Careers in Dentistry Series: What Do DSOs Mean for Today’s Dentists?

If you’re a practising dentist or own a dental clinic, you’ve probably heard of dental support organizations before (or DSOs, for short). The dental industry has many moving parts. As a result, DSOs provide necessary relief to management running a solo dental practice or private group practice aside from clinical and dental procedures. This means DSOs allow dentists to maximize their practices by managing aspects such as billing, IT, marketing, human resources, payroll, accounting, and more.

This week’s interview in the Careers in Dentistry Series centres around DSOs and what opportunities DSO-affiliated dental clinics offer to new graduates and newly registered dentists in Canada. Speaking to our host, Dr. Lesia Waschuk—Compliance and Education Specialist at Prep Doctors—Sina Amiri, Vice-President for Strategic Markets at EDMS, advises that dentists consider their career goals, define their treatment philosophy, and suggests several questions dentists can ask when searching for the right fit in a DSO-affiliated dental clinic. As Amiri mentions, this includes understanding the autonomy a dentist may have when choosing vendors to work with for equipment. Watch the full interview below or on our YouTube page here.

By way of further background, Amiri mentions solo practices with mid-career dentists or dentists nearing retirement that are not affiliated with a DSO may offer better opportunities for mentorship and eventually ownership. While some DSOs have structured arrangements for associates to buy in and will look for clinical leadership skills. DSOs may also offer geographic mobility for associates who may wish to move later in their careers. It’s imperative that newly registered dentists screen the clinics they are interested in and ask the questions necessary to understand what a DSO-affiliated clinic can offer and what they cannot. 

About the Series

Our Prep Doctors Careers in Dentistry series is an opportunity for you to peek behind the curtain of various avenues of dentistry you can take from a career and business perspective. Hosted by Dr. Waschuk, we sit down with highly regarded dentists to discuss their career paths, the challenges and benefits of the field, and how you can get started on your dentistry journey.

Click here to learn more about Prep Doctors and the stories of our dentists. Have a question? Please reach out to us on our Facebook page. We look forward to hearing from you!