CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Academy of General Dentistry 2025
JULY 9–12, 2025
Montreal, Canada
AGD's annual scientific session allows attendees to network with colleagues, students, and dental team members in general dentistry continuing education. From advanced hands-on education to clinical and practice management lectures in an innovative onehour lecture format, all of the CE earned at an AGD meeting can be applied to the AGD Fellowship and Mastership awards.
For more information, please click here.
Southwest Dental Conference
AUGUST 22–23, 2025
Dallas, Texas (Registration is now open)
The annual Southwest Dental Conference is the premier dental conference in the southwest, hosted by Dallas County Dental Society. The event features superior education and CE opportunities, exceptional speakers discussing the latest in the dental community and an Exhibit Hall featuring the most advanced dental equipment and technology.
For more information, please click here.
The Dental Festival
AUGUST 21–23, 2025
Delray Beach, Florida
The Dental Festival seeks to revolutionize dental education and networking by providing an immersive, festival-like experience for dental professionals where it aims to foster professional growth, collaboration, and a sense of celebration within the dental industry.
For more information, please click here.
Annual Mid-Continent Dental Conference
SEPTEMBER 25–26, 2025
St. Louis, Missouri
MCDC features a two-day trade show along with lectures, workshops, special events, and the newest products and technology in dentistry.
For more information, please click here.
Future of Dentistry Roundtable
SEPTEMBER 29–30, 2025
Chicago
This event will draw both large and small DSOs, which are growing alongside thriving independent dental practices, while private equity is taking notice. There is a huge potential for dental innovation and improving patient care. The event includes 90 Elite speakers and 28 educational sessions which will discuss strategies for success and best leveraging these improvements.
For more information, please click here.
SmileCon 2025
OCTOBER 23–25, 2025
Washington, D.C.
Save the date for SmileCon 2025, where participants can join dental professionals on October 23–25 in Washington, D.C.
For more information, please click here.
Greater New York Dental Meeting
NOVEMBER 28 – DECEMBER 3, 2025
New York (registration opens in April)
The 101st Annual Greater New York Dental Meeting invites
attendees to participate in one of the largest Dental Congresses in
the world. At the 2024 Meeting, the conference hosted over 37,631
dental professionals, including:
Dentists – 13,470
Dental Assistants – 2,200
Dental Hygienists – 2,226
International Countries – 148
For more information, please click here.
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
Interview with Kent Miller, President, Dentagraphics
Kent Miller is the President and Founder of Dentagraphics, the dental industry's only platform purpose-built to support dentists across the ownership journey—whether they're starting, buying, or growing a practice. What began as a niche dental market research firm has since expanded into a powerful suite of tools for both emerging and established practice owners.
Kent earned his Master of Science in City and Regional Planning from The Ohio State University in 2013 and launched Dentagraphics the following year. He focuses on building technology that helps dentists make smarter, data-backed decisions about where and how to grow their practices.
How was Dentagraphics started? What led you to start the business?
Dentagraphics started back in 2014. Previously, I led an economic revitalization nonprofit in Columbus, Ohio. One project that I worked on while there was helping to identify businesses that could be supported in commercial corridors with lots of vacancies. In order to do that, we looked at any economic data that we could find while also conducting interviews with residents to hear about what they wanted to see in their neighborhoods. Coincidentally, I had a friend in the dental industry who knew that market analysis and site selection were something that many aspiring practice owners struggled with. As an entrepreneurial person with a background in urban planning and a love for data, I thought this would be a great problem for me to try to solve.
What services do you offer?
We aim to serve dentists from the beginning of their careers through retirement. For job seeking dentists, we have aggregated job listings and a resume upload feature where they can be discovered by employers. For aspiring practice owners, we offer market and demographic analysis as well as practice ownership planning, an aggregated practice listings marketplace and tools for facilitating off-market transactions. Lastly, our Grow product, designed specifically for current practice owners, includes all of these features, along with KPI dashboards, insights into the demographic traits your best patients have in common, and the ability to search our database of associate resumes.
Talk a little about Dentagraphics work in the dental industry.
We originally started as a pure market analysis company, focused on helping dentists make smart, data-backed decisions about where to invest—not just money, but years (sometimes decades) of their careers. These were major life and business decisions, and our role was to bring clarity to the process. In the early days, that meant producing detailed demographic reports. A client would come to us with a specific question about a particular location—maybe they were considering a startup or looking at acquiring a practice—and we'd dive into the data, create a custom study, and deliver it within about a week. They'd take that report back to their real estate agent or broker and move forward with more confidence. That part of the business still exists but we've expanded a lot since then. Dentagraphics now includes software tools that support associates looking for a job, aspiring practice owners and established practices.
What challenges are you seeing in the dental industry right now? What Opportunities?
The biggest challenge for many of our clients is the stress of transitioning from associateship into practice ownership. For one, they already have a secure, six figure job. Most still have student debt and are also around the phase of life when they are getting married, having kids, buying a home, etc. Though many of them have entrepreneurial dreams, do they really want to risk all of that? It can be scary, especially when your family relies on your income. Any sort of economic uncertainty, which people have been feeling for a while now, only makes associates less likely to take the leap - even though the average outcome as an owner is both financially better and more rewarding personally. On the opportunity side, I think there is a lot that can be done to make this process easier. Ultimately, our goal is to help everyone who wants to become an entrepreneur and is ready to do so not feel as overwhelmed as they do today.
What is your favorite movie OR tv show OR vacation
The Americans was an amazing show that I don't think a lot of people have seen (it's on Hulu). Bonus answer: we went on our honeymoon in Thailand and it's still the most amazing place that we have been.
To learn more about Dentagraphics, please click here.
KEY FINDINGS
Technology and innovation are reshaping the dental industry as DSOs emerge as resilient to market challenges
Advancements in AI, automation, and integrated platforms are among the trends that are revolutionizing patient care and efficiency
DSOs have experienced several challenges amid the slowing private equity space in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic and the tightening of the private equity space, however, there are signs of a shift, with a number of factors increasingly driving innovation and reshaping the industry. According to a report by Planet DDS, DSOs that embrace innovations, such as advancements in AI, automation, and integrated platforms, are reshaping everything from patient care to operational efficiency. AJ Acierno, President of Clinical Operations at Smile Brands said "DSOs that embrace these innovations are not just adapting; they're leading the way in improving patient outcomes, streamlining workflows, and driving sustainable growth.
Three DSO leaders discussed the challenges and solutions they are adapting to the changing landscape. Dustin Netral, CEO, Vista Verde Dental Partners said the workforce shifts that have taken place over the past five years have led many DSOs to become increasingly skilled and adaptable to market turmoil. An unintended consequence of this turmoil is a resiliency among DSOs in terms of workforce challenges. An example is how "Hygiene is becoming a gig economy where hygienists want to work at multiple practices and have a lot of flexibility. DSOs are realizing that's not so bad. They can fill their roster with a few parttime hygienists as opposed to looking to hire one full-time employee. Cloud dentistry and other staffing companies are helping to unlock those part-time resources."
DSOs have become resilient to other market turmoil, and they are equipped with the skills necessary to deal with current challenges related to tariffs and changes in federal spending. Dr. Mariz Tanious, chief dental officer, Affinity Dental Management, said they are seeing a rebound in revenue after a difficult start in 2025 due to scheduling challenges, as patients and providers were sick with the flu and other illnesses that made scheduling a key concern. As revenue rebounds, they are keeping an eye on the next challenge, and anticipating how tariffs could impact their costs and how they can ensure their patients are able to access the care that they need.
Priority Networks, a provider of dental IT support and solutions, has provided a list of essential tech trends for DSOs in 2025, which is poised to redefine dental practices in 2025, including:
- Transition from Legacy Practice Management Systems;
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) Enhancing Efficiency;
- Adoption of Modular Solutions for Customizable Tech Stacks;
- Enhanced Cybersecurity Measures; and
- Integration of Cloud-Based Services.
Sources: Dr. BiCuspid, Planet DDS, Priority Networks.
Cultural alignment, transparency in the process are seen as top factors for DSOs when making acquisitions
DSO leaders from Smile Doctors shared insights on how they support their 550 affiliate locations
Dallas-based Smile Doctors made one of the industry's largest acquisitions so far in 2025 when it acquired myOrthos, an orthodontic support organization with more than 70 practice locations across 13 states, in March. CEO J. Hedrick connected with Becker's to share insights into the acquisition process, the benefits of acquiring myOrthos, and how they navigated challenges.
He said that anytime they are considering a big acquisition, they try to figure out how it will fit with their current platform and whether there is cultural alignment. This included several meetings with leadership to assess alignment from a cultural point of view, and was the biggest consideration for their team.
In terms of navigating unexpected challenges and financial hurdles, the team said that they approached every issue with a "problem-solving mentality" in a way that was advantageous for everyone. Aligning with the team upfront and maintaining transparency in the whole process were essential to navigating these challenges.
Sources: Becker's Dental & DSO Review
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