a new perspective

[guest]

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i've been following around a dentist that works for a mental institute run by the state. from what i can tell he enjoys working there. he's been with other state institutes as well, and has worked in a couple of private practices. he bought one out in maryland and worked his butt off to get it out of the red within 8 months...

he says running a private practice is probably one of the most stressful thing possible. the idea of working short weeks to have the weekend off is not necessarilly true, and you're constantly trying to work harder to make ends meet. as he put it... the last three days of the month that he worked was the money he brought home, the other days were to meet overhead... (his mom worked the front desk for free). he made running a practice seem like the hardest thing in the world and that we'd be struggling to make a living and if this is the case why would the ADA post numbers such as an associate averages 103,000, and private owner 162,000.

he said dentistry is the easy part, running the practice is a whole lot harder and stressful.

how hard is it to run a practice, in places like NC where I'm from it takes months to get a cleaning appointment. what is the truth on all of these matters?

 

[ItsGavinC]

Well, there is truth behind the things he says, but I wouldn't say that his experiences are the norm.

For example, when he says "the idea of working short weeks to have the weekend off is not necessarilly true, and you're constantly trying to work harder to make ends meet," I would say that a GOOD owner with business sense is constantly trying to work smarter and bring in additional revenue (in whatever form that may be).

For a whole lot of people I'm sure that the business aspect of dentistry is the most challeging portion of it, but it doesn't have to be a detrimental burden. It may never be the thing we enjoy most, but there is plenty of CE and plenty of help out there to make it manageable.

Many of us will spend hours trying to get our preps perfect or improve our skills, and I think we all ought to spend an equal amount of time investing in ourselves as businessmen. It will pay off. Remember, a smart office can equate to lower overhead which directly equates to more $$ for everybody involved.