Henderson, Nev.-based PDS Health plans on continuing its focus on de novo offices and integrated care amid a shifting market.
The integrated healthcare organization opened 77 practices across multiple states last year, pushing its network to more than 1,100 dental practices nationwide. The company also invested in several pieces of technology and expanded its academic partnerships to enhance patient care. These efforts ultimately helped lead PDS to exceed $3.1 billion in revenue in 2025.
Dan Burke, chief enterprise strategy officer and general counsel at PDS Health, recently spoke with Becker’s about the company’s growth and goals for 2026:
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What will be the top focuses for PDS Health this year?
Dan Burke: One of the hallmarks of PDS Health’s remarkable 30+ year track record of success has been our consistency. We remain relentlessly focused on helping extraordinary clinicians deeply serve their patients — one practice at a time, one patient at a time. In 2026, we will grow and expand in ways that advance our teams’ ability to provide integrated healthcare to patients, centered on the Mouth-Body Connection®. This includes scale through de novo office growth as well as new capabilities that promote transparency, personalization and preventive care for patients. We will also see the expansion of our medical and technology offerings, including helping more schools and providers experience the integrated benefit of Epic’s EHR.
Q: What specific goals does the company have planned in terms of medical-dental integration, network expansion, technology, team development, etc.?
DB: We plan on opening over 100 de novo dental and medical practices that offer patients a fully integrated health experience. Each of these de novo openings requires much more than real estate and equipment; each will have a clinician ready to take on the mantles of ownership and partnership as well as a talented and trained team to support them.
On the operations/technology side, you will see more announcements like our recent ones regarding SOTA Cloud and Pearl AI where we shared our plans to deploy leading imaging technologies and integrated AI capabilities across our practices. Things like that are critical to helping patients understand what is going on in their mouths. The times of grainy hard-to-read X-rays are coming to an end.
For patients, we will continue to extend services like saliva screening in ways that promote understanding and transparency for their healthcare decisions. Tools that help a patient say “yes” to treating the infections and issues happening in their mouth are critical to supporting better overall health.
Q: In what states/regions can we expect to see PDS expand its network this year? Will the company still prioritize de novo offices, or will there be a shift in M&A strategy?
DB: The market is an interesting one right now with substantial pressures on some of the groups that did not invest for scalable growth. Simple roll-up plays do not create real value for practicing clinicians or their patients, and therefore create limited value for their shareholders. While we don’t have any plan to prioritize M&A at this time, we always have an eye out for opportunistic ways to improve the services we can provide clinicians.
Q: How do you see medical-dental integration advancing in the industry overall this year?
DB: There is no longer any question regarding if medical and oral healthcare will integrate; it is simply a question of how and when. The industry’s adoption of a point-of-care saliva CDT (D0426) this year is remarkable as it recognizes two critical shifts. The first is the importance of screening or diagnostic tools that help clinicians and patients understand what is happening before something breaks (or worse). Second, it’s an acknowledgement of how far point-of-care testing has come. Patients shouldn’t have to wait days for lab results to come back in order to make critical care decisions. More widely, one of the most positive signs for medical-dental integration is the amount of innovation happening around us. The dialogue with payers and partners has shifted. As Steve Thorne remarked at the recent HLTH conference, “No serious clinician doubts that oral health has a big impact on overall health.” What’s happening more and more is an active investment in ways to do something about it. Additionally, a recent CMS announcement that oral examinations and dental referrals by medical clinicians will be included in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System scoring for VBC payments may prove to be a massive accelerator of medical-dental referrals and integrated care.
Q: What oral health trends do you expect to take center stage this year?
DB: An expanded role for saliva screening. We’re only at the beginning of deployment and adoption as an industry, but the clinical insights saliva gives makes it a powerful tool for patients and their doctors to move into the world of disease prevention and, in the case of periodontal disease, slowing progression. The data contained in saliva will also help bridge the medical-dental divide by providing critical data for dentists and medical doctors. For example, in time, OB-GYNs, cardiologists, diabetologists and others will come to expect to see regular measurements of key pathogens found in their patients’ saliva which could impact their care and disease management.
Q: What will be the biggest challenges for DSOs this year?
DB: First and foremost, we are in the midst of the “golden age of dentistry.” It will continue to be a rising tide for all in the oral healthcare space. Well-run DSOs should continue to enjoy growth in demand and opportunity. For those with doctor-led, patient-centric models, it’s about finding and keeping top clinical talent. DSOs which are able to help dentists avail themselves of the best of the latest technologies, including tech that facilitates oral-systemic healthcare, should do well. For others who build based more on a “roll up” model, I think we will see talent-pressures and lower patient demand putting strain on them as patients seek out providers who understand that oral health is overall health.
Q: What will DSOs need to be successful this year?
DB: Remember that we exist in a service industry. Healthcare isn’t retail and that means we have to put the patient first while bringing to bear all the tools that will help them understand their oral health. Using the capabilities we have today can help them make the right decision for their care.
Second, focus on supporting, training and building a community of invested clinicians. Dentists, specialists, hygienists and all support roles will be busier than ever. Invest in their growth to create a positive healthcare environment that treats its teams (and patients) exceptionally well. We are on the verge of the largest aging population boom in human history — and they are informed consumers who are focused on their systemic health and longevity. This will feed a significant and prolonged spike in demand for oral healthcare, especially integrated care. For those who are ready to serve this population with excellent care, success awaits.
