Dental Select owner saw, filled a need

Brent Williams' entrepreneurial career proves that a business can do well by doing good.

His Salt Lake-based company, Dental Select, provides affordable dental benefits to people who otherwise would have little access to dental care. The company is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for Williams, a native of Canada who as a boy ran his own cattle-raising enterprise and who vowed in his high-school yearbook to become a successful business owner.

Williams started out as an accountant. But when he noticed the need for affordable dental plans — an estimated 44 percent of Americans do not have dental insurance — he founded Dental Select in a small apartment, soon moving to a small office and meeting his receptionist's first paycheck with a credit card.

Now, Dental Select is Utah's largest provider of dental benefits and has moved into the Texas market with plans to expand into other states this year.

The company is constantly modifying its plan designs to meet customer needs and expectations and also strives to give excellent customer service, with calls to the company answered in 15 seconds or less and average claim turnaround of five days, with electronic claims processed within 24 hours.

Dental Select also has added insured vision and accidental death and dismemberment plans, providing more people with access to those services.