Most dental practices talk about innovation. Heartland Dental has built an operating model around it.

In this episode, Alan Rencher sits down with RJ Jerome, Chief Digital Officer at Heartland Dental, to unpack how one of the largest DSOs in the industry is scaling technology without losing the autonomy that dentists value most.

Together, Alan and RJ explore how Heartland prioritizes operational systems first — then technology. From AI and cloud infrastructure to workflow automation, every investment is designed to remove friction from the practice so clinicians can focus on what matters most: patient care.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

• Why decentralized leadership can outperform centralized DSO models
• How operational discipline makes AI and automation actually work in practices
• What it takes to scale technology across thousands of locations without breaking workflows
• How Heartland’s partnership with Henry Schein One helps rapidly deploy new capabilities across thousands of locations
• Why the future of dentistry will be defined by outcomes—not technology buzzwords

If you’re a dental leader, technologist, or operator navigating the intersection of care delivery and digital transformation, this episode offers a rare look inside the systems and strategies powering one of the industry’s most successful growth engines.

Because the real question isn’t whether dentistry will become more digital.

It’s who will build the operating model that makes it work.