A way for solo practitioners to compete with offices supported by DSOs

Jonathan Ford, DDS

 

At a time when dentists nationwide are feeling the impact of dental benefit pressures and growing competition, the California Dental Association (CDA) has responded to member needs by creating a subsidiary called The Dentists Service Company (TDSC). Offering business planning and leadership training, human resources and marketing services, and a new group purchasing program for dental supplies, TDSC empowers dentists by giving them control of their business options.

Dental service organizations (DSOs) provide business services to the dentists they support or employ to aid them with areas of practice management that are often difficult for solo practitioners to handle due to economies of scale. With the launch of TDSC, CDA member dentists have another choice for support in those areas of practice.

In addition to offering comprehensive practice management advising services, The Dentists Service Company began offering TDSC Marketplace to its members in the summer of 2017. The Marketplace is an easy-to-shop site that offers dental supplies with significant savings afforded by the purchasing power of the CDA’s large membership. The Marketplace offers a wide range of dental supplies, including composites, bonding agents, burs, cements, gloves, and other disposables. Every item available through the Marketplace is supplied by a trusted, authorized source.

A box of gloves through TDSC Marketplace is priced at $3.59, compared to $6 via a major dental supplier. That’s a savings of 40%. A bonding agent that costs $146 through other suppliers is only $117 through the Marketplace—a savings of 20%. The savings range from product to product, but shoppers are seeing an average savings of more than 20%. Since dental supplies account for 5% of a practice’s overhead, those savings can have a significant impact on a dental office’s bottom line.