Mastering the Art of Dentistry: GAOC’s Dr. Steve Mark Gan’s Vision for the Future of Dentistry

Pioneering dental implants, Dr. Steve Mark Gan and GAOC have transformed the practice of dentistry in the Philippines. He shares how he is driven by excellence and service that leaves patients with a lasting smile.

GAOC, the now-ubiquitous dental center in the country, has been buoyed by the tremendous fame of its founder and chairman, Dr. Steve Mark Gan. Hailed as the “dentist to the stars,” Dr. Gan harnessed this opportunity to capture an impressive 25% of the market with the GAOC Group of Companies. And yet this fame came mid-way through a long and arduous entrepreneurial journey–one marked by hardship and sacrifice, with countless lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.

In this interview with The Business Manual, Dr. Gan tells us of the difficulties he experienced in the genesis of GAOC and the challenges of scaling the business as it experiences rapid growth. He shares how he pioneered dental implants in its early days, and, in the process, achieved no less than a transformation in the practice of dentistry in the Philippines.

The GAOC Group of Companies

Dr. Steve Mark Gan  is both an oral surgeon and entrepreneur.

As an entrepreneur, he founded Gan Advanced Osseointegration Center or GAOC in 2001. The GAOC Group has since grown in number—from one dental center to 10. Add to this figure another 14 centers under the banner of its sister company, Novodental. Come 2025, Novodental is expected to reach “30 to 35” centers, according to Dr. Gan.

At the same time, the GAOC Group of Companies has also practiced astute market segmentation, with GAOC serving the “premium” market and Novodental providing more affordable services for the middle of the market.

Behind the bright lights of both clinic chains lies an extensive B2B business which supports not only GAOC but also other dentists in the country. The GAOC Group of Companies has its own dental laboratory, called Samurai Dental Lab. And it also has Gantech Industries, which imports and distributes dental products, equipment and technology for the entire industry.

The reach of GAOC also extends to education and advocacy. The GAOC Dental Academy trains the future dentists of the industry while the GAOC Foundation is focused on giving back to the communities it belongs to. Aside from scholarship programs, the foundation also works with Operation Smile for cleft lip and cleft palate reconstruction.

For the GAOC Group of Companies, it seems there is no limit to its expansion across all fronts of the business. “We also have gone international as well,” Dr. Gan says with pride. “We’ve invested in Dental Academy Malaysia, which is basically the largest dental academy in Southeast Asia and also in the world, one of the biggest.”

Entrepreneur, Businessman, Dentist at Heart

Undeniably, as proven by the sheer size and breadth of GAOC, Dr. Steve Mark Gan is a successful entrepreneur and businessman. But he remains a dentist first.

“I’m an oral surgeon,” Dr. Gan says firmly, “so I’m a specialist. I do a lot of dental implants. I’m also a prosthodontist. I do a lot of crowns and veneers as well… I do still practice surgeries and dental implants and many more–more of everything about reconstructive surgery.”

With all the demands of the GAOC business, Dr. Gan jokes, “I’m still very confused. Am I a dentist or am I an entrepreneur or a businessman? …I’m so involved with all the businesses [that] they look at me as an entrepreneur… We have to sharpen our skills and I just have to make sure that our decisions are the right ones, right? Especially, we are now taking care of close to 700 people in our group of companies.”

“In my heart,” he continues, “I’m still a dentist rather than an entrepreneur… Because every patient that we treat, I have to make sure that I tell each and every one of our dentists, our 170 dentists, that the happiness of the patients, the patient satisfaction, is most important. Then, the business is secondary, it will come.

“Every patient that leaves our office has to be a happy patient. Kailangan happy, hindi lang satisfied. Kailangan masaya. [They have to be happy, not just satisfied. They need to be happy.]”

A Vision of Dentistry’s Future

From an early age, Dr. Steve Mark Gan was exposed to both entrepreneurship and the practice of medicine. His parents were both doctors, and it was from them that he learned the value of hard work. 

Dr. Gan speaks about these early lessons, saying, “My parents, especially my mom, really taught us the value of hard work and hardship, that we should be very careful with our money. So at such a young age, I started working. Me and my brother, we sold calamansi juice to the construction workers in Binondo, and from there, as we grew older, when we were in elementary, [we] sold pencils and stickers, then later shifted into comic books, then shifted into jeans, the next thing you know, I became a mobile DJ.”

Entrepreneurship was always a thread that ran through Dr. Gan’s life, even after he completed his studies in dentistry.

“After I graduated dentistry,” he recalls, “I didn’t know what to do. I was doing t-shirt printings, I was selling t-shirts, I was selling construction supplies.” It was then that Dr. Gan took further studies in the US–a move that would shape and cement his future.

“At that time, I didn’t have much, but I had some savings and I was able to save enough with the help, of course, of my parents as well… And one day, I attended this lecture of this amazing world-renowned oral maxillofacial surgeon from UCLA, his name is Dr. Peter Moy… And I found out that there was a fellowship position that was available, and I applied, and to my surprise I bested so many people, and I got in.”

Dr. Peter Moy is a UCLA professor and a leading authority in dental implants, a field in dentistry that had yet to gain prominence in the 1990s when Dr. Gan was still studying. It was from Dr. Moy that Dr. Gan learned what dentistry could be. He credits Dr. Moy for setting his direction as a dentist.

Dr. Gan explains, “He taught me everything I know about surgeries, dentistry, and most importantly, life.”

The most important life lesson Dr. Gan gained from Dr. Moy? “You have to practice what you preach,” Dr. Gan shares. ”You don’t fool the patients, you really give it your all, your best, because, of course, everybody will always say that you want the best for the patient… When I came back [to the Philippines], and I practiced it… it just led me to, one after another, you know, the successes.” 

The First GAOC Clinic

After Dr. Gan’s return from the U.S., he started a clinic with a third-hand dental chair and a handful of instruments that he had bought from the States. Success did not come right away.

“I was an oral surgeon,” he says. “I had all this training, and I was very confident that, you know, the money is just going to come in.. but no patients were coming in.”

While running this clinic, Dr. Gan maintained his entrepreneurial streak. More importantly, he nurtured a vision for a new kind of clinic–one that would become GAOC.

“I was still working odd jobs then,” he recalls, “selling construction supplies, trying to make ends meet before we were starting out. But later on I got busier with that, my old dental clinic in Binondo… That was 1998, I saved enough money. I opened up a clinic in Saint Luke’s QC, did a lot of work, hard work. I had partners then. Later on, I bought out my partners, and in 2001, I established the first GAOC clinic.”

Financial Challenges: ‘Be Humble’

Achieving this first milestone didn’t come easy for Dr. Gan.

He relates, “You know, it was really very difficult, if you don’t mind me sharing. It was a 6.5 million investment at 30 square, 60 square meters. So, at that time, it was a lot of money.”

Even though Dr. Gan was already making money from his practice at the time, he admits mismanaging his finances, an early mistake he writes off to youth.

“I’m just so happy that success came to me at an early age,” he says. “Why? Because when I was making money, I also did not know how to manage money. So, from when I was working and making ends meet, I was also enjoying.

“So, I bought a somewhat nice car at that time, a BMW 316. And I was just going out on dates and spending left and right and having the time of my life. Then the next thing you know, I didn’t know that my balance sheet was not balanced anymore.”

The state of his finances led Dr. Gan to, in his words, “borrow money left and right.” He also learned an important life lesson: “Be humble and remember who your real friends are,” he says.

“When I was trying to borrow money,” he recalls, “all my high society friends just avoided me like the plague and said I wouldn’t make it… Who were the people who stood by my side? [They] were my elementary classmates and my high school classmates. They came to my rescue.”

‘Remember Who Your Real Friends Are’

Dr. Gan remains acutely aware of how the success of GAOC was built on the support of his former classmates. He pauses the interview to gather his emotions before telling the story of how he found help from unexpected places.

“There’s one guy who had only 10,000 pesos in his bank,” Dr. Gan says. “Gave it all to me.”

Others would help in what ways they could. “My classmates from grade school,” Dr. Gan shares, “they would say, okay, I have 80,000 pesos, but if I give it to you, I need it back in one week.”

Faced with such dire financial problems, Dr. Gan was even forced to approach a loan shark, notorious in the Philippines for their predatory rates.

Dr Gan tells the story, saying, “I had to go to a loan shark in Araneta Avenue. And my cousin accompanied me along with my best friend. I went there at 5 p.m. And from 5 p.m., I waited for many hours. But the loan shark was just drinking with his friends. And I said, let’s have the transaction na. Basically, sabi niya, maghintay ka dyan. I don’t care who you are, maghintay ka dyan. [Basically, he said, you wait. I don’t care who you are, you wait there.]”

“And we waited till 11 p.m.,” he continues. “My best friend, he said, let’s go home. I said, I cannot. I have to get this money. Kung hindi mapuputok ang cheque ko [If I don’t, my check will bounce], and I would be ruined in my industry.”

Upon the insistence of his friend, they left. And though his friend also didn’t have money, he was able to secure a loan of 250,000 pesos from his own father.

Of those tumultuous times, Dr. Gan says, “So my classmates, my high school and my elementary classmates, were there for me until I was able to open [GAOC] on November 18, 2001. And the rest is history.”

Pioneering Dental Implants and GAOC’s Competitive Edge

Even with the financing for the first GAOC in place, much hard work remained to be done. With GAOC, Dr. Gan was pioneering a new kind of premium clinic experience. He was also championing dental implants.

In 2001, when GAOC was launched, very few people were aware of the benefits of dental implants. Dr. Gan explains, “In 1983 dental implants were introduced in the Philippines… Somewhere at ‘86 to ‘87 the popularity of dental implants just went away.”

Given the challenge he faced, he had a decision to make. “And dental implants weren’t popular then,” Dr. Gan continues. “So I had a choice when I came back [from the States]. I could just do general dentistry, make good money, or preach about dental implants. So I preached about dental implants.”

Dr. Gan makes a comparison to what he did with GAOC to the work of Dr. Vicki Belo, saying, “Like what Vicki did for breast implants, and all, and liposuctions, I did it for [dental] implants. So once I started becoming more vocal in marketing, information marketing, telling the people, then they would see that we lead by example. Dentists started following our style. I would say that is the x-factor that we have.”

It was this premium clinic experience and the relatively new practice of dental implants that gave GAOC its competitive edge.

“Because going to GAOC, you have a different experience there,” Dr. Gan adds. “We introduce dentistry as a lifestyle, we make it sexy, glamorous, and we remove the fear.”

Leveraging the Power of Celebrity

As GAOC grew, it was inevitable that its success would attract attention. In particular, GAOC’s blend of premium experience and dental excellence resonated with its celebrity clientele. This unique opportunity allowed GAOC to leverage the power of celebrity

“I always believe in the ABCs of success, no?” Dr. Gan says. “A, abilities, dapat may abilidad ka [you have to have the right abilities]. B, breaks, and C, having the courage. Now, skipping the ability and going to breaks, I mean, God has a way of really putting everything together. You can’t explain it. You’re just right there at the right time.”

Even before the first GAOC clinic, Dr. Gan was already friends with the celebrity Lindsay Custodio. She introduced the dentist to her manager Ming Tinana, who in turn introduced Dr. Gan to other celebrities such as Albert Martinez, Roselle Nava and Angel Aquino.

GAOC’s big break came in late 2005 when Boy Abunda, the Philippines’ own king of talk, came to the clinic as a paying patient.

“He started saying hello to me on TV,” Dr. Gan remembers, “and I would say, Boy, don’t. No need to greet me, please, no need to greet me, you’re a paying patient. But he says, no, no, no, I believe it, in this journey, what I was doing, you know, to remove fear of going to the dentist.”

The difference Boy Abunda’s spontaneous endorsement made proved to be significant.

Dr. Gan recalls, “One day when I came in on a Saturday, there was a long line, and I said, wow, where did all these patients come from? So, when I sat down, I said, so how did you come to know about us? Boy Abunda. The next person, how did you come to know about us? Boy Abunda. Boy Abunda nang Boy Abunda. [They kept saying Boy Abunda.] And I guess people gave me the title na, I became the new dentist of the stars.”

Growing the Business and the Power of Mentorship

As each success led to more triumphs for GAOC, the question of how to scale the business moved to the forefront.

With his entrepreneurial upbringing, Dr. Gan was no stranger to business. He says, “I wouldn’t say I was really great, but I knew how to do business [from a] practical point of view or on a practical standpoint. But one day in 2007, I met the great Lorenzo Tan who was then the president of RCBC.”

Lorenzo Tan, a prominent banker who became known for turning around the fortunes of the financial institutions he led, became a mentor for Dr. Gan on the business side of GAOC.

“He became my advisor,” Dr. Gan says, “taught me everything I know about business, you know, taught me about how to read P&L sheets, showing me further about how to read the stock market, how to deal with real estate, about scaling your business and everything.”

Tan also had lessons to teach beyond business.

Dr. Gan says, “One thing that I always learned from him is we have to achieve excellence, you know, pay attention to detail, and everything you do is excellent. It has to be excellent.”

With excellence at the heart of his business, and through the advice and mentorship of Lorenzo Tan, Dr. Gan was able to embark on an integrated business model for the GAOC Group of Companies.

“The next thing you know,” he says, “we were doing integration of businesses, opening up labs.. So now, moving forward, we have a group of companies. Everything works as an ecosystem, [an] integrated ecosystem. One company cannot function without the other. Everybody plays a vital part.”

New Horizons for GAOC

Today, GAOC holds an enviable position in the dental industry. Not only does it command a sizable chunk of the market, but it also supports the entire industry with its B2B companies and its support of education and training for dentists.

This position of leadership has ushered in a new era for GAOC, one where it plays an important role in promoting dental tourism for the Philippines.

“We’ve been involved with dental tourism since 2003 when it started,” Dr. Gan says. “We had our fair share of contributions. I recall very clearly again, in 2006, we are the first representative of the Philippines to represent dentistry in Singapore.”

Dr. Gan emphasizes that when it comes to dental tourism, the work is based on collaboration between government, dental professionals, and of course, the Filipino people.

“It’s a collaborative effort. So we’re very thankful to the Department of Tourism, especially to tourism secretary, Christina Frasco. She’s doing an amazing, amazing job as the Secretary of Tourism.”

He adds, “The best tourist attraction is the people, the genuity and the malasakit [compassion] of the warmth of the Filipino people. So going to dental tourism, we are the first ever dental clinic to be ever accredited by the Department of Tourism.

“And we feel so honored. And we are leading by example to the Filipino dentists to follow what we have achieved, what we’re doing.”

‘Be a Yardstick of Quality’

Dr. Steve Mark Gan’s success in his entrepreneurial journey was paid for with hard work and sacrifice. Today, GAOC serves as an inspiration for other entrepreneurs on how to successfully transform an entire industry.

In parting, Dr. Gan leaves entrepreneurs with two pieces of advice:

“I always say that confidence breeds success and success breeds confidence. The more you do, the more you know you can do. With each victory, you’re more sure of the next one. And it is a rewarding and wonderful cycle.”

As for his second piece of advice, Dr. Gan turns to the words of Steve Jobs.

“‘Be a yardstick of quality,’” he quotes. 

“Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected. So always focus on yourself. When people try to bring you down, as long as you know you’re not stepping on anybody’s toes or you’re not stepping on anyone, just focus on your goals. Be humble. Stay focused, and you’ll reach there.”

Text VINCENT SALES

Photography KIERAN PUNAY of KLIQ INC.

Videography KIM SANTOS of KLIQ INC.

Art Direction ANDREA SANGCO

Sittings Editor RJ LEDESMA

Shoot Coordination SHEM JAPHETH BARINAGA and TONI MENDOZA

Styling by JM GUMATAY

Grooming NIX INSTITUTE OF BEAUTY

Shot on Location GAOC OFFICES