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Heartland Dental and Emerging Group Dentistry How providing a world-class experience for dentists has led to organizational growth.
: By Pat Bauer, President and CEO, Heartland Dental
Dental support organizations are a critical piece of the greater puzzle that makes up the dental industry. As the leading DSO in the United States, Heartland Dental is uniquely aware of the role that DSOs play in the industry. Today, Heartland Dental operates with over 20,000 team members, providing non-clinical, administrative support to 1,600 dental offices and more than 2,400 supported doctors across 38 states. When I started at Heartland Dental in 1997, we had eight offices, and the perception of DSOs wasn’t great because people viewed what we do as “corporate dentistry.” At Heartland Dental, we have always considered ourselves a group practice with a focus on getting better at what we do – support doctors. What makes Heartland Dental stand apart from other DSOs is our complete commitment to improving the lives of our supported doctors. As a doctor-led organization, we place the doctors at the center of all that we do, and Heartland Dental supported doctors have complete clinical autonomy over their practice. Our job is to support them through whatever means necessary to help them achieve personal, professional and financial growth.
Who Heartland Dental is At Heartland Dental, our vision is “to be a world-class company and
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JULY/AUGUST 2022 • DENTIST ENTREPRENEUR ORGANIZATION
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