DSOs and dental groups have to have a solid structure to build upon to provide partner dentists and oral surgeons with the best support system to fuel growth.
Hackensack, N.J.-based Max Surgical Specialty Management recently secured a $77 million credit facility to continue building upon its support foundation.
The organization is on the newer side, launching in September 2023. Since the start of 2024, Max has added 14 practice locations and 17 surgeons to its network and has nearly doubled its headcount to more than 300, hitting 25 total practices in November 2024.
Mark Censoprano, co-CEO at Max, recently connected with Becker’s to share the company’s roadmap with the new investment and its goals for the future.
Note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How do you plan to use the additional funding to continue growth?
Mark Censoprano: One of the things that we feel very fortunate about is that the facility is going to allow us to continue to forge wonderful partnerships with new oral surgeons, their practices and their teams throughout the Northeast. We’re in a great position because we already have a wonderfully active pipeline of conversations. You don’t want to count your eggs before they’re hatched, but we have enough great conversations happening with very strong premier oral surgeons in the Northeast that this credit facility will continue to allow us to do what we need to do. We could be in a position that we will be able to form partnerships that will leverage that entire facility in the not too distant future, if things go well.
Q: Do you have a target number of oral surgeons or practices in the Max network within the next few years?
MC: The guiding principle for Max is that it’s the right partnerships with the right surgeons, the right teams in the Northeast. That’s the first item in our decision making. Is it right for them to partner with Max and is it right for Max to partner with them? Can we provide them with the level of support that enables them to be as successful as they want to be? It’s not that we have a targeted number of practices, but we know generally, through the success that we’ve had, we know what our rate of growth can be, that we are able to integrate and onboard these practices with the level of care and the level of attention that they all deserve.
That leads us to somewhere right between 10 and 20 practices a year to bring on board and give them that same level of care and compassion and kindness that we strive for with every single deal, and that same feeling of the level of support that we strive to have with every single partnership that we make. Our mission is to passionately support and serve our surgeons and their teams in their delivery of the optimal patient experience each and every time. To be able to live up to that mission, we have to partner with the right amount of practices each year so that we’re sure that we can do that really well.
Q: Outside of acquisitions, what goals does the organization have moving forward?
MC: The single most important thing is the experience that the surgeons and their teams have in being partners with Max. That comes first and foremost, beyond anything else. Second beyond that is, do we have the best in class support systems in place that allow them to do what they do best, which is practice oral surgery? Third is, do we have the plans in place to allow them to grow the way that they want to grow? Do we have the game plan, made in conjunction with the surgeons, that allow them to achieve the goals that they want to achieve? None of our surgeons rest on their laurels. They all want to grow, they all want to take care of more patients and they all want to provide for their team members. There are a number of moving parts that go into that support system. Do we have the right organizational structure? Do we have the right team members, the best talent in the marketplace to support the practices? Do we have the right technology in place? Do we have the right systems and processes? We’re still relatively young as an organization, only a few years old. So there’s obviously a lot more work needed to be done to continue to build this company in the right way.