Dentech 2025, the premier oral health investment and innovation summit, will welcome the top decision-makers in oral health on Oct. 9-10 in Somerville, Massachusetts.
CareCapital Managing Director Dai Feng is one of those decision-makers. An influential leader in global oral health investment, he is ahead of the curve in identifying and funding technologies that will enhance patient care and shift the dentistry profession.
CareCapital has enabled innovation across the world, with investments in the Asia-Pacific, North America, South America, Europe and the Middle East. The firm connects companies with resources and strategies for sustainable development and positive impact in oral health.
Feng will deliver dentech’s Day 2 keynote address on what dental startups need to succeed. A former member of ADA Forsyth’s Board of Directors, Feng has provided guidance on translational science efforts and investment strategy to the organization.
ADA Forsyth sat down with Feng for a preview of the ideas he’ll bring to dentech 2025. We also cover his thoughts on the future of global innovation in oral health.
It is a pleasure to welcome you back to dentech this year. You’ll be delivering a presentation on stronger oral health innovation. What is your main message?
Dai Feng (DF): I’m looking forward to presenting this year at dentech about how we can improve the success rate of dental startups by empowering clinician-scientists and putting their expertise at the forefront.
We need to put the clinician-scientist back in a decision-making role at startups and translational science efforts. Too often, their expertise gets drowned out by business leaders, technologists, engineers, or financiers who misunderstand evidence-based dentistry, how technologies are developed, or how technologies are adopted in the real world.
I’ll go into a few examples of where clinician-scientists’ intuition saved the day. I’ll also take a look at some instances where these scientists second-guessed themselves when they should not have. I hope investors and business leaders can better understand how to involve clinician-scientists in making their ventures successful.
What are you looking forward to learning at this year’s dentech?
DF: It will be great to be back at dentech this year. I’m looking forward to learning from so many of the brightest minds in dentistry and oral health. When we put every stakeholder in this space in the same room, we generate amazing ideas to guide everyone forward. I’m interested in making connections with people who are creating the newest innovations in oral health.
It has been a real pleasure to get to know everybody at ADA Forsyth over the years and see the growth of every project. My relationship with ADA Forsyth and their team goes back almost a decade and includes so many exciting tech developments moving from the lab to the clinic.
What can improve the dental investment landscape?
DF: There are so many great dental technologies entering the industry and reaching patients, but we can become much more efficient if we do two things: realize the natural cycle of dental technology investment and put more clinician-scientists in decision-making roles.
As for the first point, we can improve the success of companies if we establish expectations effectively. From development to adoption, dental technology tends to take longer to catch on compared technologies in other spaces such as biotech, but has much stronger staying power over time.
Secondly, some questions can only be answered by clinician-scientists. We can rely on experience from clinician-scientists in making new products work from both the scientific and the clinical side of the equation.
What are the barriers to innovation and technology adoption in the dental space? How can they be overcome?
DF: We can overcome barriers to technology adoption by more readily meeting the needs of patients and dentists. Factors such as price or simplicity in implementing the product into a clinical setting make all the difference in whether a new technology succeeds or fails. Clinician-scientists can make these decisions because they have in-depth knowledge of the reality that clinicians face every day in delivering care to patients and operating in their own ecosystem.
Feng will join many other influential oral health executives from around the world at dentech 2025 on Oct. 9-10. Register virtually to learn more about what’s next in oral health technology and investment.
