1K offices and counting: Aspen Dental's CEO on growth and the consumerization of healthcare

While Aspen Dental recently opened its 1,000th office, the DSO still has plans to continue its growth as a leading dental organization. 

The Chicago-based DSO, a subsidiary of the Aspen Group, opened its 1,000th office in September, pushing its network to serve more than 30,000 patients each day in 43 states. Among other milestones this year, the company also announced it would transition all of its offices to be fully digital in 2023 and opened its Oral Care Center of Excellence in Chicago in July.

CEO Bob Fontana recently spoke with Becker's about the DSO's growth, practice model and goals for the future.

Editor's note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.

Question: How would you describe Aspen Dental's practice growth so far this year?

Bob Fontana: One of the biggest drivers of our growth stems from a deep understanding of who the target patient is and what their needs are. Our understanding of the patient drives everything we do and every decision we make, from where to locate an office to what our pricing strategy is — it's all about breaking down barriers to care, and we work to ensure that every member of the team is aligned on that and knows their role in it. Our growth is proof that our patient-centric model works and evidence that we are living out that mission by working to reach more patients in more places.

Aspen Dental has led the way in the consumerization of healthcare — by listening to what patients and doctors need, bringing better healthcare to more people and developing a provider model that supports doctors and their practices so they can focus on providing the best possible care and experience to patients. Building on how we've seen this model succeed through Aspen Dental, the Aspen Group has started to apply this business model to other areas of healthcare like dental implants, urgent care, medical aesthetics and veterinary care.

Q: What challenges has your company had to overcome during its growth journey, if any?

BF: Many times, businesses put off change for a number of reasons — comfort in the status quo, fear of losing team members, the inclination to want to have everything "figured out" before making a move. But I'm a big believer that what got us to our first 1,000 locations won't be what gets us to the next thousand, and that if we want to remain in the leader position, we need to lean in and make smart bets and investments that are consistent with our purpose and culture.

For example, in 2018, we hit an inflection point — the Aspen Dental business was founded in Syracuse, N.Y., and was our home for many years, helping expand our network of individually owned dental practices to more than 600 at the time. But we knew that if we wanted to continue to expand, consistent with our mission of breaking down barriers to care in the communities that need it most, and to ensure we can continue to provide opportunities for the dentists who join us, that we needed a more centralized hub for care and training. So we decided to move our headquarters from Syracuse to Chicago. It wasn't an easy call, but we saw that Chicago offered the ideal strategic position for the next phase of our growth, so we took the risk and made the move while still retaining our roots and presence in Syracuse.

Q: What are Aspen Dental's goals for the rest of this year?

BF: Because we are continuing to rapidly expand the Aspen Dental network by opening locations every three to four days on average, one of our major areas of focus is to build the best and strongest team possible, including adding talented dentists and hygienists. I'm a big believer in the power of consumerism in healthcare — because consumers have choices, and the organizations that win are those that deliver an experience that best meets those consumer wants and needs. We learned pretty early on in this business that providers are consumers, too, and over the years we've built a model that providers are choosing every day.

Our recruitment efforts focus on four key pillars: innovation, opportunity, culture and care.

  • Innovation: Aspen Dental will continue to trailblaze within the dental industry by equipping our teams with cutting-edge technology as it relates to not only dental procedures but business management and workflow so doctors may spend more time with their patients.
    • We announced in February details surrounding our transformative plan to convert all our locations to fully digital operations. We opened our first all-digital office in Pompano Beach, Fla., with plans to complete the digital transformation across all of the 1,000 existing locations within the Aspen Dental network in 2023. With this digital transformation, Aspen Dental will be the largest network of digital dental offices in the world.
    • This investment demonstrates Aspen Dental's commitment to embracing cutting-edge technology and its focus on delivering best-in-class patient care. By transitioning to fully digital offices, we will set the new standard in providing better dental care to more people nationwide.
    • This digital transformation brings all-digital labs, design software tools and 3D-printing equipment to create dentures, surgical guides, night guards, crowns and more within the office. All offices will also be fully equipped with the latest technological advancements, including cone-beam computed tomography systems and intraoral scanners — a wireless scanning technology that enables streamlined digital workflows and provides patient education scans.
  • Opportunity: We also ensure our team members receive world-class training to continue their professional development and grow their careers.
    • In their first year alone, doctors at Aspen Dental can access 117 continuing education units through our new doctor learning journey, implant continuum and more, as well as access to thousands of [continuing education] hours through our exclusive online learning hub.
    • Since December 2020, more than 1,400 Aspen Dental providers across the nation have received a combination of surgical and restorative implant training through Aspen Dental experts. This training has had an immediate impact on patient care. Of this group, 168 doctors have provided care to 7,796 patients with dental implant procedures — an average of 5.1 per doctor, per month. This number is in addition to the tens of thousands of patients already cared for with implant therapies every year by doctors in the Aspen Dental network.
    • Another example of our commitment to professional development is the opening of the TAG Oral Care Center for Excellence in July, where hundreds of licensed dentists from independently owned Aspen Dental practices across the U.S. will be able to continue their training. The Oral Care Center is a state-of-the-art, first-of-its-kind clinical facility designed to provide comprehensive dental care at no cost to underserved Illinois residents, furthering our mission to make healthcare more affordable and accessible to more people.
    • Because we know many dentists dream of owning their own practice, we've built an industry-leading ownership model that helps dentists fast track their career ambitions and puts ownership within reach considerably faster than a dentist would be able to achieve on their own.
  • Culture: We pride ourselves on developing a culture of modern thinking and support, and it permeates everything we do.
    • We've built the best community of support and mentorship out there — dentists have the benefit of being part of a community of thousands of dental professionals all aligned around a common purpose and willing to support and help one another out.
    • Whether it is customer-facing like the Healthy Mouth Movement or employee-focused like opening the TAG Oral Care Center for Excellence, Aspen Dental truly puts people first.
  • Care: Aspen Dental is focused on full-body care for our patients.
    • Preventive Care: Many people think preventive dental care is just about keeping their teeth clean and free of cavities, but as those in the industry know, it's so much more than that. By examining patients' mouths and necks, we can see evidence of heart issues, diabetes, cancer and many other diseases.
    • Removing barriers to care: Some studies have estimated that more than a third of Americans have not seen a dentist in the last year. The barriers to care range from cost — more than 74 million Americans do not have dental insurance – and lack of access to quality care, to inconvenience or even fear. Through the use of digital and 3D printing technologies, Aspen Dental is making dental care easier to access and more convenient for patients all across the country — and pushing the industry as a whole to do the same. Access to dental care is critically important for a patient's physical and mental quality of life; proper dental care not only protects the health of a patient's mouth but can impact their entire body, from reduced risk of heart disease and improved pregnancy outcomes to better self-esteem and higher confidence. Our Healthy Mouth Movement has provided more than $23 million in donated dentistry to more than 30,000 patients through efforts like Day of Service, which provides free care to veterans at Aspen Dental offices around the country; the Mouth Mobile, a 42-foot mobile dental office; and the Overseas Outreach Program, which sends teams of dentists, hygienists, dental assistants and lab technicians to bring free dental care to countries in desperate need.

Q: What does your team look for in a potential location, and how do you decide that location is the best fit for an Aspen Dental office?

BF: We look for locations where there is a high need for greater access to dental care. While you'll see Aspen Dental locations throughout the country, you'll see a greater concentration in areas that traditionally lack access to dental care. We also prioritize convenience — we open offices in high-traffic retail locations and offer extended evening and weekend hours to ensure dental care is accessible to all.

Q: What sets your practice model apart from other DSOs?

BF: We're firm believers that the patient experience will never exceed the team experience, so we prioritize building a world-class team. Fundamental to our values is this idea of expanding access to care — and that starts with listening to our team members, learning what's happening on the ground and understanding how we can grow our teams to meet those needs.

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