Voices in Health and Wellness
Voices in Health and Wellness is a podcast spotlighting the founders, practitioners, and innovators redefining what care looks like today. Hosted by Andrew Greenland, each episode features honest conversations with leaders building purpose-driven wellness brands — from sauna studios and supplements to holistic clinics and digital health. Designed for entrepreneurs, clinic owners, and health professionals, this series cuts through the noise to explore what’s working, what’s changing, and what’s next in the world of wellness.
Voices in Health and Wellness
Transforming Dentistry Through Data, AI, and Operational Excellence with Daniel Jimenez
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What happens when an Amazon operations expert applies tech industry principles to dental practices? Daniel Jimenez, founder and COO of Stride Dental Group, reveals how his engineering background has enabled him to transform dental operations through automation, data analysis, and robust protocols.
Daniel's journey from defense contractor to Amazon project manager to dental innovator offers a masterclass in cross-industry learning. "I come from a world where change happens at a million miles a minute," he explains, contrasting this with dentistry's traditional resistance to new processes. Yet this resistance creates opportunity—implementing basic technological solutions immediately positions Stride Dental ahead of competitors still relying on manual systems.
The conversation explores fascinating operational innovations, including AI-powered phone systems, automated insurance processing that eliminates manual check handling, and standardized protocols that maintain accountability while preserving each practice's unique character. "My focus is to free up my staff to be present with patients," Daniel explains, highlighting how technology supports rather than replaces the human experience.
Perhaps most impressive is Stride's data-driven approach to performance. By tracking metrics like production figures, referral sources, and treatment acceptance rates, they've achieved remarkable improvements—including raising one practice's periodontal diagnosis rate from 2% to 59% through proper protocols and patient education rather than aggressive sales tactics.
As Stride expands from four locations toward a goal of 10-15 practices, Daniel's blend of operational rigor and patient-centered philosophy offers valuable insights for healthcare leaders across specialties. Whether you're running a medical practice, managing a healthcare startup, or simply interested in how technology is transforming traditional industries, this conversation demonstrates how bringing fresh perspectives from outside healthcare can drive meaningful innovation from the inside.
📱 Guest Contact & Social Handles
Daniel Jimenez
COO & Co-Founder, Stride Dental Group
📧 Email: daniel@stridedentalgroup.com
🌐 Website: https://stridedentalgroup.com
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/djimenez21/
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About the podcast
Voices in Health and Wellness features conversations at the intersection of medicine, lifestyle, and human potential, with clinicians, scientists, and thinkers shaping the future of care.
About Dr Andrew Greenland
UK-based medical doctor and founder of Greenland Medical, specialising in Integrative and Functional Medicine. Trained in both conventional and root-cause approaches, Andrew helps people optimise health, performance, and longevity, with a focus on cognitive resilience and healthy ageing.
Introduction to Daniel Jimenez
Dr Andrew GreenlandHello everyone and welcome back to Voices in Health and Wellness . This is the show where we sit down with innovators , operators and founders who are transforming how care is delivered , making it more efficient , patient-centred and sustainable . Today , I'm delighted to welcome Daniel Dimenes , the founder and COO of Stride Dental Group . Daniel's played a pivotal role in helping Stride grow into one of Florida's most forward-thinking dental groups , now expanding to their fourth location . So congratulations for that , daniel . With a strong focus on operational excellence and patient experience , daniel brings a unique perspective on what it really takes to scale a modern dental practice . So we're going to be diving into all of that . So welcome and thank you , daniel , for coming on to the show . Perhaps you could perhaps start by telling us a little bit more about what your role is , what your business does and yeah , that'd be a really good start .
Daniel JiminezAbsolutely . And first I'll say that we're actually one of our offices today , so we have some people behind us , so my apologies . So yes .
Daniel JiminezSo I'm Daniel Jimenez no worries and medium-sized ones . Our focus is on differentiating ourselves through technology and through really , just really forward-thinking processes
Engineering Background to Dental Innovation
Daniel Jiminez. So my background I'm actually not a not a dental guy originally . I I'm an engineer by trade , so my background is engineering . Worked in the defense industry as an engineer for 13 years and then joined Amazon as a project manager there for about seven years . So my strengths are really operations , execution , scalability and , of course , I'm a big data and tech nerd . So when I say that we differentiate ourselves with technology , what I mean by that is AI , automation , all of the new cutting edge technologies in dentistry from a patient engagement standpoint answering the phones , confirmations , reminders all of the stuff that is adjacent to what our staff should be doing in the office . That's what I try to automate and try to take off their plates so that we can focus on what we do best , and that's engaging with our patients .
Dr Andrew GreenlandAmazing . So what does a typical day look like for you , now that you're scaling across multiple locations ? I think you're up to four now , so what's ? Your what's a typical day look like , if there is such thing as a typical day in your industry .
Daniel JiminezYeah , well , I would say so , our , our structure . Right now we have a regional manager that has a very strong clinical background , so he is more kind of my , he's my right-hand guy , tactical , very much tactical in nature and then myself . So I'm really focusing more on sort of the business side . Frankly , right now we have two additional practices that we are under contract with and but we're going through the due diligence and the financing and the account setups and the lawyers and the asset purchase agreements and the operating , all of that stuff . So I think that the balance between um working the day-to-day operational stuff at the practices with my , with the help of my right-hand man , marvin um , and then the business side , that's really kind of how we balance things . But ultimately , what I'm looking at I'm a big data guy , so I'm looking at KPIs such as top-line revenue , what's our schedule look like , what's our reappointment rate look like .
Daniel JiminezObviously , as we have anybody that walks in the door , we want for them to leave with two appointments , one for hygiene and one with doctor . So how do we , how are we , what mechanisms are in place to ensure that that's being done ? And so really just kind of high level , just monitoring things , making sure that things are moving in the right direction . Today we had an emergency where we had one of our offices had two of our dental assistants call out on the same day , and so you know scrambling . There's technology that I use to request a temporary employee , so I was able to do that and I got two temporary employees within an hour of finding out that our folks had called in , called out sick . I should say so , I think , just kind of with that right , just you know , handling the emergencies
Daily Operations and Technology Solutions
Daniel Jiminezwhile really just trying to drive the business forward in terms of growth and just scaling everything as we , as we hope , to get to 10 or 15 practices here in the next few years well , it's a pretty impressive growth plan .
Dr Andrew GreenlandSo I imagine things have changed quite a bit from going from well one location to where you are . For what ? What kind of things ? How has this evolved ? How has it developed from one to where you are at four at the moment ?
Daniel Jiminezyeah , I think that I should . I should explain that oftentimes , when you have a multi-practice group , there's this thought that they should all be very similar , similar branding , similar logos , and that , in dentistry , is sometimes it can have a bad reputation . Right , there's some of the really large DSOs that have a reputation of kind of you know they don't care about the patients and that they treat the patients like numbers , and you know , I don't know how much truth there is to that . I've never worked in that environment , but I will tell you you , I've hired many people from those very large DSOs and it's and there's , there's not there's a lot of kind of horror stories , I should say . So the reason why I tell you that is because we're really trying to differentiate ourselves in a thinking in a very different way . Right , each practice that we buy should have its own feel , right , some are large , are large , some are small , some have huge staff , some have smaller staffs , and so that's something that we're really trying to be careful about is to ensure that when you walk into a practice , you don't look around and see , oh well , this is obviously a part of a large chain , right , we want it to have a private feel and we want it to be specific to the area , the demographics and all of that . So that's something that's important to think about as we , as we continue to expand .
Daniel JiminezBut to answer your question , I think that , um , the onboarding process has just been , has been difficult , right ? How do you , how do you find talent ? How do you incentivize them to choose your office over other offices ? Because when you work at a large dso , you have health insurance , you have all kinds of benefits , and at the , when you work at a large DSO , you have health insurance , you have all kinds of benefits . And at the smaller , you know , at our smaller size , we have to find a way to be competitive with those larger players . So I think , you know , I've hired probably in the last two years I've hired over 50 people between our offices .
Daniel JiminezSo that's been quite an adjustment between our offices . So that's been quite an adjustment . I think , also , you know , navigating my way through technology has been really kind of , I think , maybe the most surprising thing that I've encountered . You know , I come from a world , right at Amazon and Lockheed , where there's just it's that you use one primary technology it's kind of cutting edge and and that's just how it works In dentistry . Every week it feels like there's some new player in the market , something with some new service , some new offering , and so navigating through through all of that and figure out , like , what are the ones that I want to try out , what are the ones that would benefit our office that has been definitely an ongoing process , for sure .
Dr Andrew GreenlandGot it , so you're obviously in the thick of growth . Um , what are some of the broader shifts that you're seeing in the dental space right now ? So , in terms of your competitors or other people operating similar things to what you do , yeah , I think the big trend right now .
Daniel JiminezSo in the dental space , everyone , everyone , that the dream I should say the dream is to go FFS , fee for service Right . So these are offices that have been around for a long time , they've established a really loyal patient base and they're at capacity . They cannot , they have no room in their schedule to add any new , new patients , and so , as a result , the first step that you do is you begin to drop insurance carriers Right , so you drop some of the ones with the lowest reimbursement rates , patients , and so , as a result , the first step that you do is you begin to drop insurance carriers right , so you drop some of the ones with the lowest reimbursement rates , and then , slowly , over time , you drop more and more and more until you really don't accept any insurance , practically any insurance , and the patients that you have are so loyal that they love the doctor , they love the hygienist , they love the experience of being there , and so they're willing to pay out of pocket to continue that experience . And so that's sort of the dream , and my business partner and co-founder of Stride Dental Group he's at an office exactly like that , where he's been there for 14 years and they had accepted all the insurances 14 years ago , and here we are now and they're completely fee for service .
Daniel JiminezSo it sounds really great , that's what everybody wants , but it's very difficult to get there . So I think that that's just kind of balancing that trend of accepting insurance and sometimes the reimbursement rates are not what you want them to be but balancing that with okay , well , we have to spend money on marketing and we have to have the insurances so that we can fill our schedule ,
Scaling Challenges and Practice Philosophy
Daniel Jiminezand then we have to fill , fill , fill , fill , fill , fill till we get to a point to where , again , we're out of capacity and now we can have that next discussion about dropping insurances . So that that's really the big trend that we're seeing . Um , and so we're . We have our eye on that , for sure amazing .
Dr Andrew GreenlandSo I've had lots of conversations with us-based businesses , not just dentistry but across the various patches of niches . Pretty much everybody says that insurance and the whole process is a major bugbear . How are you navigating it with your processes , your technology and your kind of approach ?
Daniel JiminezWell , again , I don't want to give away too many of our secrets , but we have again going back to my right-hand man . I have . We have again going back to my right-hand man . I have as a regional manager someone who is an absolute expert in all things insurance , and that may not sound like well , what does that mean ? I mean insurance is insurance , no , no , no .
Daniel JiminezInsurance by design is difficult . It's not meant to be very simple and you , oh you , just submit a claim for a crown and then it gets paid . That's not how it works , and so , having somebody that is intimately familiar with all the insurances , the evolution of the insurances , the loopholes , the pre-authorizations , all of the ins and outs I have someone on my team that is an absolute expert in that area , so that has been extremely beneficial . Also , we have leveraged some technology that automatically connects to insurance carrier websites and to our bank account , and why that's important is because , in the traditional way of doing dentistry , you have a patient , they come in , you provide a service , they pay the estimated out-of-pocket amount and then you submit the claim to the insurance company and then , weeks go by , you receive a payment from the insurance company via the form of a check . You take the check , you deposit it into your bank account and that's how you make money . That's still being done , absolutely . But that's just not for me as the tech guy . That's not my preferred method of doing things . So we've identified technology that allows for payments to be automatically posted . That's not my preferred method of doing things , so we've identified technology that allows for payments to be automatically posted .
Daniel JiminezIt's software , it's not human-based . There are many services out there where you can hire a company and they'll do this for you , but we decided to go with software , so it's software . Software doesn't make mistakes , software doesn't take vacations , and so the software connects to our bank account . It sees that a payment was posted via direct deposit . It then can track that payment back to which insurance company it came from , and it's automatically posting that payment to the patient's ledger without any human interaction whatsoever .
Daniel JiminezSo that , right there , that is a huge barrier opportunity for us to kind of advance ourselves . And then also , if there is a claim that was denied or something missing from it , the software automatically escalates it as a task . So our staff , instead of checking claims and which claim should I send next , they're solely having to review the tasks , the tasks of what needs to be adjusted , what needs to be fixed , and so that has been an absolute game changer for us . The task of you know what , what needs to be adjusted , what needs to be fixed , and so , um , that has been an absolute game changer for us , and definitely when I mentioned that in some of my dental group circles , uh , that's something that not many people have have adopted yet , so we're very excited about that amazing , so um , I presume that's an ai by ai based um technology from from the way you're describing it .
Daniel JiminezThere is . There is some AI involved , yeah , but this is actually a tech company out of out of Silicon Valley .
Dr Andrew GreenlandThey've been around for about five years now , so it's , yeah , very robust team of engineers that are that are driving this so it sounds like I mean , you're very much ahead of the curve with the technology in the way that you're automating and streamlining your practice . I mean , would you say the same is true about your other people in industry , or are they very much behind and that's one of the reasons why they're not growing or developing ?
Daniel Jiminezwell , that's a loaded question . It's a loaded question . Well , doctor , I'll say that .
Daniel JiminezUm , my experience in my since I've got into the dental space is that change and nobody likes change . I understand that , but in dental it does seem like there's much more of these tribal processes that people are just really not wanting to change . And so , again , I come from a world at Amazon , where we're moving a million miles a minute I mean change every day but you get right to the finish line and then you have to pivot and go back the other direction . That's just kind of the world that I come from . So I'm not , I'm not . That doesn't upset me , right , I'm used to that .
Daniel JiminezBut in dental that's not the case . People are definitely much more , just just really opposed to change . And so , for lack of a better way of saying this , I feel like the bar is relatively low . And what I mean by that is if you come in and you have a forward thinking technology , mindset , automation , scale , ai , right , that's pretty basic In most industries , as you know , that's pretty basic , but in dental I feel like , automatically , that's a competitive advantage right , oh my gosh , you guys have automated technology .
Daniel JiminezOh my gosh , you use AI . So , granted , that's a competitive advantage , right ? Oh my gosh , you guys have
Navigating Insurance and AI Solutions
Daniel Jiminezautomated technology . Oh my gosh , you use AI . So , granted , that's just my limited perspective from the people that I see , from the discussions that I have , from the conferences that I attend . I talk to people , I share some of the things that we're doing , and eyes are wide , eyes Like wow , that's incredible and it's just like really Like , these things seem like things that all of us should be moving towards . But , that being said , we're not that special . I do think that maybe we're just a little bit ahead of the curve . I do think that everyone's going to realize over time , the benefits that come with streamlining processes in your office and leaning towards automation , and so I think we were just maybe early adopters of that .
Dr Andrew GreenlandIn terms of everything you've done . I mean obviously a lot of tech here and I really like the streamlining , the onboarding you talk about . Is any of this driven by patient demand and expectations , or is this because you wanted to sort of ultimately make your practice and your group the most efficient that you can ? I just wonder what client expectations are in terms of dental clients , and are they sort of shaping the way that you develop your business ?
Daniel JiminezYeah , it's a good . It's a good question . I think my , my , my instinctual response to that is that it really is not so much client base , right ? Clients , patients , want to schedule an appointment . They want it to be very simple . They want to be able to use text messaging , if possible , online booking , if possible , um , they want for conversations to be very quick , they want for billing questions to be very quick , and so I think that I would argue that that's what patients want anywhere , and so are we making decisions based on that ?
Daniel JiminezNo , I think that my focus is , in the simplest form , is to free up my staff to be able to be present with patients . When someone walks in the door , what is that experience ? How are they greeting the patients ? How are they ? What's that ? What's the handoff right from from being in the lobby to going back to see the doctor ? What is that whole experience ? And if people are on the phone and they're sending text messages and they're , and there's all these other administrative tasks that need to be done , then it's taking away from the patient experience , and so that , for me , is unacceptable . That is my main focus , and so , yeah , I think that , with keeping that in mind and really focusing on that .
Daniel JiminezIt is causing some of our patients to have to adapt a little bit . Right , some of our patients , well , I don't like having the AI on uh answering system or I don't . I don't like that . You guys are sending me confirmation text reminders . It's like , well , I understand that , but we have you know it's . You know a good percentage of people that if they don't confirm 48 hours before their appointment , they don't show up to the appointment at all . So we need to have text messages and reminders and we need to pick up the phone and call them . So , um , I think that , of course , most a lot of what we do is to ensure that we are meeting the needs and expectations of our patients . But if I were to say that the choices in technology and all of that , that wouldn't be accurate . I'm really trying to do everything I can to streamline our operations so that the patients can feel the benefit .
Dr Andrew GreenlandAmazing . So all the things that you've been working on , which do you think are the ones that you're most proud of ? They're working for you operationally the best possible way , and which are the ones that you're still working to develop to kind of fine tune or get to the point where you're completely happy with them ?
Daniel JiminezYeah , I think that establishing robust protocols across all different levels in the office has been something I'm very proud of . We , you know , oftentimes what I've seen is people come in oh you're a DA , you're a dental assistant , perfect , okay , great , well , let's get you to work and they put you back there . And it's just not as the formal world that I come from both amazon at lockheed martin , in the defense industry it was very concrete expectations , role definitions , job scopes , and so I've tried to emulate that here in our business . So now , so if you are a hygienist or dental assistant or a doctor or a front desk staff person , which we call patient care coordinators , there is a robust document protocols document that shows you what your job scope is , what the expectations are , all the tasks , a checklist for you . Everything is there . So I think that I could take someone off the street , theoretically , hand them one of those protocols . These are the expectations , and so not only does that help them from an onboarding standpoint , which is important , but also , if they're not performing and they're not meeting the expectations , it's not a surprise , right ? Here's the document . You signed this document . We laid the expectations out very clear for you . We're here to support you , but obviously , if you can't meet these expectations , this is not a good fit for you . So having that mechanism for accountability has also been very useful .
Daniel JiminezIn terms of your second part of the question as to what's not working so well , I'll say that , and I feel like a broken record . I say this quite a bit amongst my staff . I come from a world where
Operational Protocols and Implementation Challenges
Daniel Jiminez, when the boss provides a mandate , everybody does it right . So this is what what the task is . The boss has said this is what we need to do . So we're going to do that because it's the right thing to do , not just because the boss says it , but because it's . We know that it's the right thing to do and that's right . In dentistry that is really not the case and I can't quite put my finger on why that is .
Daniel JiminezBut what will happen ? What I mean by that is we'll release a new process and it's great and it saves time and it makes life easier , and then everyone gets on board , everyone's excited about it , and for two weeks they'll do it phenomenally . It's great , we love the new process . And then in that third week , all of a sudden we've reverted back to how we did it before . So wait a minute . We already talked about this and so , as silly as that may sound , that happens a lot , and so building there's a lot of factors there , right ?
Daniel JiminezWell , these folks are , these are hourly employees , right ? I mean , do they have the buy-in and the passion , like I do ? Probably not . And so how do we balance that ? How do we create mechanisms or maybe bonus programs or incentive programs to where people are incentivized to stick to the protocols , to stick to the things we put in place , and so , anyway , that's definitely a work in progress , and so we'll continue to streamline that and hold people accountable . And performance reviews , for example . This practice that we're at today we bought a year ago , back in April of last year , it never had a performance review . Not a single employee had ever had their performance evaluated . They haven't had raises in their pay . I mean , those things are unacceptable . We want people to feel valued , we want people to have an idea of what they need to work on and as cost , as the cost of the world increase . So should , so should the pay , right , everyone should be compensated fairly for what they're doing .
Dr Andrew GreenlandSo , um , anyway , that's the uh , ongoing battle amazing any , any challenges from coming from previous industries , because obviously you've been sort of in the tech spaces that you mentioned . Obviously you're coming into a health care environment . Has that been any challenges or is it something you're able to snap through because you just apply basic principles to another kind of industry ?
Daniel Jiminezit's been . I'll tell you it's been easier than I would have expected and and I should say that my claim to fame , as I call it , from my time at amazon , um , I was a part of the original team that launched the online grocery fulfillment for Whole Foods Marketplace . Whole Foods Market is a grocery store . There's some in the UK as well , and there's 512 of them , and so my team we were the ones that launched the online grocery fulfillment , so you're actually ordering groceries from home , having them delivered to you . So at one point I had in my region , I had 6,000 employees reporting up to me , 25 different grocery stores . You know $50 million in weekly revenue . So really just really large scale operations and so . But when you really drill down , people are picking strawberries and grapes and milk and eggs and they're making sure that they're not broken and they're making sure , like these are very basic processes that we managed to scale across 6,000 employees in my region , across 25 stores .
Daniel JiminezSo , at the end of the day , healthcare obviously very different world , but there's processes . They're very they're discreet . We need to ensure that people understand how to do them . We need to hold them accountable . There needs to be data that we're using to make decisions , not feelings , not observations . Data right , Using data to make decisions as to how to move forward . It really has been a much easier transition than I would have thought , and I will say there's so much data in dentistry the procedure codes , the reimbursement rates so that's my passion . I love data , I love pivot tables and queries and all of that , and so I think being able to leverage some of those strengths that have helped me in my past have made it much easier for us to have a quick diagnosis of how are things going . Are we making the right decisions ? Uh-oh , the phone answer rate has dropped by 10% . What are we doing to fix that ? Having those flags to be able to dictate how we move forward has been absolutely critical in our success brilliant .
Dr Andrew GreenlandSo , thinking ahead , maybe 6-12 months down the line , what does success look like for you and the team , whether it be operational , patient outcomes , patient experience , staff experience , efficiency what are you looking to achieve in the next year or so ?
Daniel Jiminezyeah , in the next year . I mean I hope for us to be at , you know , five to six practices total . You know , positive , positive net income . Of course that that's that's a requirement you know I want for the Google reviews . Obviously we live , we live and die by Google reviews in the dental space and so having high Google reviews , high rates of those , and , just , you know , having having great testimonials from the patients enjoying their experience , the doctors being happy , the staff being happy , that's really the goal .
Daniel JiminezWe've spent quite a bit of time with our first two practices building up the protocols , the employee handbook , the culture , the expectations , and so we've got it to a point to where we feel confident that we can move to the next practice and just kind of copy and paste that same structure , and so that's really the goal . The goal is to just continue to grow and , you know , have a happy staff as difficult as that may be at times and , just , you know , have an environment that people look forward to coming to work . That's really , as cliche as that may sound , that's something that is important to me . You know , life is short and I think that you know , getting getting fulfillment from your , from your day to day is very important , and if it wasn't , I wouldn't be here , right ? That's .
Daniel JiminezThat's part of the reason why I left the corporate world was because , although I had a great salary , my , my , my manager was over in Europe , so I had a great freedom , right . But that's not . That wasn't enough for me . I wanted to feel fulfillment , and so that's what I have now . In the dental space , I'm able to see the faces of patients that came in with a broken tooth and they were in pain and now we've solved their problem . I mean , you do that 5 , 10 , 15 , 20 times a day . That adds up quickly , right ? Those good vibes definitely add up quickly , so we're definitely trying to increase that .
Dr Andrew GreenlandBrilliant . You mentioned being a data guy , so what would you say ? Your key metrics that you focus on are always looking to improve . I think you may have just mentioned a few of them . I just wonder if there are any others
Key Performance Metrics and Growth Strategy
Dr Andrew Greenlandthat you really drill down on Absolutely . And also , they actually inform your growth , as well as to how quickly you can grow 100% .
Daniel JiminezSo , number one , new patients . That's an easy one . How many new patients are we having every month ? Also , of those new patients , how many of them provided a referral source ?
Daniel JiminezIt's very important that I understand what my return on ad spend is . If we're investing a lot of money into Google Ads and only 10% of our new patients are coming from Google ads , well , that's a problem , right . Need to shift my funding Aside from that . I you know top line , right . So we in dentistry , we have three key metrics of top line production and revenue . We have gross production , we have net production and we have collections . Collections is the money that we make . Production is what the doctors are doing . But then there's adjusted production because sometimes there'll be a different reimbursement rate , there'll be a write-off , there'll be some sort of adjustment that happens , and so that's what creates the net production . Aside from that reappointment rate , what percentage of our patients that we're seeing are actually being reappointed with another appointment ? That's extremely important for our retention metrics .
Daniel JiminezAnd then , in dentistry , this is definitely specific to dental , but this is something I'm very passionate about is what we call perioratio . So what that means is about 60% of the population has a disease that's called periodontal disease and it's not a big deal if you treat it . It definitely can become a big deal . But periodontal disease it requires a gum infection therapy , so a deeper cleaning and then from there , instead of having two cleanings a year , you have four cleanings a year . It's not something that's very expensive . Most insurances cover it .
Daniel JiminezBut from a diagnosis standpoint , it's very common that hygienists will maybe underdiagnose . And maybe it's not that common , but I've seen it before where hygienists are underdiagnosing , obviously with the doctor there . So there's underdiagnosis happening . There is , you know , the patient will say well , I just want to do whatever's covered by my insurance . I don't , I don't , I don't want to do a deep cleaning , I just . And so how are we ? How are we handling that Right ? Are we doing what's best for the patient ? Are we ? Are we making exceptions ? And so , anyway , when we acquired this one practice that I'm at now , for example , we started out at 2% perio ratio , which is very bad , right , it should be 60% . And over the course of the last year , just as of April of last month , we are now at 59% . So that shows me we've really come a long way in diagnosing properly and then also in educating our patients to make the right decision .
Daniel JiminezWe don't want to sell you anything , but we want to educate you as a patient to say , hey , you require gum infection therapy and if treated you'll be fine , but this is what you need to do , and if you don't want to have , you know , if you want to have your regular cleaning here , your healthy mouth cleaning , that's going to be a problem because we can't , that's unethical , we won't do that , and so I think that that's really important for us to have a really accurate understanding of our diagnosis .
Daniel JiminezAnd then , lastly , there's lots of other metrics , but I think , lastly , high level is treatment acceptance rate . So , as a doctor presents treatment to patients , what percentage of that treatment are they moving forward with ? Right ? Because if that number is low , that is an indication to us that the verbiage that the doctor is using , the urgency that they're using , maybe is not right , maybe they're oh OK , well , you know , listen , this may be really expensive for you , but we don't say stuff like that , right , we don't know what's expensive to one person versus another . So how are we instilling the sense of urgency with our patients ? How are we educating them to make the right decision for their , for their , for their oral health . So those are really the key KPIs that really provide insight into the health of our practices .
Dr Andrew GreenlandAmazing Final question If there's one challenge you could wave a wand and solve tomorrow , what would it be ?
Phone Management: The Biggest Challenge
Daniel JiminezI mean it has to be the phones . We received so many phone calls and being able to . I mean we have all the systems in place and AI and everything . But if I could wave a wand and I could have every single phone answered by someone in the office and that could field the question and that they're knowledgeable someone in the office and that could feel the question and that they're knowledgeable , as opposed to going to voicemail or the AI or the call center and all that , I think that would be a huge opportunity for us because , of course , as you know the opportunities , people , if they're receiving something in the mail that says , oh , new dentist in town and they're picking up the phone to call , there's no other outcome of that call that would be sufficient , other than them scheduling an appointment right and so , like , how do we get to that ?
Daniel JiminezHow do we really get to a place to where every single person that's calling looking for an appointment , we have all the right information , we have the right dialogue , we have the right phone conversations to get them to schedule . So that's definitely an area that is difficult . I think we've made lots of progress there , but if I had that one , that would be my first objective .
Dr Andrew GreenlandOkay , is that something you're trying to solve in the wider business ? Did you have a sort of a thought about how you're going to get there ?
Daniel JiminezYeah , I mean , we're relatively new into the AI answering . We've used call centers in the past . The thing that's amazing with AI is AI has a knowledge center , so you can actually dictate its knowledge base . So if there's questions about billing , or questions about procedures , or questions about the doctor whatever it is that people are asking about you can program that information into the knowledge base of AI , and so it won't make mistakes . It will always go to the but , so but . But there's issues there . There's still issues , right ? For example , if you're speaking to AI and there's a pause , it automatically will jump in , and so sometimes they'll be speaking over each other , and so there's some kinks to work out .
Daniel JiminezIt's the AI space for , for you know , receiving calls and fielding those calls is somewhat new in dentistry . So I think that , yes , I think that getting to a place , to where we're really happy with how they handle the phone calls , maybe they can reschedule calls . Right now , our AI does schedule appointments , which is amazing , but if someone calls to cancel , it does not have the ability to reschedule right now . So that's a big opportunity for us as well . So , to answer your question , yes , I'm doing everything in my power to solve that problem . But yeah , again , that is an ongoing process , for sure .
Dr Andrew GreenlandDaniel , on that note , I'd like to thank you so much for your time this afternoon . It has been a really fascinating conversation . Thank you so much for talking so openly about what you're doing in stride Really really interesting how you're leveraging tech and streamlining your operation and wish you all the best with your growth to I think you said 10 practices where you're looking to go in the immediate future . I hope you get there as soon as possible . It sounds amazing , but thank you so much for your time this afternoon .
Daniel JiminezThank you so much .
Dr Andrew GreenlandIt was an interesting conversation .
Daniel JiminezThank you . Thank you have a good one .
Dr Andrew GreenlandThank you .