Forming Partnerships in the Dental Community

In the competitive world of dental care, it is easy to become hyper-focused on the success of your own practice. Chris Bentson of Bentson Copple & Associates, a consulting firm that specializes in orthodontics, recognizes the value of merging expertise for both patients and specialists. In fact, according to Bentson, interdisciplinary practices are the future of the dental industry. The following is what he has to say about the benefits and convenience of multidisciplinary relationships.

RELATED: More advice from Chris Bentson

• What Matters to Today's Orthodontic Patients
• Assessing the Financial Outlook for Orthodontics
• How Independent Orthodontists Can Compete with Corporate

Interview Transcript (Modified for Readability)

“Why should orthodontists consider partnerships with general dentists or other dental specialists, specifically pediatric dentists? It’s important, we believe, going forward, for convenience for the patient and to understand who the stakeholders in the adolescent patient are, which are 75 percent of the patients. So, if pediatric dentists really feel like they’re the gateway for the adolescent patient to pass through prior to orthodontics, we believe that the demographics of the pediatric specialty is growing faster than orthodontics. There’s a symbiotic relationship, and we will see many ortho-pedo relationships and partnerships and real estate relationships going forward. And it makes great sense for both parties. Same, to a lesser extent, with general dentists. We believe that these partnerships in interdisciplinary offices offer convenience for the patient and leverage for all the dentists involved in the relationship. We think we’ll see more group practices, multidisciplinary practices going forward.”

Discover more Dentist's Money Digest videos here.