Texas-based DSO, Pearl Street Dental Partners, has built one of the most distinctive dental organizations in the country by making one radical bet: that profit follows people. In this episode of The Dental Economist Show, host Mike Huffaker sits down with co-founder and CEO, David Meece, for an unfiltered look at how a recovering attorney built a people-first DSO that has made the Inc. 5,000 list every year since it was first eligible and grown to 50+ partner practices across Texas and Oklahoma. Tune in to explore how David's conviction that profitability is an outcome rather than a pursuit has shaped every partnership decision, why their invisible DSO model lets every practice keep its own name and culture, and how elective adoption not mandates drives near-universal buy-in across the entire organization. Most of all, this conversation is a masterclass in what it truly means to build a business around relationships first.

#dentaleconomist #dsoleadership #peoplefirstDSO

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Chapters:

00:00 Introduction & Meeting David Meece

01:36 From Attorney to DSO Founder: David's Origin Story

05:00 How the Pearl Street Model Was Born

08:05 Partnering with Private Equity Without Losing Your Soul

14:15 How to Define and Measure Culture in a DSO

20:05 Nothing's Gonna Change and Why That's the Wrong Promise

25:00 Centralized vs. Elective Services: How Pearl Street Structures Support

30:23 When Culture Erodes: Lessons from the Hard Moments

37:03 Organic Growth from Within: What Drives It

43:03 Why David Is Still Bullish on Dentistry's Future


Connect with the team:

👉 Mike Huffaker on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/huffaker/

👉 David Meece on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/davidmeece/

👉 Pearl Street Dental Partners Website: https://pearlstreetdentalpartners.com/

👉 Planet DDS Website: https://planetdds.com/

You can also listen to our podcast here:

👉 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3SeeOfY

👉 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3tMmaO7

👉 Fame Host: https://bit.ly/4aQNQ51

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