In today’s show, special guest host Dr. Paul Homoly sits down with Dr. Quinn DuFurrena, executive Director of the Association of Dental Support Organizations. Dr. DuFurrena is a dentist and author of Transforming the Cottage Industry – The Rise of Dental Support Organizations.
Hi, I’m Dr. Paul Homoly on the Attainable Podcast network. With me this morning is Dr. Quinn DuFurrena. And Quinn is currently the executive director of the ADSO. Quinn has been an adventurer and an explorer in dentistry, from being a solo practitioner in a small Nevada town, to now being the executive director of one of the most powerful and prestigious organizations in dentistry. Dr. Quinn welcome to the Attainable Podcast.
Thank you, Paul. It’s great to be here. I think this is going to be an interesting conversation.
You know, I see the DSO is sort of a high quality dental laboratory. You know, right before we walked into the studio, Quinn, I gave you that metaphor of the dental laboratory. And you said you liked that comparison. Talk to me a little bit about that.
Well, you know, as a dentist if you trust a certain vendor, say you do this side. Let me do the dentistry. You do this side. Well it’s like having a great lab. You know, you build that trust over time. And it’s very inefficient for a dentist to do the preps impressions and then do their own lab work. And it’s very tough to get away with that anymore. Now I did it, but I had a corner on the market.
Sure.
And I set my fees, and can I set them as high as I want it. Good luck finding that type of practice now. So if you’ve got a vendor that you trust, like a great lab, what you do is you rely on them to do your lab work, and I’ll do what I’m good at, and that’s crown preps.
Yeah, you know, and Stratus Dental is sort of a hybrid in terms of the DSO market right now, where Stratus allows dentists to do the dentistry that they enjoy doing the most. And then they take that business responsibility over and provide very high quality of services. Talk to us a little bit more about that hybrid, and where do you think that might lead us?
You know, I’m not sure where it’s going to lead us because I think it’s going to change. I think we’re going to see a lot of change. We’re in the middle, I would say, of really this industry just starting to mature. And I think what we’ll find is that there’s enough different practices out there for every type of dentist. So I think it’s incumbent on the dentist to decide where they want to practice. What do they want? Do they want the traditional? Do they want to affiliate with a large DSO?
And I think what will happen is that many will fall in the middle and decide, OK, I want to either own my assets or not. But I think more and more dentists are going to learn to trust entities that can do everything for them, because it’s like one last thing I have to worry about in the practice. So I see that whole middle ground really growing and maturing and changing, you know. But I don’t think we need to be fearful of the change, as long as we get back to the fact that as dentists we’re responsible for our patients. And let’s give the choice to dentists, how they want to do their business side of their practices.
Well, Quinn, I really enjoyed your comments today. I always appreciate a visionary in dentistry. You’re not only a visionary but you’re also an explorer. And one thing that I’ve really enjoyed about our relationship, is as an explorer, you’ve left us a map. Transforming the Cottage Industry, it’s your book and I thank you for giving it to the profession, Quinn. It’s an absolute marvelous job you’ve done.
Well, thanks, Paul. And once again, I appreciate all help that you’ve done for dentists, for oral health innovation, and for ADSO. The fact that you’re out there spreading the word, we appreciate it.