Dentistry is fighting the wrong war.

The story the dental profession tells itself is that DSOs are the existential threat. Consolidation. Private equity. A corporate buyer on every corner. That story is convenient because it has a villain with a logo. The data says that villain is a sideshow. Sixteen percent of US dentists are DSO-affiliated. That number has not moved fast enough to justify the anxiety it generates.

The real loss is quieter. It happens at 7pm on a Tuesday when a patient's tooth starts throbbing and the office is closed. It happens in the emergency room, where 1.6 million Americans show up every year for a dental problem and leave with an antibiotic and a referral to a dentist they will never call. It happens in hospital credentialing offices, where the medical system decides which providers get the referral and which don't.

Dentistry didn't lose ground to a competitor. It ceded hours, access, and position while arguing about the wrong enemy. This site is where I document what that handoff looks like, what the data actually says, and what a sensible alternative would look like if someone bothered to build it.