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Corporate dentistry becomes a darling with Wall Street investors, and the North American Dental Group is bought by a private equity firm. In order to speed its growth, NADG takes on huge, messy debt. Experts say this is junk-bond like debt, with big interest payments – and all of that puts greater and greater pressure on the dentists to meet productivity goals. Can dentistry and private equity work together without more oversight?

Who actually controls your dentist and decisions about your health care? That's the question at the heart of our series, Open Wide. There are hidden pressures you won't see on the sign outside the practice or inside the office. And those pressures stretch all the way from Wall Street into the dental chair.