Adding and expanding specialty dental services is an up-and-coming opportunity for growth for DSOs, especially in the areas of dental implants and prosthodontics.
Mithila Sharma, DDS, was recently appointed as director of clinical and prosthodontic support at Aspen Dental, one of the largest DSOs in the U.S.
Before stepping into the director role, Dr. Sharma joined Aspen in 2013 as a lead dentist and grew into a multi-practice owner.
Dr. Sharma connected with Becker’s to talk about the importance of speciality services and why DSOs that have traditionally been in the general practice space should consider adding new service lines.
Note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: Why should DSOs invest in speciality services such as prosthodontics and dental implants?
Dr. Mithila Sharma: My answer for this would be, why not? We cater so much to a population that has not been able to go to the dentist for such a long time. We do see a lot of patients with missing teeth who have never had options. We pride ourselves so much about removing those barriers for access to care and expanding care to all the people. We also want to be so proud about the fact that we’re not just giving them access to care, but we’re giving them the best access to care. The truth is, if you don’t offer dental implants, you are not offering the highest standard of care to the patients.
My job is to educate patients about all the possible options that exist, and especially the options that do change and impact their quality of life. It’s such a good thing that we are growing in this industry and offering the best case solutions to all our patients, because that’s what our patients deserve.
Q: Why does it make sense for Aspen to expand these specialty dental services like dental implants and why is it an attractive growth opportunity?
MS: We all know that the best way to replace a missing tooth is a dental implant. I can always tell you that, you know, as a clinician working in my practices, my dentistry changed before I was placing dental implants and after I was placing dental implants. It not only helped me grow as a clinician and as a practice owner, but I think there was so much more pride in the fact that I was offering those solutions myself, as earlier I was just sending my patients away to a specialist. When we talk about being in specialty services, we understand the amount of financial barriers that exist for the patients. A lot of these specialty services don’t take patients’ insurance and a lot of patients can’t afford it. When I transitioned to being able to provide this care, so many more people were being able to have access so I grew as a clinician and my practices grew. Any dentist that’s out there very strongly and ethically wants to give the best quality care. When we add that little feather to our clinical skills, we just feel so much better about the quality of care that we are delivering.
