A job offer from a community health center first brought Amy Walsh, DDS, to Wisconsin – her last stop before owning her own practices. It was the culmination of a successful journey of following her dream since she was six. While growing up in Rhode Island, her mother’s best friend was a dental assistant. “I was in her chair for some sealants or something at about six years old, and I looked up at her and said, ‘I’m going to be a dentist.’ And that was that,” Dr. Walsh recalled. “She had a lot of influence in making sure it happened.”
Fast forward: Dr. Walsh graduates from UNC Adams School of Dentistry. For a time, she worked in Charlotte, North Carolina and then at the community health center in Wisconsin. “And I loved it!” she exclaimed. “It was awesome treating patients in community health. It gets a little overwhelming, but I loved the patients.”
CONSIDERING OPTIONS
Toward the end of 2019, Dr. Walsh realized she needed an associate and began considering the idea of remodeling vs building. “I took a trip out to A-dec when I started leaning toward building my own practice,” she recalled. “And that’s how Dave Hennings [retired Patterson Dental equipment specialist] and I connected. We had a conversation that just opened my eyes to the possibilities, with CEREC in particular. I was having a lot of issues with our lab that we just didn’t have time for.”
Initially, Dr. Walsh thought she should move into a new practice before investing in Dentsply Sirona CAD/CAM solutions, but Hennings advised her, “‘You’re wasting so much time and money.’ It was the first time I had thought of it that way,” she said. “We could be improving the situation here and then just move the mill to the new building.”
After that conversation, Walsh wanted Hennings involved with the project. “We really clicked in terms of philosophies and ideas,” she explained. “He was offering suggestions that I had never thought of but realized would be perfect.”
Dr. Walsh bought her Dentsply Sirona Primescan and CEREC Primemill in February 2020 and then closed the office on March 19 in response to the pandemic. She said, “I was sitting there thinking, ‘What did I just do?’”
However, it turned out well for the practice. When they reopened, they could tell patients about their ability to accomplish many treatments in just one appointment, which addressed many patients’ fears. “People were still wearing masks and hesitant to go to the dentist,” Dr. Walsh said. “We could now tell them we could do a crown in one day, that they didn’t have to come in multiple times. It worked out ultimately, but that was a tumultuous time.”
Dr. Walsh started working with a healthcare real estate firm and a builder that specialized in professional spaces, including dental offices. “There ended up being only one ideal property in Shawano. Everything else was too small. We we wanted to include a partially finished basement, which made the total square footage about 6,800, and only one property could handle a building that size.”
She locked in her contract in October 2020, broke ground that December, and moved in by June 2021. Dr. Walsh described the building process as fun and one of the most interesting times she’s ever experienced. Within 2 years, she did a ground-up build with 12 operatories and multiple technologies, including Eaglesoft practice management solutions; Dentsply Sirona Primescan, CEREC Primemill and Primeprint CAD/CAM solutions and Axeos 3D imaging technology; and A-dec operatory solutions, sterilization cabinetry and mechanical room equipment. Dr. Walsh, her team and their patients were thrilled.
Previously, Dr. Walsh frequently referred patients to specialists, but the CBCT allows her to “see if we need to do some grafting at the time of extraction,” she said. “It’s given us more flexibility and the ability to keep those surgeries in-house. It’s been a real game-changer for diagnosis, too. We use it a lot for unexplained pain. We find fractures and sinus issues. I prescribe more Z-Packs than I used to for sinus infections. I’ve found cysts. One patient had a calcified carotid artery. We sent the CBCT image to their primary care doctor and they’re now monitoring it. We can better serve our patients.”
Dr. Walsh also incorporated dental laser therapy into the hygiene and restorative departments. “This has allowed us to increase patient healing and health, provide tissue manipulation without anesthetic, and treat cold sores and ulcers,” she said. “That’s been particularly advantageous in reducing symptoms and healing time, as well as enabling us to see patients with active herpetic lesions. We can treat the lesion at the beginning of the appointment and proceed as scheduled without having to reappoint.”
CONTINUING TO GROW
In 2022, Dr. Walsh purchased another practice. “Dr. John Dahlie, who had a CEREC milling unit but wasn’t using it consistently, had about 400 patients,” explained Dr. Walsh. “When he decided to retire, we talked through how he wanted to transition. I purchased his practice and moved his patients into the new building, along with the milling unit. So now we do all our zirconia on the Primemill and all our Ivoclar e.max on the other unit. We have the option of doing both at any point during the day without having to switch out burs or water tanks.”
When Dr. Walsh transitioned Dr. Dahlie’s patient’s, he and his dental assistant came along. “John was only supposed to work with us for a year to transition his patients over,” Dr. Walsh said. “But at the end of the year, he said, ‘This is great! I don’t have to run the business. I’m working two days a week. I love what I’m doing,’ and ended up staying on an additional year. He was so excited to learn new things at 68 years old.”
In 2024, Dr. Walsh purchased a practice in Appleton, Wisconsin. This office has a Primescan, CEREC Primemill, and Primepint 3D printer. “The patients who were with the original doctor have been so grateful to have that technology,” said Dr. Walsh.
Between the Shawano and Appleton locations, Dr. Walsh has four full-time business team members. They coordinate everyone’s schedules, including when the mills and scanners are available for procedures among multiple doctors and assistants. “They provide our patients with treatment estimates, triage all our emergencies, and speak with every patient who calls or comes through the door,” Dr. Walsh explaied. “They have the hardest job in our office, and they handle it exceptionally well every single day.”
WORKING WITH PATTERSON DENTAL
Territory representative Erin Longley had been calling on the first two practices when Dr. Walsh purchased them. “When I took over, there was already a relationship there,” Dr. Walsh recalled. “I hadn’t worked with Patterson before and I’ve been blown away by their customer service. They’re another group I don’t have to worry about getting things done. I credit Erin with a lot of that. She’s on top of it from a troubleshooting and maintenance standpoint. If there are issues with equipment, she asks us to keep her in the loop so she can ensure we’re getting what we need.”
“Throughout the build, Mandi Whitford [Patterson CAD/CAM specialist] was incredible,” said Dr. Walsh. “She knows CEREC inside and out. When I was sending her screen captures, asking, ‘What is this error message?’ she was really supportive. She made sure the equipment was functioning the way we needed it to.”
“Everyone is just incredible,” Dr. Walsh concluded. “I can’t say enough good things about Patterson, about the people they hire and the way they train them. They build relationships with intention. They want to know what you’re dealing with and coming up against on a daily basis so they can understand what you need. They tailor their decisions and product suggestions to my vision and what I want for the practice.”
FROM THE PATTERSON PERSPECTIVE
Patterson Dental CAD/CAM specialist Mandi Whitford and territory representative Erin Longley met Dr. Ashley Walsh early in her career. Former Patterson Dental equipment specialist Dave Hennings met Dr. Walsh when both were visitng A-dec. “In casual conversations with Ashley, I started understanding some of her pain points,” remembered Hennings. “I got Mandi involved because it was apparent that Ashley needed to get into some technology. She embraced technology and was very willing to look at it.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Walsh had purchased the double dental practices and combined them into one. However, the location couldn’t be expanded or remodeled. “She had eight operatories and remodeling would take it down to about five because of newer [Americans with Disabilities Act] requirements,” Hennings explained. “However, new technologies would get her out of some of the pain points she was in at that time. So, she invested in digital x-ray and CAD/CAM.”
Dr. Walsh bought the Dentsply Sirona CAD/CAM system in February 2020 and within a matter of weeks the pandemic hit and everything shut down. Despite the restrictions and uncertainty everyone faced, Dr. Walsh used the time to find suitable property and a builder for a larger practice. She found a perfect 2-acre parcel of land on the north edge of town.
“When she started talking about the size of practice she wanted to build, I was worried that she was going too big,” Hennings recalled. “I’ve quickly been proven wrong. She’s grown into that building and now has another practice in Appleton, which is just astounding.”
WHY INVESTING IN CAD/CAM MADE SENSE
Whitford noted that the dentists Dr. Walsh bought out had performed a lot of restorative treatment. “So, Ashley knew a big piece of her production would come from crowns,” Whitford continued. “There was a lot of what we call ‘patchwork’ dentistry, multiple large fillings in the same tooth. The new standard is to put a crown over a tooth in that condition. We knew her crown numbers were going to be crazy over time. Following the traditional format, that meant she had to get all those people into her schedule twice. First for the crown prep and then having the final crown cemented. There would be a lot of wasted chair time for her over the next two or three years. So, CEREC technology was a slam-dunk solution for her. It turns a two-appointment procedure into a 90-minute procedure and they’re out the door, done.”
Whitford demonstrated for Dr. Walsh how Dentsply Sirona CAD/CAM solutions drastically reduce overhead, including lab costs. “We ran some numbers based on production in the books and patient charts from the previous owners,” Whitford explained.
Dr. Walsh with her Patterson Dental team. Left to right: General manager Alan Tudeen, former equipment specialist David Hennings, CAD/CAM specialist Mandi Whitford, Dr. Walsh, territory representative Erin Longley, and field service technician Ron Wenta
“Knowing what the patients’ current conditions were, CEREC made so much sense from an ROI aspect. She wouldn’t have any problem paying off the equipment and it also would relieve some of her scheduling issues.”
Dr. Walsh had her CAD/CAM system up and running when the office reopened after the pandemic, so she could jumpstart production. Now, with the system in both practices, it’s a big revenue producer for her. According to Whitford, Dr. Walsh has saved 30 hours of $0-production chair time per month.
“Once she got the CAD/CAM system down, it was unbelievable how it helped speed things along in the old office,” Hennings recalled.
“It eliminated turning over a room, using double the PPE, and paying staff for something that’s not making any money,” Whitford added. “It took her about a day to realize that this was a good idea for her.”
Whitford credits a couple of factors to Dr. Walsh’s quick success. “First, she’s part of the generation where technology is part of life. She knows what to do with it. Second, she’s a big lover of continuing education. When she got her CAD/CAM and again when she bought her conebeam, she took as many courses as she could. She was willing and excited to learn more, and that’s a big piece of the doctor’s success in general. Taking course after course really ramped up how she used the equipment. And she led her staff through the transition. She adopted an older generation of staff from the practices she purchased, and she had to turn them all on to technology. She did that very well.”
At the time, Dr. Walsh was the only dentist in Shawano offering same-day dentistry with CAD/CAM crowns. “But now, I believe almost every dentist in town has a CAD/CAM system,” Whitford explained. “So, it not only brought new patients to her practice, I think it also set a new standard for that area.”
The other technologies Dr. Walsh adopted also have made a significant impact on her success. “DS Core shifted everything to a cloud-based system that not only facilitates sending files back and forth, but it’s also a storage platform,” Whitford explained. “Basically, Ashley can see files from both locations, regardless of where she logs in, and share them with her lab and specialists via the cloud. DS Core really helps with treatment planning and communication.”
DS Core also can send information from a scanner, printer, or milling machine, and conebeam 3D imaging can be reviewed from any location. “You can pull up a patient’s DS Core chart to see his latest images, scans and anything ever done as far as a crown design,” said Whitford. “It becomes this one-stop media folder for your patients.”
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
Whitford and other Patterson teams invite current and potential customers to tour Dr. Walsh’s offices. “We take customers who are either looking to build or are interested in CEREC,” Whitford explained. “I’ve taken potential CAD/CAM customers in to see a crown done for a patient, and she does a great job at that. I’ve also asked her to speak for us at study clubs about what technology did for her practices.”
“She’s a workhorse,” Longley added. “She’s smart and very business minded. Investing in technology has helped her grow fast, as has finding the right staff. She inherited some of the staff, coming from practices with no technology, and they really welcomed it with open arms and have been supportive of all her decisions.”
“She was such a breath of fresh air for Shawano,” Hennings said. “She’s younger and has a great personality. She just took that town over. I loved working with Ashley so much that I stayed an additional two years to complete her projects.”
Longley added that Dr. Walsh does sponsorship events in the area, like holding a Give Kids a Smile event every year. Other local dentists join in to provide dental care.
“She’s a fantastic leader,” said Whitford. “Her practice is successful because she doesn’t just care about the physical dentistry she’s doing. She really is a, ‘I want to build something great. I want everybody on the same page’ kind of person. I think that has led to a lot of her success, too. She’s a great business leader, and not every dentist is able to find those skills within themselves.”
