First off, thanks for starting this thread, I've really enjoyed it. I've got a few questions regarding what you recommend students do who's main goal is ownership. Many grads just go to corporate for the first few years to build confidence in their procedures, but for someone who is looking to make as much money as possible after graduation, do you feel like jumping into ownership right away with a dentist who would be willing to mentor and phase out over 6 months would be the most ideal. Do you think the opportunity cost in regards to building a patient family, building equity in your practice and the increased income from owning is enough to justify giving up the "1-2 year learning period" in corporate?
If you recommend the ownership right away route, what should a dental student be doing his last 2 years of school to expedite this process and when ideally should one start looking.
I know you've set up shop in/near a city with huge projected growth over the next few decades. How did you go about location selection in a city such as this. Did you just find a newly developed piece of commercial real estate in an area that you thought would soon see the huge population increase or did you fight the competition and set up in an already prime location. If you could do it over again, would you recommend startups in these cities or purchasing an existing practice, if so what current production numbers of the practices would be best to look at buying.
If these have already been asked let me know and I'll go back and search through the pages, once again thanks for your help.
(Also,
@Cold Front , I'd like to hear your opinion as well. I've really enjoyed seeing both of your opinions to the questions as theyre usually coming from two completely different angles)
I think going to corporate could make you a faster and more confident dentist but the primary purpose of going to corporate is to raise enough capital to be able to start your own office. Unfortunately, there are people out there who never get any better and get stuck in corporate for the rest of their lives. If I had rich parents or enough capital, I probably would have started my own from the start. We are born into certain realities of life and we gotta make do with the cards we're dealt with. I think finding the right mentor would be key, if you are unable to come up with your own systems of efficiency. I don't like the way most dentists operate, so I'm not a fan of the whole mentor concept. You might just be led into becoming a slow and inefficient dentist.
In terms of location, I setup away from everyone else. I would never setup in a generic medical center unless I could have leeway on the size and flashy-ness of the sign. Identifying the "underserved with money or means to pay" is crucial when looking for a location. I don't really like the idea of buying an office unless it was extremely cheap with high production. For a single doctor solo practice, I'd aim for 2.5+. I am not in a prime location, I am about a mile or two away from the prime location. The reason for this is that prime real estate is expensive, high traffic areas are not always the best places, and usually suburban middle/upper middle income regions are a little off the prime areas as well.
To get ready for the real dentistry, you have to study how patient flows in a dental office, minimizing the wait times of everyone, knowing which procedures you can juggle, and being able to innovate beyond what dental school teaches you. When you understand how each procedure flows, you know when you can step out to do other things, and when chunks of time will be required that you can't go in and out.
So... how to prepare in dental school?
1. Learn from part time faculty that actually have their own offices and promote efficiency
2. Learn to juggle multiple patients and procedures at a time.
3. Endo + Crown... get fast. Once you meet your minimum requirements, just speed it up without getting kicked out of dental school. This is why I advocate an aggressive approach to finishing your requirements early. Nothing to lose as long as you remain under the radar.
4. Study each steps of the procedure time-wise, understand how to weave in and out of procedures.
5. Something I haven't noted here, get fast at reading radiographs and doing exams. (I think I took this for granted and forgot to mention this to everyone)
6. Learn to talk to patients efficiently with charisma. More time talking to them does not mean better. You can be efficient and make the patient feel appreciated at the same time. Words aren't expensive, time is.
7. Learn to identify difficult patients and refer those out (reduces liability and headache)
8. If you don't have the money and want to start right after dental school, look for people who will lend to you (banks are not a good option). Otherwise, go corporate.
9. Study the business of dentistry. The most limited resource you have is labor that only the dentist can perform. Study what you can legally delegate to your auxiliaries and delegate. Remember, your time is worth more than everyone else's unless you're not producing (but you should be!) There's many facets of dentistry such as advertising, patient flow, patient retention/rejection, FIFO, pleasing as many people as possible, exit strategy, human resources, etc...
10. Go go go!
This response is probably going to be very fragmented. I'm tired, if I didn't answer any of your questions, please ask them again. I was going down line by line on your questions, I may have missed something.
