Nearly every dentist has experienced it -- a vacuum or compressor fails midmorning, forcing a cascade of canceled appointments and frantic calls to a repair technician who may or may not have the right parts. Meanwhile, clinicians and staff scramble with the schedule and worry how long production will be halted.
TotalOp, introduced by DentalEZ at the 2026 Chicago Midwinter meeting, is a new subscription model that aims to address these problems through a partnership with three distinct companies with capabilities that none could deliver alone.
In this episode of The DrBicuspid.com Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Kevin Henry sits down with the architects of the program: Heather Trombley, president and chief operating officer of DentalEZ; Dr. Scott Kalniz, a practicing dentist turned chief dental officer at Beam Benefits, who has been consulting with DentalEZ on the initiative; and Jinesh Patel, co-founder and CEO of UptimeHealth, which provides the software and service network that powers TotalOp.
Nearly every dentist has experienced it -- a vacuum or compressor fails midmorning, forcing a cascade of canceled appointments and frantic calls to a repair technician who may or may not have the right parts. Meanwhile, clinicians and staff scramble with the schedule and worry how long production will be halted.
TotalOp, introduced by DentalEZ at the 2026 Chicago Midwinter meeting, is a new subscription model that aims to address these problems through a partnership with three distinct companies with capabilities that none could deliver alone.
In this episode of The DrBicuspid.com Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Kevin Henry sits down with the architects of the program: Heather Trombley, president and chief operating officer of DentalEZ; Dr. Scott Kalniz, a practicing dentist turned chief dental officer at Beam Benefits, who has been consulting with DentalEZ on the initiative; and Jinesh Patel, co-founder and CEO of UptimeHealth, which provides the software and service network that powers TotalOp.
The concept is straightforward, but the execution required years of groundwork. Under TotalOp, practices pay a fixed monthly fee with no additional capital outlay, receive all-new DentalEZ equipment, and are covered for seven years, including preventive maintenance, repairs, and software upgrades delivered remotely. No emergency repair calls. No surprise invoices. No canceled days.
What differentiates TotalOp from an equipment lease is the data layer. DentalEZ's smart-enabled chairs and units continuously transmit signals -- monitoring pressure, usage patterns, electrical anomalies, and even chair position -- to UptimeHealth's platform, which can identify potential failures before they occur and dispatch service proactively. Kalniz explains how chair position data, when linked to a practice management system, can reveal which providers are working efficiently and who may need additional support -- a particularly powerful tool for dental service organizations with dozens or hundreds of locations.
Trombley frames TotalOp as a model borrowed from other technology-forward industries. Like electric vehicles that receive over-the-air software updates, TotalOp practices receive new functionality automatically over the life of the program, future-proofing an investment without requiring additional spending.
Learn more about TotalOp or contact Darby Dental, TotalOp's sales and distribution partner.
