RESULTS AT A GLANCE
- Generated nearly $1M in net production over the most recent 11 completed months
- Welcomed an average of approximately 80 new patients per month, with some months exceeding 100 new patients
- Reached 1,500 active patients within 18 months of opening
- Maintained approximately 90% hygiene reappointment rates while continuing to scale
CLIENT SNAPSHOT
- Practice:Pawsitive Pediatric Dentistry
- Profile:A single-location pediatric dental practice serving children from birth onwards on all issues relating to oral health, including tongue-ties and airway health
- Location:Ephrata, PA
- Owner:Milca Mendez-Ceballos
- Goal:Open a new pediatric startup practice and design the best experience for pediatric patients and their caregivers—from day one
The Challenge
Launch a Pediatric Dental Practice with the Best Patient and Caregiver Experience from Day 1
Raised in a family of dentists, Milca Mendez-Ceballos, DDS, initially resisted dentistry. But, as she explored career paths, she realized that dentistry allowed her to blend her three favorite things: people, art, and science.
Certain she would follow an academic dental path, she was surprised during dental school at Virginia Commonwealth University to uncover a passion for hands-on pediatric dentistry. After volunteering for the university's charitable pediatric care program and completing a mission trip overseas to Jamaica, Dr. Mendez-Ceballos knew her life's purpose: to help children establish a positive relationship with oral health from the start.
After moving back to her hometown in Pennsylvania and working for several years as an associate in a large, volume-based practice, Dr. Mendez-Ceballos decided to turn her vision for pediatric dentistry into a practice of her own. She opened the doors to Pawsitive Pediatric Dentistry in 2023 with a vision to reimagine the dental experience for children, creating a place where every child feels safe, supported, and excited to build a lifelong foundation for oral health.
Making the Leap from Student to Startup
But opening those doors wasn't just an exercise in ticking boxes—it was a creative process that reimagined the patient experience across digital, physical, and clinical dimensions. In fact, Dr. Mendez-Ceballos never thought she'd open her own business.
"In dental school, I had no desire to start my own practice. No one taught me all the 'business-y' stuff. But after practicing dentistry for a few years, I realized career fulfillment came down to the patient experience for me. That could mean helping a child overcome their fear or educating and empowering a parent who initially doesn't trust you."
Dr. Milca Mendez-Ceballos, DDSFounder and Owner, Pawsitive Pediatric Dentistry
After much research and thought, Dr. Mendez-Ceballos made the leap to work for herself.
"In life, we chose our 'hard.' Everything has its own challenges. If you're on the right team and in the right business, not everyone needs to own their own dental practice. But if what you're passionate about and want to do doesn't exist in your area, you have to be comfortable working on someone else's terms or taking the risk, embracing the uncertainty, and leaning into what you want. They're both hard. I realized that I wanted to show up every day to practice dentistry how I want."
Dr. Milca Mendez-CeballosFounder and Owner, Pawsitive Pediatric Dentistry
As she began researching how to open her own practice, thinking deeply about the kind of business she wanted to found and grow, Dr. Mendez-Ceballos knew the right dental practice management software (DPMS) would be crucial to doing just that—practicing dentistry the way she wanted.
Selecting Oryx As a Bedrock for Patient + Team Experiences
Today, patients walking into Pawsitive immediately see Dr. Mendez-Ceballos' thoughtful approach to creating a dental practice.
The practice includes child-size bathrooms, an indoor swing to work out pre-appointment jitters, and plenty of fun books and toys. Children are greeted by a digital or physical welcome board, which office team members customize with each child's name and interests. During the appointment, kids can pick from colorful sunglasses during X-rays and select treats for a job well done. And for those who need it, Dr. Mendez-Ceballos' friendly and officially trained dog, Belle, offers animal-assisted therapy to help children feel calm and safe.
But for caregivers—the parents or other adults who make decisions about care—the experience starts long before they walk into the office.
"In dentistry, there are so many steps that need to happen before a person is actually in your chair. The patient experience starts the moment a parent or caregiver interacts with a brand, whether that's online, through a phone call, or word of mouth from a friend."
Dr. Milca Mendez-CeballosFounder and Owner, Pawsitive Pediatric Dentistry
At first, Dr. Mendez-Ceballos considered launching her office with Open Dental, a large, legacy DPMS provider, because she'd encountered it before in her career. However, unlike dentists who acquire a dental office with pre-existing processes and platforms, Dr. Mendez-Ceballos had the ability to start from scratch. She wanted to design the ideal office from the start, and a large, legacy, on-prem DPMS couldn't meet her needs—but Oryx could.
"As a startup, you of course want to limit the downside and software can feel like a huge expense. But it's important to start with the end in mind. Think about not just finances but ease of use both internally and externally: you could end up with patient-facing messages and processes via text, email, or phone numbers, all from different systems. And your team could end up needing to log into multiple places or get frustrated communicating between the clinical and business sides. I wanted things to be integrated, so caregivers and our internal team had the easiest experience."
Dr. Milca Mendez-CeballosFounder and Owner, Pawsitive Pediatric Dentistry
Dr. Mendez-Ceballos says one of the biggest reasons she chose Oryx was that caregivers experience one connected journey—from online scheduling to forms, reminders, and communication—rather than interacting with multiple disconnected systems.
She also loved Oryx's cloud-based office management features that allowed the team to:
- Communicate across the business and clinical side seamlessly within one platform
- Add custom templates and billing settings as the practice grew
- Contact support quickly and easily
Oryx's Pediatric Suite Enables Clinical and Business Success
Like many dental specialties, pediatric dental care comes with unique clinical needs not seen in general dentistry.
"Pediatric dentistry is full of quirks, such as partially erupted teeth. When looking at a chart, we need to be able to mark not just whether a tooth is there or not, but whether the adult tooth is present alongside the baby tooth."
Dr. Milca Mendez-CeballosFounder and Owner, Pawsitive Pediatric Dentistry
Oryx's out-of-the-box pediatric suite made it easy for Dr. Mendez-Ceballos to practice the art and science of working with small mouths. Oryx is designed to meet the specific needs of pediatric dental practices and clinicians:
Pediatric Workflows Are Different
How pediatric dentists treat children and their guardians is different from working with an adult. Oryx offers intuitive charting workflows for both primary and mixed dentition, including age-specific flags.
Little Teeth Experience Big Changes
Children's mouths can change dramatically between periodic visits. Oryx's platform includes guided exams specifically designed for pediatric dentistry, allowing dentists to document every change.
Busy Families Need Hassle-Free Solutions
Families today are busier than ever with school activities, work, and more. With a built-in, family-friendly patient portal, Oryx allows busy parents to communicate with dental practices and complete required documents—such as consent forms—remotely. Additionally, the portal enables parents to share photos over text after children fall or experience dental trauma, so Dr. Mendez-Ceballos' team can assist quickly.
Oral Health is a Lifelong Process
When it comes to a healthy mouth, long-term development matters tremendously. Oryx now includes features to support orthodontic tracking. Dentists can track orthodontic progress over time; monitor for compliance across different checkpoints, such as tracking aligner phases (e.g., Phase 1, refinement, retainers); and receive automatic flags for age-appropriate orthodontic evaluations.
With Oryx's suite of tools, Dr. Mendez-Ceballos' team can manage nearly every part of the patient journey within one connected platform, from digital forms and scheduling to clinical documentation, imaging, treatment planning, patient communication, payments, and reporting.
Pawsitive was able to:
- Shift most patient paperwork to pre-arrival completion, which has reduced check-in to under 5 minutes for families who complete forms in advance
- Reduce front-office administrative burden through digital workflows
- Outsource insurance workflows and billing to Oryx billing, freeing the internal team to focus more heavily on the patient and family experience
- Build an online scheduling infrastructure ready to scale with the addition of a new pediatric dentist in October 2026
- Create a more streamlined arrival experience while continuing to accommodate families who need additional support completing forms
For a growing pediatric practice, Oryx has helped Pawsitive create standardized workflows, reduce administrative steps, and give the team more time to focus on what matters most: the child and family in front of them.
AI Enhances Patient Education
As a joint customer of Pearl and Oryx, Dr. Mendez-Ceballos' practice uses Oryx's integration with Pearl AI as a visual education tool for children and their parents.
Pearl analyzes dental radiographs and visually highlights areas of potential concern, making it easier for families to understand what they are seeing on an X-ray. Rather than simply being told that a cavity or other finding is present, parents and children can see the areas being discussed in real time.
"The added visual layer helps make dental findings easier to understand. When patients can see what we see, it leads to more transparent conversations about treatment recommendations. Families feel more informed and engaged in their child's dental care."
Dr. Milca Mendez-CeballosFounder and Owner, Pawsitive Pediatric Dentistry
Empowering Patient-Centered Care with Oryx
Too often, adults avoid the dentist due to negative childhood experiences with pain, pressure, or fear. Even when dental care begins long before children can form long-term memories, early experiences shape future perceptions.
"Children won't remember every cleaning. They'll remember how they felt. If they leave smiling and excited to come back, we've done our job."
Dr. Milca Mendez-CeballosFounder and Owner, Pawsitive Pediatric Dentistry
Pediatric dentists are in a unique position to influence the way children view oral health and the importance of caring for their teeth. By using Oryx's all-in-one, cloud-based, and AI-powered DPMS from day one, Dr. Mendez-Ceballos was able to give Pawsitive Pediatric Dentistry's patients and caregivers the best from the very beginning. And when patients are happy, they return for services and refer their friends—and the practice thrives.
Over several years on Oryx's DPMS, Pawsitive has marked exciting growth milestones:
THE FIRST THREE YEARS
- 2023Pawsitive Pediatric Dentistry opens its doors, running on Oryx from day one
- 9 monthsMonthly production growth climbs from 50% to 100%
- 1 yearExpanded the active patient base by 75 to 125% within the first year
- 18 monthsReached 1,500 active patients within 18 months
- Under 3 yearsGrew to 2,600+ active patients, generating nearly $1M in net production over the most recent 11 completed months
- October 2026A new pediatric dentist joins, with online scheduling infrastructure already built to scale
Throughout that growth, Pawsitive has welcomed an average of approximately 80 new patients per month, with some months exceeding 100 new patients, and maintained approximately 90% hygiene reappointment rates while continuing to scale.
With Oryx, Dr. Milca Mendez-Ceballos' patients leave with shining smiles—and the practice has an equally shining future ahead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Oryx's DPMS be used by pediatric dental practices?
Absolutely! Oryx has developed a specialty suite of pediatric features designed just for this specialty. Pediatric practices can use the full suite of Oryx's cloud-based, AI-powered features for clinical, business, and patient communication workflows alongside specialty features such as pediatric dentition charting, AI-assisted specialty exams, orthodontic tracking, and more.
How can AI help pediatric dentistry?
AI-supported visualizations via Oryx's integrations with radiography partners like Pearl AI and Overjet help pediatric dentists explain children's X-rays to their families, making conversations about cavities, prevention, monitoring, and treatment easier to understand.
Other AI features allow dentists to spend more time building a rapport with patients. For example, Oryx's AI Voice Perio Charting allows pediatric dentists to chart hands-free, so they can be focused on their patient and the caregiver, rather than staring at a screen.
Should dental startups consider Oryx's DPMS?
Oryx is ideal for dental office startups. We help new practices get a strong start from day one, and we grow with you. Once your office is on Oryx, it's easy to add new features, create custom workflows, and bring the product into more aspects of your business. We're always innovating and listening to our customers. And for dental startups, we have a special offer—the first 200 patients are free!
See What Built-in AI Could Do for Your Practice
Oryx was founded by dentists, for the future of dentistry. We've been chairside ourselves, and we know the challenges and joys of operating a dental practice. Explore Oryx's AI features to see what powered Dr. Milca Mendez-Ceballos' results, or book your AI demo to watch the all-in-one platform in action.
