---
title: "What Is Dental support organization? Dental Practice Glossary"
description: "Another name for a DSO, used by the ADA, for a company that supports the business side of dental practices."
url: https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/dental-support-organization
publisher: Copeland Consulting Services
email: drcopeland@joncopelanddds.com
contact: https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact
---

Dental service organizations

# Dental support organization

Another name for a DSO, used by the ADA, for a company that supports the business side of dental practices.

Dental support organization is the ADA's preferred wording for DSO. The ADA writes that these organizations are entities that dental practice owners contract with to manage the administrative, marketing and business sides of a practice.

Its Health Policy Institute counts a practice as DSO-affiliated when an outside entity manages some or all non-clinical functions, such as billing, marketing and human resources. The ADA says DSOs do not provide patient clinical services, and that the clinical side stays with licensed dentists.

The terms [dental service organization](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/dental-service-organization) and [DSO](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/dso) mean the same thing in daily use. State rules on who may own or control clinical care differ. This entry is a general definition and favors no model.

[Next stepIndustry work with Dr. Copeland](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact?topic=industry)

## Related terms

-   [DSO](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/dso)
-   [Dental service organization](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/dental-service-organization)
-   [Management services agreement](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/management-services-agreement)
-   [Dental partnership organization](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/dental-partnership-organization)

## Sources

1.  [ADA News, What are the main types of DSOs?](https://adanews.ada.org/ada-news/2022/march/main-types-of-dsos/)
2.  [ADA News, More dentists affiliating with DSOs](https://adanews.ada.org/ada-news/2023/june/more-dentists-affiliating-with-dsos/)

## Talk with Dr. Copeland

[Contact Dr. Copeland](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact)[Email](mailto:drcopeland@joncopelanddds.com)