Victoria: I think, in the next five years, the future of dentistry becomes more female-led and strategically guided. We graduated from dental school and hygiene school, and I wasn't taught much about business at all. Getting an understanding of strategy, how operations can be run seamlessly, and how we can be more efficient goes back to building systems that support what you desire.
Anne: Welcome to the Just DeW It Podcast. I am so happy that you're joining me today because I'm very excited to have this Elite DeW join us in our conversation. I met Victoria a few months ago, and I'm so enamored by her leadership skills and what she is doing with Elite Dental Partners.
I can't wait to introduce her to you. But let me tell you a little bit about her before we get started. Dr. Victoria Yu, DDS, is CEO and Chief Dental Officer of Elite Dental Partners, supporting 75-plus practices across 10 states. Elite Dental Partners' first female CEO, she brings a clinician-first approach rooted in practice ownership and executive leadership.
A University of Maryland graduate, she was ranked among dentistry's 32 most influential in 2023, and I can't wait to see what's happening in 2026. Would you please help me welcome Dr. Victoria Yu? Hello, dear.
Victoria: Hi, Anne. How are you?
Anne: I'm doing great. I'm so happy to have you on the podcast today.
When I first met you and your beautiful cohort and heard your vision for dental, it was just incredible. You are one of the few CEOs in this arena, and it's amazing that you're using your skills. I want to tell everybody, because a lot of our listeners are into the strengths, Victoria's top five strengths are achiever, command, connectedness, strategic, and adaptability. Victoria, you are totally living your strengths being in the driver's seat here.
Victoria: Thank you, Anne. Thank you for that. I think maybe a missing one there is dogged determination.
Anne: Well, that does kind of go under achiever. Achievers don't give up, and so many of our women have achiever in their top five. As Andrea Frohning said in her keynote last year, and she's the HR leader for Dentsply Sirona, "That really means get shit done." Excuse my French, but I know that's what you are doing in your position. That's right.
Tell us how you got there. I know a lot of our listeners are saying, "Boy, that's pretty cool."
Victoria: I love the GSD motto. Prior to coming to Elite, I was running Walmart Dental for the Walmart organization, a Fortune 1 company. Certainly that rang very true even with Fortune 1: get shit done is super important. It's not just about ideation and wonderment; it's about how you execute in service of people and humanity. I think having the right mission behind what you do and having numbers be a reflection of how well you're carrying out your mission is super important.
Prior to going to Walmart, I was the chief clinical officer of a smaller DSO that, alongside the executive team, we grew from about 15 practices in Pennsylvania to over 600 through strategic acquisition. One of the most, I don't know if I would call it fun, but showing of determination was having to guide a healthcare organization through a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic that started on the other side of the world. That definitely tested a lot of folks, but our industry and dentistry were so resilient. I was super humbled by how our clinicians and professionals behaved during that.
Prior to that, I owned my own practices, and before that, I worked for a very large DSO in the land. If people ask me, "What else would you do if not for dentistry?" I would say probably sit in the corner and eat bonbons, because I really don't know what I would do, Anne.
Anne: Well, you've certainly got the pedigree for this. I am really happy to remember that. That is a stepping stone for success for what you're doing right now. With 75 practices, and you even know how to build to 600. This is just a matter of time before you're going to bring your vision to life.
Something else I want to touch on: it's a myth, isn't it, that growth is fun? You think, "Oh, let's grow. It's a lot of fun," and that's when the rubber hits the road, isn't it?
Victoria: Yes. How funny that statement is, right? Growth is fun. I guess it depends on how you define fun. I think growth is challenging, and overcoming obstacles could be viewed as fun.
It takes a village of dedicated individuals to achieve that always. So I think the fun, maybe for me as a leader, is seeing my partners and leaders grow in their journey, their careers, their understanding, and their mastery. That is truly fun. To see how we had a hand, however small, in that is fun. Achievement is always fun, but certainly after you achieve, there are second mountains and third mountains, so the continuation of that, and having the ability and the privilege to do that, is also fun.
Anne: Yes, exactly. It's funny that your number two strength is command, because if you listen to the balcony of command: charismatic, direct, driven, inspirational, easy to follow, clear, concise, and take charge. That is something you innately have, Victoria. Sometimes I think maybe you don't appreciate it so much, but that is about others.
Then connectedness: spiritual, doesn't sweat the small stuff, strong faith, helps others see purpose, and that is number three for you. These are innate qualities that you've been given, and you are literally using them every day. Who wouldn't follow you? You've got the connectedness, the charisma, the purpose, the servant leadership innately in you, and then you're going to command. Everybody wants to follow somebody who knows where they're going. I do think you are the perfect person for the helm of that, and I love to say strengths don't lie.
Congratulations on landing in this beautiful spot that I know you love. But women are leading. How are women leading the way in the current dental landscape? How do you see that?
Victoria: I love that, Anne. Thank you for all your compliments. I'm sure my face has turned various shades of red to match my shirt today, but thank you very much for saying that and validating that.
Women, I think, in today's day and age, are no longer just sitting at the table. I grew up thinking we women, we minorities, and underrepresented individuals want a seat at the table. I think in today's day and age in dentistry, women are redesigning the floor plan.
Anne: Ah.
Victoria: I think the possibilities of where we are lead to ample availability for women to come after us, Anne, to do better than Anne and Vicky ever envisioned, to lead the way, and to maximize the paradigm shift that we are all working so hard on.
I think, again, in today's world, women and men no longer have to choose between a fierceness and desire for clinical excellence versus business acumen. It's wonderful to have both. I think there are women and men out there who can exemplify that, and may we see more of that happen.
Anne: Yes. I think it's what's possible. In my generation, we couldn't even get a credit card in 1971 without having a man sign it for us. Isn't that incredible? I graduated from high school in '71. I just can't even imagine that. But now when you think about it, you're right. We are at the table, and now it's the opportunity of a lifetime for someone to continue to grow and reach down to our sisters and help them figure out how to get to the next ladder rung as they continue to push us up.
I learn so much from you, from your generation, and the ones that are coming after. It's just so cool. What do you want to do? You can do anything these days, right? I think that is the possibility, especially when we see you sitting there. You and one or two others, Kristi from Rock Dental Brands. There are more and more because dentistry is such a caring profession.
Victoria: Yes. It's designed in empathy, and the rigid, hard structure of solopreneurship is no longer standing tall. Clinicians, doctors, and professionals now desire an empathy-based, strong culture of support so they can become actualized as humans who are dental professionals, not just the best drilling associates in the land. It's more than that.
I think to understand that and to pay that any mind, because we think that support gets us to the promised land of numbers that we all love, too. Again, it's a reflection of how well we are in service to the folks that we support. But I love that. Anne, you graduated high school when you were, what, three? Four?
Anne: Yes, it didn't take time. It was so easy. It's amazing. But tell me a little bit about the mission that you have and the vision you have for Elite, and what you think sets it apart. You were talking about Vantage. I love Nicole Phillips. She's amazing. You put the right people in the spots. Let's work together. Tell us a little bit about how you see Elite Dental Partners differently.
Victoria: Yes. I believe that doing something different elevates an organization from the rest. In the DSO world, there hasn't been a model that is unequivocally winning. Otherwise, there would only be one DSO, right?
The fact that Elite and our board, my board chair, Andrew Steuerman from Gallup Capital, have come up with an industry-disruptive model of business where there are mutual wins for the clinician and the finance backer is unheard of. We call it the Vantage program, where doctors can earn up to 51% of shared interest in the practice that they build. That's a majority share, Anne, within the practice that they're practicing in.
You as a hygienist and me as a doctor, we know it benefits us as dental professionals to stay in one spot because our patients get used to us, our patients start referring their family and friends to us, and we love to see the same people and catch up on how things are going in life because, again, we care.
This program celebrates stability, and it really makes it mutually beneficial. The doctor stays, builds their business, and is no longer just a golden-handcuffed associate. You take days off, God forbid, then you don't make money. You're just a percent earner. You're a highly paid earner, but it's just kind of forever that.
This allows you to think like a business partner, and eventually, you are a 51% shared partner. How do you then bring forth your expertise, your ability to grow associates, and help your hygiene team provide better care to your teams, and you benefit from that? You don't have to pay into it, Anne.
People who are coming out of dental school are at least half a million dollars in student loan debt. It's crushing, right? And if two of them get married, then they owe a million dollars in student loans, Anne. That's baffling. It's scary when you think of people. God forbid they want to have children and a home. They want the American dream. They want a car. All of that is just more pressure, and dentistry is hard enough. Can we find a way for these people to realize their dreams and not be further crushed in achieving that?
I think this differentiates Elite from all the other DSOs, and it's really been very well received by the industry.
Anne: Isn't that super cool? I have known a couple of female dental entrepreneur women, which is going to lead me into the next question, who have sold 51% of their business because the person who wanted to buy it wanted 51%. Then two years down the road, the founder, the person who built it, is like, "Bye-bye. We don't need you anymore." With 51%, my gosh, that is unheard of, and I wish I was a dentist. Sign me up.
This is really amazing. Good for you. I think that's a great way for growth and certainly a great partner benefit for anyone who wants to join you. So, wow, really cool.
We've got all these dental entrepreneur women, and we want them to build wealth while supporting their careers and their families. As you said, daycare is also another nut that they've got to crack. How can dental women build wealth with all of that on their shoulders as they grow? Not only that, but most often they're the conductors of who's picking the kids up and when, on top of everything else.
Victoria: I know. It's probably like balancing three full-time jobs, and we do it wearing makeup and looking great in high heels. I don't do it in high heels.
Anne: And dancing backward, I might add.
Victoria: Right, while sucking our stomachs in at the same time.
I think the myth of us having it all used to lie in finding balance, and that was very frustrating to me because I'm very doggedly determined in business and in driving to clinical excellence, and also being a mom and a partner. How can you be successful and balance all these? I think that's a myth.
My understanding of it and what I'm currently working through, and I wouldn't call it success—no one should ever see my laundry room—is in systems and processes that enable you and support you as a woman in realizing what it is you desire to do. I think true wealth is not necessarily only defined by dollar signs, and definitely not by working harder, but by really having leverage.
Anne: Mm.
Victoria: As women embrace the group practice model and having partnership, why join a DSO? You get to plug into the DSO's infrastructure. Therefore, as a woman entrepreneur in the Vantage program, you no longer have to deal with administrative things, which definitely take a toll on you mentally, because I've done that before.
Anne: Oh, yeah.
Victoria: Turnover, HR issues, billing is another huge one, and compliance, because even though you think you're compliant, you're employing how many other professionals, and you have to keep that going. Shedding the weight of that gives you leverage and gives you the most important asset in all of our lives, which is time. Being able to have that back at your disposal, how you desire to have it, how you desire to spend it, because we all have to eat, sleep, and work.
Anne: And do laundry. Have a lot of fun. Someone's got to do the laundry, right?
Victoria: Exactly.
Anne: That's amazing to me, though, that I'm still going back to the 51%. I just love the fact that you can still do that. There's something about all the hard work you put in to become a dentist and a fabulous clinician, because you have to do that, and you can still be the owner and still release some of the stuff that most dental professionals and clinicians are not all that thrilled about, all the stuff that you have to do on the back end to keep a successful practice going, especially when you say compliance.
That is right there, and then just all the stuff that's going on in the world today. It's really cool that you can take that off. I think this is the future of dentistry, and I want to ask you what you think. Women who are working in the future are going to have house managers also. You're going to have your manager for your dental office and your manager for your house because they want to come home and hang with the kids, hang with their husband, watch Netflix, or anything other than worry about the minutiae that doesn't necessarily move the needle. It just helps you sleep better at night. If you know that's taken care of, you get your sleep, you get your beauty rest, and it keeps your brain going.
What do you foresee changing for women in dentistry in the next five years? Let's go five years at a time.
Victoria: Five years, I like that. I think in the next five years, the future of dentistry becomes more female-led. If we're talking about 10 to 15, the future is female. Not only is it that, it is technology-forward.
To your point, having administratively burdensome activity shed off of all people, especially in dentistry, and being really strategically guided. Just because we graduated from dental school and hygiene school, actually, I wasn't taught much about business at all. Getting an understanding of strategy, how operations can be run seamlessly, and how we can be more efficient goes back to building systems that support what you desire.
I think in five years the DSO space is going to be reshaped. I think tech enablement really flattens the hierarchy that we've experienced, and I think institutional capital will be seeking out female-led organizations that have exceptional culture, are led very well, have strong retention, and are focused on patient care.
Anne: Yes, I love that because just thinking about the enormity of being an excellent clinician, an excellent businessperson, an excellent HR person, and on down the line, I don't think many people went into dental school with that huge comprehension that that's what it takes. The cool thing is it doesn't take all that now, right? You just have to be able to partner, and that comes in with your connectedness. You know how to partner with the right people.
I love that, too, Vicky. Once you get the right people in the seats, then you know how to help them grow. That is such a gift.
Are you looking for graduating dentists right out of dental school? Who's your avatar? I know it's male and female, but what's the age bracket? Tell me about that. I'm curious.
Victoria: Great question, Anne. I would say the avatar is male and female, and people of all ages and experiences. But the commonality the avatar has is a desire to be business-minded when you solution problems, and an understanding that the business of dentistry is not a dirty word. It's a beautiful craft when done correctly with a clinically driven model and support.
Entrepreneurship comes to mind. People who love learning, people who want to provide exceptional care and be alongside the mission for giving communities comprehensive care are some qualities I would like the avatar to have.
Anne: The other thing you mentioned before we started recording is how you love connecting people within your organization with each other. Again, we were talking, and I was on that panel I was telling you about at HR for Health, and one of the main things about being in our profession, if you've got a practice, is the loneliness that you have. The dental entrepreneur woman running her business can be lonely.
But if you've got somebody who's connecting people, and that's what we do at DeW, we have that same mindset. That is so special and so wonderful. Good people find good people, and in our DeW community, good DeWs find good DeWs. Good dudes find good DeWs. We've got it all, because people in dentistry—and I know you know that—they're good people. They are really good people, and we're all trying to do our best with the patient and the team in mind.
I remember years ago they said, "Your team's not your family," but you spend a lot of time with them, and it is another family that you have, right? It's a beautiful thing.
Where do you see the next year? What exciting things do you have coming on this year? Then we're going to see you at the retreat, and parting words, Vicky.
Victoria: Anne, it's just been such a pleasure being a part of this. I look forward to collaborating with more like-minded people like you and me. I think the world is such a beautiful place, and we're all so privileged to be a part of it and play a role in helping humanity.
If anything, I'm looking forward to unlocking more opportunity within the industry for doctors through Vantage, more opportunity to grow the team, and potentially for us to go out there and start some more acquisitions for Elite Dental Partners. I see the future as so bright. So bright.
Anne: Oh, so bright. Well, I see the future so bright with you in it. I can't go backwards, but I would sign me up right away there, if you could, Vicky.
You're coming to the retreat. If you're listening, Vicky will be at our retreat this year along with Nicole. It's November 12th through the 14th. It's so funny, Vicky. Here you are, you're so accomplished. You're the CEO of Elite Dental Partners, you're also a DeWbie, also a new DeW, and will be part of our wonderful celebration. We're kicking it off with the DeWbies just to bring you in with our arm around you, and all of us together can rise. That's what it takes. It's going to take team effort. Go DeWs.
In 10 years, we'll be bringing the guys along. We'll be bringing the guys along. They've been bringing us in, and now we're letting them in because we love them, too. So come on. Join us, everybody.
How do we get in touch with you, Vicky? How does somebody get in touch with you and Elite Dental Partners if they're listening to this and they're like, "Oh, that sounds like something that I would like for the future that I have in dentistry"?
Victoria: It's hard. My last name is Yu, so V-Y-U, three letters, @elitedentalpartners.com. You can find me on LinkedIn.
Anne: Well, we're glad you're here. We'll put whatever you want in the show notes, and we can get in touch with you.
Continued success to you and your team as you grow, thrive, and contribute to our beautiful profession of dentistry. Thank you for joining me today, Vicky. The most important thing everybody can do if you're listening, and Vicky knows this too with her strengths, is to keep doing you.
Thanks, everyone, and I'll see you on the road. Take care. Thanks, Vicky.
