Leading with Innovation

In August, Dentsply Sirona, the world’s largest, diversified manufacturer of professional dental products and technologies, appointed Daniel Scavilla as its new President and CEO. An established business leader with more than 3 decades of experience in the medical technology and pharmaceutical industries, Scavilla recently served as President and CEO of Globus Medical, where he led the acquisition of NuVasive and oversaw the integration of organizations to create the second largest spine technology company in the world.

Having served on Dentsply Sirona's Board of Directors since February, Scavilla said he gained a deep appreciation for the enormous potential of the company's business, people, and products, and is eager to drive improved commercial, operational, and financial performance across the organization.

He sat down with Dental Product Shopper in September during DS World Las Vegas, where thousands of dentists gathered for 3 days of education, networking, and entertainment. This year’s DS World celebrated the 40th anniversary of CEREC and focused on Dentsply Sirona’s vision for a future of connected dentistry, with attendees exploring AI-powered innovations and discovering how cloud-based collaboration is reshaping patient care.

What excites you most about leading Dentsply Sirona into the next chapter?

I'm really a mechanic by nature. Fixing things is how I grew up and what I’ve always done, and Dentsply Sirona has to be fixed in certain areas. No doubt about it, we have incredibly great products and the innovation mindset is there. This is a great opportunity to bring my past experience—mechanical fixing—into play.

I met great people while serving on the Dentsply Sirona Board, and when the opportunity came to join the team, it seemed like a perfect fit. I had just finished my 10th year at Globus. We grew tenfold there, accomplished so much, but you ask yourself, ‘What’s next?’ Probably more of the same. Here, I can work with a great team to turn things around and make this company what it should be: the world leader.

Coming from the med-tech and pharmaceutical industries, what surprises you most about the dental community?

The friendliness. I previously worked with some of the best spine surgeons and neurosurgeons in the world—they’re good folks—but here I’m finding an openness and willingness to speak unfiltered, which suits my style. I love talking to dentists because there's no pretension—it's just, “Here's what it is, here's what I need.” Dentists are running their own businesses while providing care, and I really admire them.

Dentsply Sirona has an amazing history of innovation going back over a century. Where do you see the biggest opportunities for innovation going forward?

There are some areas that are still theoretical, but in med-device we had launched some incredible imaging units using AI—very low-dosage X-rays that could be enhanced to just what you need. Bringing those kinds of technologies over could benefit younger patients and reduce radiation exposure. I also think our technologies have potential beyond dentistry. But in the dental office, our focus should be on how we can accelerate the penetration of what we have, because I really feel like that can benefit more people. And then, of course, you want to enhance it.

The other area I'll touch on here is 3D printing, which will always be faster, cheaper, better, smaller, and it’s going to continue to improve, but it will never replace milling. It's like saying television will replace radio. It won’t. They will both exist. But getting deeper into higher-tech 3D printing is an area of interest for me over the next several years.

Dentists face challenges today, from staffing shortages to decreasing reimbursements. How do you see Dentsply Sirona making their practice lives easier?

Platforms like DS Core let you move in an efficient way from scanning all the way through to the end product, turning over the chair faster. And if you have predictable and repeatable outcomes, you can reduce the time of those visits. So, all of this fits into a tighter world that allows a dentist and staff to be more efficient, more predictable. We can’t change reimbursements, but we can provide affordable products that help complete procedures in 60 minutes or less. I think that is what's needed.

If you could give dentists one message about Dentsply Sirona’s direction under your leadership, what would it be?

The customer will be at the center of all we do, and we will move with speed as we seek to deliver long-term value creation.