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Transcript14 lines
- [00:00]
A
Hello, everyone. This is Ariana Portolatten with the beckers Dental and DSO Review podcast. I'm thrilled to be joined today by Dr. Baila Sastry, the CEO of teledentistry.com Dr. Sastry, thank you so much for being here today. It's great to speak with you again.
- [00:12]
B
Oh, my gosh, Arianna, thank you so much for inviting me and it's always a pleasure to, you know, have these meetings with you and to be a returning guest, I might add. So thank you so much.
- [00:22]
A
Yes, yes, we're always happy to have you. To start us off. Can you introduce yourself to our listeners and tell us a little bit about your background?
- [00:29]
B
For sure. So for the folks who are listening, I am a dentist. I graduated from Boston university back in 2005. Shortly thereafter, I set up my own DSO in Las Vegas. Also set up an insurance brokerage firm which was not looked upon very kindly by some folks in the area, but they soon enough understood that what I was doing was trying to send more patients to dental offices and improve access to care. I sold that insurance brokerage firm and simultaneously then started up teledentistry.com with the same mission, which was to, you know, help improve access to care, albeit through a virtual platform. This was in 2017 and it's been nothing short of a roller coaster since then. And now Fast forward to 2025. We are now currently serving 90 insurance carriers plus and providing services to approximately 150 million lives across the United States. Insured lives. Thank you so much, Arianna.
- [01:28]
A
Great. Thank you so much for that intro. First question here. What are some of the biggest issues that you are following in the dental industry this year?
- [01:36]
B
I'm following several issues. Number one, actually is the removal of fluoride from public water sources. That's a big one on my radar. Next, we have the changes to Medicare Advantage and Medicaid through the one big beautiful bill act. Simultaneously, we have the technology sector. We have players like EPIC which are getting very large and are seeming to, you know, take advantage of their ecosystem, wherein they vet out who are the successful additions to their platform and then replicate and then leverage their distribution to create their own solution. And last but not least, provider licensing. With the compacts gaining steam, something very nice. That's what I'm looking. That, that's, that's a. That's something very near and dear to me. And so I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of progress on that, on that side of things as well.
- [02:44]
A
So, yeah, it seems like you're paying Attention to many things that other dental leaders are following right now. At the same time, I know Medicaid and the one big beautiful bill is a big issue, definitely the removal of fluoride, various states. Are you paying attention and kind of thinking about how those things will affect people's ability to access teledentistry?
- [03:07]
B
Yes, it. With teledentistry specifically, as it relates to our business, you know, we got our big boost during the pandemic, obviously with the dental office closures and needing, and, and literally the nation needing a solution to help people who are having a dental emergency avoid the emergency room at that time. And it was during that time that we got our big boost. Several insurance companies joined up on our platform. And now obviously, thanks to that, that's where we are right now, looking to the future. You know, not everybody has a dental emergency all the time. You know, we look at our business as an evolving model wherein it is a platform designed to help care to patients wherever they are. You know, and that includes preventative care and other types of solutions that are allowed under the dental practice acts across the country. And so we very strictly adhere to those. And what we're finding is that we are able to, in fact, provide preventative services to these members of, of insurance companies and patients in turn, and effect on a lot of those types of things that are, you know, the hour of the need. When you have such a strong voice, you know, removing fluoride from the public water and acknowledging in fact, that there will be accelerated dental disease because of this, it's a bit baffling. And it's all based on science that's not necessarily true or not necessarily proven 100%, but nonetheless, a knee jerk reaction is being taken in this regard. So we feel it's our responsibility as healthcare providers and oral healthcare providers to step up and provide solutions that will meet this need. So that's how we're pivoting our business. Not pivoting, we're adding, you know, service lines to our business that will help in the preventative space as well.
- [05:14]
A
Great, great to hear your thoughts there. Next question here. What are you most excited about when it comes to dentistry right now and what makes you nervous?
- [05:23]
B
Well, you know, dentistry as a profession is reliant on the practitioner to be of sound mind and body, you know, and I can tell you, as I'm aging, you know, your body does give out, you know, and at some point, you know, you're not able to practice at that level of efficiency that you knew you could a few Years prior to. I'm excited to see some of the advancements in AI and augmented reality and those sorts of technology, the amalgamation of those technologies really, to create new ways for practitioners who want to practice at the top of their game and can now leverage these tools to be able to do so without additional stress on the body and mind. Would that make sense? You know, and I've seen some cool technologies coming out, like where you can literally visualize the root canal anatomy of a patient while they're in their chair using augmented reality. That's incredible to me. And just a few years prior, this would not have been even possible. You couldn't even imagine this was possible, you know, let alone actually using it in the operatory, you know. And so these are the kinds of things that I find are extremely exciting. Nervous, you know, there's always concerns around the practice of dentistry, the practice of healthcare as a whole. And it again relates to the same thing, which is, you know, being, being able to practice with sound mind and body and how you're able to deliver care in a meaningful way to patients as their expectations evolve, which are continuously evolving. And meeting the demand of those expectations in a cost effective manner, you know, that's the challenge, you know, because this, everything sounds great, you know, AI, augmented reality and so on and so forth. While those companies are all valued at billions of dollars for a reason, it's going to cost a lot of money to deploy them, you know, and ultimately sometimes patients, they just don't want to pay for that kind of, you know, advancement. So that's where the rubber hits the road. And how does that all kind of combine in a way to make it so that there's effective healthcare being delivered in a cost effective manner that helps the practitioner during the different life stages that they go through as well.
- [08:00]
A
Interesting points that you make there. Thank you so much for sharing those. Our last question here. What will the most effective healthcare leaders need to be successful in the next two to three years?
- [08:10]
B
Yeah, I think this one is rather obvious to those who are following the space. It's all about leveraging the newer technologies, which has been, you know, the same thing we've been saying for the last 10, 15 years. You know, there's always a new technology coming out now. It's AI, you know, and, you know, if you, I'm old enough to know that, you know, the, the new technology way back when was email. And so as, as we age and as we kind of go through these different, you know, eras of technological evolution, it's important to Note that health care leaders are dealing with doctors who right now are using a pen and paper to make scheduling decisions all the way to somebody who's using AI and everything in between, you know, so how do you accommodate, you know, that range of healthcare provider along the way, you know, and provide them a safe mental space to work in? It's hard to do, you know, and, and, you know, as, as providers, as doctors, we're constantly being told to level up our skill set, level up, you know, our abilities in order to meet the demands of, you know, the market, so to speak. It's hard to do, you know, and as healthcare leaders, how do we make that easier? How do we make it so that the doctors who we are in charge of, the, the, the dental assistants that we're in charge of, the hygienists, everybody is on the same page as you and can actually work with you and the systems you're providing to make sure that the care that's being delivered is again, effective and, you know, meets the patient's demands.
- [10:10]
A
All right, yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that. Well, that is all I have for you today, Dr. Sastry. Thank you so much for joining us today. Great to speak with you again. It's been a pleasure speaking with you today and I look forward to connecting with you again in the future.
- [10:22]
B
Thank you so much, Ariana. Real pleasure as always.