Rock Dental Brands

Since forming in 2016, Rock Dental Brands has continued to grow while working to improve the oral health outcomes of its patients.

The Little Rock dental provider network offers care in pediatric dentistry, orthodontics, general dentistry and oral surgery. Rock Dental provides support to dentists and dental specialists at 91 clinics in Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee and has a mission to bring quality dental health care to more Americans.

The company recently entered the Kansas City, Missouri, market, and it plans to continue to expand, said Rock Dental CEO Kristi Crum. Rock Dental will branch out to another state during the first half of this year, but Crum declined to name the state.

Last year, Rock Dental served more than 127,000 patients and had revenue of more than $100 million. In 2016, Rock Dental had about 170 employees; it now has 645.

Crum said the top challenge for the company is continuing to grow while maintaining its culture. “We dedicate a significant amount of time trying to ensure we’re investing as much or more into our people as we are the growth of the company,” she said.

In 2016, orthodontists Dr. Mark Dake of Little Rock, Dr. Bryan Hiller of Hot Springs and Dake’s son, Merritt Dake of Little Rock, partnered to create Rock Dental Brands, a management group led by providers. Rock Dental providers “are able to make the decisions they need to make to create the best quality of care,” Crum said.

Dake’s business philosophy was that if the company focused on taking care of the patient, the business would take care of itself. “And it has,” Crum said.

Rock Dental also has the “most comprehensive peer-review program, where our affiliated doctors share, discuss and evaluate each other’s clinical performance.

“Our goal is to have the most advanced systems for tracking and measuring quality,” she said. “All of our providers are sharing amongst each other charts, collaborating with each other, to make sure that we have the best outcomes in the communities that we serve. And that’s a game changer.”