BUCYRUS — A new dental practice in Bucyrus is quickly becoming an industry leader in dental health and well-being.
PURE Health Dental, 231 S. Sandusky Ave., is owned by Aziza Abed, a registered dental hygienist. She opened the office in June 2018, the first of six locations in Ohio, all under the PURE Health Dental Partners umbrella.
“The whole experience has been great,” said Abed, who has more than 30 years’ experience in the dental field. “We’re all wearing many hats, but it’s nice to have a business that can offer leadership training, networking and state-of-the art technology.”
Abed is actually a trailblazer in the profession, and in the Dental Support Organization or DSO world. She worked in a dental office when she was only 15 and eventually went to school for dental hygiene, initially with her sights on medical school.
Raising a family in Westlake, Ohio, took precedence, however, and a full-time job offer in 2001 from DentalOne Partners to become the company’s regional clinical advisor took her down a different career path – the management and business side of the profession.
Abed quickly rose through the ranks until, in early 2018, she developed a business plan and secured funding to start her own DSO, a lifelong goal.
“They believed in my vision and they saw the passion I had for the profession which led them to invest in me,” she said.
PURE Health Dental Partners was born.
Two of Abed’s five sons, Jamal “Jimmy” and Kamal “Kam,” have leadership roles in the company, which also offers surgery as well as restorative and cosmetic dentistry. But health and wellness services are what really sets the practice apart, according to its CEO.
PURE Health’s name was derived from the concept of treatment planning for patients based on total body health and a review of their medical history, Aziza Abed said.
“The goal is to achieve PURE health – oral and systemic – which adds value to the visit,” she said.
Two dentists, Dr. Francis Henize, Jr. and Dr. Robert P. Cox, lead the Bucyrus office team. PURE Health Dental also operates locations in Bainbridge, Cuyahoga Falls, Garfield Heights, Seven Hills and Maple Heights, with plans to expand into other states.
Abed is a believer in the DSO model, which she said is the way of the future. Although she’s competing with larger, more established practices, her goal for PURE Health Dental is to become a mid-sized firm with $40 million in revenue within five years.
“Once we perfect our model, we will then look at growing incrementally,” she said. “We have all the resources available to help structure and build our organization, so it’s just a matter of identifying best fit opportunities.”
Abed said that most of all she is blessed to be surrounded by good-hearted people who realize her value and commitment to the business.
“They opened avenues for me that I never dreamed possible,” she said.
“It’s fun and I have my sons, my boys, working with me.”
