Once upon a time, in a bustling dental school at Western University (London, ON), a group of ambitious and forward-thinking dental students found themselves eager to start exploring life after dental school. This coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and reminded them how integral proficiency in the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, business, and innovation is for people from any walk of life to thrive professionally and personally.
Driven by their entrepreneurial spirit, this group of classmates decided to take matters into their own hands. They envisioned a platform where dental students could learn about career development and entrepreneurship within the context of dentistry. Thus, the idea of an interest group called Dental Entrepreneurship, Business, and Innovation (DEBI) was born in August 2020.
They began by reaching out to like-minded students and professionals who shared their passion for blending dental expertise with business acumen. They started organizing discussions to gauge interest and build a core team for the club. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with students from various years expressing a keen desire to learn more about different career paths in dentistry.
DEBI quickly gained popularity within the dental school community and expanded to other Canadian dental schools. The club started to use different platforms to distribute information. They began by hosting a podcast series (The Business of Drilling), inviting guests at various stages of their careers or coming from different corners of the dental industry. They continued by hosting virtual workshops and seminars featuring successful dentist entrepreneurs and business professionals inside and outside the dental industry. DEBI has distributed surveys among its members for their opinions throughout their operations. The results overwhelmingly pointed to a lack of preparation in the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, innovation, and career development and the absence of dentist innovators in the advancement of the dental industry.
From a handful of students at the start of this journey, the organization’s leadership team has grown to include more than two dozen members. As recent graduates, three founding members, Nima Noyan, Nima Lighvan, and Bhavya Jani, have formed the core of the organization’s leadership. Other former leadership team members have gone on to pursue stellar careers in dentistry across the nation as the newest members of the Canadian dental community. With a dedicated team in place, the next steps of the journey for DEBI started to take shape.
Most recently, DEBI held its flagship inaugural dental business competition in April 2023, called TranscenDent. During this two-day event, in collaboration with the Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship and Ivey School of Business (Western University), 12 teams with four members each (two dental students, one business student, and one engineering student) competed to present their ideas for increasing access to dental care through technological innovations. This event was attended and well-received by many guests and competition judges, most notably by Minister McNaughton, MPP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, and Ontario Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, who presented the winning team with a certificate of recognition from Premier Doug Ford. The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) offers a significant historic opportunity to enhance access to dental care. If executed effectively, the CDCP has the potential to stand as one of Canada’s greatest achievements in public health. Improving access to affordable dental care is a pillar of DEBI’s mission and aligns perfectly with this national movement. DEBI hopes to join this movement and contribute to this cause in collaboration with all the stakeholders.
While the DEBI team plans to continue their existing operations, including their second annual TranscenDent Competition (February 2024), they are transitioning into a new chapter. DEBI hopes to develop a hub for the exchange of ideas and innovations. In collaboration with their industry partners, this mission hopes to facilitate the evolution of ideas in dental clinical practice, technology, and policy from infancy to fruition.