Improve Profitability through Clean Claims

With almost 11 ADA recognized dental specialties and having a burgeoning market share, the specialty dental business is here to make significant gains in the coming years as we take a cursory glance on the latest trends of the dental industry.

Listen to Ryan Arnold, Principal, Wisdom Teeth Guys as he explains the possibilities that lie ahead for Dental Specialty business and how he has paid attention on patient care,technology adoption and brand management to further sustainable practice growth for his specialty.

Dentistry's Inner Circle bg 37

Creating Sustainable Specialty Dental Businesses

Dentistry's Inner Circle Podcast

A series of podcasts from practice owners on how they navigated the change and successfully transitioned to CareStack. 

Beatrice Perez

Ishtiaq Rouf

Dana Veach

Dr. Himesh Kana, DDS

Himesh Kana

 Penny Filipe

The Modern Dental Operating System: Technology Should Empower Your Team, Not Replace It

Operational Performance Will Define the Next DSO Era

Building CareStack's Partner Ecosystem

Dental Revenue Cycle Management: Automating Fee Schedules

Reducing patient no-shows and cancellations begins by accepting that 

it’s impossible to guarantee that your patients will always keep their appointments

. Once you accept that this falls outside your control, you can pool your efforts on the aspects that are within your control, and which help reduce no-shows and cancellations.

missed appointments cause a ripple effect

 that impacts your schedules, revenues, and the effectiveness of treatments. It strikes a serious blow to your bottom line. But with that said, there are 

effective safeguards you can put in place

 to address this issue. Before we explore these safeguards, let’s examine the key reasons behind no-shows and cancellations. 

Typically, patients miss their appointments when they:

Don’t understand the importance of keeping their appointments

Misunderstand when their appointment is scheduled

Self diagnose and decide to skip their appointments

Worry about bad news and try to avoid the situation

Have a shallow relationship with the provider

There is a wide range of reasons for patients to miss their appointments, but most can be mitigated with improved patient-provider communication and by implementing the following safeguards.

It became widely accepted as a care delivery method after the 2020 pandemic, but thanks to the convenience offered to patients, 

 is here to stay. Outside the initial check-up and actual treatment, consultations and routine post-op visits can be performed remotely. The virtual interactions offer patients the opportunity to 

receive treatment in the comfort of their living room

 or office. The added benefit of leveraging teledentistry is it adds one less reason for patients to rethink or opt out of their dental appointments. 

Another approach that has gained traction is using 

 to collect vital patient information. E-forms are a key feature of modern practice management software (PMS). This feature is now used widely to stay in line with the COVID-19 safety protocols. With this new norm, practices have completely replaced the clipboard and embraced digitization. Another fact that supports this approach is that 

98% of patients who take time to fill out online forms commit to their appointments

COVID-19 has added fuel to the fire of dental anxiety among patients. The risk of exposure is a valid fear. The best way for you to 

 is with communication and education. Ensure you convey the safety protocols and measures followed at your practice to reduce the risks from COVID-19. Launching targeted email campaigns, and updating relevant information on your practice website and 

convey your commitment to patient care and safety

 and encourage patients to follow through with their appointments.

When you provide your patients with the option to make payments in advance, it reduces the instances of no-shows and benefits your collections and accounts receivable. Get paid upfront instead of having to wait for 2-3 months. Paying cash in advance leads to 

. You can provide this option during patient checkout, especially when both you and your patient agree with the importance of scheduling the next appointment.

Offering upfront payment at this stage is apt, as the patient is likelier to take action and commit to their oral health. Another way to make it easy for them to pay is by providing an 

. Make sure that you inform your patient about your prepaid payment options. Market it through your campaigns, newsletters, and phone scripts.

Reminders are an effective way to reduce patient no-shows. Plan your 

and decide on a frequency that works best for your target clientele. Start off with a postcard, followed by email and text reminders. Add a phone reminder a few days before the scheduled appointment. Ensure that you cut down on reminders once you receive confirmation from your patients. Practice management software aids you to launch, coordinate and track your recall campaigns effectively.

reward patients who keep their appointments

. The reward initiatives can include discounts or gift cards. The benefits of such an approach are twofold. You encourage your patients to follow through on your appointments and 

convey how much you value their participation

. Moreover, curating such experiences helps you retain your customers.

Sometimes, patients simply forget an appointment. Send 

 that can include a “We missed you at the practice” message. Follow this up with a phone call to encourage them to reschedule immediately.

It is crucial that your patients know the impact of your treatments on their oral health. If your patients are not invested in the outcomes of your treatment plan, it is unlikely that they will uphold their commitments. 

 before every appointment. Remind them of the benefits of the procedure and the progress they’ve made so far. 

 of the scheduled appointment and ensure that they are fully onboard. A phone reminder before the appointment will help refresh what they already know about the 

Patients skip appointments because they owe your practice money or are worried the procedure will be too expensive. When this happens, it’s time to 

. It’s important that payments never come as a surprise to the patient. This causes anxiety in the patient, especially when they expect hidden expenses from each visit. When 

 and benefits are discussed upfront and agreed upon, patient no-shows due to financial concerns can be avoided. 

 allows you to effectively educate and communicate with your patients. Automating tasks like appointment reminders or confirmation/cancellation emails, filling last-minute openings, and sending online forms and other notifications to engage patients, practices can drastically cut revenue loss and staff workload while reducing patient no-shows and cancellations.

Eliminating No-Shows and Cancellations at Dental Office

For a dental practice, revenue cycle management is the equivalent of the body’s circulatory system and the heart of a practice’s financial success. The revenue cycle incorporates data capture, claims and denials management, and the collection of payments from both patient and insurance receivables. A healthy system works in concert with industry best practices and technical solutions to optimize efficiencies, identify “leaks” and improve operational workflows. As every practice is unique, it is difficult to prescribe a “one size fits all” approach. However, there are key performance indicators, which can and should be followed to measure practice performance. There are several potential KPIs which provide valuable insight into the collection’s performance and financial health of practice including, but not limited to: Collections percentage, Production growth, Aging accounts receivable, Days sales outstanding, Adjustments percentage, and Credit balances. 

Since 2011, the dental industry has experienced a steady and upward trend in aging receivables, with the majority of balances aged greater than 90 days. The good news is that CareStack offers a solution that combines modern technology, effective processes, and industry expertise to kick start the heart and breathe life back into the revenue cycle.

Revenue Cycle Playbook for Dental Professional

Revenue Cycle Playbook for Dental Professionals

From small, solo practices to large, multi-location clinics, these case studies demonstrate the versatility and value of CareStack in improving the patient experience and driving practice . 

, we chose a different approach. Instead of having a vendor’s VP of Sales or marketing leader talk to a room full of dentists, we asked two clients who manage these challenges every day to lead the conversation: Dr. Carlos Restrepo of 

 and Ana Meseldzija, Head of Operations at 

Their presentation drew on real practice operations, real data, and firsthand experience. Together, they challenged dental leaders to rethink what technology should actually accomplish inside a practice.

The goal is not to add more software, replace employees, or create another dashboard no one uses. It is to build a modern dental operating system that helps people perform at a higher level while delivering a better patient experience.

A modern dental operating system connects people, processes, AI, data, and revenue workflows so leaders can see where patient demand is being lost, coach teams with objective information, and turn more opportunities into scheduled care and collected revenue.

Throughout the session, we polled dental leaders in the room about their operational challenges, patient experience, marketing visibility, reporting, and revenue performance. The results added a real-world layer to the discussion. Participation varied by question, and percentages are rounded.

Dental practices are facing rising labor costs, tighter margins, greater patient expectations, disconnected systems, and 

. Adding more people to outdated processes is no longer a sustainable growth strategy. Neither is deploying technology without first understanding the problem it needs to solve.

In a live poll of 114 dental leaders, finding and retaining great people and operational inefficiencies emerged as the two leading constraints to growth. Together, they accounted for 71% of the 148 answers submitted. The takeaway was clear: growth requires more than adding headcount. Practices need better systems that improve efficiency, combined with a deliberate investment in training and development that helps their people perform at a higher level and gives great employees a reason to stay.

The practices that win will not simply work harder. They will operate differently.

The Patient Experience: The Ultimate Metric for Success

 by Dr. Peter Boulden, Dr. Craig Spodak, and Erika Pusillo can be summarized simply:

Let computers do computer work so humans can focus on human work.

Technology is best used for repetitive, administrative, and data-intensive tasks. People are best used to build relationships, demonstrate empathy, solve problems, and guide patients through important decisions.

 that its Billie chatbot resolved approximately 47% of the customer inquiries it received between 2021 and 2023. At the same time, IKEA reskilled 8,500 call-center employees for higher-value roles in remote design, digital sales, and complex customer support. Sales through its remote customer meeting points reached €1.3 billion in FY2022.

Dental practices may not operate at the scale of one of the world’s largest retailers, but they can apply the same principle. AI in dental practice management should take on repetitive, data-heavy work so team members can focus on patients, judgment, and relationships.

The most practical starting points are already embedded in everyday workflows. AI can take on repetitive call and insurance work, from reviewing conversations, identifying missed scheduling opportunities, and automating patient follow-up to verifying eligibility, flagging unresolved claims, and supporting payment posting. These are not futuristic use cases. They are accessible ways to improve patient conversion, accelerate insurance reimbursement, reduce administrative work, and give employees more capacity to focus on patients.

The opportunity is not to eliminate meaningful roles. It is to redesign work so technology handles what computers do best and people can focus on what patients value most. The examples that follow trace that opportunity across the patient journey, from the first phone call and scheduled appointment through insurance reimbursement and collected revenue.

How Call Data Improves Dental Team Coaching

Data is sometimes viewed as a tool for monitoring employees or catching mistakes. That is the wrong approach.

Consider how football has changed. A quarterback’s performance is supported by enormous amounts of data, game film, and real-time analysis. Coaches do not rely entirely on memory or gut instinct. They use objective information to identify what happened, understand why it happened, and help the player improve on the next opportunity.

Dental practices can take the same approach.

Where individual team members need support

On Saturday morning during our session at the summit, a doctor in the audience volunteered their practice for a live patient call. The interaction did not go particularly well, and audience feedback reflected that. Of the 53 attendees who responded, nearly 89% rated the call as poor or below average, while no one rated it as good or excellent.

The real eye-opener for most attendees was the question it raised: “Is this happening in my practice?”

With the right data, interactions like this can be identified and turned into specific, actionable coaching opportunities.

The purpose is not to catch people doing something wrong. It is to create clear expectations, deliver better coaching, recognize strong performance, and produce more consistent outcomes.

When objective performance data is paired with a thoughtful incentive program, employees can see how their actions affect patient care and practice growth. Accountability becomes less emotional, coaching becomes more specific, and high performers have an opportunity to be recognized and rewarded.

Why Dental Call Conversion Determines Marketing ROI

Many practices can tell you how much they spend on marketing, how many people visit their website, and how many forms are completed.

Far fewer can confidently explain what happens after the phone rings.

How many calls were missed? How many prospective patients were scheduled? How many implant, emergency, or other high-value opportunities were lost? Did anyone follow up? What prevented the patient from moving forward?

This is one of the most significant visibility gaps in dentistry.

That is why we polled the audience during the summit: If you spent $10,000 on marketing, how many new patients would your practice actually schedule?

Of the 85 attendees who responded, 66% said they were flying blind, while only 8% had the exact data.

That is why Ana does not allocate additional marketing spend to her practices until they have a clear handle on their answer and conversion rates. Every missed call should become a trackable follow-up opportunity. High-intent calls should be prioritized, and managers should be able to see what remains open, what is overdue, and what ultimately converts.

The front desk should not operate like a collection of people answering phones. It should operate like a coordinated patient-conversion team.

But a scheduled appointment is not the finish line. Patient conversion is the front end of a much longer journey that includes completed treatment, insurance reimbursement, and collected revenue.

What Are the Five Parts of a Modern Dental Operating System?

Every dental practice already has an operating system. The real question is whether it was intentionally designed, has evolved alongside changes in technology, and reflects how modern patients expect to communicate, schedule, pay, and receive care.

Too often, it is simply a collection of legacy processes and disconnected tools that were never designed to work together.

A modern dental operating system connects five essential elements:

 How team members are supported, coached, and rewarded.

 How repetitive work is removed and opportunities are prioritized.

 How leaders gain the visibility needed to make better decisions.

 How completed treatment becomes billed and collected revenue.

These elements cannot operate independently.

The phone is one of the clearest places to see whether people, processes, technology, and data are working together, but it is only the beginning of the patient journey.

A modern dental operating system should connect marketing investment, patient inquiries, scheduled appointments, completed treatment, insurance claims, and collected revenue. If a practice can see what happens before the appointment but cannot follow that activity through the dental revenue cycle, it still has a significant visibility gap.

That fragmentation shows up in reporting. Half of respondents said it takes a day or more to produce a unified report across marketing, payroll, PMS, and revenue cycle data.

When we used the term “days sales outstanding” for insurance payments, only 17 attendees responded.

The low participation was more revealing than any percentage drawn from such a small group. Most dentists receive limited formal training in insurance billing, while those of us immersed in operational data can forget how quickly our “geek speak” creates a barrier.

In plain language, days sales outstanding answers a basic operational question: How long does it take your practice to get paid by insurance?

Understanding that number helps leaders determine whether completed treatment is being converted into collected revenue efficiently. It also reinforces why a modern dental operating system must connect front-office conversion with back-office financial performance.

Data without action creates another report. AI without a defined process creates more noise. Technology without employee adoption creates friction. Marketing without conversion wastes money. Growth without operational leverage increases labor costs and compresses margins.

When these five elements work together, practices can improve patient conversion, reduce administrative work, coach more effectively, strengthen collections, and scale without adding unnecessary complexity.

Why Patient Experience Is the Ultimate Metric

The success of a technology investment should not be judged by how many features it includes or how often the term “AI” appears in the product description.

It should be judged by its impact on the patient experience.

Does it help the team respond faster? Does it make scheduling easier? Does it prevent patients from falling through the cracks? Does it give employees more time to listen, show empathy, and address concerns? Does it help leaders coach their teams more effectively?

The best technology improves the human experience while strengthening the practice's financial performance.

As you evaluate the operating system inside your practice, start with four questions:

How much patient demand are we losing today?

Where are we asking skilled employees to perform work that a system or AI could handle?

How much team time is being spent on routine insurance claim follow-up?

What would we change if we could clearly see the entire patient and revenue journey?

Highly skilled team members should not spend hours sitting on hold with insurance carriers to check claim status or chase routine follow-up. AI and automation can monitor claims, identify delays, flag denials, and prioritize the exceptions that genuinely require human judgment. That can improve collections and accelerate insurance reimbursement while giving employees more time to focus on patients and higher-value work.

The modern dental practice will not be built by adding more tools, more people, and more complexity. It will be built by connecting people, processes, AI, data, and revenue workflows into one system designed around the patient.

The question is not whether your practice has an operating system.

The question is whether it was designed for where dentistry is going next.

Ready to see where your practice may be losing opportunities or delaying revenue? Schedule a conversation with our team to explore how a modern dental operating system can improve patient conversion, team performance, insurance collections, and profitable growth.

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The Safe Bet Is Getting More Expensive: Why Dentistry’s Next Era Will Be Won Through Operational Performance

 The source of value creation in dentistry is changing. The safe bet preserves familiar systems and processes to minimize short-term disruption. The performance bet makes the difficult operational, technology, and organizational changes required to improve productivity, margins, patient experience, and enterprise value.

 was not that dentistry has stopped growing.

It is that the source of growth has changed.

For years, value creation across the DSO market was driven by acquisitions, aggregation, inexpensive capital, and multiple expansion. Organizations could create value by adding practices, increasing scale, and waiting for the next transaction.

That model has become much more difficult.

Interest rates remain elevated. Capital is more selective. 

Labor and supply costs continue to rise while reimbursement remains largely flat

. Regulatory scrutiny is increasing, and affiliated doctors are asking harder questions about alignment, distributions, and long-term value.

Dykema’s opening sessions framed this shift clearly. The next phase of the industry will require dental organizations to implement technology, right-size overhead, integrate specialty care, maximize clinical productivity, and build stronger cultures.

The next era will not be won simply by owning more practices.

That creates a choice between the safe bet and the performance bet.

It is maintaining the current process because changing it will require leadership attention, training, and accountability.

It is delaying a platform upgrade because implementation could create short-term disruption.

It is allowing locations to continue operating differently because standardization may create resistance.

It is adding another point solution rather than addressing the 

It is choosing the software “everyone else uses” because the familiar option feels easier to defend if the outcome falls short.

These decisions are not irrational. They protect continuity and reduce immediate disruption.

But familiar does not necessarily mean low risk.

When labor costs are rising, reimbursement is flat, systems are disconnected, and teams are stretched, maintaining the current operating model may simply preserve its limitations.

The apparent safe bet is becoming more expensive because it preserves the labor dependency, fragmentation, and inconsistent execution that suppress performance.

The safe bet preserves the operating model that got the organization here.

The performance bet is the deliberate decision to build the operating model required to create value from here.

It does not mean spending more money or adopting every new technology.

It means making the difficult changes required to operate at a higher level.

That may include standardizing workflows, 

, upgrading the core platform, redesigning responsibilities, 

, centralizing appropriate functions, and holding teams accountable for adoption.

The performance bet accepts some short-term disruption in exchange for greater long-term capability.

For practice owners, that can mean less administrative friction, stronger practice performance, and more time focused on patients.

For DSO leaders, it can mean greater consistency, visibility, productivity, and operating leverage.

For investors, it can mean more predictable cash flow, better reporting, stronger margins, and a business that can scale without adding overhead at the same rate.

The performance bet builds the operating model required for what comes next.

Why Value Creation Is Moving Toward Operations

Capital has not disappeared from dentistry. It has become more selective.

The lending discussion at Dykema emphasized predictable cash flow, experienced management, clear growth strategies, and strong financial reporting as characteristics of fundable organizations.

That changes the value-creation equation.

Scale alone is no longer enough. A larger organization with fragmented systems, inconsistent processes, weak reporting, and rising overhead may simply be a larger version of the same operational problem.

A premium dental organization must demonstrate that it can convert scale into performance.

That means improving provider productivity, strengthening 

, integrating specialty care, controlling overhead, creating visibility across the enterprise, and growing without adding labor and complexity at the same rate.

Acquisitions may continue to be part of the strategy, but operational performance will determine whether those acquisitions create durable value.

Every dental organization is discussing automation, 

, revenue-cycle management, centralized services, and same-store growth.

The question is no longer whether those initiatives belong in the strategy.

The question is whether the organization can operationalize them consistently across every location.

Greg White’s keynote captured the shift well. He argued that efficiency and optimization are now table stakes and that future winners will be defined by ingenuity, talent, alignment, and the ability to build better solutions.

, but technology by itself is not a strategy.

The best technology should reduce friction, connect workflows, create visibility, and make the organization easier to operate. It should function quietly in the background rather than becoming another layer employees must manage.

That requires more than purchasing software.

It requires adoption, standardization, leadership alignment, and a willingness to redesign workflows around a better operating model.

A powerful platform creates little value if teams continue working around it, entering the same information into multiple systems, maintaining separate spreadsheets, or following different processes from office to office.

The organizations that win will not necessarily have the most technology.

They will be the organizations that turn technology into measurable performance.

How Technology Supports the Performance Bet

Making the performance bet requires an operating foundation that connects the clinical, operational, and financial sides of the business.

That foundation should create one source of truth across locations while reducing the number of systems, handoffs, and manual processes the organization must maintain.

A single patient record across general and specialty care

Consistent clinical and operational workflows

Enterprise and practice-level performance visibility

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