What was the experience like to own a practice a couple of years after graduating?
To be very honest, it was really awful. I had no business background and trying to run a clinic is a business which requires so many skills from HR to pay roll and this is extremely stressful. You are commence in a position where you are given tasks that you are not trained for and its only until you are placed in that position, you realise that you need training and help. For example: If I asked dental students right now whether they would be able to negotiate a lease, would they know how to. You have to do certain mandatory requirements when opening a clinic that are beyond your skill set and at that point, you have no option but to figure it out.
What was your biggest mistake?
It was extremely difficult to focus on my business skills while also getting my clinical speed up and managing people's expecations, dealing with people that have different goals than you. Tackling litigation, malpractice & negotiating leases whilst making sure you can make a profit is a big plate to manage.
What was your biggest challenge?
Staff recruitment, staff training and staff retention- this is the biggest expense of the clinic and it requires skill to train staff and retaining them is often harder.
How did you manage to get through this tough period?
You're young. Its literally survival of the fittest but as a practice owner you end up in a position where dentistry is 25% of your effort whereas business is 75%.
What would your advice be?
Do not set up on your own- intitally you dont have a clue on how this works. Its important to join a group that is lead by clinicians that have a lot of experience. If you want to buy the practice, try and convince the seniors to hang around a couple of years so that they can guide you whilst they are around.
Why did you choose to further qualify in orthodontics?
I found it more intellectually satisfying and I already had experience in practice ownership from the previous dental practice.
What did you do differently the second time around with the orthodontist clinic?
I had a trained group of people from accountants to a HR team. I also learnt how to have purchasing power so I could buy supplies and pay half for the materials. I had more experience with running a business. Our group has over 70 clinics now.
How would the life of an orthodontist in canada look like?
An experienced orthodontist in our group ( Docbraces & Canadian orthodontic partners) would work clinically 3 to 4 days a week. At least 8 to 10 weeks vacation a year. Work, life balance is very important to us and we see about 70 to 120 patients per day. We have about 40 orthognathic cases a year. This is just to give you an idea of how we operate, not everyone does this. Some prefer larger to smaller operations.
I prefer the larger group and we generate 2/3 our patients by internet marketing and half are 1/3 references.