Hello. This is Arianna Portelatten with the Becker's Dental and DSO Review podcast. I'm thrilled to be joined today by Phil Cassis, the cofounder and CEO at Providence Dental Partners, and doctor Jason Mann, the cofounder and chief dental officer at Providence Dental Partners. Phil and Doctor Mann, thank you so much for being here today. It's great to have you both. Thanks for having us, Ariana. Thank you. For having us. Yes. Definitely. To start us off here, I'd love to have you both introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about Providence Dental Partners as well. Phil, do you want to, get started first? Yeah. I'd be happy to start. Again, thank you and the Becker's healthcare team for inviting us on the podcast. We've, enjoyed coming to your events, over the last few years and look forward to, being back with you all in Chicago later this year. Arianna, I, grew up in the dental industry. My, dad is a practicing dentist still to this day and for, going on forty five years now. Brothers and then to Donna, sister in law's of dentists, I got a a bunch of cousins and families that are all, dentists. And so, grown up in the industry and, spent about twelve years with Henry Schein, and most of that time was spent, consulting and, providing guidance to dental practices all across the country to help them, run more efficient, more, profitable dental practices and, have known doctor Mann now for about eight years. We we've partnered on things in the past, and, you know, I'll let him introduce himself, and then, we'll talk a little bit more about how Providence Dental Partners came to be. Thank you, Phil. Yeah. And so, I'm Jason Mann, a 02/2007 graduate of MCG in Augusta. After leaving dental school, I was, went over to Macon for about four years as an associate and then wanted to build something a little different. And so I started at Providence, Dental Spa back in 2011. After growing it and got into some lecturing with BioHorizon and 02/2016 lecturing in the Southeast or with, full arch dentistry. Then really wanted to expand Providence a little bit more and wanted to gain further access of, dentistry and health care. And so, got into putting dental offices in Walmart supercenters in 2018, created the opportunity with Walmart to kick off Walmart Health back in 2018, and actually kinda derived out of my Macon practice. It was funny enough to see where it began. Then from there, was with Walmart until 2021, left them in 2021 to join another company called Avisis under Guardian Insurance as their chief clinical officer to still hold that role today, overseeing dental, vision, quality as well. And so, as Phil said that, you know, we've known each other for eight plus years, and the tail end of 2023, Phil and I created a partnership to really take Providence to the next level. And so under, Phil's, opportunity and leadership here, we are now at our ninth location and, you know, want to, give a big shout out to Phil with his, partnership and leadership capabilities for Providence. Great. Thank you both so much for those introductions. Doctor Mann, great to hear about your start in the industry, your work with Walmart, and your extensive background. Phil, definitely interesting to hear about all your family members in the dental industry as well. Super cool to to hear about. My first question here for you for you both, what are some of the biggest issues that you're following in the dental industry this year? Phil, can you, start off first? Yeah. So I I think, one that I know every, both private practice, group dental, DSOs are all challenged with are are staffing. Right? Being able to to go out and recruit and retain, good team members and practices. That's a challenge that, we continue to to see. We we've done very well with it, I I think, comparatively, but certainly a challenge to to go out and find those team members in, post COVID world to to get them committed to the, the practices. Also, there's always, always challenges around revenue cycle management. Right? It it's such a complex, side of the business and, again, just takes, an extensive understanding of all the different components that go into that to really excel at that. Outside of that, you know, doctor Mann, I know you, you see some different challenges being the the clinical leader of our business, so I'll I'll let you share kinda what you see on your side too. Oh, absolutely. No. Thank you, Phil. Yeah. Some of the things that I tend to see, especially with some of the, new dentists getting out is really around education cost, and and opportunities or lack thereof mentorship. And as we start seeing those individuals get out, that's usually the first thing that I hear is that their desire for mentorship and and maybe getting into opportunities where they were once promised that and not delivered there. And and now engaging with other opportunities to try to grasp for straws for that mentorship opportunity. But also, as they tend to kinda grow in their educational, I guess, pathway of career is really making sure that, you know, they maintain their foundational knowledge of where where they are, what they have grown within the educational platform, of dental school. Because I know I hear a lot of push in the surgical approach around implants, but, you know, as we start looking at it, really understanding occlusion and making sure that that's always reinforced throughout that pathway. So but that all kinda piggyback into that mentorship and guidance for a lot of these new grads. Great. Thank you so much for sharing that insight, doctor Mann. And, definitely, you know, what you mentioned about the need for mentorship and the educational cost, that's something that I hear from a lot of DSO executives knowing that that's a a big thing in the industry right now with new grads. Do you see that affecting recruitment for DSOs? Is that pushing more dentists toward DSOs right now? Well, I can tell you it's it's definitely, definitely an area that attracts a lot of new grads, just because of different things that, larger organizations can do to try to offset some of that cost. But as this cost, you know, increases, over the years, there's only so much that, you know, some of these DSO organizations can do or effectively can't do. So, can't say it doesn't play a role, but I definitely think there's, opportunities to be had, just to make sure that we deliver on that expectation of, you know, offsetting that cost, but also providing that mentorship throughout that process. Okay. Thank you for sharing those additional thoughts there. Phil, I'm gonna field this next question to you first. What are you most excited about when it comes to dentistry dental industry as well? So I'll I'll tackle the first one first. And doctor Mann can maybe attest to this. Not a whole lot makes me unnervous. We we have a, running joke internally in our company. At first, we panic and and then we figure out what to do. And so, there there's always gonna be things that come up, you know, issues to to solve, problems to solve, and and that's what we do. We, you know, we we, we find solutions to help us operate more efficiently and more effectively, as leaders. And so I I think that's also the exciting part of what's going on in the, in in dentistry. Dentistry has always been changing ever since I've been in it. And right now, there's so many advancements, both from a clinical and a business, standpoint. I'll speak more to the the business side just around some of the AI that's coming up, you know, that ties into the clinical, right, with with, different clinical diagnosis technologies out there helping us, provide, our our dentists and our providers second opinions. But, also, AI when it comes to marketing, when it comes to revenue cycle management, it's helping us, operate more effectively and efficiently. And I think it's important for us to always be looking, to to inside the industry, but outside the industry as to, what others might be doing to operate, at a better level. And so AI is, very progressive right now. I'm excited to see what happens with it here in the next, next two to three years. It's come a long way just in the last two or three years. I think we're gonna see it accelerate, even more so here over the next twelve months. And so really excited to see, what what would they do there. And then there's always clinical advancements to, know. Recently, I had the opportunity to share with, Becker's Healthcare some of the advancements that we're starting to implement at, Providence Dental Partners around CureDont and guided biofilm therapy. So Great. Yeah. I know, artificial intelligence has really accelerated, as you mentioned, in the dental industry within these last few years. Phil, how long has Providence Dental Partners been using artificial intelligence so far? So we use it in different components. I I would say Providence Dental Partners has been using it since its inception, since we, started back in 2013. I know, doctor Mann, you know, in his private practice, I was using it before then. So, as it continues to advance, we continue to apply it in different parts of our business. And, you know, we we've seen drastic improvements, just in the last twelve months with it, and we're we're looking forward to staying close to the companies who are working on those advancements. We we we know that there's another, evolution of it coming, and so we look forward to continuing to implement it. We've always been at the forefront of investing in technology in our practice practices when it makes sense. And so, between doctor Mann and I, we stay pretty up to date on all the different technologies in the industry and continue to implement those when and where it makes sense. Okay. Yeah. Definitely. And are there any areas I I know that AI has advanced in so many ways and quite rapidly as well. Are there any areas currently where you would like to see it evolve even more, and see further advancement? Yeah. Revenue cycle management for me. And, part of my background, was working on the revenue cycle side of it, and it's so complex. It's challenging. It's challenging for private practices, and it's challenging for groups and DSOs to solve all the different parts of revenue cycle that come into it. There are some companies out there that have made great advancements in the last two to three years with it, but but it's a very complex and comprehensive, we'll say, will of parts that go into revenue cycle for doctors to actually collect the money that they are owed. And so looking forward to seeing kind of that next evolution to where, some of these AIs can maybe help them collect a lot more than what they currently are at the click of a button, versus a lot of the manual processes that we see today. Alright. Thank you so much for sharing those thoughts. Doctor Mann, let's hear from you next. What makes you excited about dentistry right now, and, also, what makes you nervous? No. Absolutely. The the most exciting part for me is really, you know, our our growth, our partnership, and other opportunities, other practices. And going back to what we'd said around some of the biggest issues, is around developing mentorship programs where they're in the organization and also funded like minded dentists that really want to not only, have a part of this, but also give back and, and be able to be a mentor, and also around access to care through charitable organizations, you know, touching those, individuals that don't have an opportunity to, you know, receive dental care. And so, you know, creating opportunities through these, partnerships to be able to give back and and using a platform in order to do that, but also around, developing career opportunity pathways for, you know, our team members. You know? I'll give you one example around, you know, where a dental assistant could come in into an organization and then through through training, education, mentorship programs can develop into an operational leader. So that that's just being a part of that, to be able to help develop that, it's really super exciting to, you know, to to see where that may go. What really, I guess, what really makes me nervous, not very much, but the one thing that I see, more more along the lines of the personnel is just making sure that we we believe in the people enough that they are delegating certain roles and responsibilities, because that's the only way that we can kinda grow as an organization, but not to a point of where they're micromanaging other people, but knowing when to pass off, how to pass off, so that they are not a one all catch all type of thing. So it's we always try to promote the train the trainer mentality to say that the only way that you can grow is to, you know, train your replacement, and and know that there's opportunities beyond where what your role is in the organization. Alright. Well, thank you so much for sharing that. Last question here for you both. What will the most effective health care leaders need to be successful in the next two to three years? Bill, do you wanna kick us off? Yeah. So, I I think Ariana said it earlier. You know, the industry has been changing, and us as leaders, we have to be willing to continually change and evolve and adapt to the market conditions around us too. And that's, really at the core of our, philosophy, Providence Dental Partners. We're we're always willing to change and push the envelope forward. We have to continue to look outside the industry to see what's working in other industries that we might be able to adapt to, the dental industry. And I think also we have to build strong cultures within our organization over the last, five to ten years as, capital costs were low and, there was a lot of consolidation happening. You have a a lot of groups and DSOs that were consolidating at a very rapid pace, and a a lot of them were just aggregating practices and not really operating. And I I think over the next few years and, even forward, you know, you're gonna have to see a a lot more effort put into the operations of it. And I think a lot of that's gonna come down to building a strong culture, based on mission, vision, and values. I I think, regardless if you're looking at the dental industry or organizations outside of it, those are always the the the roads most traveled to a, a great business is to have a a strong mission, vision, and core values amongst your team. So I think that's, central to building a strong culture within the organization. Yeah. And, definitely, that's very similar to what I've heard from a lot of DSO executives over the last few months just about the way con consolidation has happened over the last couple of years and, how that has led to this sort of push for improved culture, maybe a little bit of more strategy, some smarter decisions as far as, acquiring these practices as well and how you operate them. So, yeah, definitely, interesting to hear your thoughts on that. So thank you for sharing. Doctor Mann, what about you? Yeah. Well, you know, I echo what Phil said, but, you know, along those same lines, you know, whatever where I feel, you know, a successful leader would be is really making sure they possess the opportunities to be decisive and transparent, you know, not only internally within the organization, but also externally within, outside the organization. Because things will tend to come up, what they need to make sure they have in their inner circle is if they don't have it or build a support team so that they can discuss, recommend, and troubleshoot some of these opportunities to develop clear goals and achievable timelines. Because, you know, trying to push timelines out or goals out that are unattainable will only create frustration. So it's really, you know, that collaboration, that transparency, communication within the group in order to make sure that we line up. But at the end of the day, that successful leader has to be able to be decisive on the, on what needs to go next. And also, you know, as a leader, you know, being that servant leader and also developing, the the culture, as Phil said, is going through and and and giving words of encouragement, you know, through words of affirmation within the organization of, you know, what we're doing great, what, you know, we could do better. But also, you know, as the organization grows, we always hear about, you know, some of these pain points, but also calling out these individuals that are really, you know, creating successful opportunities for the organization to take the next step forward. So I feel that, you know, that plays back into the, development of culture that we we need to continue to promote. Definitely, interesting to hear your thoughts on the importance of culture. So thank you so much for sharing that, doctor Mann. That's all I had for you. So thank you both for joining us today. It's been a pleasure speaking with you, and learning more about Providence and what you guys are focused on in the industry this year. And I look forward to connecting with you again in the future. So thank you both so much. Thanks for having us, Arianna. We look forward to seeing you all again in Chicago later this year. Thank you. Thank you.