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Earnings call · FY2021 Q3
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Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Vivos Therapeutics Inc. Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow management's remarks. This conference call is being recorded and a replay of today's call will be available on the Investor Relations section of the Vivos’ website and will remain posted there for the next 30 days. I will now hand the call over to Mr. Edward Loew, Vivos' Investor Relations Officer for introductions and the reading of the safe harbor statement. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Vivos Therapeutics third quarter 2021 earnings conference call. A copy of the company's earnings press release is available on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.vivoslife.com. With us on today's call are Kirk Huntsman, Vivos' Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Brad Amman, Chief Financial Officer. Today, we'll review the highlights and financial results for the third quarter 2021 as well as more recent developments. Following these formal remarks, we will be prepared to answer your questions. I would also like to remind everyone that today's call will contain certain forward-looking statements from our management made within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, concerning future events. Words such as may, should, projects, expects, intends, plans, believes, anticipates, hopes, estimates, and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates, which are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond the company's control. Actual results, including the results of Vivos' growth strategies, operational plans, future potential results of operations, or operating metrics, and other matters to be addressed by Vivos management in this conference call, may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, the risk factors described in other disclosures contained in Vivos' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our third quarter 2021 10-Q, which is being filed today, as well as in our most recent Form 10-K, which can also be accessed on the Vivos Investor Relations website. Except to the extent required by law, Vivos assumes no obligation to update statements as circumstances change. Now at this time, it is my pleasure to introduce Kirk Huntsman, Chairman and CEO of Vivos. Kirk, please go ahead, sir.
Thanks, Ed, and thank you everyone for joining us today on our third quarter 2021 earnings conference call. I'm eager to review our quarterly results and provide you with an update on our progress. Afterwards, our Chief Financial Officer, Brad Amman will review the highlights of our third quarter financial results. Following that, we'll be happy to take your questions. The third quarter was an exciting period for Vivos. We recorded strong year-over-year quarterly revenue growth of over 38%. A substantial increase from the prior year and also a 28% increase for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, versus the same period last year. During the quarter, we benefited from a material increase in appliance sales driven by our core VIPs. And we also generated revenue from additional sources like our Billing Intelligence Services and MyoCorrect Myofunctional Therapy, which we didn't have last year. While we experienced a late summer dip in VIP enrollments due in part to the COVID-19 Delta variant resurgence, enrollment revenue was actually up due to a recognition of revenue from prior periods. Overall, we believe this growth demonstrates the increasing recognition and adoption of our Vivos system, and related products and services by dentists as a treatment for patients suffering from sleep disordered breathing, including obstructive sleep apnea known as OSA. We also believe our sales growth also highlights the benefits of our strategic growth initiatives, including our expanded sales and marketing activities and collaborations with third parties which I will discuss in further detail in a moment. In addition to our revenue results, I'm pleased to report that for the third quarter of 2021, we reported gross profit of approximately 3.2 million, up 23% compared to gross profit of approximately 2.6 million for the same period in 2020. We recorded gross margin of 70% compared to 78% for the third quarter of 2020. The year-over-year decrease reflects higher costs associated with VIP enrollments. We ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of 28.5 million. During the third quarter, we surpassed 22,000 in total patients treated with the Vivos System, compared to just over 13,000 as of the third quarter of 2020. And as of September 30, 2021, we have trained over 1,350 dentists globally in the use and application to the Vivos System, providing our VIPs with training and other related value-added services compared to just over 1,000 as of the third quarter of 2020. We are very pleased with these results. Brad will review our financial highlights with you in more detail later on. Digging a little deeper here, in addition to the revenue from our core business of VIP enrollment revenue and appliances, we also saw growing activity and brand development as well as revenue contributions from the value-added services we offer dentists that are enrolled in our Vivos integrated practice or VIP program and their patients, including our VivoScore diagnostic product and MyoCorrect therapy service as well as some management revenue from our medical integration division or MID. As for VivoScore, our home sleep apnea test that we introduced earlier this year, we have continued to see increased usage of this product throughout our VIP members. We consider VivoScore powered by sleep image technology to be a breakthrough screening and diagnostic tool to promote increased diagnosis of sleep apnea. Strategically, VivoScore has taken center stage as a powerful marketing tool to generate greater awareness and usage of the Vivos system. So seeing VivoScore’s increased usage not only indicates greater awareness of OSA, it also helps to promote specific recognition for Vivos products and services. Complementing this, we have continued our efforts to expand dentist awareness of Vivos and potential VIP enrollment by engaging with dental support organizations also known as DSOs. For those of you less familiar with DSOs, DSOs acquire and operate multiple dental practices to provide critical business management and support. These DSOs control thousands of general dental and specialty practices across North America, and the recommendations to their affiliated providers carry substantial weight. As more people become aware of the health issues associated with sleep disordered breathing, DSOs are anxious to provide more support and education for their affiliated dentists who wish to treat OSA. In addition, DSOs are constantly looking for new and profitable services they can offer to patients. We believe our Vivos sleep treatment program represents the largest single profit opportunity for DSOs since the introduction of implants over 20 years ago. Given these prevailing trends and our extensive industry relationships, we see great benefits and accelerated growth potential in engaging with these organizations and educating them on the benefits of the Vivos system. We continue to have active discussions with several leading DSOs representing nearly 4,000 affiliated dental offices and expect to launch pilot programs within target markets beginning here in the fourth quarter, and even more as we move into 2022. Concurrently with our engagement with DSOs, we are also actively expanding our social media marketing outreach to engage more directly with consumers, medical providers, and large employers. Beyond our financial results and our success with these strategic initiatives, we also celebrated a number of significant milestones in the quarter. Since we spoke with you on our last earnings call and partially in response to discussions we have on a regular basis with the investment community, we reported more detailed survey and study data, highlighting certain rather striking clinical benefits of our products. For example, in July, we announced results from a national study commissioned by Vivos to assess patients' airway function and OSA symptoms after undergoing the Vivos treatment. In the study, one in four or 28% of the 74 adult patients treated with our FDA Class 1 DNA appliance for certain Oral Facial anomalies reported no remaining OSA symptoms, which is defined as patients having an Apnea Hypopnea Index or AHI score of less than five post-treatment. Now, there are some doctors out there who would say that patients who have their AHI scores reduced to less than five are effectively cured of their sleep apnea. Regardless, to the best of our knowledge and belief, no one has ever before reported eliminating or reducing OSA symptoms down to within normal limits non-surgically and without ongoing intervention. We believe this data furthers the case we've been making that our products are both highly effective and highly differentiated, and that our technology represents a significant breakthrough in the battle against OSA and its related health conditions. In August, we announced more detailed data from this study which reported that prior to treatment, 20 patients had severe OSA, which from an AHI perspective improved post-treatment or is improving mid-treatment by 53%. Of these 20 patients, none have reported worsening of their OSA symptoms, while three patients still have severe OSA, 12 have moderate OSA, four have mild OSA, and one has no OSA. The study data also showed that for the 18 patients who began the study with moderate OSA, the average percent improvement in AHI scores was 64%. Although future results may differ from this study data, we think these positive results are quite impressive. And we are extremely happy to provide our investors with this real-world data about our devices. For those of you interested in reviewing the more detailed summary of these national study results, this is available on our company website at www.vivoslife.com under the Investor Relations section. In addition to these national study results, during the quarter we officially opened our Vivos Institute Training Center in Denver, Colorado. This 15,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility complements our online training programs and was established to offer advanced postgraduate education and training to dentists, dental teams, and other health care professionals from around the world in a live hands-on setting. The institute focuses on educating healthcare providers about OSA and Vivos’ treatments for OSA within their practice areas, along with training on Vivos’ related practice management tools for dentists. While we pivoted and had success last year, and this year with online training, we continually hear that live hands-on training is preferable to many practitioners and we agree. Creating and opening the Vivos Institute was a major strategic objective for our company in 2021, which we were pleased to have completed and opened with a great kickoff notwithstanding the COVID-related challenges. Moreover, we are extremely excited about the future of this facility and believe this dedicated state-of-the-art forum will be a core hub, where we can train independent dentists with patients suffering from dental facial malformations that may be associated with OSA and introduce them to the Vivos system as a treatment option. In August, we achieved another important business milestone with the U.S. FDA granting Vivos 510(K) market clearance for our mmRNA device for treating mild to moderate OSA. Sleep disorder breathing and snoring in adults. This is quite a boon for us and for those suffering from OSA. Today more than 1 billion people worldwide and 54 million in the United States suffer from sleep apnea. What's more disturbing is that over 80% of these people still remain undiagnosed and continue to suffer in silence. This 510(K) market clearance is extremely important as it opens the door for patients to have a viable, patient-friendly, and most often permanent treatment option for the current standard of care. Also, it paves the way for expanded insurance reimbursement coverage for the mmRNA device including Medicare, as well as for potential future government contracts and reimbursement from commercial payers that follow Medicare guidelines. This opens up the Vivos System to a much wider audience of potential patients. Also in August, we announced a new cooperative relationship with Empower Sleep. Once again, the importance of this relationship cannot be overstated, as it helps our Vivos dentist overcome an important barrier to getting patients properly diagnosed and into treatment. Empower is a San Bernardino, California-based company that provides patients with affordable, accessible, and personalized telemedicine sleep care, and supplies critical diagnostic and medical consultation services to people across North America, who suffer from OSA. By leveraging our VivoScore diagnostic technology and combining it with Empower Sleep’s telemedicine model, providers and patients now have easy access to confirming diagnoses of their sleep disorders in an easily accessible and affordable manner. This relieves dentists from having to seek out and cultivate local sleep specialists who may not be as easy to work with or as convenient for patients. Most importantly, patients will be able to receive the appropriate treatment for any sleep-related breathing disorder they may be experiencing, including mild to moderate OSA. Towards the end of the quarter in September, we announced the formation of the Vivos Medical Consortium. This physician working group, led by doctors Clete Kushida of Stanford University; and Cecilia Wu of the University of Alberta will collaborate to advance Vivos' OSA technology capabilities. Together they lead a team of multidisciplinary physicians from prominent academic institutions across the U.S. and Canada, with specialties including sleep medicine, neurology, pediatrics, pulmonology, anesthesiology, pain medicine, otolaryngology, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiology, and forensic pathology. The key reason for taking such a multidisciplinary approach in constituting the medical consortium is that sleep apnea affects the clinical care and treatment of patients across many medical specialties. The Vivos medical consortium will assist us with the planning, dissemination and conduct of key research initiatives, enhancing physician dental collaborations, and expanding novel applications of the Vivos technology for additional medical conditions. We are optimistic that our medical consortium will enhance our scientific progress and research endeavors, as well as raise further awareness of our technology within the medical community. Subjected to quarter end in October, we announced the results from a peer-reviewed published study by Dr. Toshi Hart, an Independent Vivos Clinical Advisor that found a significant reduction of tooth decay in pediatric patients after undergoing treatment using our FDA Class 1 registered Vivos Guide. A flexible BPA free based polymer intraoral device. The Vivos Guide is a preformed oral appliance intended to prevent a child's teeth from shifting position and has been shown to be helpful in converting mouth-breathing children to nose breathing. Data from the study demonstrated that the risk reduction of tooth decay per child in the treatment group versus the control group at six months and at 12 months after beginning Vivos Guide use was lowered by 76.4% and 57.9%, respectively. Both of those figures, by the way, were statistically significant. The Vivos Guide was well tolerated by the children in the study with no reported complaints from children or their caregivers. We are extremely happy with the results from this study which helps to show how the Vivos Guide interval device may promote nasal breathing and reduce tooth decay. And more recently, in October, we announced a strategic collaboration with Candid Care, a digital platform for oral health care primarily focused on orthodontics. Through this relationship, we will look to provide patients with a comprehensive whole mouth solution to diagnose and treat obstructive sleep apnea in adult patients and provide orthodontic treatment from the same provider network. At the core of this collaboration, Vivos and Candid will market each other's products and areas of expertise to deliver a comprehensive sleep and oral health solution to patients in the United States and Canada. The focus of the collaboration will be Candid’s CandidPro clear aligner for straightening teeth and the Vivos System for treating OSA. The two companies will also share educational resources, training and key opinion leaders to bridge the gap between airway health and orthodontic therapy. Additionally, under the terms of the agreement, Vivos and Candid will join forces to explore new research and development opportunities for device development and other alliances related to orthodontics, OSA and snoring. Candid will also conduct specialized training sessions at our Vivos Institute. We are thrilled to be working with Candid and our company looks forward to combining our dual strengths to offer a full-service solution for patients suffering from OSA. So all-in-all, the third quarter was an exciting and productive period for Vivos. We delivered solid financial results despite some COVID-related headwinds, while seeing increased usage of our VivoScore sleep apnea test. We also continue to actively engage with DSOs and expect to share further developments with you on this front by the end of this calendar year. Additionally, we celebrated a number of significant milestones as our strategic initiatives come online and begin to reap benefits for our company. With our progress and achievements today, we believe we have established a strong foundation for our continued and future growth. Going forward, we will continue to advance our strategic growth actions to drive VIP enrollment growth and appliance sales, while working to foster greater recognition and adoption of the Vivos System as well as our expanded product offerings. By following this path, we will enable many more patients to receive the care they need for their OSA so they can improve their overall health and lead happier, fuller lives. We are very proud of what we've already achieved so far, and look forward to updating you on our continued progress. This concludes my opening remarks. Now I'll pass the call on to Brad who will review our financial results. Brad?
Thank you, Kirk, and good afternoon, everyone. Today I'll review our third quarter 2021 financial results. We reported total revenue of $4.5 million for the third quarter of 2021, a 38% increase compared to $3.3 million for the third quarter of 2020. The increase was related to revenue from VIP enrollments, appliance sales due to volume increases, building intelligence service subscriptions, initial management fees from our Medical Integration Division or MID program, and from the introduction of our MyoCorrect Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy or OMT services. Third quarter 2021 revenue growth was partially attributable to the negative impact of COVID-19 on our revenue during the third quarter of 2020. Also, as Kirk mentioned, we experienced a late summer dip in VIP enrollments due in part to the Delta variant resurgence, but enrollment revenue was actually up year-over-year due to recognition of revenue from prior periods. During the third quarter, we enrolled 56 VIPs net of cancellations and recognized revenue of approximately $2.3 million compared to 64 VIPs and revenue of $1.7 million during the same period last year. During the three months ended September 30, 2021, we sold 2,996 total oral appliance arches for a revenue of approximately $1.6 million. An increase from the three months ended September 30, 2020, where we sold 2,245 total oral appliance arches for revenue of 1.3 million. The increase in appliance revenue is due to volume increases. For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, revenue increased 28% to approximately $12.5 million, compared to 9.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. The increase was attributable to the same factors I just mentioned. During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, we enrolled 162 VIPs net of cancellations for revenue of 6.4 million, compared to 194 VIPs and revenue of $5.8 million for 2020. Additionally, our Billing Intelligence Service revenues increased from $400,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2020, to approximately $700,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, we sold 8,648 total oral appliance arches for revenue of $4.5 million. And for the nine months ended September 30, 2020, we sold 5,610 oral appliance arches for revenue of $3.2 million. Again, the increase in appliance revenue is due to volume increases. I will note that our appliance revenue is coming from a relatively concentrated core of dedicated VIPs and we are working very hard not only to increase our VIP enrollment overall, but also to get more VIPs to be more active and consistent in case starts, which will only augment our appliance revenue potential. Gross profit was $3.2 million for the third quarter of 2021 and 9.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, compared to gross profit of 2.6 million and 7.7 million for the comparable periods last year. Gross margin for the third quarter was 70%, compared to 78% during the last year's third quarter, reflecting higher costs associated with VIP enrollments. Gross margin for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, was 76%, compared to 79% for the nine months ended last year. We should note that we are continually refining our sales and marketing and promotional efforts with potential VIPs in order to not only drive revenue, but to maintain our gross profit and margins. This includes our expanded social media marketing outreach that Kirk mentioned earlier. Sales and marketing expense increased by approximately $1.5 million to $2 million for the third quarter of 2021, compared to $400,000 for the third period of 2020. This increase was primarily due to approximately $600,000 increase in marketing expenses due to the deployment of VivoScore rings demos to be used as different marketing events and marketing campaigns, and approximately $0.5 million increase in new marketing campaigns, updating marketing materials for investors and consumers, improving the Vivos website, and promoting conferences and events taking place in 2021, such as the Vivos Institute grand opening. Additionally, we had about $300,000 increase in conference expenses as a result of one conference hosted in Dallas and our grand opening of the Vivos Institute in Denver, Colorado. Lastly, there was approximately $100,000 in sales commissions on increased sales. Sales and marketing expenses increased by approximately $2.7 million to $4.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, compared to $1.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. This increase was primarily due to the factors I described earlier for the three months periods. General and administrative expenses were approximately $6.5 million for the third quarter of 2021 and $17.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, compared to $3.8 million and $11.5 million for the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2020, respectively. The year-over-year increase was mainly due to our higher headcount and expenses related to supporting our sales growth, as well as our status as a public company, which started in late 2020. Additionally, these increased expenses are related to higher revenues from our core business as well as initial revenue from our new products and services including our VivoScore diagnostic product, MyoCorrect therapy services, management revenue from our MID division, and sponsorship revenue, all of which accounted for approximately 6% of third quarter revenue. On the whole, we were satisfied with the deployment of proceeds from our IPO and underwritten follow-on offering this last spring to both our sales and marketing efforts and our general administrative expenses. That is because we believe these investments have already started to provide us with returns in the form of strong revenue growth. In addition, we believe these initiatives will enhance our long-term growth potential. Net loss was approximately $5.5 million for the third quarter of 2021, compared to $1.8 million for the third quarter of 2020. The year-over-year increase was primarily due to higher G&A and sales and marketing expenses due to the factors I just discussed. Net loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, was approximately $12.9 million, compared to $5.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. Turning to our balance sheet now. At September 30, 2021, our cash and cash equivalents were approximately $28.5 million compared to cash and cash equivalents of approximately $18.2 million at December 31, 2020. With the proceeds from our December IPO and follow-on offering we completed in the second quarter of this year, we anticipate having ample financial resources to meet our capital requirements, fund our operations, and continued execution on our growth strategy for the foreseeable future. In summary, during the third quarter, we continue to see strong year-over-year sales growth, reflecting growing demand and expanded usage of Vivos products and services. This rising demand speaks to the growing awareness and acceptance of the benefits of the Vivos System for the treatment of OSA and goal to dental and medical communities, which has been driven in no small part by our targeted sales and marketing efforts, including, most importantly the deployment of our VivoScore home sleep test rings. Further, our revenue growth in the third quarter came not only from our core business, but also from newer revenue streams. This includes our recently introduced products and services such as MyoCorrect and the MID as well as increased adoption of our value-added services, such as Billing Intelligence Services. Looking ahead, we are looking for sales momentum to continue here in the fourth quarter and into the coming year, notwithstanding any potential impact related to COVID-19. We remain very excited about our growth prospects and look forward to providing you with further updates on our continued progress. That concludes your prepared remarks. Now we'd like to open the call for questions. Operator, please go ahead.
And we'll take our first question from Alex Nowak with Craig-Hallum Capital Group.
To start on Brad's point there about oral arches coming from a concentration of VIPs. Can you just speak to your new marketing initiatives? You mentioned a bit in the prepared remarks, but just how are those campaigns resonating with dentists with patients? And then how is the build out the sales team going? Are these reps live and active in the field?
We have established three sales teams as planned, and we believe they are well-trained and capable of generating around 60 new enrollments monthly moving forward. Additionally, we are continuously updating our model to make it more appealing and widely accepted within the dental community. The entry fee for becoming a Vivos provider is quite significant, as it entails upfront fees, investments in capital equipment, and a steep learning curve. Many offices faced challenges during COVID when they trained staff, but then experienced turnover, leading to the need for retraining. This has caused some practices to struggle as they reestablish systems and policies. In response, we are developing a new program that will be more attractive to the large number of dental practices in the U.S. and Canada. Our aim is to raise awareness and encourage engagement among these dentists. Currently, we are focusing on promoting our VivoScore program, which allows dental offices to screen patients for OSA with minimal initial investment and without extensive training. They simply need to use the VivoScore device powered by SleepImage to screen patients and refer them to a VIP or have the VIP provide services at their office. We are continually refining this approach, and the feedback from both providers and patients has been very positive. However, we face challenges in aligning staff, doctors, and patients. We are encouraged by how well the hygiene program is performing, with hygienists utilizing the VivoScore rings in practices leading to a significant increase in tests conducted, far exceeding our forecasts. The dental community's response to the VivoScore technology has been highly favorable, and we are seeing a substantial rise in new diagnoses and screenings each month. Does that clarify things?
Yes, it does help, and maybe to expand on VivoScore, we found in our checks as well, that dentists do like VivoScore quite a lot, but they're not just using it from a screening perspective, it also seems like they're using it somewhat more for throughout the treatment process. So I'm curious, I know VivoScore is not a significant revenue line today, but do you ever consider making that more of a revenue line item for Vivos in addition to, obviously, the arches in the VIP enrollment?
Absolutely. We rolled it out as a product that we wanted to. We wanted to see just how this product would play in the market, we wanted to see what the response would be from both providers and patients. And we are now tweaking the model, let's say, in order to turn it into a profit center for us. We'll have some further reports for you on that as we close out the year and move into 2022. But I can say that it's going to become a – it’s going to always be an important part of our strategy, but it'll turn into a profit center here as we roll forward.
That's great. And then just last question for me just any update on the status for the Stanford study and actually two-part question. Status on the Stanford study? And then just how are you thinking about sales growth going into 2022?
The Stanford study is something we have been discussing for over a year now, and we might have even mentioned it during our IPO. Stanford has experienced some administrative challenges that have caused delays. We are ready to start at any moment, and I believe that Stanford has addressed all the necessary administrative requirements and is very close to moving forward. We anticipate receiving the green light at any time, so we are on the verge of this happening. I am not aware of any budgetary issues that are outstanding. There were some adjustments made recently to the budget, but I believe we are close to reaching an agreement on that front as well. Looking ahead to our sales in 2022, I want to highlight our progress in the DSO market, where we are leading with the VivoScore program, which we refer to as the Airway Alliance program. This program involves distributing the VivoScore devices through general dentistry offices, specifically through the hygiene department. We are extending this initiative to DSOs, which have embraced it due to its simplicity and ease of implementation. They can utilize a hub and spoke model to ensure that their local practices can screen patients and refer them to their central hubs, where they can train doctors and staff and meet the capital expenditure requirements. In any given market, for instance, in Orlando or Denver, a DSO might have 15 offices and could designate three or four of them as Vivos centers for sleep treatment. The other offices would then screen and refer patients to these central locations. There is considerable excitement and interest in this program within the DSO community, and we are engaging with executives at the top DSOs that we have targeted.
And next we'll move on to Scott Henry with ROTH Capital.
A couple of questions, I'll start on the income statement. Gross margins declined from kind of 80% to 70%. Do you expect that to ramp back higher in the short term is in fourth quarter? And how should we think of that? I don't know if there's some mix impacts. It sounds like there were some one-time events, but just trying to think about how to model that line going forward?
Brad was discussing our adjustments to marketing and sales efforts. In the third quarter, we began bundling the SleepImage and VivoScore rings and services to encourage doctors to enroll. This strategy temporarily reduced our gross margins but also facilitated quicker engagement from doctors, leading to increased testing and patient interactions. We believe this approach resulted in a short-term impact on our gross margins. However, we're now identifying ways to achieve similar outcomes without that decrease. As we progress into the fourth quarter and refine our enrollment offerings, I anticipate these margins will improve, potentially returning to the mid-70s or upper 70s in 2022. Brad, do you agree with this evaluation?
And Scott, I think providing these five rings, VivoScore rings, to dentists really gives them a tool to help them assess their patients' OSA. And although we have a medical doctor reviewing those, once the test is done, it actually helps the dentist with tool chest as to how they can start to increase the number of VIPs helps them to determine how many patients in their practice have obstructive sleep apnea and construct take more case starts faster.
Okay. Thank you for that color. And then I guess we've got a big picture question and then a smaller or more targeted question. Yes, I guess I'll give them both to you at the same time maybe to get a sense of where I'm going with it. So VIPs, we talk about three Salesforces that could generate 60 new enrollments a month which would equate to 180 per quarter. Obviously, we're not, we're still in the double digits right now and kind of around the middle. I mean, I know there were some unique things in 3Q. So I guess the question is, two-part. One, when should we expect new enrollments to hit that 100 mark again? And two, as you add in this focus on the VivoScore and screening more patients to grow that funnel bigger, I mean, is the revenue model just in general going to change? Maybe we're not going to see the growth in new VIPs we're going to see it more on appliances, just trying to get a sense of how we should model that and some of these new strategy changes will change the model? Thank you.
That's a great question. I believe there's significant unrealized potential for enrollments. We're feeling frustrated about the third quarter, particularly regarding attendance at our events. We host monthly events to engage doctors in a comprehensive two and a half day experience focused on Vivos. Before the Delta variant surge in July and August, we had good attendance and high conversion rates, with one event achieving an 80% closure rate among attendees. However, during the COVID variant outbreak, our Tampa event expected over 100 dentists but only 30 attended due to travel concerns. We saw a positive rebound in October, with excellent attendance at our Las Vegas Breathing Wellness Conference, where we were oversold and couldn't accommodate everyone who wanted to join. This shift from August to October gives us optimism. However, I don't foresee us reaching triple digits in monthly enrollments in the near term. Our growth will primarily stem from DSO enrollments and the Airway Alliance program, which has been very well received by the community. It offers dentists an opportunity to engage with airway treatments without the significant commitments required by Vivos and other programs, allowing them to screen and refer patients, thus benefiting financially. I anticipate a gradual increase in enrollments over the next six months, but I expect that to be complemented by a swift rise in DSO rollouts and associated compensations. We're aware that enrolling 50 doctors a month won't be sufficient for success, and we are committed to enhancing that number to attract more medical and dental practitioners who can refer patients to us. Furthermore, we've begun discussions with large employers that have substantial patient populations needing screening and treatment, and we’re exploring corporate initiatives with them. While we're in negotiations, we don’t have final details yet, but it represents another promising opportunity. Overall, I would caution against modeling for triple-digit enrollments in the near future, as I don't see that happening.
For clarity, I'm seeing on a quarterly basis, not on a monthly basis?
I understand. I believe our three groups have the capacity to handle 60 a month, and it could possibly rise to 60 to 80. However, I don't anticipate significant growth in the near term, though I could be mistaken. I want to be cautious when sharing this perspective. I do expect to see growth through our dental service organizations (DSOs). The DSOs have been very welcoming to our initial engagements. In fact, just before this call, we received a callback from one of the leading DSOs in the country, expressing a heightened interest in scheduling a follow-up call and setting dates for us to begin a trial with them. We have numerous initiatives that will form our primary growth strategy as we move into 2022. I believe VivoScore will remain a key focus, while the DSO initiative will likely start to surpass our current efforts with independent dentists, which is how I would approach modeling it.
Thank you. I'm showing no further questions in the queue. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Kirk Huntsman, Chairman and CEO for closing remarks.
Thank you, operator. I would like to thank everyone for joining us on today's call and for your continued interest in Vivos Therapeutics. As we stated, we are optimistic about what 2022 holds. And we're pleased with what we've been able to do so far under the circumstances that we've had. We see a lot of bright lights ahead; we see a lot of good things happening and we are working diligently to make sure that we are translating those opportunities into financial results. So again, we thank you for your time and your interest in Vivos and we look forward to sharing our progress with you in the future. Thank you very much and have a great day.
Thank you. This does conclude today's call. We do appreciate your participation. You may now disconnect.
SEC filing · Item 2.02
Filed Nov 15, 2021 · complete as-filed document
SEC periodic report
Filed Nov 15, 2021 · complete as-filed document