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Hello. This is Ariana Portallatin with the Becker's

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Dental and DSO review podcast. I'm thrilled to

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be joined today by Thomas Pasellagua, the director

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of business development at The Smileist. Thomas, thank

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you so much for being here today. It's

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great to have you here. Thanks, Ariana. Great

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to be here too. To To start us

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off, can you introduce yourself to our listeners

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and tell us a little bit about your

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background?

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Sure. Happy to. Yeah. So I am Thomas

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with the Smileist.

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Smileist is a fairly

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fast growing and large DSO based out of

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New York.

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And currently, we have just about a 115

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practices that we own and manage between,

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a few states in the Northeast.

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I've been with the company just about four

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years now, and

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my role there as the director of business

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development

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is really kind of the front end of

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our sales and marketing

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for acquisitions.

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And I lead our sales strategy and market

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approach for,

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connecting with all the fantastic practices that are

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in that Northeast market,

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and educate them on what the Smilas is

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doing, our philosophy,

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and engaging with those doctors and educating them

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on, you know, what a partnership with us

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might look like.

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I have a sales and education background.

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I have been a teacher years ago. That's

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where I started my career. I have a

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master's in education and taught for a number

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of years throughout New York City,

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but then segued into sales and

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was a fairly successful sales rep for a

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dental manufacturing company,

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through New York City and did fairly well

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there,

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and navigated the challenge with COVID and, you

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know, the territory shut down, but was able

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to successfully manage growing that that that region,

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and then started training and mentoring other sales

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reps as well.

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So I I do have some experience with,

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you know,

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education,

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sales training, executive coaching,

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but but more relevant to the smile list,

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the sales and marketing for our outbound approach

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for acquisitions.

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Great. Super interesting to hear about your background

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there. Thank you for sharing that. First question

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here. What are some of the biggest issues

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that you're following in the dental industry this

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year?

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Sure. Yeah. The the big biggest concerns, I

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think, that many of us will

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agree upon is just the financial market.

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Interest rates have not really come down, so

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that has been

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a challenge for spending acquisition dollars

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and structuring

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that offer

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to where we have a lot of capital

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to play with.

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So it has been definitely a challenge

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to

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navigate

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that dynamic.

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Secondly, staffing still seems to be a little

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bit of a challenge, generally depending on what

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region you're in. But, you know, compensation costs

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went up,

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staff demands a little bit more flexibility,

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turnover and

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and staff attrition is always a concern. So

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making sure that we're

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trying to build a very strong company culture

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to retain staff,

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but also find

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and engage with, you know, high quality

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skill

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skilled, you know, clinicians and and support staff

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to bring into the practices.

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One one thing that we have navigated fairly

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well was building out a robust recruitment team

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and recruitment strategy.

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So we were able to kinda navigate that

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challenge a bit.

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But, nonetheless, it still definitely is a challenge

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with, you know, finding and retaining high quality

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staff,

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you know,

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where

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the salary demand is is a bit of

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a challenge as well.

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Yeah. Super interesting there. I know

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culture and fostering a a positive work culture

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at companies has been one of the most

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reliable solutions and successful solutions that companies have

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seen,

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really work to attract and retain staff. Can

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you tell me a little bit more about

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what's some of the changes that have been

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made at the smile list, what your culture

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is like, some of the things that you've

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been doing there to help attract talent?

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Sure. Yeah. Great question.

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So we still have a a very much

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a partnership model when it comes to how

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we are aligned in philosophy with our leading

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doctors who who sell their practice with us.

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So we keep them on long term. We

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still want them to be the face of

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the practice.

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We still want the doctors to engage with

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their staff as the leader of the practice.

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We only want to enhance the practice where

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operationally and administratively

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it makes sense. We we don't really want

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to adjust the culture in that, in that

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environment.

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So we really do rely on

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the practice leaders, the the staff that are

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there to kind of continue to endure the

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culture that's already in place prior to affiliation.

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But we also have some great incentives

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for

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our our staff and partner doctors

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where

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there's opportunities to train and mentor other staff

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members,

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managers to help

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monitor

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and,

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manage other practices.

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To to move up within the company,

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for hygienists to get more opportunities as well.

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So the smile is trying to to build

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out that really

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supportive culture

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and opportunities for

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career advancement within the company as well.

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Amazing. Thank you. I'm also curious, what are

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you most excited about when it comes to

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dentistry right now, and what makes you nervous

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about the industry?

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Yeah. Two two really interesting questions. Most excited,

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probably

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how innovative dentistry really is

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Every

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year, if not, you know, every few months,

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there seems to be a shift in

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in technology.

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Obviously, AI is the latest and greatest, and

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it seemed that it came out of nowhere.

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But it's it's now there's a few months

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of experience and and a couple years of

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of application.

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So we're really seeing

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what the potential benefit

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of these AI platforms can do, specifically on

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the RCM side, is really, really exciting.

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Obviously, clinical diagnosing and imaging is is fantastic,

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and and and the Smilos is including some

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of those processes and some of those

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processes within our company as well. Like, we're

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very cutting edge, so we're staying on top

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of all the advancements.

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But it's it's just amazing

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of how quickly it came on,

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the the experience

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the industry has gained so far and where

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it can go, and what challenges it can

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it can, provide solutions for.

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Specifically on the RCM

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and insurance side, I I think that's really,

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really unique.

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What makes us nervous

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is the unpredictable

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financial market.

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Right. We you know, we're we're halfway through

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this year already,

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and, you know, there's been some stability in

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interest rates. But just with the political climate

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and the financial climate,

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it's really hard to predict

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where things are going to be in three,

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six, nine months a year. So

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navigating

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how we are balancing a P and L,

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how we are

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structuring acquisitions

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and spending money

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is definitely a challenge. And I know

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we're not unique in that, and many businesses

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and companies are

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struggling to to find that stability as well.

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Yeah. Super interesting that you mentioned that. I

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know there's been so much going on this

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year. A lot of changes in back and

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forth just in the political climate and the

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financial market as well as you mentioned.

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For someone

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in your background and in your role at

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the smile list, when there's so many changes

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in back and forth, how do you like,

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what's your mindset? How are you tracking all

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of these changes? And what's really your approach

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to your day to day work when you

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don't exactly know what you're gonna what your

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day is gonna look like and what decisions

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are gonna be made?

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Yeah. Great question. For me and my perspective,

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it's focusing on the aspects you can control.

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So I can control

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the conversations I'm having,

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my attitude towards

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business development,

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the ability to engage with high quality doctors,

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really kind of

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narrowing down on what's my core mission,

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what's the core goal,

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focusing on building really good relationships,

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and understanding that

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every climate, every season is temporary. So we'll

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eventually get through this just like we have

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in the past and other, you know, difficult

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times.

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So how are you seeing past it and

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not allowing the temporary moment to derail you?

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So being future forward, thinking about your ultimate

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goals,

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controlling the conversations, controlling your attitudes and your

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mindset,

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and and thinking positively. So so shifting to

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a positive mindset and solution oriented mindset

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has really helped.

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And and for the smile list, it's continuing

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to engage with really high quality doctors,

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but also going to our core mission of

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really supporting and developing our current practices.

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And we put a lot of effort into

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that this year

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to making sure that not only we're growing

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really well inorganically,

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but our organic

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growth and our organic support is very, very

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strong.

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Great advice there. Thank you so much. It's

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semi related question, but I know you mentioned

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earlier your background in executive coaching, education,

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sales, very diverse background.

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Is there anything that you take from your

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past

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roles in those other industries into your work

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with the smile list?

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Yeah. Yeah. I think

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I think a common theme that I always

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had

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throughout my career was helping others,

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whether that's, you know, in a classroom,

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helping other sales reps, navigating challenges,

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helping an executive to, you know,

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find solutions,

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or or helping doctors, you know, find,

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a a higher platform to build their practice

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on.

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It's really empowering other people, and I feel

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like that's kind of an internal drive for

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me of helping other people,

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helping those around me. If I can pay

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it forward

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with anyone I interact with, then I'm succeeding

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as a professional.

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So personally, professionally, something that resonates with me

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is really helping other people find solutions

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and and navigating challenges. So I'm here to

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serve, here to help, and really and really

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trying to leave a positive impact on everyone

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I interact with.

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Okay. Great. Great conversation so far. We have

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one more question here. What will the most

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effective health care leaders need to be successful

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in the next two to three years?

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Yeah. I think

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trying to

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stay on top of the change.

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Right? One one kind of mantra I heard

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this year was the only consistency is change.

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Right? The only consistent aspect we can expect

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is things will change.

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So so

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being nimble enough and flexible enough

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to adjust,

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staying ahead of

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ahead of those challenges, and try to set

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up your company and set up your business

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model

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so you can navigate change. You can navigate

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when things get difficult. Your leadership team is

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very much aligned in the goals.

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Your support staff understand

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the changes and understand what the mission really

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is.

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So alignment is a really big,

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you know, endeavor is making sure that the

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company is fully aligned top to bottom.

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Great advice there. Well, but that's all we

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have for you today, Thomas. Thank you so

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much for joining us today. It was a

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great conversation. It's been a pleasure speaking with

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you, and I look forward to connecting with

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you again in the future. Yeah. That was

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very exciting. Thank you so much.