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Ranked the #1 DSO Podcast!
Welcome to The Group Dentistry Now Show: The Voice of the DSO Industry!
The Future of Dentistry: Education, Collaboration, and Organic Growth with Bright Direction Dental
Steve Wright, CEO of Bright Direction Dental shares his story and thoughts on:
- What clinical autonomy really means.
- The role of education & training in recruitment & retention.
- Organic growth & technology.
Find out more about Bright Direction Dental here – https://www.brightdirectiondental.com/
You can connect with Steve Wright on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenjwright2/
Sponsored by Garfield Refining. If you would like to learn more about dental scrap refining programs for DSOs & dental group practices, please visit – https://www.garfieldrefining.com/industries/dso/
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The Future of Dentistry: Education, Collaboration, and Organic Growth DSO podcast transcript:
Welcome to the Group Dentistry Now Show, the voice of the DSO industry. Join us as we talk with industry leaders about their challenges, successes, and the future of group dentistry. With over 200 episodes and listeners in over 100 countries, we’re proud to be ranked the number one DSO podcast. For the latest DSO news, analysis and events, and to subscribe to our DSO Weekly e-newsletter, visit GroupDentistryNow.com. We hope you enjoyed today’s show.
Garfield Refining is the dental refining authority for DSOs. Whether a top 10 powerhouse or just emerging, Garfield promises results with its white glove revenue driving program used by more than 75 companies in North America. Visit GarfieldRefining.com slash DSO to connect with our experienced DSO team and start getting results for your group.
Bill Neumann: Welcome everyone to the Group Dentistry Now show. I am Bill Neumann. Thanks everybody for joining us today. These are always, this is a great way to make a living. It’s always so much fun and get to talk to people in the industry that, some that I never met before and others that I’ve known for a long time. And Steve and I have known each other for quite a while. I was thinking it’s 15 years, but it might even be longer than that. So he’s gonna correct me.
Bill Neumann: It is longer, isn’t it? Yeah, so we have Steve Wright here. He’s the CEO of Bright Direction Dental. He’s a 25-year veteran, so he beats me by a couple of years, but not by much. He began his career with an agency really focused on dental manufacturers and fell in love with the profession. Since then, he’s held leadership roles. He was at Young Innovations. I worked with him there, and Seattle Study Club. And then he ended up in the DSO space. He is, like I said, the CEO of Bright Direction Dental. They’re a growing Midwest DSO, and they’re really focused on empowering dentists and supporting clinical excellence. Steve, hopefully I did you a little bit of justice with your bio, but it’s great to have you on. And yeah, you and I have known each other for quite a while. Talk a little bit about your different roles in the industry and then how you ended up on the other side, right here in the DSO space.
Steve Wright: Yeah, yeah, the better side. So yeah, good to be here on the DSO side. So yeah, Bill, appreciate the introduction. And yeah, like you said, 25 years in the dental industry. The reason I said I think it’s longer is I think, I think we met back at the, in my agency days when I started in dental about 25 years ago. So yeah, I didn’t, like many people you’ve talked to on this podcast, I didn’t necessarily graduate college and seek dentistry. I think it found me. So I found my way into a marketing agency and discovered that all of our clients were dental manufacturers. So I really, I got a trial by fire quickly in the dental industry, worked with a lot of great dentists at that time and helping them get you know, stage time to talk about our clients products, help them write articles. But I even assisted on the writing of a dental textbook back when I was 22. So that was an interesting exercise kind of in dental research and spent my fair share of time at the ADA library. Haven’t been back since, but I have spent some time in there. From there, I got recruited to a company called Young Innovations. We own a number of or we owned a number of brands in the dental industry. Over the course of my 18 years there, we acquired 30 different dental companies, so a fantastic company. I had an opportunity to work with a lot of really great people, made some great friends along the way, and got to understand dentistry from a different viewpoint. I ran an endodontic company there for a brief period of time, spent a lot of time with our dental hygiene teams. and a little bit on the oral surgery side. So kind of a nice portfolio offering at Young. Spent a good chunk of my career there. Then I got a phone call from Michael Cohen, the founder of Seattle Study Club. And it was an interesting opportunity for me to do a little bit of a career change and go work for what was a smaller company, but a great reputation in the industry for continuing education and training and development. So strong brand, small team, looking for the next phase of growth. Was really enjoying my time there. I think they’ve got a great business and a great focus on dentistry in general and learned a lot about continuing education there. I wasn’t necessarily looking, but A former colleague of mine had called about an opportunity with a DSO in the Midwest that was right in my neck of the woods. They had started in 2019, had grown to over 40 locations and were looking for their next chapter and their next leader of the business. And really, like I met with them, fantastic people, seemed like a great business, seemed like I could add some value. And yeah, I made the decision to come over here to the other side and haven’t looked back. It’s been a fun run. I’ve learned a lot. learning something new every day.
Bill Neumann: Excellent. Yeah, it’s great that you have that experience. I mean, you’ve got, I think that agency experience is something that maybe a lot of people don’t necessarily understand, but just the breadth of exposure that you have to different companies, different products. You’re working with key opinion leaders. You really, you learn quite a bit. And I feel like I’ve got a little bit of that similar experience, you know, working with different advertisers and so many companies doing so many different things to help support dentists and patients. And then also the business side now, you know, and the DSOs themselves. So it really is great experience. And then, you know, Young, again, Young’s one of those interesting companies where most people in the industry don’t understand all of the businesses or companies that Young actually owns. They’re kind of stealth in a lot of ways.
Steve Wright: Yeah. The acquisition strategy there at Young was really like, let’s buy great companies and see how we can make them better. And they were intentionally left separate because a dentist doesn’t have a relationship necessarily with a corporate entity. They have a relationship with the brand that they’re using. So You know, we made good strategic acquisitions for brands that were, you know, well accepted in the market. And our goal there was to leave it alone. If it’s going well, leave it alone. And really like some of that philosophy is true here on the DSO side with know, over 40 affiliations, we’ve got some really strong partners. And if, if it’s going well, like we want to let our partners do their thing and grow their practices. And we’re here to support them and not necessarily mandate, like we know a better way to do it. Um, so we’re here to, we’re here to help and support and, and guide those that need it. And those that are kind of off and running and, uh, we let them go off and running. So it’s, it’s, it’s, it translates somewhat. Uh, and then, you know, dental is the same and the agency experience is different having. really marketed, developed, and sold products to dentists for my entire career and now being on that other side, it’s interesting. You know, there’s looking through the things of the lens of a dental practice and what a dental practice actually needs versus trying to position a product for what you believe that the dentist needs. So I’ve gotten a whole new perspective here and appreciation for what it is, what it’s like to work in a dental practice every day.
Bill Neumann: You make a good point when you come from the vendor perspective. There’s this assumption that dentists and DSOs really understand the companies and the brands, and that’s something that’s on their mind. We’re very product focused. So they use a product. In most cases, they have no idea who makes it, nor do they care. They want it to work. They want it to be easy to use. They want it to be predictable. They want it to be cost effective. And they do want a company that’ll stand behind it in case there are any issues. But from the vendor perspective, we assume a lot that there’s no time for a dentist or a DSO to focus on those types of things.
Steve Wright: Yeah, we used to say, and I think it still holds true, why would a dentist or a hygienist or a dental assistant switch a product? Is it going to make their practice run more efficiently? Are they going to save time? Is it going to make their clinical outcomes better? Are they doing better dentistry? And then is it going to make their work life more enjoyable? So, I mean, those things hold true. So, you know, when I take DSO or when I take vendor meetings from this seat right now, I mean, those are really the questions I’m asking. And there’s a lot of great vendors out there that really want to partner with you and help you grow. And for me in the seat that I’m in right now, it’s how do I pick a few partners that are going to help us get through this next phase of growth? Strategically, you know, there’s a ton of things we could go do. There’s a ton of great products in the market and services that companies are selling. But for me, you know, I got to make a few bets in a few strategic areas and remain focused on those. Lots of good ideas in Enel, Bill. Everybody’s got a good idea.
Bill Neumann: Well, that leads to we could do the entire podcast on critiquing vendors and which ones do it well and which don’t. But maybe I’ll ask one question on this and then put a pin in it and we can move on to some other questions. But it’s one thing when you’re a vendor and you’ve got a great product and a great solution, but when you’re working with DSOs, and this is something I know, and you can give us your perspective. one thing if you’ve got a great product, great solution, and you’ve got a dentist that’s using it. But when you’re trying to convert a DSO that has multiple clinicians, and let’s say you’ve got 50 or 60 clinicians, I think sometimes the product isn’t as important as the implementation and the education and the support behind it and how you’re going to help Bright Direction Dental really take the message and train and educate 50 and 60 clinicians versus that one. So sometimes I think vendors don’t always think that through.
Steve Wright: Yeah, and every dental practice is different. So I mean, we’re affiliated with over 40, and they all operate a little bit differently. I mean, we’re bringing in some standardized support, but it’s not a one size fits all. So yes, absolutely. What might work for two practices doesn’t automatically work for 40. So in terms of support and execution, I mean, that’s more important, really, probably, than the product itself.
Bill Neumann: Yeah, that’s definitely what I think. You’ve got to have everything right. So let’s talk a little bit about the profile of the practices here. You’re Midwest, you’re based in Illinois. Are the practices just in Illinois or are they outside of the state right now?
Steve Wright: Yeah, we’re in six states in the Midwest with heavy concentration in the Chicago suburbs and Northwest Indiana. Six states, we’re going to remain focused on there and build concentration because what we can see in areas where we have density in the Chicago land, area, that’s where we can be considerably more effective. We can leverage resources across our practices. If there’s one dental assistant down the road that calls out sick, we can go tap another resource in another practice. We can share best practices from our dentist. We can share referral networks. We’ve built a community around continuing education with the Seattle Study Club, so we’re able to bring those people together in person on occasion. And ultimately, when we can get our providers together in a room and share ideas on what they’re facing and opportunities that they’re seeing, I mean, that’s where the magic happens. So it becomes less of a mystery of who is Bright Direction Dental and can actually get people physically together. So our strategy going forward, we’re going to remain focused on these six states and building out density rather than go acquire for acquiring sake.
Bill Neumann: That makes a lot of sense. What is that region? I know it’s kind of a big region, but you’re kind of, you’re Chicagoland and then you kind of spread out to a degree, but what does that market look like? I mean, is there a lot of opportunity there still from an acquisition standpoint? And that is your model, right? You’re out there acquiring or partnering with existing practices.
Steve Wright: Yeah, we’re out there partnering with existing practices. We’re not focused on the de novo model yet. It’s just not an area we’re focused on. So I would say like anything in the dental industry, in the DSO space, 2025 has been slower than previous years. we are starting to see some energy kind of pick up here at the back half of the year. So our, our, our pipeline is full and we’re going to focus on partnering with the right doctors at the right time. So it is certainly part of our, our strategic roadmap. And we’re, we’re talking to several, several prospective partners right now. If you look at the 6 states that we’re in from an affiliation perspective, I was just reading a report from the ADA. Our states are a bit behind the national average from a DSO affiliation perspective. So I think there’s room to grow, and there’s certainly interest. And you’ve talked to tons of people about this. You’ve got the the baby boomers that are retiring and they’re looking for, you know, an opportunity to exit. And, you know, we we are we’re a great fit there as you know, with with other DSOs. But as we focus on our geographic region, it makes a lot of sense for us and our and our story, you know, holds up better. And it’s really not just the story. If we if we find someone that’s in our states, it makes a lot of sense for for Bright Direction Dental to be the partner because we can show them the network. We can show them what kind of growth we’re driving for their practices. And we’ve grown a lot through referrals. So our original partners are the ones that are referring their friends and their colleagues. And that’s really how we’ve built the business. So something’s going well if one dentist is willing to tell another dentist to join Bright Directional Dental.
Bill Neumann: You had talked a little bit about the Bright Direction Dental story, and one of the things you emphasize is letting dentists practice their way. Now, we know that everybody says that dentists have clinical autonomy, but it seems like it means different things to different groups. Talk a little bit about what that means for the dentists that partner with Bright Direction Dental.
Steve Wright: Yeah, I would say it at our at our size currently and where we are. I mean, clinical autonomy is is a reality. There are so many opportunities for us to support and enhance the growth of of our providers right now without dictating what bonding agent they use. Now, there are going to be things based on our size where we have leverage to look at things like diagnostic AI, or maybe even things like on the hygiene front that can enhance the preventative procedure that we’ll go in and recommend to our network. So I would say we’re at the stage right now where we’re at the recommending stage of things where we think they can add value for the practice and they don’t necessarily have to change their the way that they practice dentistry. We’re definitely not at the point, and our providers will tell us this as well, one of the things that they value is we’re not saying, here’s your formulary, and you have to buy everything that’s on here, and that bonding agent that you used since dental school, you can’t use that anymore. That’s just, it’s not what we believe. We believe there’s so many more ways that we can add value to those practices than dictating those things at this point. Um, so yeah, I don’t necessarily want to say that that’s like a, or forever strategy. Cause I think as businesses grow and you get to 300, 400, 500 locations, maybe some of those things look different. Um, but for us right now, I mean, there’s so many things that we can do, uh, uh, ahead of dictating like what, um, bibs and, and cotton rolls that they use in the practice.
Bill Neumann: What’s the feedback like from the dentists when you talk to them about that clinical autonomy? It seems like true clinical autonomy to me.
Steve Wright: Yeah, I mean, they love it. They also believe that it’s just a story, you know, like, okay, that’s what everybody says. And we know being in the industry for a while, I mean, you know, DSOs have gotten a bad rap for, you know, dictating how people practice dentistry. And we say we do not. And you can see that kind of hold up. And you can ask any provider in our network right now, and we actually just recently asked them, you know, is this true? What we’re saying about clinical autonomy, do you believe this in your day-to-day life in the practice? And, you know, 10 out of 10 dentists have responded, yes, we’re actually living our values there. And, you know, I go back to that point that we’ve been fortunate and our practices are growing considerably above market. And there’s just there’s a lot of things that we’re doing to enhance enhance their growth there. And if the practices are growing, you know, we don’t have to pay attention to cost cutting and no one’s going to cut or cut their way to growth. We prefer to invest in our in our doctors and our providers and get them additional training and add new procedures and and grow the top line versus, you know, spending time focused on on cut costs.
Bill Neumann: Yeah, I want to get back to that because that’s a big challenge for a lot of groups out there and individual dentists is, you know, growing, you know, that organic growth that everybody talks about so much or it’s kind of interesting the industry was so focused on acquisitional growth when interest rates were near zero. And then all of a sudden the model, hey, we got to actually pay attention to what we bought over the past four or five years and see if these practices are a cultural fit. And also, are they growing? So I want to follow up on that one, but you touched on education and bringing Seattle Study Club in. And of course, you’ve had that experience from being there. But that’s something that seems to be overlooked by a lot of groups out there. And talk a little bit about the decision to do that, because you brought that to Bright Direction Dental. and the effect and the impact it’s had on the culture and the clinicians and staff that actually are there. Because that educational component to me just seems logical, but it’s something that a lot of relatively large groups still don’t have a solution for.
Steve Wright: Yeah, yeah, it’s, it’s interesting. Yeah. So when I joined Seattle Study Club in 2023, I, I had been familiar with Seattle Study Club since I started in dentistry. And, you know, I said the joke to Michael Cohen, the founder there, that I cold called him, you know, 23 years ago, and it took him 23 years to return my call. So he returned my call and offered me a job. But when I got there, what I realized is they have a vast network of dentists. And what maybe is perceived as an old model, I think post-pandemic kind of had a resurgence and a comeback. So I think as dentists kind of got stuck in watching CE on their computers, what they realized coming out of it is they missed the connection of people. So the study club model of putting dentists together in a room in their local communities once a month to perhaps listen to a speaker, but also share ideas on what cases might have gone wrong in their practice and really open up and be vulnerable about learning. with other dentists in the room. So it was interesting to see it from that perspective of these are really how like, you know, dentistry is a lifelong pursuit. Technology is constantly changing. Patients are changing. Procedures are changing. And how do you keep up with those changes when you may be the only dentist in the four walls? Well, putting those dentists in a group together, sharing that learning experience, and then really, I guess, becoming trusted colleagues and friends, you could see what would happen there. One, relationships would be formed. That was a given. But then two, these dentists got more comfortable taking on more complex procedures. They had people to go to and ask if they were considering maybe anterior or endo, but they weren’t sure which cases to start with. They had a network of people to ask that they could trust. They also had specialists in the network that could could weigh in and offer an opinion. So what we saw is clinicians getting better and better at their craft. And then as a result, they were more engaged in the profession, because if you’re learning new skills and you’re pumped up about dentistry in a new way, you’re going to go back into your practice kind of with a with a fresh lens. There was also great team training that brought the teams together. There was programs when I was there that we launched focused on dental hygienists. So I saw all the good things that were happening at Seattle Study Club, and I saw the runway it had and the impact it was having on dentists. So when I came to Bright Direction Dental, What I saw is we had over 40 practices, great people, great providers in the network, but there really wasn’t a mechanism to get the community talking to each other. So I thought, one, training and development is super important. We’re going to invest on developing people, number one. That’s part of our core values here is we will invest in people. That goes for our support team. It goes for our providers. So we want to do that. All right, so that checks the box on Seattle Study Club. And then how do we actually get people together? Because does the dentist in my practice in St. Charles, Illinois know the dentist in Milton, Wisconsin? I mean, they could drive there close enough, but they probably have never met. So how can I get them together? getting them together in person really under the guise of education. So let’s get together and learn. All right, we’re going to get together and learn. But now we’re getting together and we’re forging relationships. And really now the network just becomes more powerful. We ran a, you know, for example, I mean, this wasn’t a Seattle Study Club event, but it falls under the guise of our focus on education. We ran a implant program recently. two-day program, vendor-supported, but we had eight of our doctors interested, raised their hands, said, yes, this is something I’d like to do. We got them together in a room for 2 days. They learned something new. They spent time with each other where they, they probably didn’t know those people before. And they left with stronger relationships. And now it’s essentially a class. So, you know, eight doctors have gone through this shared experience together. How are we going to collectively take them to the next level? Well, they’re their own cohort. So it’s fun to see. Yeah. You know, I think, Dennis, you’ve talked a lot. We’ve been in the industry for a while. They’re lifelong learners. So, you know, I felt it was important for Bright Direction Dental to have a mechanism to deliver that.
Bill Neumann: Yeah, I really think this is something that’s incredibly important and we’ve got some solutions at group dentistry now as well for education. And it’s just amazing to me when you have conversations and you probably had this when you were at Seattle Study Club, how many groups don’t have anything in place. And so clinicians are kind of forced to get their education the way they did before they joined the organization, which is, You know, go to dental shows, get education online and, you know, they might get some type of stipend. But beyond that, there’s no… And you touched on, you know, just building the culture, right? Getting dentists to connect with each other in person. that mentorship, which I think is key. There’s some dentists that, you know, that they’re going to lean on now that maybe have a little bit, you know, they’ve been doing endo more than the other, and they’re in the same course and they can help them. So I think a lot of dentists actually join DSOs not just to sell their practice, but also they want to work in a more collaborative environment where they’re not on an island working by themselves. And I think that education and in-person education in particular can really help out with that.
Steve Wright: Yeah. It’s interesting to see other DSOs that have grown. They’ve grown via acquisition, I would say, maybe irrationally. When money was cheap, it was acquiring businesses wherever you could get them. And when you’re running that model, and maybe that model is being run by people that have not been in the industry, it’s easy to see education as an expense. Where I see education and development as 100% an investment in our people. And it pays off in a number of ways. But most importantly, it pays off in the engagement level. Providers, you are important to us. Dental team, you’re important to us. I mean, no business can run without people. So you’ve got to invest in your people.
Bill Neumann: Do you feel, and this actually leads to probably one of the biggest challenges that the industry has right now. It seems like it’s been a challenge at least since COVID. I think it probably started even prior to COVID is recruitment and retention. So from the educational perspective, has that helped both retention and recruitment, do you think?
Steve Wright: Yeah, I mean, we’re we’re early in on this, but I would I would have to say absolutely. I mean, a lot of the a lot of the new dentists, I mean, the dentists that we’ve hired recently, it’s 100 percent a part of our story and it it resonates. But like anything, I think it’s it sounds interesting, but they have to kind of see it to believe it. We recently ran a, we pulled all of our doctors together for a meeting recently in September. It was a day and a half program. We had nine hours of continuing education delivered, but that’s where people could see it live. Like, you know, we’re putting our money where our mouth is, but it was our investment to pull everyone together, our investment in the education and the speakers and building that community. And that really reinforced what we said in some of these initial interviews with these doctors. So a doctor that started two months ago understood it as an idea and he left those two days with a great feeling for who Bright Direction Dental is and why we’re different.
Bill Neumann: What else are you doing when it comes to recruiting and retention? I know that education isn’t a silver bullet. It can certainly help, but what other strategies do you have?
Steve Wright: Yeah, I mean, it’s a challenge, in particular, when you look at finding good dental hygienists. So the same strategy holds there. When I was young, we had a number of different product portfolios, but our biggest was preventative products focused on dental hygienists. So I spent a good part of my career focused in that market and that clinical space. So same thing. How can we invest in dental hygienists from an education and training perspective? And we’ve launched some programs there that are showing dental hygienists that we’re invested in them as an important provider. Recruiting is hard. So I think the best that we can do is how do we create a space that our existing providers and our existing Dell teams love coming to work. And if we can build that environment, recruiting becomes easier because now you’re going to tell your friends to join you and word will spread that we’re a different kind of DSO. Because I think What you hear out there too is still a lot of the perception from 20 years ago that the DSOs are evil or DSOs are corporate or DSOs are going to change the way you practice dentistry. I mean, we’re certainly living our values different than that. I know a lot of DSOs out there that are running their businesses are operating differently as well and trying to overcome that perception. I think if you look at recruiting and retention, it’s like we just need to create a great environment that people enjoy coming to work and then the rest will take care of itself. But if you can find a dental hygienist, please send them my way, because they’re extremely difficult to find.
Bill Neumann: We may have a couple of them listening. Let’s certainly hope so. All right. Let’s talk about organic growth. That’s another, I think, challenge for a lot of groups. It’s been elusive for some. Talk a little bit about your strategies and where you have found success.
Steve Wright: Yeah, so I think it starts with affiliating with the right partners. So we’ve been very smart about who we’ve decided to partner with, and we’ve been very grateful that we’ve found some great partners that are really focused on growth. So I think if you look at our business, our same store sales growth has become like, that’s the paramount metric, I think, for DSOs right now. If you look at the last 12 months, we’ve grown 10%. So that’s considerably above where the market is. Where we are at kind of our stage in the growth is we can pick two to three things to focus on. And if we remain really focused on just those two to three things and don’t get I guess, distracted by the bouncy ball of ideas. You know, 2025 is going to look good and 2026 is going to look even better. So I can foresee our growth continuing and there’s areas like diagnostic AI and everybody’s talking about AI and what AI can do to drive efficiency and growth for the practice. But we’re trying to narrow in on like what that means to us and where we think we can win. And like you had said before, what might work for one practice doesn’t necessarily work for 40. So we’re trying to take a phased approach here to kind of learn what we can from a few initial practices, take that learning and then expand it to our network as needed. But yeah, we’ve been fortunate to enjoy nice growth so far. And as I’m heading into my first full year in 2026, I’m very optimistic about what our plans look like.
Bill Neumann: Well, your point about diagnostic AI leads into this next question. You’re right. I think there’s a little bit of AI overload in the industry. A lot of companies out there selling different types of AI, whether it’s diagnostic, conversational, there’s a lot out there and it probably gets a little daunting for someone like you that’s trying to evaluate these solutions. So talk about the technology. You talked about diagnostic AI. Are you trialing or piloting some right now? Is that the phase you’re in now?
Steve Wright: Yeah, so we’re in a trial with a couple different vendors right now. We think we’ve got a great partner out there on the diagnostic AI front that’s helping us launch a new group just this month. So we’re going to start with 10 offices. We think over the course of our first two months that we’re going to be able to demonstrate some success. So we’re looking forward to that. And then we’re pairing that with the launch of a new hygiene program. partnered with a company called Team Training Institute that’s going to help educate our dental hygiene teams. And there’s some natural integration with diagnostic AI in the launch of that program. So, yeah, I mean, we’ll see. But, you know, kind of circling back to your first point on vendors, We’re really looking for vendors that are going to help us drive adoption and support us, not just we don’t want to announce to our network, hey, we’re doing this thing and it’s everything’s going to work perfectly. And just because we’ve really thought through this from a partner perspective and who could really focus the time, effort and attention on adoption. We’re a small team from a from a support team. So we need to rely on strategic partners to help us drive that adoption. So, you know, taking a phased approach. We’re really excited about the possibilities, and we’ll see what happens here over the next couple months.
Bill Neumann: Excellent. A couple of last, two last questions here, or I guess that’s… maybe an A and a B. So future of Bright Direction, maybe in the next couple of years, kind of what you’re thinking, where you want to be as an organization. And then, where do you think the industry is in the next couple of years as well? So, two-parter. So that last question’s two parts. So industry question, and then where you’d like to be or where do you think you’ll be?
Steve Wright: Yeah, so we’re going to remain focused on the Midwest. So in terms of our growth, we’ll remain focused on growing practices in the six states. We’ll strategically look for new partners in those six states, and we’re actively pursuing that at the moment. But it will be focused entirely on how do we help our practices succeed? And uncertain economy, Recruiting and retention of providers is hard, so we need to get better and better at our processes and support our practices. We are a support organization, so we need to deliver superior support for the partners and practices that we work with, and we’ve demonstrated our ability to do that, and I see that we’ll continue to grow methodically and And with a good fresh perspective on what smart affiliation and what smart partnership looks like. So we’ll remain steadfast on that, but growing in the Midwest. Investing in education and development. So I think there’s a lot that we can do for educating dental teams. There’s a lot we can do educating different providers. We’ll continue to make investments there. And ultimately, I think that that will drive greater confidence for our providers to take on new clinical procedures and focus on delivering better patient care. So I expect us to continue to get great ratings from our patients, because if we can’t do that, then We’re not in the right business. So I would see continued growth here. We’re at 40 locations now. Over the next couple of years, I don’t necessarily see that number doubling, but I see that number continuing to incrementally grow year over year and us continuing to add value for our practices. As I said, we’ve been growing above market. I would hope to continue to do that and continue to exceed that number, because we all like to win at the end of the day. As far as the market’s concerned, the DSO market continues to grow. It’s becoming more and more difficult for a private practice dentist to, I think, compete effectively in the market. I mean, it’s not true for everyone. But when you look at the factors of insurance, reimbursement rates are lower. You’ve got dental supplies are higher, finding good people is more difficult. There’s going to be more and more dentists retiring. There’s going to be more and more dentists entering the market. So 2024 had the highest number of dental school kids graduating. So the market dynamics are going to really shift here over the next 10 years. And I think it’s going to make affiliation more and more interesting. And I think DSOs are getting better and better at providing support and creating an environment that’s attractive for dentists graduating dental school and dentists that want to take their practice to the next phase of growth or dentists retiring. Like, I think you can hit all those spectrums. And I think As I think the DSO market is going to continue to grow and grow and definitely outpace private practice. And I think what we can do as DSO leaders is create a space that’s exciting for new dentists and continues to be rewarding for their professional careers. So I think it’s taken me a while, 25 years in the dental industry, a long path, but I’m happy to be here on the side of the DSO world and talking to you, the foremost expert in group dentistry.
Bill Neumann: Well, I don’t know about that, but thank you. Yeah, this is a great conversation. Thanks for, and I concur with your thoughts on the future of the industry. And I think it’s a bright future for the DSO model, for DSOs that do things the right way. And I think I think with the change in interest rates and PE sitting on the sidelines for a bit to see how things flush out, that it’s forced groups to focus on what makes the most sense, which is organic growth, taking care of your doctors, your staff, and your patients. I think the economy may have taken a bit of a turn and slowed down a little bit and it might be a little bit more challenging, but it’s forced, I think, DSOs to be better stewards of the practices that they manage.
Steve Wright: Yeah, it’s absolutely where the market needed to go. We needed to deliver better care to our patients and really focus on helping and supporting the dentists. And yeah, the economy forced us to look ourselves in the mirror and say, is what we’re doing, does this make sense long-term? Is it sustainable long-term growth for the practices? And does it make sense for better patient care? So everything starts and stops with the patient. And I think You know, what’s happened in the market recently is for the betterment of the patient. And then as a result, it’ll improve our practices. So, yeah, I’m excited about where it’s going. I mean, Bill, you stole my pun. You know, it’s Bright Direction Dental. We like to close with, you know, the future is bright, but you said it for me.
Bill Neumann: I didn’t even realize that. Well, so if anybody in the audience wants to learn more about Bright Direction Dental, pretty easy. It’s brightdirectiondental.com, brightdirectiondental.com. And then if you want to actually find out how to partner, they’ve got a little button that says join the club. I love that. That’s awesome. It’s kind of a great way to put it. So you can go to, again, the website. Steve, if anybody wants to reach out to you, I know you’ve got a good presence on LinkedIn. What’s the best way to touch base with you?
Steve Wright: Yeah, I mean, you can find me on LinkedIn or you can feel free to email me at swright at brightdirectiondental.com. I’d love to hear from you.
Bill Neumann: Excellent. Well, thank you. Thank you, Steve. And thanks, everybody, for watching us or listening in. And until next time, this is the Group Dentistry Now Show.
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