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GDN’s Emerging Dental Groups To Watch In 2018


Group dentistry is constantly changing and evolving. There isn’t just one path to success. While private equity and the dental industry may be focused on large DSOs, smaller, but equally important emerging groups are quietly changing the landscape of dentistry. Here is Group Dentistry Now’s list of nine emerging dental groups to watch in 2018:

DecisionOne Dental Partners, which started in 2011, now has 22 locations in the Chicagoland area. All 22 locations are affiliated practices. The group, founded by Drs. AJ and Michael Acierno, is on a mission to try to change the way dentistry is done to improve lives. They want to be a group that people WANT to work for, and not HAVE to work for. In order to accomplish this, the focus is on their employees. To attract dentists, Decision One focuses on salary, bonus program, and benefits. To retain staff, they focus on education and training. This training goes beyond clinical skills and includes leadership, customer service, communication, etc. They want to train their people to not be just better at their job, but to be better people. Their philosophy is that when people are treated right, love their job and where they work, it will reflect in their service and improve patient experience.

Their key success is impressive doctor retention. Turnover of both team members and doctors is one of the biggest issues that group practices face. Decision One believes that a big key to an excellent patient experience is consistency, and nothing provides that consistency quite like seeing familiar faces. Of the 32 doctors that they currently employee, the doctor retention rate is 97% since they started the group. They want dentists to stay for their entire career.

Their goals for 2018 are adding 8-10 acquisition offices in the Chicagoland area, growth into another state, and expansion of the clinical offerings in current offices.

Key executives in group: AJ Acierno DDS, Chief Executive Officer Michael Acierno DDS, Chief Medical Officer Michael Jettner, Chief Admin. Officer Alan Acierno, Chief Financial Officer Michael Olson, Director of Acquisitions Jason Genta DDS, VP of Clinical Affairs

.For the full list of all 9 groups to watch, please visit https://groupdentistrynow.com/group-dentistry-nows-emerging-dental-groups-to-watch-in-2018/ where the article was originally published.

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