IDSO Dental Alliance Files for IPO: Empowering Dental Clinics with Comprehensive Management Solutions

“I am a dentist and want to open a dental clinic, but I lack knowledge in clinic management and operations. What should I do?”

“I invested in a dental clinic, but it has been operating at a loss due to my lack of medical background and limited expertise in management and operations. What strategies can I use to increase patient volume?”

“Our dental clinic has been in operation for many years. We want to break through and keep pace with the times, but we are unsure how to implement digital management for the clinic.”

……

For dental practitioners, a series of outpatient management challenges stand as formidable “mountains” before them. Especially in the post-pandemic era, it is crucial to implement effective management strategies for internal optimization, ensure efficient operations, and achieve robust revenue growth.

“The original intention behind the establishment of the IDSO Dental Alliance was to empower dental clinics facing operational challenges by sharing practical management experience and R&D achievements, thereby making entrepreneurship in dentistry less daunting,” said Dr. Sun Yan, founder of the IDSO Dental Alliance.

IDSO Dental Alliance is China’s first management service support organization for dental clinics. Its operational system integrates the advanced concepts of American DSOs with over a decade of management experience from Happy Oral Care Group, fully realizing the localization of the DSO model in China. Since its establishment, IDSO Dental Alliance has built a global dental network platform and promoted high-quality service principles, providing professional operational and management solutions for oral diagnosis and treatment to its member units, thereby attracting successive waves of medium- and large-sized dental clinics to join the alliance.

Recently, the first batch of accredited member clinics of the IDSO Dental Alliance has been announced. A number of high-quality dental clinics, including Shandong Yuhong Stomatology, Shanxi Leihong Stomatology, Henan Jiemei Stomatology, Hebei Chengde Aijuan Stomatology, Hebei Shijiazhuang Hady Meiya Stomatology, and Anhui Huangshan Stomatology, have all been awarded the title of “Internationally Standardized Dental Service Management System Certified Clinic” by the IDSO Dental Alliance. Core delegations from the alliance visited these clinics in person to present the plaques. By joining the IDSO Dental Alliance and adopting standardized medical diagnosis, treatment services, and management processes, these dental clinics have successfully established comprehensive and effective standardized clinic service management systems, achieving remarkable performance results.

Figure Caption: Award Ceremony for Selected Member Clinics of the IDSO Dental Alliance

What Makes IDSO So Compelling? How Does It Empower These Dental Clinics? Recently, VCBeat conducted an exclusive interview with Dr. Sun Yan, founder of the IDSO Dental Alliance, to provide insights on these questions.

The IDSO Dental Alliance originally stemmed from the U.S. DSO model. In the United States, a Dental Support Organization (DSO) is a highly specialized entity dedicated to helping dentists who establish dental practices address a range of challenges related to financing, management, and operations, thereby enabling them to focus more on patient care. The U.S. DSO model is highly mature, with more than 10 DSO organizations operating over 200 affiliated locations each. These DSOs have not only helped numerous dental practices overcome operational difficulties but have also achieved remarkable scale. For instance, Heartland Dental, a leading chain derived from this model, has grown to encompass thousands of dental clinic locations and serves more than 1,600 dentists.

In China, there are only three dental chain brands with more than 100 clinics. Yet the domestic dental market had already reached a scale of RMB 100 billion by 2018, narrowing the gap with developed countries such as the United States. Does this present an opportunity for a giant akin to Heartland Dental to emerge in the Chinese market? Can the DSO model be replicated in China?

Dr. Sun Yan, founder of IDSO, believes that the Chinese market holds promise for nurturing such industry giants. Dr. Sun, a postdoctoral fellow at Peking University School of Stomatology, serves as President of Happy Dental Medical Group, a well-known domestic dental chain brand. In 2017, he was accidentally exposed to the DSO model in the United States. After careful investigation, he found that the DSO model offers significant reference value for addressing the management challenges commonly encountered in China’s dental market.

There are nearly 100,000 private dental institutions in China, but the market is generally characterized by a fragmented and disordered landscape dominated by small-scale players. Most dental clinics are founded by dentists, resulting in generally low management efficiency and a lack of efficient, standardized operational management systems.

Upon returning to China, Dr. Sun Yan founded the IDSO Dental Alliance. By simultaneously introducing and innovating—integrating the advanced concepts and models of U.S.-based Dental Support Organizations (DSOs) with over a decade of successful operational management experience from the local brand Happy Dentistry—the IDSO Dental Alliance has, after three years of continuous refinement, established a standardized outpatient practice management system, patient intake service protocols, and a digital information system management platform, all of which are being iteratively optimized in response to market demands.Dr. Sun Yan provided the fundamental definition of IDSO as “a business organizational model in which dental chain institutions, after establishing a mature and standardized management system, externally export capabilities to empower the operational management of individual clinics.”

Dr. Sun Yan emphasized that the IDSO Dental Alliance offers not merely one or two basic business support services, but rather multi-dimensional, comprehensive support.

At the management level, IDSO Dental Alliance provides member clinics with services including new clinic preparation, training for service and medical staff, group procurement, store management and operations, marketing, information management system development, human resources, financial analysis, and legal consultation.

At the business level, the IDSO Dental Alliance empowers member clinics by providing support in areas such as remote case consultations, personalized patient communication strategies, patient-side app management, and even fully digitalized implementation plans for complex diagnostic and treatment procedures.

Furthermore, the IDSO Dental Alliance proposes building its foundation on “trust,” treating each patient’s tooth as its own responsibility. Currently, many dental clinics adopt a strategy of targeting high-net-worth individuals and high-ticket clients, focusing on customer segments with low visit frequency. In stark contrast, the IDSO Dental Alliance advocates establishing lifelong relationships with patients, striving to ensure their dental health remains problem-free for life.

Guided by this philosophy and drawing on years of hands-on experience in dental clinic operations and management, the IDSO Dental Alliance has meticulously developed nine core modules to provide precise empowerment for member clinics. These primarily include: Clinic Management System, Dental Business School, Dental Medical College, Remote Central Consultation Center, Clinic Management Software, Patient Management Terminal, Centralized Procurement Supply Chain System, Human Resources Development and Management, and Equity Structure Design.

Figure Note: IDSO Dental Alliance Business Model Diagram

Overall, the IDSO Dental Alliance is a diversified dental clinic service organization that integrates clinical services, process monitoring, centralized procurement, and outpatient management. The IDSO Dental Alliance not only effectively helps member clinics achieve more efficient management optimization but also creates new opportunities for them.

Huangshan Dental Clinic, located in Huangshan City, Anhui Province, is a brand-new dental practice that has been in operation for just one year. Xuan Guangzhou, the founder of Huangshan Dental, established this clinic as his first venture to expand his brand beyond his home base. Initially, Mr. Xuan had only a general plan for the new clinic, but he encountered significant challenges when it came to practical implementation. Key issues included how to select an optimal location, how to recruit and retain talent, and how to establish various operational policies and procedures.

“Amidst a period of intense anxiety, I learned about the IDSO Dental Alliance and enrolled in its outpatient management system course. My association with IDSO has been highly significant for both myself and Huangshan Stomatology,” said Xuan Guangzhou in an exclusive interview.

Xuan Guangzhou did not originally come from the dental healthcare industry. Driven by the vision of enhancing clinic management efficiency and building digitally enabled modern dental practices, he attended Dr. Sun Yan’s course on the operation and management of contemporary dental clinics upon a friend’s recommendation. This experience further deepened his understanding of and trust in IDSO, leading him to successfully become one of the founding member clinics of the IDSO Dental Alliance.

With the support of the IDSO Dental Alliance,Huangshan Stomatology has successfully completed site selection, personnel recruitment, and the organization and system establishment of standardized patient reception service processes.The new outpatient clinic successfully launched and attracted a large number of first-time patients. After smoothly navigating the initial phase, Xuan Guangzhou faced a new challenge: despite optimistic operational metrics across the board, the clinic had yet to reach break-even.

Through initial telephone communication, Dr. Sun Yan, founder of the IDSO Dental Alliance, reviewed and analyzed the internal personnel compensation structure at Huangshan Stomatology, identifying the core root cause of the issues: an unreasonable top-level organizational design within the clinic.

Based on this, Dr. Sun Yan led his team in conducting in-depth discussions and analyses with Xuan Guangzhou. The IDSO Dental Alliance provided Huangshan Stomatological Outpatient Department with systematic product and service support, as well as guidance for offline implementation, covering aspects ranging from corporate culture to the division of internal organizational structures. With Dr. Sun Yan’s recommendations and the support of IDSO Dental Alliance’s core team of HR and financial experts,The compensation structure for internal staff at Huangshan Stomatology has been redesigned. By defining specific roles and responsibilities for different positions and implementing diverse incentive mechanisms, the synchronized maximization of benefits for all relevant personnel and the outpatient clinic is ensured.

“Only by addressing root-cause issues can a well-structured outpatient operation and management system be established, ultimately achieving profitability for the outpatient department,” pointed out Dr. Sun Yan. While optimizing the internal organizational structure, IDSO Dental Alliance also provided Huangshan Stomatology with an online digital information management system. Following the optimization and restructuring of various policies and systems, Huangshan Stomatology saw a sustained increase in new patient acquisition. From July to August 2020, compared with the same period in 2019, the patient return visit rate surged rapidly from 30% to 90%.

Behind quantitative change lies a qualitative leap. “Discussions with Dr. Sun Yan on treatment plans often extended late into the night, with our longest phone call lasting four hours—a deeply moving experience. I am grateful to IDSO Dental Alliance for its unreserved and patient support of member clinics,” said Xuan Guangzhou, founder of Huangshan Stomatology. He stated that through learning at IDSO, he has gained insights into systematic clinic management, developed a clearer understanding of internal staff management and development, and recognized the importance of standardized customer service processes. He is filled with confidence in the future of his clinic.

In addition to Huangshan Stomatology, the IDSO Dental Alliance empowers its member clinics across multiple dimensions, helping them achieve breakthroughs in operational management.

Taking the Construction of Internal and External Marketing Systems for Outpatient Departments as an Example:Shanxi Lei Hong Dental is a small-to-medium-sized dental chain brand named after its founder. Established 25 years ago, it has been meticulously developed under the leadership of its founder and Dean, Lei Hong. Currently, it operates three mid-sized dental clinics, one of which just opened in September 2019. Since joining the IDSO Dental Alliance, Lei Hong Dental has implemented practical marketing strategies for dental services such as teeth cleaning, leveraging IDSO’s integrated internal and external marketing support. As a result, the clinic achieved sustained breakthroughs in total revenue during April, May, and June 2020, compared to the same period in the previous year.

Initially,With the assistance of IDSO, Leihong Dental has streamlined and enhanced its in-clinic marketing system.During this period, Liu Ran, COO of the IDSO Dental Alliance, personally visited the clinic to provide guidance. He offered Dean Lei Hong a detailed interpretation of the core concepts and methodologies behind IDSO’s high-viscosity, high-conversion dental product design. Additionally, he provided online support to help Dean Lei Hong fully implement the teeth cleaning product design plan, optimize patient reception service workflows, and utilize related communication scripts and tools. As a result, the rate of scheduling second visits for teeth cleaning patients via phone or WeChat invitations increased from 10% to 90%, while the patient conversion rate rose to 30%.

In terms of external marketing, IDSO also provided professional technical guidance and advice to Leihong Dental., such as the usage techniques of external marketing tools like Dianping and Meituan. Building on its success in internal marketing, Leihong Dental began using Dianping on May 26, 2020, and launched its dental cleaning services for sale. As of early July 2020, backend data showed that, as a “new merchant” on Dianping, Leihong Dental had completed 150 transactions for its dental cleaning services and received over 140 positive customer reviews.

Lei Hong Dental’s adoption of IDSO’s product design philosophy—centered on high viscosity and high conversion—along with feedback from practical implementation, has strongly demonstrated the feasibility, compatibility, and efficiency of the IDSO model in China’s dental market.

Taking the organization and establishment of a standardized outpatient service process as an example:Yuhong Dental in Jining, Shandong is a time-honored dental brand with a 20-year history. Over the years, Dr. Jia Yuhong, the founder and director of Yuhong Dental, has been committed to building it into an international chain dental brand. Currently, there are five clinics located in Zoucheng and Jining, Shandong. By repeatedly introducing advanced medical technologies and equipment from both domestic and international sources, and leveraging its accumulated reputation and experience over many years, Yuhong Dental has established itself as an industry leader in southwestern Shandong Province in terms of dental experts, technology, and equipment. It is also one of the most influential private dental healthcare institutions in the region.

However, with the rising living standards and evolving consumption concepts of modern society, coupled with the rapid development of digital information technology, Yuhong Stomatology has come to highly recognize IDSO’s efficient and standardized outpatient practice management system. Upholding a modest and eager-to-learn attitude, and placing trust in Dr. Sun Yan, Dean Jia Yuhong led Yuhong Stomatology to join the IDSO Dental Alliance.

In 2019, Yuhong Dental further expanded its brand. Leveraging Dr. Sun Yan’s analysis and guidance on site selection criteria for outpatient facilities, Dean Jia Yuhong upgraded the brand by opening a five-story dental hospital with a total area of 2,000 square meters. With standardized patient reception service processes provided by IDSO, along with on-site training and mentoring, the new clinic’s operations rapidly gained momentum. As a result, all five Yuhong Dental clinics have basically achieved synchronized closed-loop supervision and comprehensive implementation of patient reception services. High-quality service inevitably yields rewarding returns; the new branch reached break-even within just six months of opening.

In recent years, Yuhong Dental has been gradually breaking the curse of “talent clustering in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.” An increasing number of outstanding local professionals in Shandong are willing to stay in their hometown, which offers comparable learning opportunities as well as advanced medical technologies and equipment. Meanwhile, more professionals from other regions are proactively choosing to leave Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou—where talent is oversupplied—and join Yuhong Dental to launch their careers and pursue their dreams. The IDSO Dental Alliance also aims to help each member clinic optimize its “hardware” capabilities, thereby establishing high-quality dental brands that are not constrained by geographic location or other external factors.

Taking the optimization of outpatient organizational structure and the implementation of standardized morning meeting processes as examples:Aijuan Dental, a dental brand named after its founder and director, Zhang Aijuan, is located in Chengde City, Hebei Province. Initially operating only two mid-sized dental clinics, Aijuan Dental holds no geographical advantage compared to the other dental clinics mentioned above.

As a professional dentist, Zhang Aijuan, the founder of Aijuan Dental, exemplifies the typical “dentist-run clinic” model. While she is well-versed in medical (MD) functions, from the perspective of outpatient operational management, marketing (MK) functions remain an area requiring focused control and strategic planning with the assistance of IDSO. After joining the IDSO Dental Alliance, under the leadership, explanation, guidance, and training provided by Liu Ran, COO of the IDSO Dental Alliance, Aijuan Dental first streamlined, adjusted, and optimized its internal organizational structure, thereby establishing a comprehensive patient service system and clinic operation management system.

By implementing the standardized morning meeting management model provided by IDSO, Aijuan Dental Clinic has significantly improved its operational efficiency. With no prior experience in conducting morning meetings, Dean Zhang Aijuan chose to directly adopt IDSO’s standardized morning meeting procedures. The implementation began with requiring all staff to clock in on time, thereby fostering a strong sense of punctuality. Meanwhile, non-clinical staff members, who initially had limited understanding of case presentations and doctor-patient communication, gradually developed systematic concepts through daily exposure and immersion. According to Dean Zhang Aijuan, within just two months, the overall management level of Aijuan Dental Clinic saw marked improvement. Staff members achieved information alignment, identified daily priorities, and worked cohesively toward shared goals. Small daily steps culminated in significant progress over the course of two months.

Although the pandemic in the first half of the year plunged the entire dental industry into a deep freeze, since resuming normal patient consultations and operations in April this year, Dean Zhang Aijuan has consistently implemented IDSO’s standardized outpatient service management model. As a result, the ratio of initial to follow-up visits from April to June remained relatively stable, and overall patient traffic showed an upward trend compared to the same period last year. This year, Aijuan Dental achieved its highest monthly revenue on record, with total monthly revenue continuing to increase steadily in the subsequent months.

Driven by efficient and robust continuous empowerment, an increasing number of dental clinics are choosing to join the IDSO Dental Alliance. Dr. Sun Yan shared that Henan Jiemei Dental, which recently joined the IDSO Dental Alliance, has fully implemented IDSO’s standardized operational management model for dental clinics. The clinic opened a new branch in Dengfeng, strictly adhering to every step of the IDSO model from business positioning and site selection onwards. Within less than a month of opening, Jiemei Dental’s Dengfeng branch has successfully established a comprehensive clinic management and patient service system. This has given Dean Ji Hongjie great confidence in expanding Jiemei Dental’s regional presence more broadly, efficiently, and rapidly. Meanwhile, this also validates the replicability of the IDSO model: success always has a method, and that method is always replicable!

The operational performance of Hebei Shijiazhuang Hadimei Dental Clinic, which joined in the same batch, has been steadily improving. Jin Li, the founder of Hadimei, entered the dental industry from a different sector. Although she had over ten years of practical experience in corporate management, she had not previously operated a dental clinic. To avoid unnecessary detours, she became one of the founding members of IDSO.

“Choose Hadimeiya if you fear dental visits” reflects the positioning and vision for Hadimeiya articulated by its founder, Dean Jin Li. This approach has been implemented through IDSO’s patient reception and service workflow, with a particular focus on effectively capturing and analyzing key customer metrics such as channel conversion rates, initial-to-follow-up visit ratios, dental cleaning conversion rates, referral rates, and overall conversion rates. Operational closed-loop management is achieved through daily morning meetings, weekly meetings, and monthly reviews.

Subsequently, Hady Meiya Dental has seen its customer satisfaction rate rise steadily, with referral rates consistently exceeding 65%. Notably, despite opening its second clinic in January 2019 just before the pandemic outbreak and resuming operations in April, the clinic surpassed its break-even point by May—exceeding expectations—and essentially achieved profitability immediately upon launch. Today, Hady Meiya has become the preferred choice for a growing number of patients who are anxious about dental visits.

After efficiently serving numerous dental clinics, IDSO Dental Alliance has seen its industry reputation continue to rise.

Figure Note: IDSO Dental Alliance Provides On-Site Implementation Guidance for Member Clinics

Zhang Aijuan, founder of Chengde Aijuan Stomatology, commented that the greatest appeal of the IDSO Dental Alliance for member clinics lies in the fact that its practice management methods and tools are highly efficient and practical, while the IDSO team supports each member clinic with exceptional patience and sincerity throughout the service process.

2020 was a year of “turmoil” for the entire dental industry.

The outbreak at the beginning of the year forced all outpatient clinics to suspend operations. In response, the IDSO Dental Alliance launched the initiative “Suspend Consultations, Not Progress,” urging all member units to use the closure period to strengthen internal capabilities. Through its online “Cloud Classroom,” the alliance provided dental practitioners with training on enhancing clinic management efficiency. It also organized a series of trainings, seminars, and post-pandemic marketing strategy sessions for its members. Furthermore, in collaboration with selected financial institutions, the alliance offered financial solutions to alleviate cash flow pressures, enabling each member unit to rapidly recover and thrive in the post-pandemic era.

Dr. Sun Yan shared that in the nearly two years since its establishment, the IDSO Dental Alliance has gained recognition from over 100 dental institutions across China. He expressed his hope that the IDSO Dental Alliance would not only empower its member units but also contribute to the development of the entire dental industry.

Figure note: Dr. Sun Yan, Founder of the IDSO Dental Alliance

Regarding future plans, Dr. Sun Yan stated that over the next one to two years, the IDSO Dental Alliance will continue to provide high-quality services to its current dozens of member clinics, helping them address the operational challenges they currently face. Meanwhile, during this period, the alliance will also gain a deeper understanding of the difficulties encountered by managers of B-side dental clinics, with the aim of identifying more effective solutions to support them.

Over the next two decades, the IDSO Dental Alliance aims to become China’s first “supplier” of high-standard, high-quality, and comprehensive integrated service solutions for dental clinics. Simultaneously, it will establish the IDSO Dental Medical College, a private dental medical school dedicated to delivering the highest quality services in China, with a focus on standardized clinical operation training to provide the dental market with practitioners proficient in standardized operational procedures. Additionally, the alliance will found the IDSO Dental Business School to cultivate specialized talent who possess not only professional dental knowledge but also expertise in clinic management, including human and financial resource control, brand building, and marketing strategies.

Guided by the mission to “cultivate regular dental care habits among 300 million Chinese people and ensure that reputable clinics receive their due value,” and driven by the vision to “persist in doing what is difficult yet right, becoming a globally leading organization for dental clinic services,” IDSO Dental Alliance remains committed to upholding the values of “integrity, innovation, customer-centricity, sharing, perseverance, and long-term partnership.”Core Values, and is willing to embrace potential dental clinics that demonstrate a committed work ethic, making entrepreneurship easier for dental professionals!

Meanwhile, the IDSO Dental Alliance will wholeheartedly support each member clinic in establishing regional advantages, driving the sustainable development of the entire oral healthcare industry!