2025 has been an incredibly busy year here at Oryx. We’ve won numerous awards and recognitions—including a coveted spot on the Inc 5000 list as the #75 fastest-growing privately-owned software company in the US—and expanded quickly, updating our platform with many new AI features and adding a number of impressive, seasoned tech professional additions to Oryx’s leadership team.
Each of these industry experts shares a common thread: they’re all deeply experienced software as a service (SaaS) professionals with track records of excellence and the ability to scale teams and organizations. Last week, we spoke with one of these new leaders, Karen Gray, Oryx’s first-ever Chief Customer Officer, to learn more about building a customer-obsessed culture and providing the best partnership experience possible.
This week, we’re sitting down with another of our recent additions to the leadership team: Tahlor DiCicco, Chief Commercial Officer at Oryx Dental. Some of you may have met Tahlor already this year. She quietly joined over the summer and immediately jumped in with both feet first, flying around the U.S. to attend events, share insights, and dig into all things Oryx.
Now, with around nine months at the helm of Oryx’s sales and marketing functions, we connected with Tahlor to learn more about:
- How Oryx stays customer-obsessed and uses feedback to shape the roadmap
- 2025’s biggest successes and what to expect in 2026: continued growth, deeper AI throughout the platform, and more presence across dental education and events
- Scaling a SaaS company with excellence behind every decision
A Q&A With Tahlor DiCicco, Chief Commercial Officer of Oryx Dental
Oryx Dental: Wow, six months have flown by since you joined the “herd” at Oryx! Before we dig into your work at Oryx, we’re curious to ask: what drew you to the company? You don’t have a background in dental tech, correct?
Tahlor DiCicco: That’s right. The beauty of vertical SaaS products is that they’re taking industries that have, for whatever reason, been neglected by big box technology companies and helping those industries and their companies grow. That’s an exciting place to be, with lots of opportunity to drive growth, and to really improve things for customers. I’ve spent my career jumping into new industry verticals, so dentistry felt like an exciting new adventure in some ways, but also familiar in others.
The common element throughout my career is that each company I’ve joined has been a true, vertical SaaS organization. While of course every industry has its unique quirks and specifics, there are actually a lot of similarities when it comes to SaaS as a category, whether it’s designed for dental offices, residential management companies, or website developers, all of which are three areas I’ve worked in over the years.
Part of what got me so excited about Oryx was Dr. Rania’s incredible founder journey. The best products are always built when the creator is trying to solve a problem they’re personally experiencing because, chances are, if it’s a problem for them, it’s a problem for lots of other people, too. And, as the daughter of a female entrepreneur and as a female business executive myself, I was very motivated to work with an inspiring woman leader. If you haven’t checked out Dr. Rania’s interview with Biz Women, you should. It’s full of great insights.
I was also excited by the opportunity to marry Oryx’s existing, deep dental domain expertise with my own operational scaling experience. Dr. Rania has so much knowledge and perspective as a dentist and, of course, as the heart and soul of the company’s vision and mission. After a decade of organic growth, I could see a huge opportunity in bringing my experience to take that domain specialization and boost Oryx into the company’s next big phase and do so in a responsible and efficient way.
Oryx Dental: Speaking of the technology gap for certain industries, you could say that dentistry was left behind by the cloud revolution in the 2010s. Today, a huge percentage of dental offices still rely on legacy, on-prem technology solutions. Are you seeing a shift in how dental offices view technology, particularly the cloud?
Tahlor DiCicco: Absolutely. There’s been a lot of interest in the cloud, with legacy vendors starting to offer hybrid solutions. VC has also discovered dental software and are looking to make investments in different approaches, like Overjet and Pearl’s AI imaging platforms, both of which are partners of ours at Oryx.
The desire to migrate to the cloud is being driven, in my opinion, by a few factors.
Firstly, many of the younger dentists entering the workforce today, either by starting their own practices, joining established groups, or buying out an existing business, are digital natives. They’re used to the convenience of cloud technology in all other aspects of life, from shopping to media to travel. Why shouldn’t it be in their workplace, too? As they become decision-makers in things like tech purchasing, they want something modern, comprehensive, and sleek that keeps up with their on-the-go workflow and pace.
Additionally, there’s a broader movement with patients around holistic health. Research has shown that oral health is linked to different chronic or acute conditions. As people have more access to information about health via search, social media, and generative AI like ChatGPT, they’re viewing it more holistically, too. Oral health is a gateway into the body, and so patients are more interested in it.
Oryx Dental: Oryx’s customers tend to fall into that tech-savvy, cloud-forward section of dentistry. What insights have you learned from Oryx’s customer base, and how does that impact Oryx as an organization?
Tahlor: The dentists we work with are innovative, motivated, and always want to do better. We’re so fortunate to have a fierce and loyal customer base. Generally, when people don’t speak up, it’s because they don’t care. But when you have a boisterous, outspoken audience, you know that they do.
People are excited about what we’re doing. We speak with customers all the time about what they want, what’s working and not working, and where things are going. This close relationship gives the team an almost real-time lens into what’s happening in dentistry. And that’s why we design our product roadmap and timelines around customer feedback. You can see that in just how many AI products the team launched in 2025.
In short, we’re customer-obsessed for a reason… and the obsession is mutual!
Dentistry is really a sector of small businesses. Many dental offices are composed of a single dentist, or perhaps a team of dentists, and their team members in the front and back of the office. These are folks who are integral parts of their communities. They care about the health of their patients and are directly connected to it. They’ll see a patient in the chair on a Monday and then again out grocery shopping at the same store on a Thursday.
That means dentists are deeply invested in their business, patients, and community. It also means the buck stops with them. Every decision impacts their daily experience, their customers, and their bottom line. That’s a huge amount of trust to put into Oryx, and it’s why we’ve naturally gravitated towards a very customer-centric, customer-first culture.
Oryx Dental: Looking ahead to 2026, how do you see Oryx’s growth from a commercial potential? How will the company continue creating value for customers and continue to connect with them?
Tahlor: 2025 was a huge year for Oryx. The Inc 5000 win was a feather in our cap, and we were also honored to see Dr. Rania named to the Inc Female Founders list. We had boots on the ground at dozens of events, brought our platform to more new dentists than ever before, and shared exciting partnership news and product updates.
In the new year, the theme will be more growth. We’ll be staying true to our commitment to support dental small businesses, dentist-owned groups, emerging DSOs, and practices everywhere in between. We’ll be focused on delivering products that meet the needs of customers who want to scale efficiently with a Kois Center-inspired approach.
I’ve always believed that if you take care of your people, they take care of your business. That’s why we’re not just continuing to grow the team, but we’re also investing in our benefits for employees around PTO, parental leave, performance reviews, and more.
Additionally, AI will continue to be a focus in 2026 and beyond. Customers can expect to see more use of AI throughout our whole platform.
We also remain committed to working with dental education, dental consultants, and other players who help the industry learn and grow. You’ll be seeing a lot more of our team across all the key dental events, as well as online: our website, social media channels, and beyond.
Oryx Dental: What message do you want Oryx’s team or customers to take into 2026 and throughout the coming year?
Tahlor: Oryx is unique in the dental tech landscape. We were founded by dentists for the future of dentistry. Our origins began from a pure desire to deliver better dentistry. That’s why in an increasingly busy tech marketplace, we are the comprehensive clinical choice for modern dentistry.
With cloud technology and an all-in-one approach, dentists can stay focused on patients and let technology do the tedious work for them. Our mission is to modernize dentistry so dentists can do what they do best, which is provide care for patients. That is what we exist for, at the end of the day: the patient.
Growing Into 2026 With Confidence—and Without Compromise
Dental offices today face more pressures than ever before: post-pandemic staffing shortages, increased cost of materials, hefty dental school fees, and more. Modern, cloud-based dentistry offers both new and established dentists a way to streamline operations, do business more efficiently, and spend more time where it matters—in the chair with patients.
That’s why Oryx has grown steadily since 2016 with such robust customer input. With an all-in-one, cloud-native perspective, our platform allows dental offices to tap into the power of AI, work across multiple locations, and ensure every team member is delivering excellence in clinical care, customer service, and more.
As 2026 approaches, dental offices can make a New Year’s resolution to be the best they can—The future of dentistry is growing brighter every day, just like a healthy smile!
Start 2026 off right, book a demo today →
