Implant Centers of America launched a clinician-led dental support organization focused on implant-supported restorative dentistry, bringing together 9 dental offices and 2 business units across 6 states.
The organization, known as ICOA, announced its launch in an August press release. The platform, which includes practices in New York, New Jersey, Kentucky, Missouri, Colorado, and Hawaii will operate with the founding dentists retaining ownership in the combined organization. They will also continue to serve as clinical decision-makers for the practices.
ICOA said the model is intended to differ from a traditional practice roll-up by preserving local clinical autonomy while providing centralized infrastructure, including revenue cycle management, procurement, accounting, marketing, and operational support.
“Every doctor in this group could have kept doing exactly what they were doing and done very well,” Rodman Rodriguez, co-founder and chief executive officer of ICOA, said in the release. “They joined because building something together—shared protocols, shared infrastructure, shared purchasing power, and a real seat at the table—creates something none of us could build alone.”
The platform is centered on minimally invasive implant dentistry and aims to expand patient access to implant-supported restorative treatment, according to ICOA. The organization said it also plans to support clinicians through shared educational resources, technology, clinical protocols, and business services.
Todd E. Shatkin, DDS, co-founder, chairman, and chief clinical officer of ICOA, said the organization is intended to extend principles he has developed throughout his career in minimally invasive implant treatment.
“Restoring a person’s ability to eat, speak, and smile is about far more than replacing teeth—it can restore health, confidence, and dignity,” he said in the release. “ICOA is the next chapter of that work: scaling the minimally invasive principles I’ve spent my career refining through a national organization built on education, advanced technology and evidence-based protocols.”
In addition to its clinical practices, the organization includes Mini Dental Implant Centers of America and Ellis Advertising.
Mini Dental Implant Centers of America operates a practice-development and licensing program for general dentists. According to ICOA, participating dentists can receive exclusive local territories and brand rights along with clinical training, mentorship, case consultation, guided-surgery and laboratory workflows, patient-financing resources, and practice coaching.
The program is designed both to support independent practices and to provide a development pathway for clinicians who could eventually join the broader ICOA platform, the company said.
Ellis Advertising provides marketing services for the organization and individual offices, including television advertising, long-form infomercials, print and direct-mail materials, and local media buying.
ICOA said the combination of clinical practices, business units, and centralized support services is intended to allow the organization to add practices while maintaining clinical standards and the culture of individual offices. Thomas Baggett III, DDS, founder of Springfield Mini Dental Implants, said in the release that joining the organization gives his practice access to additional infrastructure without changing his clinical approach.
“I’ve placed and restored over 20,000 implants, and every one of them started with a patient who thought they were out of options,” Dr. Baggett said. “Joining ICOA doesn’t change how I practice. It gives me a bench behind me—protocols, purchasing, education, people who’ve solved the problems I’m solving—so I can spend more time doing the part only I can do.”
The company plans to continue expanding through an identified pipeline of implant-focused clinicians. ICOA said new practices will be added according to the organization’s capacity to integrate them into the platform. The company said its long-term goal is to develop a national network of implant-focused practices while emphasizing clinician ownership, collaboration, education, and minimally invasive care.
