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This is S hat with the
Becker's Dentalia. So podcast,

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I'm thrilled today to be
joined by Dr. Jason Aach,

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founder of Riverside
Oral Surgery. Dr. Aach,

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thank you so much for being here today.

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Thank you so much for having me.

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Could you start off by telling
us a bit about your background?

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Sure. So just to kind of reiterate,
my name is Jason Auerback.

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I started Riverside Oral
Surgery after finishing a

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full scope oral maxillofacial surgery
residency program at SUNY Downstate

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Medical Center, uh, Kings
County Hospital in Brooklyn.

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In 2007, Riverside Oral
Surgery came to be,

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and we grew from one location and four

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team members to currently
10 locations and well over

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100 team members. Uh,
in the last year or so,

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we brought on outside investment
and founded an oral surgery

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only, um,

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management organization called
Max Surgical Specialty Management,

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of which I am founder, president
and chief clinical officer.

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Our goal is to build the preeminent
oral maxillofacial surgery

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surgeon led platform in the country.

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We partnered in January with a
wonderful practice in central

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New Jersey called Oral
Surgery Group, and uh,

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we now have 13 locations and are
growing, uh, really, really quickly,

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but looking really only to
grow with the best and the most

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accomplished surgeons in the
country starting in the Northeast.

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I also have a, uh, Instagram presence, uh,

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social media presence. I'm known,
uh, far and wide as bloody tooth guy.

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It's basically a continuing education
platform online through social media,

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uh, and, uh, it's a, it's a really
great creative outlet for me as well.

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Fantastic, thank you. My
first question for you is,

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what are the biggest issues
you're following in dental today?

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I think the biggest issues
that I'm looking at in
dental today have a lot to do

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with, uh, scaling the patient
experience. For me. As I said,

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I'm very involved in growing my
practice footprint and the platform

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footprint. In the last few years,

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there's been a ton of consolidation
and interest from outside investors

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in oral surgery. Obviously, oral
max facial surgery is my focus,

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and after being approached by so many
different potential opportunities,

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it became apparent to me that the
one thing that was missing was the

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patient experience focused surgeon led

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platform. And that's what I'm
trying to form right now. So that's,

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that's basically where my focus is.

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Thank you. So when you think
about the future of dentistry,

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what are you most excited about
and what makes you nervous?

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I think what makes me
nervous is, um, you know,

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the shifting demographics,
uh, in, in certain locations.

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I practice in the northeast,

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I practice in northern New Jersey
with offices throughout New Jersey,

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and there's been a significant
shift in demographics, um,

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in our area with a lot of people
moving out of the state and a lot of

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surgeons kind of aging out. So it's,

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it's a changing environment. There's also,

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I think kind of specific to dentistry,
maybe not specific to dentistry,

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but certainly apparent to dentistry,

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this negative association with, uh,
corporate dentistry, which is growing.

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And I think by and large,

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a lot of the negative association with
corporate dentistry is justified as

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outside investors don't
truly understand the,

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the inner workings of the dental
practices, the way that, uh,

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surgeon or dental owned practices, uh,

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have currently or have
been for a long time.

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And so there has to be really
kind of a taking back of,

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of, uh, of the way that the care
is delivered. And so for me,

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a a major concern and a major
focus is trying to build something

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that is scalable,

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but that doesn't diminish the patient
experience and doesn't change the, the,

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the ability to, to deliver care, uh,

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from in the doctor's hands to
in the investor's hands. That,

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that for me is a major,
major thought process.

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Interesting. And sort of,
you talked about, you know,

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this sort of negative attitude towards
corporate dentistry at the moment.

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Do you see that attitude shifting
in the next two to three years?

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I think so long as the people that are,

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that are building the platforms
are focused on the right things,

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which like I said, is delivery
of great patient care,

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a wonderful patient experience
autonomy for surgeons or, or dentists,

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um, I think that that can change.
I do think that when I came out,

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I finished training in 2003, I
finished dental school in 1999. Uh,

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there was very little in the way of
corporate dentistry. Uh, and now it's,

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it's dominant in, in many
places in the country,

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certainly less so in the
Northeast, um, as, uh,

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there are certain protections
for, for the state boards,

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the dentistry in these states up
here, which is good by and large.

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But I think that it's important
for younger dentists and,

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and really dentists considering
partnering with platforms and,

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and existing platforms to understand
that just like anything in this world,

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there are, there are good players and
there are bad players. And you know,

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a lot of people look at the word or the
acronym d s o as being a negative thing.

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And in some cases it is when you're
joining a DSO that's focused only on,

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uh, controlling and, and,

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and bringing EBITDA together so
that they can sell at a later time,

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you have a very,

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very different mindset than finding
the proper financial partners that

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understand that, you know,

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surgeons and dentists have something
more to bring rather than just producing

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dentistry. And so, you know, I I,

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I hope and I believe, uh,

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optimistically that if the
right people get into the game

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and join the right organizations
and those organizations flourish,

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that we can change the paradigm of, of,

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of the corporate dental world,
and we can really bring, uh,

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a different mindset to,
to what that offers for,

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for older surgeons and
younger surgeons alike.

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Thank you.

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So what will the most effective healthcare
leaders need to be successful in the

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next two to three years?

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They don't, they're gonna
need to be the most suc,

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the most effective healthcare leaders
need in any, in any, uh, business.

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I think just need to be
excellent communicators,

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be able to have a vision that
differentiates them to be able to

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articulate that vision within the
organization that they're building,

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and to be able to promote that vision
to those who they're looking to either

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bring into the organization or
who they're looking to serve. Uh,

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referring doctors, patients, the
communities at large, and of course,

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the practices that are considering,
uh, partnering with them. So I think,

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I think like anything, being honest
and being open, being transparent,

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being authentic in the
communication is, is everything.

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And then of course, being
able to provide, uh,

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differentiated and superior
patient experience. Um, you know,

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when I started my practice back
in 2007, healthcare was, was,

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uh, delivered in a very specific,
traditional way. So much has changed.

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Patients are, are much more educated,
they're much more sophisticated, uh,

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they're much more knowledgeable,

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they're much more in control of their
own health, health-based decisions and,

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and respecting and understanding that and,

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and giving the patients
what they want, uh,

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using your expertise is,
is paramount to, I think,

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success going forward in
the healthcare business.

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Well, Dr. Aach,

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thank you so much for connecting with
me today and for your fascinating

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insights. I look forward to speaking
with you again in the future.

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It's, it's my pleasure, really. Thank
you so much for the opportunity.

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I really enjoyed it. I hope it's
helpful for the listeners and, uh,

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look forward to speaking
to you again soon.