THE IMPERATIVE OF CHANGE IN BUSINESS AND ACADEMIA
PRESENTED BY STANLEY M. BERGMAN
HENRY SCHEIN, INC. CHAIRMAN AND CEO
APPROPRIATE CARIES CARE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
MAURICE H. KORNBERG SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY
MAY 29, 2012
It is a great privilege to share some thoughts with you as we begin this important international
conference addressing dental caries – one of the global health epidemics of our time. Let me
begin by thanking our host, Dr. Amid Ismail, the Dean of the Maurice H. Kornberg School of
Dentistry at Temple, who asked me to share my perspective on “the imperative of change in
business and academia.”
Embracing change and recognizing the opportunities that change brings is a quality that I have
seen first-hand throughout my career, and one that I have tried to instill in Henry Schein as we
have reinvented our Company over the years. Organizational change and reinvention requires
what Noel Tichy, a professor at the University of Michigan Business School and one of the world’s
foremost authorities on organizational behavior, referred to as a “transformational leader” –
someone who recognizes the trigger indicating that change is needed. Transformational leaders
create a vision, mobilize commitment, and institutionalize change. I was privileged to work with
such transformational leaders, such as Henry Schein, Bob Sullivan and Jay Schein, and I have
tried to be a transformational leader since taking over for Jay following his untimely passing in
1989.
In the area of dental caries, Amid is certainly a transformational leader, as evidenced by his vision
of hosting this conference. And without question, the trigger that indicates change is needed in the
way we address dental caries is seen in the statistics that we all know so well. The prevalence of
Early Childhood Caries, the single most common chronic childhood disease, is increasing again.
Economic status, race, culture, lack of awareness of the importance of preventative oral care –
these are all important factors, as are lack of dental insurance among many people and the
growing shortage of dental health professionals in particular geographic areas. A result of these
trends is that many children with Early Childhood Caries now require costly, restorative treatment
in an operating room under general anesthesia, a development that was noted in a New York
Times article on March 6. Under Medicaid expenditures, such operations range from $1,500 to
$2,000 per child per year.
As far back as May 2000, the Surgeon General’s report described dental disease as a “silent
epidemic.” To underscore the seriousness of dental cavities, some dentists have even begun to
refer to caries as “strep tooth.” Yet we remain woefully short of the goals laid out in that report 12
years ago, and the programs we have implemented over the last two decades are not working.
As the demographics of our country continue to shift, oral health literacy increasingly has become
a cultural challenge. Simply saying eat nutritious balanced meals, brush twice a day with fluoride
toothpaste, floss, visit your dentist regularly and use dental sealants is not enough. We must break
down these messages for different segments of our population and focus the information in a
culturally-competent way, or we will never be as effective as we should be.
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Despite our collective efforts, the difficult truth is that the epidemic of dental caries has not gone
away, and it will not unless we act now and boldly reinvent the way we address this global health
crisis. The time for change has come, and this change must include business, academia, the
health professional community, the governmental sphere, and non-governmental organizations.
Our only hope to meet these challenges in the oral health and overall heath community is through
robust multi-sectoral dialogue and public-private partnerships.
Henry Schein has long championed the public-private partnership model as the best path to
success in addressing complex global health issues, such as dental caries. We recognize the
unique skills and resources that academia, the health care professions, NGOs, government
organizations and the private sector bring to assessing issues, solving problems, and implementing
programs that really make a difference.
One great example of a successful public-private partnership is the American Dental Association’s
Give Kids A Smile program, which is now celebrating its 10th anniversary. This year Give Kids A
Smile is providing education, awareness and preventative care to about 400,000 children. But that
is not enough, and we need to do more. The Give Kids A Smile program has been expanded from
a single-day effort annually to a year-round program, but it is still only a demonstration model.
Together we should create ongoing sustainable community-based education and prevention
programs.
No single sector can do it all, and no single sector should feel wholly responsible for addressing
oral health care generally or the epidemic of dental cavities in children specifically. We all
recognize that this is a preventable disease; however, if industry and academia, along with the
clinical community and a host of stakeholders, do not begin to work more effectively together, we
will never reverse the trend of cavities in our children.
Treating and restoring is necessary to help preserve the quality of life of the existing population of
children who have oral cavities, but it is not a long-term path to success. Together we must lead
an innovative new approach to address Early Childhood Caries. This approach should begin
before the child is born and continues through early childhood. It should include parents,
caregivers, teachers, nurses, dentists and their teams. And it should extend to the broader health
care community and include pediatricians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and others who
recognize that oral health care is an essential part of primary care. We should implement
prevention programs that include pre-k, Head Start and WIC programs; that integrate and mobilize
these initiatives with stronger, more focused and more relevant oral health care information, so by
the time children start school they do not have the incidence of oral cavities that we currently see.
One very promising multi-party initiative that launches this year is the Advertising Council
campaign on oral health, “Partnership for Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lives,” which includes the
Dental Trade Alliance, the American Dental Association and numerous professional organizations.
This innovative, bilingual campaign will focus national media attention on the importance of good
oral health care throughout one’s life, with an extra emphasis on early childhood. The program is
based on market research and is totally different than the traditional smiley-face ads that have
been used in the past. The campaign includes relevant, well-researched impact issues that affect
the way people live and think today. It considers what the various population segments face when
dealing with good oral health compliance behavior that is essential in preventing cavities, like
brushing twice a day, flossing, and eating the right foods.
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Industry adapts to change on a regular basis – it is part of our private sector DNA. Today I want to
encourage similar openness and non-political assessment by other stakeholders as we look at the
epidemic of dental caries together. With this new shared perspective, we could create a broad
integrated public-private solution to meet this complex challenge that we face here in the United
States and around the world.
I want to conclude today with two quotes that have inspired our reinvention at Henry Schein, and
hold great relevance for our mission at this conference. The first is a quote from Senator Robert
Kennedy, who paraphrased a line from a George Bernard Shaw play when he said: “Some men
see things the way they are and ask ‘why.’ I see things that never were and ask ‘why not.’” Each
of us should look at the challenge of dental caries from a new perspective, imagine a new
approach, and ask “why not.”
The second quote is from the poet Robert Frost, who wrote: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.” The challenge that we face
together demands that we journey together down a “road less traveled by,” that we be pioneers
blazing a new trail.
It takes a village to raise a child, and it is going to take a committed coalition of industry, academia,
government, NGOs, and health care professionals to create and implement successful models that
can be reproduced throughout our country and internationally. Now is the time to act and we are
the group who should lead the charge. Join all of us at Henry Schein in asking “why not?” Join us
on the “road less traveled by.” We are determined to do our part in this important endeavor, and
we look forward to working with each of you to reverse the trends in dental caries.
Thank you again for this opportunity to share my perspective and have a very productive
conference.
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