Smalltown Dental Scales Smarter with Dentrix Ascend

Dental school grads who want to start a practice can be at a disadvantage, graduating with the skills, but not necessarily the business knowhow.  

And expanding an existing practice to multiple locations? That’s an even bigger challenge, with added layers of complexity.  

Dr. Pete Smidt, DDS, CEO, Smalltown Dental, faced these exact obstacles. But instead of getting bogged down by inefficiencies, he took a smarter approach — implementing the right software to streamline operations, standardize workflows across locations, and gain clear performance metrics. The result? Increased efficiency, reduced redundancy, and a significant boost in production. 

From Starting Small to Growing Pains 

Smalltown Dental started as a single practice in 2018. By 2020, they had rapidly expanded from two to eight locations in less than a year. It was exciting — but also messy. From culture to operations and even down to the software, each office was doing its own thing, making it tough to create a seamless operation. 

Bringing It All Together With Dentrix Ascend 

The game-changer? Dentrix Ascend. This cloud-based software brought all locations together under one system, making training easier, operations smoother, and efficiency levels skyrocket. Employees picked it up quickly, and leadership gained instant access to performance data across every office. 

“Our employees picked it up faster than anything I’ve ever seen.” 

With clear key performance indicators (KPIs) in place, Smalltown Dental could track the numbers that actually mattered. That meant smarter budgeting, better planning, and fewer surprises.  

The Power of Data-Driven Decisions  

Analytics didn’t just make life easier—it actually helped reshape the business. By looking at patient trends and office performance, they streamlined from eleven locations to nine. It might sound counterintuitive, but thanks to the insights they got from great data their production went up and overhead went down.  

Freedom to Focus On What Matters Most 

Now that the right systems are in place, Smalltown Dental is focusing on sustainable growth. With the tech side handled, leadership can concentrate on what really matters—building a strong team, improving patient care, and refining operations.