26
BECKER'S DENTAL + DSO REVIEW // VOL. 2022 NO. 2
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
David Keller, DDS. Granite Dental (Vancouver, Wash.): In five
years, dentistry will clinically look very similar to today. Change
is slow in healthcare. Overregulation prevents nimbleness like
in other market sectors. I do expect staff salaries to increase
to lure employees back into the workforce. I expect staff sizes
to increase to accommodate employees who have discovered
they don't want to work as much as pre-COVID.
I expect the trend toward corporate dentistry will increase, but
I don't expect it to accelerate. I expect the distribution of clin-
ical procedures to shift toward disease control and rehabili-
tation of patients who have spent the past two to three years
neglecting their oral health. I expect dental offices to remain
less busy in general than pre-COVID. This will require offices to
offer new procedures to patients to maintain historical profits.
This will cause the variety of procedures done in most dental
offices to increase, which I believe can be leveraged into add-
ed value to patients.
I expect dental benefits offered by employers to become more
robust or comprehensive as they seek to retain employees.
I also expect increased opportunity for employees to leave
work for dental appointments, which might have the overall
effect of less offices open extended hours.
Betty Jo Hirschfield Louik, DMD. Uptown Dental (Pittsburgh):
DSO ownership of dental practices will continue to grow in the
next five years, as will group practice. Solo privately owned
offices will become a small fraction of existing offices. Fewer
young practitioners will purchase practices for sale; many will
be forced to just close their doors when doctors choose to re-
tire. I do believe the market for hiring auxiliaries will improve
as personnel leave hospital and medical practices to enjoy the
better practice environment of dental offices. The world of dig-
ital dentistry will continue to expand, with software to change
smiles virtually to give patients ideas of what is possible. n
Image Credit: Adobe Stock
ADVERTISINGINDEX
Note: Ad page number(s) given in parentheses
42North Dental. priyanki.amroliwala@42northdental.com / 42northdental.com / (617) 480-6355 (pg. 23)
Dental Monitoring. dental-monitoring.com (pg. 2)
Heartland Dental. heartland.com/independence / jobs.heartland.com / (955) 996-0450 (pgs. 13-16)
