Dental Service Organizations

Dental Service Organizations, known in the industry as "Dental Support Organizations" or abbreviated to DSOs, are independent business support centers that contract with dental practices in the United States. They provide critical business management and support to dental practices, including non-clinical operations.

Following the passage of the Affordable Care Act and the recent expansion of Medicaid, the DSO model has become increasingly popular for dental practices. In certain parts of the United States, dental practices have begun to transition from a traditional practice to a DSO model in order to provide more affordable care to a larger patient population. Dentistry innovations have meant that DSOs have become a common dental care solution to many low-income families in the United States. The grouping of dental practices has allowed DSOs to minimize their costs, allowing practices to pass the saving on to patients currently without adequate dental care.

A Gallup survey in 2001 polled the effectiveness of medical care for low-income patients in the United States. The survey found that 19 percent of respondents had not received the medical treatment they required due to the affordability of the treatment. Over a period of eight years, the percentage continued to rise, reaching 29 percent in 2009. Passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was intended, in part, to combat the growing number of people not receiving medical or dental care, due to the unaffordable cost. Yet the unaffordable care statistic continued to rise. In 2014, the statistic reached 33 percent, before falling a year later to 31 percent.

New Mexico Health Resources produced a report in 2008, showing the impact and drawbacks of general dental care in the United States. It stated that many of the figures used to measure dental care could be inaccurate without diagnostic codes. The report summarized at the time there were widespread unexplained variations in clinical decisions among dentists. Other reports published around the same time, stated there was "conflicting definitions of quality and quality-related activities." Industry and legal experts have stated that dental professionals are bound by legal and professional standards, no matter which dental model they choose to participate in.

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