Smile Outreach International was born out of the founder, Dr. Mark Costes’ passion to utilize his skillset and those of his professional colleagues, to alleviate some of the pain and suffering that billions of people endure due to untreated dental disease.

The Dental Success Institute (DSI) is an organization dedicated to strategically improving the lives of dentists by increasing the profitability of their practices, eliminating their most common challenges and frustrations, while decreasing the amount of time they spend at the office. DSI hosts several group coaching, consulting, and team building events each year including the annual Dental Success Summit which features the profession's top speakers and influencers. Dr. Mark Costes has created a community of thousands of like-minded, success oriented dentists from all over the world whose virtual meeting place is www.TrueDentalSuccess.com. On this site, Dr. Costes regularly posts free practice building resources such as video, audio and written tutorials. DSI also offers several different training programs as well as Dr. Costes's recently released book, Pillars of Dental Success.

In 2005 I began the daunting task of creating a dental assisting school curriculum from scratch. My goal was to build a business that would generate passive cash flow, re-purpose my existing dental facility and leverage my credentials and staff. Over the course of one year, I researched, wrote, illustrated, shot video and assembled a body of coursework that could teach a person without any dental knowledge or experience how to be a dental assistant in just thirteen weeks. Once the entire program was complete, the curriculum and a detailed application was submitted to the Arizona State Board of Post Secondary Education for review. After a lengthy process of modifications, the board granted the curriculum their stamp of approval and a license to operate a dental assisting school in the state of Arizona.The licensing process gave us the insight and experience to offer our curriculum to dentists in other states. The small school which was opened in the reception area of my dental practice has grown into a company with over ninety locations throughout the United States.

When I founded Horizon Dental Group in 2005, we began with a simple mission: To provide exceptional dental care to our patients while making a positive impact within our community. This clear objective, as well as our dedication to creating an unforgettable experience for our patients and team members allowed us to expand rapidly into the Arizona communities of Prescott Valley, Flagstaff, Williams, Chino Valley and Scottsdale. Since that time, I have have been able to profitably transition out of all of the original six practices.