Meet Pathway Dental Partners

Welcome to the New Middle Ground

We’re a growing group of seasoned dental professionals setting out to change the dental business for good. We acquire, manage, and develop existing dental practices while helping our partner dentists to feel a sense of both autonomy and support.

We know how important this balance is. Our founders have worked in both private practice and corporate dentistry and want to do something unique: create a middle ground for dentists between operating as a solo practitioner and being just one more name on a crowded corporate roster.

Guided by our core values of balance, improving every day, and doing things the right way, we’re building a business that combines the best aspects of private practice with the resources of a big dental corporation. Each of our practices maintains its own distinct identity and brand, but our partner dentists no longer also have to wear the hats of a small business owner, accountant, marketing expert, and even lawyer anymore.

We handle all that, leaving our dentists free to focus on caring for their patients, watching the value of their practice equity grow, and wondering what to do with their newfound free time on nights and weekends!

Our Core Values

P2P-Power to the Pathway

We always strive to have a plan and stick to it. Being efficient and getting it right the first time stem from knowing what we’re going to do before we do it. From making sure we end each day on time to following proven procedures in our work, we do our best to give every patient the same great experience and keep things on an even keel for each other. Practice, over time, makes perfect.

BTY-Better Than Yesterday

We see every new day as an opportunity to do better, both for our patients and ourselves. We’re big believers in words like growth and education and are eager to learn from the past but not to dwell in it. Take a look at what went right, what we can improve, and then move forward. After all, where’s the fun in staying stuck in what’s already happened?

Balance

Making an impact means saying yes to both time on and time off. Work, home, self-care, patient-care; these all need proper attention in order to help us feel fulfilled and happy. We ask our team to stay in the moment: to show up at work ready to focus and then let it all go when the last patient walks out the door. Or as we like to put it: leave work at work and home at home.

Why Join Pathway?

	Running your own practice	Working with another DSO	Joining Pathway Dental
Feel ownership & independence
Flexibility
Maintain your own brand
Grow the value of your practice
Ongoing support & mentorship
Administrative & logistical support
Low financial risk
Focus on your patients
Develop new specialties
Spend more time with your family

Our Leadership Team

Sten M. Ericson, DDS

Dr. Sten M. Ericson is the founder and CEO of Pathway Dental Group. Dr. Ericson has been in private practice in Santa Barbara County for more than 13 years and is passionate about the science and artistry of dentistry. He has thoroughly enjoyed serving the community as a clinician and has pursued a vast array of advanced continuing education to further enhance his skill set not just for the purpose of treating his own patients, but also to share the knowledge he has gained with our partners.

Over the years, Dr. Ericson has been fortunate to join several local practices through direct contacts, recommendations, and personal requests from retiring doctors. He has taken the utmost care and consideration of both the patients and of the doctors while transitioning during these periods. This has allowed our privately owned group to grow under our standards of the highest excellence in patient care and experience.

As a group, we have seen the beneﬁts of having many sets of eyes rather than only one and how this has improved us all as practitioners. We believe there is a missing niche in the dental ﬁeld in that, from a patient perspective they see either corporate dentistry or a single doctor practice as their only options. We strive to bridge that gap by maintaining patient-centered focus practices that continuously work to build patient rapport while using the expertise all our providers can bring to the practice. Mentorship is our passion, so building an environment of support and constant learning is at our core at Pathway Dental Group.

Professional Affiliations & Recognition

International Congress of Oral Implantologists
- Awarded Fellowship in 2012
Instructor with Progressive Orthodontics
American Academy of Implant Dentistry
American Academy of Oral Systemic Health
American Dental Society of Anesthesiology
California Dental Society of Anesthesiology
American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry
- Currently in Accreditation Process (Candidate)
- Elected Member of Professional Education Committee
- Elected Member of the University Relations Committee
- Prodigy Progeny Think Tank – Appointed Member
Academy of General Dentistry
American Dental Association
California Dental Association
Santa Barbara Ventura County Dental Society
Santa Barbara Rotary Board of Directors
- Honorary Paul Harris Fellow – Pro Bono Work with Local Foster Youth
- Board of Directors – Public Relations

Jennifer Paxton

Director of Operations & Partner

Jennifer Paxton is the Director of Operations and a Partner at Pathway Dental Group with over 20 years of experience in the dental field. As a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara and a Registered Dental Assistant in extended functions, she first transitioned from a clinical role into management by becoming the office manager for several group practices before joining our team.

In her current position, Jennifer runs all practice operations, including hiring, budgeting, marketing, and patient relations. She also works with our other partners on growth and acquisitions, leads our practice relocations, and is in charge of training and developing our team. She created our core values and training platforms and also spearheads our efforts to integrate those values into our daily lives at Pathway Dental Group.