Ed Rabinowitz

The American Dental Hygienists’ Association indicates that 

approximately 6,700 dental hygienists graduate annually

. Add that number to the more than 5,000 new dentists coming into the fold each year and you have a lot of people to fill not nearly as many jobs.

In other words, with apologies to Abbott and Costello, 7 will not go into 28, 13 times. That’s problematic math. It’s also a major problem for the dental industry.

Gordon Christensen, DDS, MSD, PhD, founder and CEO of 

“You have somewhere around 5,000-plus new dentists graduating, and somewhat over 50 percent of dentists employ hygienists,” said Christensen. “…If you tried to put 6,000 hygienists into 5,000 dentists, many of whom don’t have a hygienist, you see where you are.”

It’s called oversaturation, and it’s a major frustration to dentists who see it happening in their respective geographic communities.

Part of the problem, Christensen says, stems from a proliferation of new dental schools. Of the 12 new dental schools that have started since 1997, eight of them are private. And the frustration among dentists is that many of these schools have established themselves in regions that don’t need new dentists.

“I tried for literally 40 years to help start a dental school at the University of Utah, which has since been initiated,” Christensen says. “However, previous to that, a private school came in, and now they’re turning out far more dentists than Utah will ever use. We hope that many will go to areas in which they are needed.”

When these private schools began to surface in the late 1990s there was great resentment because it appeared they were primarily oriented toward making money for the people who initiated them. But Christensen acknowledges that some of them are educating dentists in a very admirable manner.

“They’re recruiting faculty who are general practitioners or specialists from their local communities rather than going after pure blood academics,” he explains. “Therefore, many of them are getting better clinical education because it’s real world rather than just academically oriented.”

Christensen says that if he were “a grand mogul” running the dental industry he would stipulate for those who wanted to start a dental school that they were limited to four or five areas of need where they could break ground.

“But don’t go into an area where dentists are treating one another for lack of something to do,” he says. “And that’s happening in many areas.”

Dentists aren’t the only ones feeling the effects of oversaturated markets. Dental hygienists are hurting as well. Christensen recalls that hygienists used to be able to practically set their own salary, and that’s still true in selected areas.

“One of my sons practices in a rural area in Ontario, Canada, and he can’t even get hygienists,” he says. “They have to pay them an enormous fee, and they have to stimulate them to move away from a metropolitan area into a rural area.”

But most markets, he says, are so oversaturated hygienists cannot find employment. That’s an incredible shift from just three years ago, when the 

 ranked dental hygienist number six as best jobs of 2013. The site indicated, “Opportunities in the field are abundant and expected to grow considerably by 2020.”

Christensen says “it’s near impossible” for a young dentist coming out of school to start a practice on their own.

“They can do it,” he says, “but they’d better plan to garden and get a cow to give them some milk because they’re not going to eat anything for quite a few years.”

As a result, a sizeable number of new dentists are going into the military as dentists.

“That’s a wonderful thing,” Christensen says, “because they get experience they would never get in dental school.”

Many others are turning to corporate dentistry, despite the lower starting salary. For example, the American Dental Association reports that in 2013, the average annual net income for general practitioner dentists 

 $181,000. By comparison, Christensen says a typical corporate dentist earns approximately $130,000.

“It’s a sizeable chunk lower, but it’s a place where a young dentist can go and gain some skills, and gain some speed,” Christensen says.

So what advice does Christensen have for young dentists who want to start a private practice?

“They have to do something different,” he says. “They must have internal and external marketing. They’ve got to identify themselves as different from some other dentist down the street. Write a column or article in your hometown newspaper and stimulate people to come in. So, there are ways, but they’re proactive ways, they’re certainly not reactive ways. They’ll go bankrupt if they don’t do something different.”

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In many markets, there are more dentists and dental hygienists than the market requires. The problem, one expert says, is partly due to a growth of dental schools in markets that are already over-served.

Over-saturation of Dentists, Hygienists a Mounting Problem in Many Markets

Jeff Sulitzer, DMD, took an interesting approach to choosing a career path in college. He knew he wanted to be a healthcare professional. The choice was between becoming a dentist or a doctor.

“It’s something I always wanted to do,” Sulitzer recalls. “Treat patients, kind of be in a world where I can make people’s lives better.”

Sulitzer analyzed his personality, and decided that dentistry would be a better fit than becoming a physician. He liked the idea of being independent, yet still being able to bounce clinical ideas off his colleagues. And, he wouldn’t be dealing with life and death decisions.

“Back in the day when I was in college, I didn’t know if I wanted to make life and death decisions every day,” Sulitzer acknowledges. Today, however, as chief clinical officer at Gentle Dental — 

, he feels much more qualified to help people make those decisions. “I can still provide support and make people’s lives better, but I don’t necessarily have to worry about advance directives and whether or not somebody wants to be resuscitated.”

And he has “absolutely no regrets” about his decision.

Sulitzer graduated from the Temple University School of Dentistry in 1985 and spent the next 10 years running US Healthcare’s dental division.

“It was a wonderful experience,” he recalls.

He started as a dental director, and over time acquired more business responsibilities. He spent his days in a suit and tie working the administrative side of running dental plans and recruiting dentists for networks. In the evening he would head home, change into scrubs, and treat patients in the private practice he’d started.

“The purpose was to stay a clinical dentist so that I could be more effective in my administrative role with US Healthcare,” he explains.

Over time, however, Sulitzer found that his skillset seemed better directed towards the administrative side of dentistry. He was also happier on that side of the industry.

“If I was in my private practice, I guess I would treat maybe 15 patients a day,” he explains. But in his administrative roles he treats thousands of patients each day, in theory. “And that’s what I enjoy the most. I’ve kind of been able to expand my purview, if you will, or my ability to affect the oral health and general health of patients.”

And because he’s worked as a clinician, Sulitzer believes he can relate to dentists better than others who haven’t been on both sides of the equation.

“It’s very difficult to be a general dentist and deliver excellent oral care to patients day in and day out in the environment in which dentists work,” he says. “There are so many limitations, restrictions, and challenges. And yet they just plug along and get it done. I have the utmost respect for them.”

Sulitzer believes that the most important issue facing dentistry today is understanding how oral health affects general health. He says that when people talk about healthcare reform, dentistry is often left out of the conversation. Yet, general dentists or periodontists can create better outcomes for chronic diseases like diabetes or heart disease. When a patient’s periodontal health is improved, their ability to manage other chronic inflammatory diseases improves as well.

“Dentistry needs to make sure that there is a focus and there’s a light that shines on the fact that, as oral healthcare providers, we can actually affect general health as well,” Sulitzer says.

Progress, albeit slow, is being made. Sulitzer says that one of InterDent’s sister organizations is responsible for managing state Medicare programs in Oregon, and has developed a coordinated care organization—coordinating care between physical health, mental health, and oral health.

“I would say within the next 10 years the medical home will become a medical-dental home,” Sulitzer says. “I think it should be. I think it needs to be.”

The dental industry also seems to be following medicine in the way medical practices have been consolidating. That’s a concern to many state dental associations that feel threatened by larger dental service organizations, and wonder why a dentist would want to work anywhere 

But, says Sulitzer, that’s not reality today.

“Younger dentists, the dentists who graduate dental school, are graduating with high levels of debt,” he says. “They don’t have the opportunity to go out and go get a loan and buy a dental practice or start a dental practice from scratch. So, they need to associate with either a private practice, or a dental service organization.”

“Dentists young and old need to understand this phenomenon.”

Despite his children being older, Sulitzer says he is very much a devoted family man. His son, who is 27, is starting medical school, and Sulitzer was active in coaching him through that process. His daughter, who is recently married, has started a career in dentistry.

“We don’t have younger children, but we have two dogs at home, and my wife and I spend a lot of time with them,” he says. “We go on hikes and take advantage of the outdoor environment here in Oregon.”

Looking back, Sulitzer is more than content with his career choice. He’s had the privilege of affecting thousands of patients daily, and takes great pride in helping them gain access to affordable quality care.

“At InterDent, we have over a million patient visits a year,” he says. “I feel that I’ve contributed to those appointments, so, I’m thrilled to say that. I’ve been able to allow people to have access to affordable quality care more than I could have as a general dentist in my own private practice.”

A dental practice management executive says his time as a clinical dentist gave him the groundwork for his current post overseeing the care of thousands.

Practitioner Relishes Impacting Thousands of Lives Every Day

For a while now the dental industry has flown under the radar when it comes to using HIPAA-compliant email and texting systems. Hospitals, clinics, and physician practices have more traditionally been under scrutiny. But experts say that’s changing.

“There are more violations being cited and penalties being doled out,” says Arnold Rosen, DDS, MBA, founder and CEO of 

, a Boston-based firm that recently the first HIPAA-compliant texting application for secure dental communication. “Those are realities now. It’s high on everybody’s chart for awareness.”

Well, maybe not everybody. When asked how lax dentists are when it comes to ensuring HIPAA compliance in their communication, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most lax, Rosen didn’t bat an eyelash.

And the financial penalties and negative consequences are significant.

Rosen explains that the government constructed HIPAA regulations with multiple goals in mind: provide flexibility and simplicity for healthcare entities; to protect patients; and to protect healthcare information. But the reality, he says, is that there’s a lot of uncharted territory. The regulations are not necessarily flexible and simple.

“We rely on consultants to give us clarity,” he says. “But the reality is that there is nothing that can’t be hacked.”

The key issue, Rosen explains, is not whether a dentist violated one of the HIPAA privacy regulations. The issue is were the proper procedures in place and documentation available to demonstrate that the practice did everything it could to comply. In other words, there’s a big difference between saying, “I don’t care, and I don’t do anything to address compliance,” and “Here are our processes and documentation.”

What is clear is the penalty for non-compliance. Rosen points to a New York-based academic medical center that, in 2014, paid a fine of $4.8 million after the records of 6,800 people became accessible on Google. That has drawn attention.

“You can’t go to a dental convention or any dental meeting without [non-compliance] being part of everyone’s conversation,” he says.

The potential for widespread penalties exists, at least in part, because patient information is regularly shared among practitioners within the dental industry. Rosen explains that the sharing of patient information is especially important to any specialty practice.

“They have to refer on that work,” he says. “And not only are they receiving information on every patient that’s been referred to them, they have an obligation to provide information back to the referring dentist so that they are properly documented on the status of the patient.”

Rosen says that when it comes to implant dentistry in particular, a multidisciplinary approach is required to complete the procedure effectively and efficiently. That means two or more practitioners, including labs and representatives from medical device companies, are often working together from the standpoint of planning, surgery, restoration and laboratory work.

“There’s a huge amount of collaboration,” he says. “The majority of it happens on cellphones.”

But the potential for liability is not limited to dental practices. Rosen explains that the communication culture in dental schools today is such that students who are often doing implant and prosthetic work can regularly be seen using their phones to share patient images—whether with labs, or just to demonstrate the work they’ve done.

“It’s a very significant problem,” Rosen says. “What the student does goes to the administration. They’re responsible to make sure that the school is compliant. The concerns are very substantial now.”

Rosen says the first step to ensuring compliance is making certain everyone in your practice is trained, and that policies and procedures are in place to demonstrate that, if a breach takes place, measures are in place to address the situation. And the most effective way to go about that is to work with a knowledgeable consultant.

“We work with someone who comes to our office, and they address the many different issues that need to be taken care of,” Rosen says. “They come back each year to update the training, because the laws are always changing, and there’s a lot of uncharted territory. There’s even a requirement that someone in the practice be a HIPAA officer to ensure the proper procedures are followed.”

But there’s still no guarantee. And part of the challenge, Rosen says, is that some email systems that claim to be HIPAA compliant are not. Or they’re awkward to use. And the culture today, the spontaneity connected with smart phone use, can be a challenging mindset to change.

“You can have everything place, and people still have their phones,” Rosen says. “Creating compliance, therefore, becomes very difficult.”

When it comes to HIPAA compliance, dentists are getting a much-needed wake-up call.

Dentists No Longer Flying Under the Radar on HIPAA Compliance

Five years ago, Gordon Christensen, DDS, MSD, PhD, founder and CEO of 

, conducted a major survey on the state of the dental profession in the US. A total of 1,500 dentists responded to the 24-question survey, and their number-one-ranked concern was third-parties dictating treatment plans and setting fees.

More specifically, dentists were upset about third-party payers setting fees even for services that weren’t covered under their dental plans.

Not only does the issue remain today, Christensen believes it’s worse.

“It’s worse because there are more dictations now, and there is a reduction of benefits coming for many of the procedures,” Christensen says.

Since Christensen’s survey, 38 states have passed legislation—the non-covered services laws&mdash;barring third-party companies from this practice. That means the problem still exists.

“Any time we reduce our fee for whatever reason, it can certainly affect the practice,” explains Ron Riggins, chair of the ADA Council on Dental Benefit Programs. “And if you perform a service for your normal fee and it comes back that you won’t receive that same fee, you might not have your business model in place to be able to handle that.”

Christensen acknowledges that third-party benefit plans have done some good. For example, they have paid for some individuals to receive services they might not have been able to obtain. But without a doubt, he adds, they have reduced dentists’ level of income.

“People don’t realize that if a dentist takes in $100 for a procedure, $71 of that goes to overhead, immediately,” Christensen explains. “So he has a dribble left, and the government gets almost 40% of that.” Third-party companies that further reduce fees worsen the scenario. “We’re going to see third party continue to be the most grievous challenge the dentist faces every day.”

Riggins illustrates the problem using occlusal guards and night guards, which is something dentists often provide but most dental benefit plans don’t cover. The dentist may charge $1,000 for the night guard, but the third-party payer indicates that the service is not covered, so they will only allow the dentist to charge $350.

“That’s an example of what dentists are upset about,” he says. “Third-party benefit companies are saying we’re not covering it. But if you provide the service, you have to provide it at this rate. That has made dentists very angry.”

The financial impact on dentists of third-party dictation of treatment plans is clear. But there is a clinical impact as well. As Christensen explains, dental supplies and equipment average roughly 6% of a dentist’s gross revenue.

“You can’t change that,” he says. “Salaries eat upwards of 20% of revenue, and you can’t change that.”

What that means, he says, is that dentists find themselves having to work faster.

“And let’s face it, you go fast, and sometimes you have quality and sometimes you don’t,” Christensen says. “So [third-party dictation] definitely has affected quality.”

Riggins says it’s incumbent on dentists and their state dental association to bring these situations to the attention of their state legislators. States that still have not passed non-covered services laws include: Utah, Colorado, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, South Carolina, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Hawaii.

Christensen advocates for stronger measures.

Christensen says that if he were 40 years old, he would be “a raving maniac.” But that’s not the case. Still, he believes what is needed is “an absolute, complete, utter overhaul of the whole system.” Will that ever occur? He acknowledges the issue is a controversial one.

“If you look at my state (Utah), one major hospital has bought out almost all the hospitals,” Christensen explains. “They set the fees, and they set the salaries for the physicians. If this were the legal profession they would have already had a revolution 30 years ago. But the medical and dental, they’re so darned busy and concerned helping patients, they go home and they’re tired. They’re not dealing with a lot of politics.”

The revolution, Christensen says, needs to start with a realistic conversation. For example, a crown costs $1,000. However, many insurance companies have pegged the fee at between $500 and $600. The overhead, he points out, is such that “the dentist is barely making cab driver wages” to do the crown.

“Fees should be based on time involvement and difficulty,” he says. “That’s pretty easy to identify. If a procedure on average takes 20 minutes, that’s a finite number in dollars. And how hard is it? But in no way to we even approach [that line of thinking] in dentistry.”

As payers increasingly impose pricing mandates on dentists, industry groups say an overhaul of the current system is the only solution.

Amid Mounting Dictates from Third Party Payers, Dentists Call for Revolution

Don’t ever underestimate the impact you can have on adolescents.

, clearly recalls his first visit to the dentist. He was very young, and had to have a lower left deciduous tooth pulled. His recollection of the Michigan dentist he saw is vivid.

“He let me look at everything,” Mundth recalls. “He let me spray water into the little cup that I was going to rinse out my mouth with.”

Ever since that extraction—and he says he kept the tooth for years&mdash;when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, Mundth would answer, “I want to be a dentist.”

He wavered only once, taking a year after graduating college to question whether or not he wanted to go to medical school. That was when a senior partner at a Chatham, NJ, practice, whose children Mundth had taught how to swim, made an offer he couldn’t refuse.

“He said, ‘Why don’t you come and work in my office for a year and start a dental laboratory for me,’” Mundth recalls. “So that’s what I did, and that sold me.”

Today, Mundth is in the same office, in the same town—albeit in a different location&mdash;where he started as a dental technician in 1979.

Mundth’s passion for his profession is enhanced by his love for cutting-edge technology. And for that he can thank the dentist who gave him his start as a dental technician.

“He was a gadget man,” Mundth says of the dentist. “The office was in his home at the time, and about every two months I’d have to clean out his basement for him. Much of it was filled with old equipment he had purchased that didn’t work, or didn’t work out the way he wanted it to.”

That was like being in a candy store for Mundth, who describes himself as being very mechanical.

“I’ve changed the (electric) service in my home from 80 amp to 200 amp,” he explains. “You can do almost anything you want if you take the time to study and learn about it.”

That’s an approach he’s brought to his practice. Mundth admits that when it comes to technology, he’s made some purchasing mistakes over the years. But says the most worthwhile thing he’s done, technology-wise, in the last three years is make the transition to virtual design of teeth and crowns.

“It’s unfortunate because I kind of started out as an old-time technician casting crowns out of gold,” Mundth says. “But this is the way technology is going. And I think having a passion for the profession means you’d better keep yourself up to date by reading, investigating, and keeping yourself moving forward.”

Mundth keeps moving outside the office as well. He has been extensively involved in community service, including coaching youth sports on all levels, and was a past commissioner of Pop Warner Football in Somerset County, NJ. He is also a certified men’s lacrosse official, as well as a member of the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials.

“I wasn’t good enough to play in college, but I’ve always been involved in sports,” he says. “And I love children, and always wanted to give back to the community.”

Mundth says that being the youngest of five children—he has two older brothers and two older sisters&mdash;may have had a strong influence on him.

“Maybe it’s because I never had any younger brothers and sisters,” he reasons. “But I just love giving back to families, giving back to the community.”

But it was a traumatic experience that would lead to his love of swimming and all water sports. His brothers and sisters were all very good swimmers, and always involved in competitive swimming. Mundth, however, was the last to learn how to swim. And at age 10, it almost didn’t happen.

“My father decided one Saturday that he was going to teach me to swim, and he almost drowned me,” Mundth recalls. “Literally to the point where the lifeguard who was on duty, who would typically not want to interfere with an interaction between a father and son, blew the whistle and told my father to stop doing what he was doing.”

Which was, essentially, repeatedly pushing Mundth’s head under water.

One week later, his mother tried a different approach. She took her youngest son into the water and encouraged him to follow her across the deep end. Somehow, he thrashed across the water and made it to the other side.

To this day, Mundth loves being out on the water. He will often take his boat out to the middle of Lake Hopatcong in northern NJ, turn off the motor, and float around relaxing, reading and listening to music.

“My wife says the only time she sees me really relax is when I’m on the boat,” he says.

If being on the water isn’t enough of a calming influence, Mundth also gets much satisfaction going for Sunday rides in the country on his Harley motorcycle. He purchased his first bike as a sophomore in dental school, but eventually sold it to help pay his dental school tuition. He didn’t get another until about 10 years ago.

“My wife told me that if I wanted a motorcycle, and as long as I promised not to make it my primary means of transportation, I could get one,” Mundth says. “I think she just wanted to make sure the life insurance was paid off.”

And even though he doesn’t put a great deal of miles on it—“I’m not a hard core Harley guy, although if you saw my office at the practice, there’s a big Harley painting on the wall&mdash;Mundth loves coming home, walking through the garage, and seeing his Harley.

“I get a big smile on my face because I know it’s sitting there and available to me when I need to just let my hair down and need that release.” 

A New Jersey dentist loves tinkering with machines, but he also makes plenty of time for the great outdoors.

New Jersey Dentist Has Affinity for the Outdoors

Cash flow is the life’s blood of any business, and a dental practice is no exception. Dentists understand that.

 understand is how to improve cash flow. Fortunately, says Jordon Comstock, founder of 

, a software company that allows dental practices to accept payments through their website, there are many options dentists can use to enhance practice cash flow.

It sounds like a no-brainer, right, but the easier you make it for patients to make payments, the likelier it is they will—and do so in a timely fashion. Comstock explains that today’s technology enables dentists to create a gateway on their practice’s website from which patients can make payments.

“I’m a big believer in utilizing the web to its fullest potential,” Comstock explains, “and making the website not only a marketing tool but a collections tool as well.”

Many practice still send paper statements and invoices through standard mail. That’s fine. Just include a link alerting patients of the bill-pay option that you’ve added to your website. It can mean the difference between getting paid within two to three days, or waiting two to three months.

There are other strategies to encourage patients to pay in a timely fashion. Consider offering a discount if patients pay their entire bill upfront. Or, create an in-house membership program (Check back for more on this strategy in future weeks).

“It’s kind of like Amazon Prime,” Comstock says “Customers purchase a subscription, and then you get certain benefits. And allowing the patients to essentially subscribe to the office brings in a lot of cash flow if you can get a lot of patients doing that. And it’s predictable cash flow.”

Payment plans are also effective, especially for patients who either can’t pay the full amount up front or don’t have dental insurance.

“A lot of dental practices say they don’t want to become a bank, but banks are profitable,” Comstock says. “So, if you can finance or create monthly payments with interest for the patients, it’s a great model to go to. You get the cash flow each month plus interest.”

Setting up an auto-pay program is another option. Just as many consumers today pay their home utility bills via auto payments deducted from their checking accounts, the same can be set up within your dental practice.

“When you can automate cash flow like that, life is going to be a lot easier as a business owner,” Comstock says.”

You’ve likely heard the expression of saving money for a rainy day, right? Well, building up a reserve fund is just as important. As Comstock explains, dentistry can be an up and down industry. Your practice can be bustling in April or May, and empty in July when families go on vacation. That can negatively impact your cash flow.

“It’s essential for practices to build their reserve funds so that when they hit their bad months they have funds to draw from so they can pay all their employees, purchase supplies, and make sure the business keeps running smoothly,” Comstock says. “I was part of a company that didn’t want to build a reserve fund, and it caused some huge problems. They ended up laying off several key people because they weren’t able to pay for them, because they weren’t prepared for slow times.”

Just make certain not to stash your reserve fund in a potentially volatile stock situation.

Just as important as the strategies you put in place to improve cash flow is training the staff that will implement those strategies. It’s essential for staff to understand the importance of cash flow to the practice, as well as remain courteous during the course of collecting.

Comstock explains that poor collection skills can hurt a practice in the long run. He recalls managing a dental lab, and one of the dental practices using the lab’s services was poor at maintaining cash flow, therefore, the practice was also poor at paying the dental lab.

“They racked up a bill of about $25,000 because their cash flow was so bad,” Comstock says. “And if you think about it, that’s kind of scary. If your collections aren’t in order, you can up a $25,000 bill with one supplier.”

There may be times where you feel the need to utilize the services of a third-party collection agency if your own efforts come up short. It can certainly send a message to your patients that you’re serious about the importance of timely payments. But, it can also have a potentially negative impact.

“If I were to hire a third-party collection agency, I would make sure that they do a good job and are not scaring patients away,” Comstock cautions. “You don’t want to lose those patients because of a collections agency.”

Embracing technology can help improve your practices cash flow, while also building the dentist-patient relationship.

Effective Strategies for Improving Practice Cash Flow

Every now and then someone comes along who plants that seed within us; a seed that germinates and propels us into a promising career.

, who specializes in general, cosmetic and implant dentistry in Buckhead and midtown Atlanta, GA. As a young child he was always intrigued by the work his dentist did, and recalls the encouragement he received from all his questions.

“I hope you’re going to grow up some day and take over my practice,” says Wingfield, recalling the words of his childhood dentist. “I’m going to need a good doctor just like you.”

In particular, Wingfield admired the way he combined the art and science of being a dentist. One event that stands out in his mind was during his high school years when he observed his dentist remove a woman’s teeth and deliver an immediate denture, same day.

“The lady’s tears were running down her face, she was so thankful to be able to smile again,” Wingfield says. “That was one of the defining moments that made me decide to pursue a career in dentistry.”

Wingfield actually launched his career with the United States Navy Dental Corps. His father was a fireman and his mother a teacher.

“They didn’t have the financial means to put me through dental school,” Wingfield explains. “So I went looking for ways to have it paid.”

He found what is now known as the Health Profession Scholarship Program. He graduated with top honors from its Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency program, which enabled him to work through all aspects of dentistry, including periodontics, endodontics and oral surgery.

“I couldn’t have picked a better way to do it, and amongst a better group of professionals than in the Navy Dental Corps.”

During his four years of service, Wingfield served on the forward deployed Bravo Surgical Company in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“We were attached to a marine division,” Wingfield says. “What that means is you’re on the ground. You’re on the front lines as the war first starts. And there are things that I never thought I would see—heads blown off, legs blown off. It was absolutely a scary time.”

But it was also educational. Wingfield encountered a young Iraqi boy who had suffered severe facial injuries from flying shrapnel after his parents had stepped on a land mine. There were no oral maxillofacial surgeons present, so Wingfield and his colleagues were responsible for treating all facial trauma.

“I’ll never forget him, and I’m thankful I was able to help him,” Wingfield says. “I don’t even know his name, but I would love to know where he is today. It was definitely a career-shaping event.”

Wingfield received numerous awards, including a Navy Commendation Medal and two Navy Achievement Medals, for his time served.

Wingfield may practice in two locations in the greater Atlanta area, but he literally has his hands in more than those two practices. Nineteen, to be exact. Ten in the Atlanta area, and nine in Houston. Together with his partner 

, he helps a group of doctors and dental hygienists shape their career.

“I got into [owning dental practices] after I got out of the Navy,” Wingfield explains. “I joined a group practice here in Atlanta, and I told the owner, Dr. Johnston, who interviewed me, ‘I want to lead a large group of doctors, and shape the future of dentistry, and do innovative things besides just being a dentist every day.’”

That goal came to fruition. Wingfield says while he loves being a dentist, he also gets a great deal of fulfillment from education; from helping dentists and other dental professionals improve their quality of life, improve their income, and provide patients better access to care. To that end, Wingfield says he was fortunate to have worked for Dr. Johnston.

“He was probably the most generous mentor anyone could have,” he explains. “He taught me pretty much everything I know about running a business. And he let me put a bunch of my crazy ideas to work, like opening at 7 a.m. and staying open until 7 p.m., and being open on Saturdays and having a call center. Just trying to be advocates for our people, and our patients.”

Wingfield’s approach to dentistry is evidence-based, with a focus on helping patients achieve balanced oral and systemic health. It’s the link between oral bacteria and the negative effects of heart disease, stroke and other medical conditions that drives him.

“When you’re leading a large group of dentists, at some point you have to decide what your real philosophy of care is going to be,” Wingfield says. “And what we all decided from the very beginning is we’re going to base this off what the scientific evidence says, and then treat patients. It’s more of an allopathic approach to the treatment of patients. But we look at it based on the patients’ needs, their wants, their desires, and their budget. And we use the best scientifically backed evidence-based dentistry that’s out there today in order to provide them with that level of care they wish to receive.”

One of Wingfield’s other passions is traveling.

“I guess I’m probably gone from home 80% or 90% of the time,” he admits.

Are there places on his bucket list that he’d like to visit? Wingfield laughs, noting that there are “lots of places,” and puts Thailand, Hong Kong, and Buenos Aires at the top of that list.

As for being thankful, Wingfield says his day is made when he receives correspondence from a dentist or hygienist who has worked within his organization stating, “You spent the time teaching me about business, and literally changed my life.”

He says he’s been “extraordinarily blessed professionally, financially and personally” through his work in dentistry.

“I just couldn’t think of another thing I’d rather be doing.”

A Georgia dentist was inspired by his childhood dentist to make a career in oral health.

Dentist Entrepreneur Channels Passions into Rewarding Career

The dental equipment market is expected to grow to more than $7.1 million worldwide by 2019, up from $5.4 million in 2014, 

 “Dental Equipment Market Current Trends, Opportunities — Global Forecast to 2019.” Factors include the growth of an aging population, and increasing demand for cosmetic dentistry.

But another factor is finance. A dental chair alone can cost upwards of $14,000.

“We can’t replace that (chair) every year and have it make sense,” says 

, a co-owner of 10 dental practices in the Atlanta area. “That’s why repair is so important.”

, a mobile dental equipment repair service franchise, has experienced significant growth in recent years. This year the company jumped from No. 188 to No. 149 on 

magazine’s list of the top 200 Global Franchises worldwide, and recently sold its 250

“Within the next five years we expect to have complete nationwide coverage,” says Scott Mortier, executive vice president of business development for the company.

Mortier explains that none of the nearly 400 owners of Dental Fix Rx franchises in the US had any prior experience servicing or repairing dental equipment. What they have in common is they are owner/operators who live in or very near the territory they purchase. That enables them to address an emergency situation quickly.

“It’s business owner to business owner,” Mortier says. “They’re interacting with the dentist. They have that shared experience, because at the end of the day a dentist is a business owner.”

Dental Fix Rx franchisees spend eight weeks learning their new trade. That includes three weeks of online instruction prior to attending three weeks of classroom training in Davie, FL. An apprenticeship week follows, where the new franchisee will spend a week with a regional trainer, who is also a franchise owner, applying what they learned in the classroom.

“And when they launch their business we fly out and spend the first week with them,” Mortier says.

But it’s the speed of service, Mortier explains, that sets Dental Fix Rx franchisees apart.

“At the end of the day, Henry Schein’s business model is the opposite of ours,” he says. “They would rather sell you new equipment and dental supplies than fix your existing equipment. When you call Henry Schein and say my chair is broken, their initial trigger is to send out a sales rep, not a tech. We’re the only ones in this space who want to service and repair your dental equipment.”

Wingfield says he began using Dental Fix Rx in 2013 as a backup for times when their regular service providers couldn’t get there fast enough. Eventually those occasions began to add up.

“We kept running into situations where the big folks just couldn’t get to us same day for service when the compressor would break down,” Wingfield says. “We were dead in the water. But when we called Dental Fix, they were there within an hour or two.”

“If we’re down a room then we could be losing $2,000 or $3,000 a day,” he says. “So if Henry Schein can’t get to us for three or four days you’re talking about $10,000 in lost revenues because of this room not being operable.”

That not only impacts dentists and their staff, but patients as well. If a chair is down, patients need to be rescheduled. That’s an inconvenience, but it can also serve as an excuse for putting off needed care.

A fast-growing equipment repair franchise sells itself as a speedier and less expensive alternative.