Why so many solo practices?

[luke77]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey guys,
I'm an undergrad considering medicine and dentistry and I'm exploring the details of each profession. I'm curious as to why most dentist offices are solo practitioners working alone whereas medical practices tend to have a number of partners working together in a practice. Is it something in particular about dentistry that makes this setup most favorable...or is this just the way things have been done traditionally. It seems like it would make a lot more sense for 10 or so dentists (or even 4 or 5) to work together with a shared office manager, assistants, etc. than for dentists to have to purchase their own office, equipment, do their own books, and advertise. Why isn't this kind of partnership used more often?

 

[teefRcool]

Hey guys,
I'm an undergrad considering medicine and dentistry and I'm exploring the details of each profession. I'm curious as to why most dentist offices are solo practitioners working alone whereas medical practices tend to have a number of partners working together in a practice. Is it something in particular about dentistry that makes this setup most favorable...or is this just the way things have been done traditionally. It seems like it would make a lot more sense for 10 or so dentists (or even 4 or 5) to work together with a shared office manager, assistants, etc. than for dentists to have to purchase their own office, equipment, do their own books, and advertise. Why isn't this kind of partnership used more often?

Cuz people want to be their own bosses.

 

[12YearOldKid]

I don't really know for sure other than that sole proprietorship is the way it has traditionally been done. I think part of it is that many dentists tend to have control issues. And if that isn't a problem when you start school, it will be by the time you graduate. Come on, how many of you can assist a classmate without wanting to tell them what they should be doing different? Admit it!

For many, a big part of the draw of dentistry is the autonomy it offers. Even though partnership has its benefits, it is just easier to say my way or the highway and not worry about making business decisions with another dentist.

Hopefully, Dr. Jeff will chime in here and tell us about his partnership. I can see where there are a lot of potential benefits to having a partner, but a partner also adds a whole new dimension of complexity to running an office.

 

[DrJeff]

I don't really know for sure other than that sole proprietorship is the way it has traditionally been done. I think part of it is that many dentists tend to have control issues. And if that isn't a problem when you start school, it will be by the time you graduate. Come on, how many of you can assist a classmate without wanting to tell them what they should be doing different? Admit it!

For many, a big part of the draw of dentistry is the autonomy it offers. Even though partnership has its benefits, it is just easier to say my way or the highway and not worry about making business decisions with another dentist.

Hopefully, Dr. Jeff will chime in here and tell us about his partnership. I can see where there are a lot of potential benefits to having a partner, but a partner also adds a whole new dimension of complexity to running an office.

Since you ask, I'll chime in. The biggest factor in why one has a solo practice vs. a partnership/group practice is often the "can go get along professionally with someone" factor.

I know that myself I enjoy having a partner in the office to bounce ideas off and/or vent to about staff/patients/etc. Plus it's nice for my office in that the vast majority of the time one of us will always be in the office keeping it open, even if the other is on vacation. This eliminates coverage issues, and does allow us to be open 51 weeks a year (we always shut the entire office down 4th of July week). Basically, my partner and I look at it like we both have our "home" wives and our "work" wives, since for a partnership to work, very often that's close to the type of realtionship that you need to have, since the bottom line about a partnership comes down to that age old potentailly tension causing topic of money. This issue is often too much for some people to handle and hence that's why they'll go solo practitoner, or sometimes people just know their personalities just won't allow them to form a successful partnership.

The thing that I find that can sum up how complex a partnership can be is that my partnership papers were 22 pages long by the time the lawyers were doen with it(they told us this was a realtively short and simple partnership agreement based on what they see). Of those 22 pages, 6 pages deal with who owns what and how we divide the profits, and the remaining 16 pages deal with how we'd dissolve partnership if I end up "divorcing" my work wife 😱

 

[emthichrangdep]

Since you ask, I'll chime in. The biggest factor in why one has a solo practice vs. a partnership/group practice is often the "can go get along professionally with someone" factor.

I know that myself I enjoy having a partner in the office to bounce ideas off and/or vent to about staff/patients/etc. Plus it's nice for my office in that the vast majority of the time one of us will always be in the office keeping it open, even if the other is on vacation. This eliminates coverage issues, and does allow us to be open 51 weeks a year (we always shut the entire office down 4th of July week). Basically, my partner and I look at it like we both have our "home" wives and our "work" wives, since for a partnership to work, very often that's close to the type of realtionship that you need to have, since the bottom line about a partnership comes down to that age old potentailly tension causing topic of money. This issue is often too much for some people to handle and hence that's why they'll go solo practitoner, or sometimes people just know their personalities just won't allow them to form a successful partnership.

The thing that I find that can sum up how complex a partnership can be is that my partnership papers were 22 pages long by the time the lawyers were doen with it(they told us this was a realtively short and simple partnership agreement based on what they see). Of those 22 pages, 6 pages deal with who owns what and how we divide the profits, and the remaining 16 pages deal with how we'd dissolve partnership if I end up "divorcing" my work wife 😱

Thanks for the input. I didn't know having a partnership could be so complicated..