Is the corporate world taking over dentistry? The question bothers many dentists who run private offices as the industry is overwhelmed with uncertainty regarding the future. Amongst them is Dr. Antoinette Liles, the founder of Mint Dental, a new state-of-the-art dental office located in Pearl, Mississippi, “Where Art Meets Science.” Antoinette takes great pride in how her independently owned dental office delivers the utmost satisfaction to her clients by focusing on their personalized needs.
While the executives running corporations intend to cut costs and increase volume in their business models, Antoinette emphasizes that when it comes to health care, the corporate model isn’t as appealing as it appears. Especially to clients looking for the best services treating them as human beings rather than statistics. Antoinette’s vision as a private dentist has earned her recognition and appreciation. In 2021, she was included in the Top 50 Leading Business Women by Mississippi Business Journal.
However, Antoinette isn’t just an accomplished entrepreneur. She is also a concerned community and business leader who emphasizes the need to provide quality health care services. Like most dentists delivering on this promise, Antoinette fears that as corporations aim to take over the dental industry, the dentists who have spent years becoming successful practitioners will face new challenges as it will become impossible to compete with corporations.
While it is true that no business model can be sustainable unless there’s a market for it, Antoinette warns of the perils that will lead to the inevitable exploitation of dentists at the cost of the quality and care that private dentists are known to provide. Hence, she is fighting to preserve the profession of dentistry from being taken over by corporations. “Soon, all you’ll see are “Walgreens and CVS,” instead of mom and pop practices like mine,” shares Antoinette.
Antoinette is excelling at multiple roles. She is also a TV star who appeared on Oprah Winfrey Network’s reality TV series Belle Collective. The show follows five businesswomen from Jackson, Mississippi, who work together to redevelop their historical district. She is the founder of the Mentorship/Scholarship program aptly named Mintorship. The nonprofit organization provides shadowing and scholarships to pre-dental HBCU students in Mississippi. Antoinette aspires to see HBCU schools produce more black dentists as she hopes to contribute to uplifting her community.
She paid off $212,000 of Student Loan Debt acquired from dental School in 3 years. But as the only person in television history to build a dental office on a national platform, she understands that not all dentists will be as successful as her. If her mission resonates with you, feel free to donate here.
Conscious of her influential stature’s responsibilities, Dr.Antoinette remains dedicated to raising awareness regarding the confusion surrounding her profession’s future. She is using all the platforms she can to reinstate the importance of prioritizing the well-being of patients rather than luring them into lower-priced solutions compromising the attentive care the profession of dentistry is known to deliver.
You may learn the art and craft of smiling through the struggles of life from Dr. Antoinette here.
Instagram: @lilesofsmiles
Facebook: @mintdentalms
YouTube: @Mint Dental: Antoinette Liles DMD
