and you just hear it all

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the time. But

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whenever you really,

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unplug

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from,

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you know, outside influences and really

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concentrate on your vision,

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your plan.

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You you see your shortcomings. You see what

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needs to be improved. You see what what

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needs to be changed.

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And that would be my,

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biggest skill because the clinical portion, you know,

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is there.

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You know? But, you know, the

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professional development, you know, is that coming from,

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reading a p a p and l. You

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know? Some people, that's my accountant.

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I'll let them do it. But, you know,

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you need to be able to read things

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like that. Understand that, hey. This is how

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scale here. Hey. I'm doing a little bit

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here. This percentage is off here.

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So therefore, whenever you're going into a DSO

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or a corporate model, you're able to once

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you become you you're the senior doctor, you

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can bring the junior doctor in and and

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mentor accordingly.

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Great advice. Doctor McDonald, I wanna thank you

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once once again for your time today and

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for sharing your insights on the Becker's Healthcare

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podcast. Thank you so much. Thank you very

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much.