This is Hatton with the Becker's
Dental Illa Cell Podcast. I'm thrill to be joined
today by Dr. Trevor Lys, owner Dentist of Gilbert
Modern Dentistry. Dr. Lys, thank you so much for being here today. Of course, it's a pleasure, please. Thank you. Could you please introduce yourself and
tell us a bit about your background? Yeah, sure. Um, as, as you said,
my name is Dr. Trevor Lys. Um, I am a, uh, cla a graduate of Uni, University of Pacifics School
of Dentistry in, in 2003. Um, I come from a dental family, actually,
my dad was a dual trained specialist, oral surgeon orthodontist, and so was one of my uncles and my
other uncle was an orthodontist. So, um, I graduated quite young. I was
24 when I finished up. Um, I, I had finished high school in three years, dental school in three years at
U O P College in three years. And I actually had a gap year in
there where I assisted my dad, um, as a surgeon. So after, uh, finishing at U O P I actually worked in
pediatrics for a couple of years at a, a kind of Medicaid based practice
before doing a scratch start. Um, in 2006, we went from $0 of revenue
to a million dollar run rate, um, in, in less than two years.
Um, and then the, the, uh, not, not the pandemic, but what the kind
of the housing crash happened. Uh, and so we lost a little bit, but
came back strong, uh, ended up, um, ended up topping out at
about, uh, 1.8 million, um, in revenue with, uh, me
and an associate. Um, from there I actually ended up
selling that practice. Uh, had to, had to kind of force sale
because of, um, a divorce, which was very unfortunate cuz
it was, it was such a lovely, it was such a lovely practice.
Um, great team, great culture, great patience, um, uh, but from there, bounced around a little bit
and actually ended up at, uh, Pacific Dental Services. Um, so
I've been there since, uh, 2018, um, while at Pacific Dental Services. Um, I became an owner doctor in 2019, and then I actually kind of on spec
started an intra-company podcast that I called working on the platform. Um, I was able to interview many
of the most successful, um, owner dentist at, uh, at PDs, and, um, was just getting that
launched in Arizona. Um, and then from there was hoping to
take it to, to kind of like the, the broader organization, um, having interviewed the, the, uh, some of the most successful
owner doctors at PDs. Um, I then kind of deconstructed how the
platform worked when it's working well, and I built, um, something
called the Flywheel Framework, which is a conceptual tool for
alignment within the practices. Um, it was very, it was
very powerful and I was, I was really about to kind of push
that out in my, in my region. Um, but when it ended up happening is I
got long covid, um, unfortunately, um, this, this spring I got covid
in January and then I was very, very sick between, um, kind of beginning of February
and, um, beginning of May. And so during that time when I, um, it was mostly neurologic
symptoms and, and it was, it was bad enough that I, I thought I
had multiple sclerosis at one point, and I, I had to really kind of reconsider
what I was doing in my practice life. My, uh, my practice at PDs was all set
to ramp and, and really kind of blow up. Um, and I was, I was set
to kind of work with, uh, their innovation department on, on moving the podcast forward in
the broader PDs. Um, but then, uh, I, I, like I said, I got sick and so, uh, reimagined what I wanted
to do with my life, and it turns out I don't wanna be a
chairside dentist. So, so right now, um, I'm kind of spending my time,
um, thinking about how to, um, move along and, and add
value to the profession at, at the highest level that I can. Um,
yeah, that's where I'm at right now. Fantastic. Thank you for sharing that. What issues are you spending
most of your time on today? Well, when I'm, when I'm, um, you know,
not working chairside with patients, most of my time is, is spent working on
a career transition, like I mentioned. Um, I, uh, I think deeply about, uh, culture issues and, and, um, you know, spend a lot of time researching
and, and figuring out ways to, um, kind of launch and grain the, the best cultural practices at scale. Um, and there's many interesting works
that have been written recently on, on those topics. Um, I, for the last
few months I've been working, um, with, uh, a, an entrepreneur in, um, dentistry name's Travis
Rogers with, uh, Dr. Dds. And I've learned a lot in that time.
Um, you know, a lot about how the, the startup ecosystem within
dentistry is working, um, a a lot about how the
venture capital, um, kind of, kind of works within the
industry. Um, and, but yeah, currently I'm just looking at, uh, what
avenues are open to me, um, to pursue a, a career where I can,
um, just generate the, the biggest potential
impact, um, on, on the, uh, on the industry possible, You know? Thank you. And sort of
looking at the next two years, how are you thinking about
investments and growth? Um, yeah, it's, it's a
really good question. Um, so I spend most of my
time thinking about, um, you know, how, how to invest my
a attention right now, you know, look, looking at what is
right in front of me, um, and, and how to, um, maximize,
uh, the, the opportunities, um, available. Um, what I see, which is really fascinating, which I, I don't think is a surprise to anyone
that would be listening to this podcast, but, um, we're, we're in the middle of this kind of
giant industry consolidation, you know, where we're going from the,
the cottage industry that I, that I grew up in and kind of launched
my career in to, to really, really big, big business. Um, so what's the most
interesting to me about that, um, is that DSOs are, I mean, they're
obviously just winning the market. They're just kind of
steamrolling people and, and a lot of that has to do with just the
power of the organization is, is much, much greater than, than the power
of any individual or, um, you know, individual dentist or practice. Um, I'm seeing them experience like so
many growing pains during that time. Certainly some people are doing it
very well, um, and most people are, are trying and putting in a
lot, a lot of great effort, but many people are struggling, um,
to, I think, I think harness the, the, the biggest, uh, potential of their organizations.
And a lot of that comes down to, to cultural issues and, and just,
uh, making sure that everyone is, is putting their, their kind of
best effort in place. Um, you know, really getting the hearts and minds of
the, of the, uh, people that they're, that they're working
with. Um, yeah, so I, I'm, I'm just spending my time kind of working
my way through those issues and trying to, um, find, uh, trying to find my place there, you know. So you mentioned a bit about
building that workplace culture. Um, what qualities does a good office have in terms of, in terms of building a good culture
and how do you cultivate a good. Culture? Yeah. Um, this is a
great, a great question. I mean, the biggest indicator of a, a positive culture is the ability
of the people, um, within, within the business to, um, to give their best and to give their
input and to be in an emotionally safe space. Um, Google did a, a big, um, study where they dissected
all of their team performance, and what they found is that the, the only commonality between any
of their highest performing teams was that they, they allowed, um, their, that emotional safety,
you know, um, yeah. So, um, I, I think what ends up
happening when you create that, that safe space is you move from a, um, a value extraction,
you know, where you're, where you're like kind of getting value
from your employees to what I would call a, a contribution system. So
when employees feel engaged, when they believe in the
mission of the company, when they believe that they're there
doing good, not just, not just, you know, making money, not just putting,
putting dollars on, on the schedule, but where they're
actually affecting change, positive change in the lives of the
people that they, that they serve, then they, they give their best, um, and they contribute at the
highest level possible. So I would say that those are, those
are kind of two of the biggest, um, key indicators of a healthy
culture. The first is being, uh, a, a an emotionally safe
space where people can, um, question what's going on, um, that allows them to contribute
with, with their highest self. And, but the second key component there is
that they have to believe that they are, um, they're doing something for, so doing something for something
greater than themselves. Does that all make sense? Absolutely. Okay. And kind
of what you're saying, it, it feels like those solutions
that you offer could potentially help with, um, the staffing issues that the
dental industry is facing. Could you touch on that a little bit? Oh, yeah, that's, that's absolutely true.
I mean, we're, we're having, you know, the great resignation is happening
because people don't feel engaged at work. People don't feel engaged
at work because the, they are living in a value
extraction system, right? They're, they're not living in a system where,
where they, um, they feel empowered, where they feel like they're, they're part of a whole, you know, where they feel like
they're valued and, and, um, when you give them just the right
set of the right set of beliefs, the right set of motivations,
um, it is really an antidote to, to the resignation. Now, that
said, um, a lot of, a lot of, um, what happens in dentistry
is that those, uh, those are, uh, many of the
dental assisting positions, particularly are very entry
level positions, You know, and, and what we should be doing if we want
to encourage a high performance culture within each practice is we
should be encouraging those
people to grow. You know, they're not gonna be
dental assistants forever. They're gonna be dental
assistants for a time, and we, what we need to do is set up environments
where they are maximizing their time with the practice, and where we have a path for
them to move forward out of that entry level position and into something
that is a little bit, um, you know, bigger, um, and, and, and can maybe help them grow and help and, and help them have the career that
they really want to have down the road. Um, it, it's very easy to do. You, you just have to spend time with
your employees asking them, you know, about their hopes and dreams a little bit, asking them about their
career path and then, and then suggesting ways that they can
move forward and being supportive. Um, having a supportive employer
is, is really, really big. And, and then I think that what
we'll find as this, um, industry consolidation continues to
happen is that those employees end up going on and filling bigger roles in
the organization that are then made available to them. Thank you for sharing. My,
my last question for you is, what are you most excited about right now? Yeah, that's, that's a great
question. So I'm, I'm really, really excited about the future
of dentistry. Um, you know, having gone to Becker's future of
dentistry conference, this, uh, this last week, um, there, there was a
lot to talk about there, you know, and, and a lot to hear. Um, one of the
things that I'm most excited about, um, is the kind of the next generation
of practitioners, honestly. And I, and I say that because I have
children that are 23 and 21 years old. Um, and so in the
next four or five years, we're gonna get these Gen
Zers into our practices. And what is most exciting to me about Gen
Z ears is they're very mission driven. Um, they, they really, um, want to belong to, to something. They wanna have meaning in
their work, you know? Um, and, and I think that what we will see
is that the organizations that, um, give meaning to their employees as
part of the part of the employee package are really, really gonna
thrive. So I'm very excited about that. Um, I'm very excited about me medical,
dental integration and what's coming. That was, um, that was a topic that, uh, pretty much every panel
discussion touched on. Um, and definitely PDs is driving that, what I've seen in my time with them. Um, and I should say that the
data is driving it right? Uh, study after study are coming
out about the link between the, the mouth and the body
and the, um, the many, many diseases that we can help
prevent our patients from having. Um, you know, we really, in dentistry have, have the chance to lower
the disease burden and extend the longevity of
the patients that we serve. And that is so exciting to me, and
it's going to be very exciting to, like I said, that next
generation of practitioners
as well. Um, I'm excited for, uh, consolidation to continue,
honestly. Um, and I'm excited for, um, for what I see will eventually emerge. Uh, and it's maybe 20 years down the road,
but I'm excited for when it happens. Um, consolidation will continue and then
what happens in, in any of these markets, Um, I mean, if you look at pharmacy, you
know, for, for the last 30, 40 years, there've been Walgreens, cvs, and you've
got some other kind of big regionals. But I think what will happen in dentistry
as, like I mentioned, happens in many, many markets over time, is you
end up with kind of an oligopoly. You end up with two or three big players, and I'm really excited to watch
that emerge. I'm excited to see, um, the creation of these brands that
have such an impact in health and wellness of, um,
their employees and, um, patients and patients'
lives over time. Um, very excited about the eventual
introduction of robotics and, and AI and dentistry. Uh, very excited about that because I've
been practicing for almost 20 years now, and I see what good dentistry
means versus what bad dentistry means and, and the impact that it
has on, on patients and their health. Um, and what it will happen with robotics
and AI is just a raising of the standard of care in the industry. Um, and what that means is that it will
raise the health of a nation. And that's, that is so powerfully exciting to me. Um, I'm also very excited about alternatives
to the current payer models that are gonna be emerging over
the next 10 years. Um, and just excited to see
the startups that come. Um, I believe there will be several
unicorns that are built within dentistry in, in the next, um, decade. Um, and, and really excited to watch it all unfold. Well, Dr. Lys, thank you so much
for your fascinating insights today. I look forward to connecting
with you again in the future. All right. Yeah, you're very
welcome. Thank you for the time. I really appreciate it.