Stephen Thorne

Stephen E. Thorne IV, BA, MHA, is the founder and CEO of PDS Health, formerly Pacific Dental Services. PDS Health says it provides business support services to more than 1,000 dental and primary care practices across major U.S. markets. The company began as Pacific Dental Services in 1994 and rebranded to PDS Health in 2024 to reflect a broader dental-medical integration strategy.

Thorne entered the dental industry in 1989 after his father, a dentist, asked him to manage a struggling dental office. After helping turn that office around and managing additional offices, he founded Pacific Dental Services in 1994. PDS Health credits him with building the company into a national support organization focused on practice operations, technology, and whole-person care.

His education includes a 1989 business economics degree from UCLA and a 1994 master’s degree in Health Administration from Chapman University. In 2016, A.T. Still University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.

Beyond PDS Health, Thorne helped form the Association of Dental Support Organizations, served as its founding president for three years, and currently sits on its Executive Committee. He also serves on the Santa Fe Group’s Strategic Advisory Council, Harvard School of Dental Medicine’s Initiative Board, High Point University Workman School of Dentistry Board of Advisors, ADA Forsyth Institute Board of Directors, and the Scientific Advisory Board of the DMS German Mouth-Health Foundation.

• PDS Health Innovations says it partners with “early-stage companies, investors and health systems” to bring technologies to market through real-world testing and co-development.
• The firm’s stated innovation model is: source ideas from frontline care, build clinician-guided solutions, pilot in market, then scale proven products across its Epic-connected national network.
• Priority areas include AI-driven diagnostics and imaging, remote monitoring, saliva-based screenings, strategic ventures and pilots, and scalable product deployment.
• PDS Health looks for technologies that support dental-medical integration, care coordination, earlier detection of systemic disease, and better patient outcomes.
• A likely “yes” fit is a product that can reduce provider workflow friction, integrate into Epic-connected environments, generate measurable clinical or operational outcomes, and scale across a large practice network.