STEVEN

WINGFIELD, DMD

Inspired to pursue a

career in dentistry

by the family dentist

in his hometown of

Bowling Green, KY,

Dr. Wingfield earned his dental degree

from the University

of Louisville. Soon

after, he launched

his career with the

United States Navy

Dental Corps and

graduated with

top honors from

their Advanced

Education in General

Dentistry residency

program. During his

4 years of service,

he had the unique

opportunity to serve

on the forward-deployed

Bravo Surgical Company

in Operation

Iraqi Freedom.

A cofounder and

managing partner

of Dental Whale, Dr. Wingfield serves

as the President

of Dental Whale

Practice Group,

a DSO based

in Sunrise, FL,

where he provides

Executive oversight

in the areas of

clinical affairs,

strategic growth,

and practice

operations.

Your Partner in Practice Profitability

Dental Whale’s mission is to help dentists reduce costs and streamline purchasing by providing a purchasing system where they can order supplies, equipment, and labs at heavily discounted prices, schedule large and small equipment repairs, and gain access to high-quality educational content.

As co-founder of Dental Whale, Steven Wingfield, DMD, dreamed of creating an “easy button” for the dental community. Here, he sits down with DPS to share how the company is helping to redefine the business of dentistry one practice at a time.

What was the main driver behind creating a purchasing system?

One of the biggest challenges to dental practice owners is the fact that there are so many vendors out there. Added to that, you never know if you’re overpaying for a product or service. Dentists have been purchasing the same way for 40 years—we thought it was time for a new, modernized model for purchasing dental supplies, equipment, and labs.

How does this model of purchasing benefit a dental practice?

First of all, they benefit from our massive buying power. In a way, you could liken it to belonging to a DSO with access to heavily discounted members-only pricing.

We have dozens of categories featuring supplies from several of the biggest names in the industry. You can order virtually anything and everything for your practice from a single platform. That makes things incredibly easy for the dentist and their team to track, and saves a tremendous amount of time since we’re doing the heavy lifting. No more running around comparing prices from different manufacturers—that’s what we’re here for! We are 100% committed to offering the best supplies and equipment at significant discounts.

And the time dentists save allows them to be more present at work and focus on practice care or upping case acceptance. It’s a win-win for everyone, including the patients.

What about the additional benefits of the purchasing system?

All Dental Whale members have access to our purchasing system, which means they receive up to 40% off on all purchases. Dental Whale membership also provides access to a dedicated account manager who can assist a practice with all sorts of things—from sourcing a piece of equipment to keeping their eye on the best deals for supplies a dentist uses on a regular basis. We even have budget coaches who work with doctors and their teams to ensure they stay on track with a monthly budget, find areas to save, and minimize cost on unused inventory.

Doctors often don’t have adequate insight into what their team is spending until a month or two later when they get their profit and loss statement. Dental Whale helps to ensure that whoever is ordering is on pace with the budget and doesn’t overspend. Just having those guardrails in place can save doctors thousands of dollars a year.

What about the other services that Dental Whale offers?

In addition to our purchasing system, Dental Whale offers equipment repair, maintenance, and installation with our sister company, Dental Fix Rx. A nationwide fleet of mobile repair technicians, they provide a reliable and much-needed service for practices whose livelihood relies on their equipment functioning at the most optimal level. And to round out our offerings, we also have a robust education component with online courses and live seminars from Dental Whale partners such as Laura Nelson of Front Office Rocks and Dr. Scott Leune of Breakaway Seminars. With hundreds of online videos covering every aspect of practice management, many of which count toward continuing education credits, dentists at all stages of their careers can benefit from the knowledge of these subject matter experts.

Full Dental Whale members have access to all these services, while others engage with us on a case-by-case basis or come to us specifically for the education component. We’ve designed things so that doctors can engage with what best suits their needs.

Remind us why you chose the tagline, “Your Partner In Practice Profitability”

At the end of the day, being profitable is about more than just saving revenue. Being a profitable practice means that you have the tools and resources you need to provide the highest level of service and patient care.

At Dental Whale, we’re committed to offering the best supplies and equipment at the lowest price point possible—and making it as easy, convenient, and efficient as possible to do so. But we also understand that doctors need a reliable network of experts, continuing education, tools to help them train their staff, and the platform to make it happen.

_{This article was developed in partnership with Dental Whale.}

Clinical Supplies