If you talk to an average CEO, they’ll likely tell you the same thing: I love the work we do. I believe in the brand. I’m excited to be a part of such an interesting industry, etc. And while all of that is true, Dave Gaspar, the CEO of Smile Partners USA (SPUSA), isn’t your typical CEO in the best ways imaginable. Dave and his team are focused on providing an environment where doctors can focus on patient health and success, releasing the day-to-day grind of running a business while maintaining a leadership role. Smile Partners USA’s journey isn’t the only story Dave wants to focus on (although SPUSA continues to grow and succeed year after year). Instead, Dave and his team are hyper-focused on the success of every individual, unique practice partnered with SPUSA, the nuances that make them successful, and the brilliant clinicians leading the show that inspire the growth and evolution of the network.
Scaling success isn’t a small task, but Dave guides his team each step of the way as they support the clinical priorities of each practice partnered with SPUSA. Dave is laser focused on the nuance of SPUSA’s role as a support to those practices and their patients. When a practice feels wholly supported, their attention can shift to the connection between dental health and overall wellness resulting in happier, healthier smiles. When a practice joins the elevated group of peers who are partnered with Smile Partners USA, an opportunity arises for the organization as a whole. Dave and his team dive deep into the clinician’s blueprint for success, learning as much as possible from their wins and their challenges. After all, at the end of the day, it’s because of the fantastic clinical minds in this organization that SPUSA thrives as a whole. SPUSA clinicians are high performers, top of their field, and their practices are rooted in patient/doctor relationships that hold steady through the years. The opportunity to find out what makes a practice tick, what makes it stand out amongst its local peers, creates opportunity for continued, exponential growth when the right support is in place.
From a big picture standpoint, practices partnered with SPUSA help support the communities they exist in by serving the patients in those communities at the highest level possible. Overall health is directly impacted by oral health. For many people, this connection isn’t top of mind. It’s not an accident that SPUSA practices share the same ethos and drive: they want to educate patients on the importance of health through dental care. Good dental care makes a difference in people’s lives. Improving smile quality doesn’t just increase confidence, receiving regular dental care can also prevent and treat disease. In fact, great dental health is a proven and often overlooked indicator of overall health. Functional, healthy, beautiful smiles are the result of the hard work being put in by the doctors and staff at each practice. Supporting that work, and making it easier for the doctors to accomplish, is what gets Dave and his team up and ready to tackle the day. When SPUSA practices are receiving the support they need, they’re able to focus on what they do best: delivering outstanding quality care and legendary patient experiences that improve their communities and actually change lives.
The dental industry continues to evolve. SPUSA prioritizes making sure that the clinicians at every partnered practice have the resources necessary to continuously deliver the quality of care that they want to deliver while keeping up with those changes. Various resources, HR support, recruiting support, insurance billing support, marketing support, IT support, and invaluable connections with other industry peers and leaders are offered by SPUSA. For example, Dr. John Poczatek is the Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Smile Partners USA and spent the bulk of his career growing his own thriving dental practices. A group of experts make up the support team at SPUSA resulting in unparalleled support. When a practice receives this level of support, full focus on the clinical side of things is possible. Doctors can expand their scope while practicing the dentistry that they enjoy, they can take more time with their patients, and they can make the most of their careers.
Dentists spend an incredible amount of time in school learning their craft, but once a dental office is up and running there are numerous non-clinical things that require attention constantly pulling the doctor away from chairside service. It’s almost always the clinical aspect of the work that the doctors are passionate about. Dave and his team are able to give time back to doctors by taking on some of the burden of the day-to-day. Dave reminds his team that dentists are both artists and scientists. When focus isn’t split, when the doctor isn’t wearing every hat imaginable to keep the practice running smoothly, those two facets of the profession can blend seamlessly into exceptional care. The scientific side of dentistry improves lives and the health of people while the artistic skillset dentists possess improve smiles and boosts patients’ confidence one beautiful smile at a time. There is so much joy in this process. Dave’s team at SPUSA is fueled knowing they are able to play part in creating a culture and organization that allows the doctors and their teams’ energy and focus to be centered on that beautiful mix of science and artistry.
Finally, career longevity and curating an environment where team members are able to thrive doing what they love day-in and day-out is the third aspect of this work that pushes Dave forward. SPUSA focuses an incredible amount of time on perfecting the things that the organization can do to help whether it’s the front office team needing assistance or assuring that the dental assistants have the tools, resources, and skills necessary to do their work efficiently, effectively, and with a high level of confidence. To create long-term career paths for the people who make up the practices, it’s important to make sure everyone enjoys their role and that they’re able to support the doctors effectively. It’s equally important to create opportunities for sharpening those skills so that patients are being helped, interacted with at a high level, and that healthy happy smiles are the focus of every member of each practices’ team.
One of the most powerful aspects of working with Smile Partners USA is our specific model around partnering with strong, tenured offices within the markets that we exist in. Practices partnered with SPUSA maintain brand and clinical autonomy. We know that the brand and clinical choices specific to each practice are what make them special and make them important to their communities. We collaborate with offices individually to ensure that they maintain and refine their brand identity while retaining the things that have made them so successful in the first place. Patients depend on their doctors and trust them. When focus goes from being split between multiple facets of the business to hyper-focused on clinical matters, patient experiences go from great to legendary. And that’s our goal. To give that opportunity via behind-the-scenes support.
The individual practices understand and know their patients personally, and they know what their patients want, need, and expect. The individuals in the office who interact with patients day-to-day are best equipped to take the information and resources we can provide (including access to experts in various fields like recruiting, HR, and marketing) and really run with it. We empower our people to use those tools to bolster their success. We want great clinical outcomes, of course, but we also want to ensure fantastic patient experiences that result in better oral and overall health. The understanding of the communities and patients at each practice starts from the ground up, so it’s truly a partnership that Dave encourages on every level of the organization. Brands are cultivated and nurtured over time, it’s incredibly important that offices remain true to who they are—we have patients who have been visiting the same office for 15 or 20 years. Dave and his team offer the support needed to enhance what the practices are doing so that more patients experience that level of service, build that kind of trust with their doctors, and continue to refer their family and friends for years to come.
When you’ve been seeing a doctor for years, there’s a level of trust built. Trust is incredibly important, particularly if—and when—oral health begins to break down. A trusted dental team can put together a plan and see it through to ensure a patient is able to go from an unhealthy state to a healthy future. Honesty, upfront conversations about oral health and needed treatments, and consistency all build the relationship between the brands that SPUSA is partnered with and their patients. Trust is the cornerstone of those relationships. While collaboration might be a corporate buzzword to some, just like a CEOs dedication to a company or brand might be an easy thing to talk about in theory or on paper, there’s a visible, tangible, real world difference when people choose authentic, consistent collaboration—and that’s the route Dave has chosen for himself and for his team.
When Dave isn’t busy leading his team at Smile Partners USA, he’s still focused on people: his beautiful family. He has a wonderful wife who is incredibly successful, and they have three amazing children who are making their way in the world and finding their own successes. Dave’s home base is Chicago, and he enjoys seeing shows and taking in all of the fun things Chicago has to offer. Travel and sports are part of life for Dave and his family, and they love to spend time together.