← Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
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- [00:00]
A
Hello, this is Ariana Portolattin with the Becker's Dental and DSO Review podcast. I'm thrilled to be joined today by Dr. Barry Lyon, the dental director for Main Street Children's Dentistry and Orthodontics and the chief clinical auditor for Dental Care Alliance. Dr. Lyon, thank you so much for being here today. It's great to have you.
- [00:17]
B
Oh, thank you, Arianna. It's my pleasure.
- [00:20]
A
Yes. To start us off, can you introduce yourself for our listeners and tell us a little bit about your background as well?
- [00:26]
B
Sure, be happy to. I'm a pediatric dentist. I reside in Baltimore, Maryland. I had a very nice pedo ortho practice in a suburb of Baltimore that I affiliated with Dental care alliance in 2010 and became a dental director for them at that time. Prior to my affiliating with Dental Care Alliance, I was very active in organized dentistry. I was president of a couple of professional societies. I taught at the University of Maryland in postgrad Pediatric Dentistry for nine years, and I spent eight years on the Maryland State Board of Dental Examiners and served as president of the dental board in 2005. At one point, I was also a lobbyist for the association of Dental Support Organizations when there was legislation introduced in Maryland to regulate dental support organizations. Currently, my role with Dental Care alliance, as you said, is a dental director for the Maryland Main street offices, which are pediatric dentistry and orthodontic offices. And again, I also serve as a chief clinical auditor for Dental Care Alliance. So I'm again very happy to be with you. My. My experience in dentistry was quite a journey from beginning to end.
- [01:45]
A
Yes, thank you for sharing a little bit of your background there. Great to hear about your extensive experience in dentistry as well. First question for you here. What are some of the biggest issues you're following in the dental industry this year?
- [01:58]
B
Well, I guess I respond to that with the rhetorical question, Ariane, is how much time do you have? Because I think there are quite a few issues affecting dentistry. And quite honestly, I think since other than the pandemic in 2020, I don't think dentistry has faced the number of significant issues it's currently facing. I mean, we're talking about still the lingering effects of the pandemic. We're talking about tariffs and. And inflation affecting the practice of dentistry and the support from dental support organizations. We're talking about the cost of operating dental practices. Now we're looking at the prospect of cuts in Medicaid funding, the elimination of fluoride from public water supplies leading to a public health crisis. We're looking at the reduction in the ability of prospective dental students for obtaining loans, federal loans for dental school. And we're still, as I said, we're still dealing with the effects of the pandemic. And the dental workforce, unfortunately, is declining and providing a huge challenge for any practicing dentist, or dso to be able to properly support the practices. So there's really no shortage of things we could talk about on today's podcast.
- [03:14]
A
Yeah, yeah, definitely a lot to dig into there, and I'm sure we'll get into that with the next question as well. I was interested to know what are you most excited about when it comes to dentistry right now, and what part of dentistry is making you nervous?
- [03:28]
B
Well, I think the biggest thing that makes me nervous right now, and again, there really are a number of different things, but I think the first thing that comes to my mind are the proposed tariffs and the tariffs that we're currently facing. You know, dental. Dental offices and DSOs are very dependent on supplies, materials coming from outside of this country. The majority of supplies that dental offices and DSOs obtain, about 75% of them, come from outside the United States. You know, we're talking about countries like China, Germany, Poland, Mexico, Italy, France, and even Japan. We depend upon those countries for the majority of our supply. So as tariffs are affecting these countries, obviously the cost of these supplies are going to increase, and it's going to make it very difficult for practicing dentists and DSOs to be able to adequately support the practices because the cost of running their practices is going to be increasing. So this creates an awful lot of added stress that dentists normally face in the course of the day, because they're looking at what the impact of these tariffs are going to have on. On running their practices. The other part of that is that tariffs are inflationary. And when. When prices go up as they have, then we're looking at consumers looking at how much they're spending their. Their available dollars. And again, this is something that could certainly affect dentists and DSOs. I mean, the cost of living went up 2.7% in July. And as it increases, along with employment rates decreasing, it doesn't look good for the economy, which ultimately is going to affect every health care provider, including dentists in the country.
- [05:15]
A
Yeah, yeah, definitely a lot of good points that you make there. With all of that in mind, what. Just to look at some more of the positive things, what are you most excited about when it comes to dentistry right now?
- [05:27]
B
Well, I think that dentistry as a science is evolving in very sophisticated ways. They used to be. I remember when dentists were called molar mechanics, and that's because all we did was drill, fill, and repair. But dentistry has evolved significantly, and we are definitely not molar mechanics any longer. I mean, we're looking at a lot of scientific advances over the next 10 to 15 years that are going to radically change the way dentists practice dentistry. You know, we're looking at using regenerative dentistry, increases in, in imaging techniques that are going to make diagnosing dental disease that much more precise. We're looking at advances in dental education and technology influencing that that's going to be able to train dental students better than they were trained in the past. So there is a lot to look forward to in terms of the advancing science, advancing technology. The problem is that the challenges that dentists are facing between now and then are going to be quite possibly significant.
- [06:39]
A
Yeah, yeah, definitely. And overall, you know, with everything that you mentioned, are you optimistic about the industry or not so much?
- [06:48]
B
Well, I think dentistry is very, very resilient, as it's shown in the past. You know, when the country has undergone recessions, dentistry has been one of those industries that survived better than most. So I, again, I realize the challenges that we're facing, but I also feel that the strength of dentistry is in its people. And the fact that we have some very, very, very smart people running DSOs. We have some very, very smart people educating dental students, and we have some very, very motivated and highly intelligent dentists that are practicing putting all those three things together. I think there's a very good chance that DEN is going to weather this storm that we're currently facing and continue to show that it is a very resilient profession.
- [07:38]
A
Okay, great. Last question for you here. What will the most effective healthcare leaders need to be successful in the next two to three years?
- [07:46]
B
Well, I think that's a great question. I think they need to take a very, very strong look at what's happening now and prepare themselves for what we can expect over the next year or so. I think it requires vision on the top of dental leaders to understand what's happening. And I also think it's very important for dental leaders to understand who they are dealing with, the generation that they're dealing with. You know, the leaders in dentistry may not be the same generation as those entering the profession and those that are currently in the profession. And I think to be able to better recruit and retain dentists, I think it's important that dental leaders understand the generation that they're dealing with and adjust the way they do things accordingly.
- [08:31]
A
All right, well, that is all I have for you today. Dr. Lyon, thank you so much for joining us. Been a pleasure speaking with you, and I'm looking forward to connecting with you again in the future. Thank you so much.
- [08:40]
B
You're very welcome. Thank you.