Heartland Dental, the nation’s leading dental support organization, proudly shares outstanding progress in the first half of 2024. The company has experienced growth through its affiliation and de novo programs and continued to enhance the non-clinical administrative services provided to best support clinicians and their clinical innovation, and support clinical innovation for supported clinicians.
Heartland Dental remains committed to supporting doctors and their teams as they deliver the highest-quality dental care and experiences to the communities they serve.
“The first half of 2024 has been a remarkable period of growth and innovation for Heartland Dental,” shared Pat Bauer, Heartland Dental president and CEO. “We are proud to have welcomed numerous newly supported practices through our affiliation and de novo programs and of our success integrating advanced technologies that help enhance patient outcomes and streamline practice operations. The exceptional progress of Heartland Dental University underscores our dedication to continuous learning and professional development. As we celebrate these milestones, we remain focused on our mission to support doctors and their teams, ensuring they have the resources and opportunities needed to deliver exceptional dental care to the communities they serve.”
Achieving Growth Goals
The company collaborated to open 55 state-of-the-art dental practices through June 2024. These newly supported dental practices are world-class dental facilities and include relocations of existing supported offices, focused on providing critical access to dental care in the nation’s leading population growth markets to help make dental care more accessible.
Heartland Dental has also affiliated with 21 new supported practices in the first half of 2024. These practices span NC, MD, NE, MI, VA, FL, SC, PA, LA, OH, OR, MS, WA, and MN. Doctors continue to find benefit from Heartland Dental’s non-clinical support, enabling them to lead their practices to even higher levels. Dr. Nageen Rak of Sunshine Dental of Gulf Breeze shared, “It was not a difficult decision to transition because Heartland provided transparency throughout the process. Since affiliating, they have provided full-value and truly distinctive support. I have work-life balance and can focus on what I love most, care for patients. My family loves that I now come home from work smiling! My only regret is not affiliating sooner.”
The company has maintained doctor capacity and added a net 257 hygienists through June.
Innovating Dentistry
The company has maintained its focus on supporting the latest in dentistry. Through a partnership with VideaAI and Henry Schein, One, over 20,000 supported doctors, hygiene providers, and team members across 1,700 offices now have access to this cutting-edge AI technology that supports doctor diagnosis and treatment planning, patient communications, team workflow, and insurance filings. This is just the beginning of the company’s investments as it looks to fully leverage AI capabilities across its supported services to increase care, access, and patient experiences.
VideaAI’s technology helps supported doctors identify potential dental issues early, including incipient decay, aligning with a preventative care approach. Coupled with Curodont, a groundbreaking treatment from vVARDIS that with its proprietary biomimetic technology can repair incipient decay non-invasively and promote enamel remineralization, has shown remarkable success with supported doctors treating over 125,323 teeth thus far this year.
“The dental AI our supported clinicians are working with every day detects and analyzes details that even the most observant human could miss. At the end of the day, supported doctors continue to retain complete control of treatment planning, with VideaAI serving to improve accuracy and objectivity with patients,” shared Tim Quirt, DDS, MBA, Heartland Dental SVP, clinical operations. “We’ve discovered that our supported doctors are not only able to detect potential issues that they might have missed previously, but that they are also identifying them at earlier stages of the disease process. And with innovation treatments like Curodont, supported doctors are making an even greater impact on their patients’ lives.”
By combining AI-driven insights with innovative treatments, Heartland Dental supported practices are not only improving patient outcomes but also streamlining operations. This holistic approach to dental care is redefining the industry and setting a new standard of excellence.
Celebrating Continuing Education
July 2024 marks one year since Heartland Dental launched its educational flagship—Heartland Dental University (HDU), reflecting the organization’s unwavering commitment to providing supported doctors, hygienists, and team members the opportunities they need to grow personally and professionally. HDU offers a variety of educational opportunities spanning business, leadership, and clinical topics to meet the needs of non-clinical team members seeking a fulfilling career to clinical practitioners wanting to excel in their delivery of care.
The program’s impact is undeniable. In just one-year HDU has facilitated an impressive 85,679 Instructor-Led Training (ILT) and virtual ILT completions, earning a remarkable Net Promoter Score of 65.49% – far exceeding industry standards. This overwhelmingly positive feedback, coupled with an average participant performance improvement of 35.7% and a measurable return on investment for supported offices, highlights HDU’s success in driving excellence.
Core Values in Action
Heartland Dental was also recognized by Newsweek for two awards: America’s Greatest Workplaces and America’s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity in 2024! This dual recognition is a direct reflection of our unwavering commitment to fostering an environment that not only acknowledges but celebrates the uniqueness of every individual. Our Core Values drive the actions we take every day, and we are proud to support initiatives that underscore our commitment to promoting a culture with balance, inclusion and diversity.
Finishing 2024 Strong
Continuing the momentum from the first half of the year, Heartland Dental aims to continue to assist supported practices in expanding oral care access in the communities they serve.
For more information on Heartland Dental’s support services, visit heartland.com/the-doctor-difference.
About Heartland Dental
Heartland Dental is the nation’s largest dental support organization, providing non-clinical administrative support services. What started from the entrepreneurial spirit of Rick Workman, DMD, with his single dental practice, has evolved into affiliating with over 2,800 doctors in over 1,750 locations across 39 states and the District of Columbia. The company is majority owned by KKR, a leading global investment firm. For additional information, please visit heartland.com.
