New Dentist Perspective on Private Practice, Q2 2018

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New Dentist Perspective on Private Practice Part 1 of 2 by Dr. Eric Anderson

If you are in dental school, there are a lot of unknowns.

Having graduated in May of 2017, many of them are still fresh in my memory. What will I make on that practical? How did I do on that test? Will my patient show up tomorrow? Should I get involved with ASDA

Dr. Eric Anderson

or another student group? When will I get to sleep again? But many times, one of the biggest unknowns is, “Where am I going to work when I graduate?”

This question probably entered your mind soon after the adrenaline rush of your acceptance notification wore off. nless you are fortunate to have family, friends, or prior work experience in the office where you will return to practice, the cloud of uncertainly begins to form and darkens with each passing day. ecause dental school is year-round, you don’t have any meaningful opportunity to network in the area(s) you’d like to work, so by default, your knowledge of the outside world is dependent on the information you receive at your dental school.

This creates a natural void between you the students and the private practice world as it is not practical for a private practitioner to close down his or her office to journey to the school in hopes of finding an associate in between classes. It also creates a natural pipeline to the corporate world because they have the resources and staffing opportunities to engage entire classes directly.

off campus. As a result, students have virtually unlimited access to information pertaining to the corporate modality of practicing dentistry. The corporate offices have powerful business models and all make essentially the same sales pitch to students “You are here in school to learn to be dentists, not business people. We give you the opportunity to come to work, do dentistry, and leave, without having any of the extra stress and entanglements of private practice. We will make sure your office is fully stocked with the materials of your preference. We will do all the hiring, firing, and personnel management until you are satisfied with your team, saving you the sometimes uncomfortable interactions of doing it yourself. We will maintain the building and e uipment, take care of all the advertising and promotional materials, and help you pay off your student loan debt on top of a very generous salary.” For a future dentist with no other job leads, that is a very enticing offer.

“ Where am I going to work when I graduate?”

ental Support rgani ations ( S s), or “corporate” dental offices, have dedicated personnel whose central focus is to recruit dentists into their offices. It was commonplace at my dental school to see these recruiters hosting “lunch and learns” on campus, participating in functions put on by student organizations, and hosting social events for students

Most private practices, including larger multi-doctor practices, do not have the infrastructure to directly communicate their position openings with students. Instead, students and dentists have traditionally relied on word-of-mouth from two groups of people dentists with connections to the school, from two

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Featured Article to produce and receive. The A A has a great and free online groups of people dentists with connections to the school, resource called “ ontract Analysis Service” that will help you and dental supply representatives. ften times new dentists comprehend the legal jargon in your contract. The service isn’t still have friendships with students from the classes beneath intended to replace formal legal counsel, but rather to give you them at the school, as well as with their own classmates who a basic understanding of the components of your contract so have stayed to complete residency programs. With that being the case, seasoned dentists approach these new dentists that you know what uestions to ask if you seek further advice. to in uire about talented students who might be good fits The corporate offices are often times able to offer new for their offices. ental supply representatives also aid in dentists more money right out of school, if a dollar-to-dollar these in uisitions as their network contains connections comparison is the only ualifying statistic. omparing to both sides of the void. These reps work with individual the first-year salaries of myself and former classmates in private practices to keep materials in stock and e uipment private practice to those of former classmates working in the functioning. A natural partnership forms between the reps and corporate world, the corporate salaries slightly nudge past the dentists, and as such the reps get to know the wants and those in the private setting. Strictly comparing numbers can needs of dentists looking to expand or be misleading though, because those sell. With that knowledge, reps become in the corporate setting work more and a valuable resource for students who are “ I enjoy spending often times longer days than we do in the still without a job prospect. epending on time getting to know private setting. My office, and many other the regulations of individual states and private offices, are not regularly open on new patients for the schools, students have varying levels of Fridays. Some offices are open Tuesday opportunity to interact with these reps first time and catching and Thursday one week, and then Monday, (or their coworkers who could then up with those I’ve Wednesday, Friday the next. There are all connect the students to the rep for sorts of scheduling options available to seen before” any given geographical area) at events those of us in private practice because we on campus. However, reps are readily decide when our doors are open. When accessible on the exhibit floors at various I incorporated time into the e uation and compared “dollars dental meetings, provided the students’ schools and schedules earned per hour worked” between the two groups, the resultant allows them to attend. ratios favored private practice. So if making more money is Now having explained the basic mechanisms by which you your prerogative, simply work more days in your private setting can connect to the two different modalities of practice, I want and you will. If you have other interests outside of dentistry and to share anecdotal evidence from my first couple of months don’t want to lock yourself into a standard - hour work working with regard to some of the “drawbacks” of choosing to week, private practice gives you that opportunity as well. work in a private setting. If you want hard data, there are plenty Additionally, without getting into the ethical debate of some of numbers-driven and research-driven articles in past issues of the disguised “ uota” or “re uirement” systems that of this and other publications, along with courses at dental some corporate offices have in place to make their dentists meetings, that substantiate my claims; this article is simply more productive, which is another topic entirely, beware of one dentist’s observations. With that said, the main point I over-treating patients. Whether to avoid repercussion if your gathered from listening to the corporate offices present their production has been low or to earn your way to the next tier job opportunities was that they would pay me more money with of bonus money and perks on the other end of the spectrum, much less hassle. So let’s start there, with the dollars some corporate policies make it difficult to perform the and cents. conservative dentistry we learned in school and owe to our efore I begin, however, it is important to note at this stage patients. I’m certainly not claiming that over-treating never that everything that follows is dependent upon the contract you happens in the private world, because the sad truth is that it sign with your employer. Whether you work in a corporate or does, but it is not exacerbated by the conse uences of low private setting, read and understand your contract before you production or promises of uarterly and yearly bonuses. sign it. There aren’t two employment situations that are exactly Private practice also affords you the opportunity to make alike, so make sure you know exactly what you are agreeing

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Featured Article those things, but I pick up little tidbits in passing on a daily basis. Relatedly, if you start out your career in private practice, you are sure to encounter a little lighter volume at times than some of your friends in corporate. These slow days have given me the time to watch my bosses, learn from them, and start developing my methodologies for how I will do things when all of the responsibility falls on me.

additional money as you progress through your career. I’m not talking about increasing your speed, growing your patient base, and becoming more productive chairside; I’m talking about office and building ownership. Whether you purchase the practice from your boss or branch out to start your own, eventually you will be in a position where you will be the owner of your practice. Without doing anything different yourself, you will see more money coming your way because of your hygienist(s). As the owner, you will now receive a portion of the hygiene production that you didn’t when you were an associate. Furthermore, should you go on to owning the building, you will not be paying rent, so that money stays in your pocket as well.

Moving past the financials, the “headaches” of private practice really don’t apply to you as an associate. They do if you jump straight into purchasing a practice or building one from scratch, but you wouldn’t do that if you didn’t already have a good team around you and have the aptitude and interest for hitting the ground running. For the majority of us associates, our first couple of years in private practice will serve as the training ground for all the things we didn’t learn in school.

Many of these things are spun in a negative light by the corporate offices in hopes of enticing you to just let them do it for you, but remember that you would be an associate in your private practice, not the boss. Your boss will continue doing all those things whether you are working there or not. Payroll and bills will be paid. Staff will be managed. Insurance will be filed.

Supplies will be ordered. However, by being a part of the office, you will be able to see how these things are done and learn to do them yourself. I haven’t had formal “instruction” on any of

Speaking of time, one of the things I value the most about private practice is developing relationships with my patients.

I enjoy spending time getting to know new patients for the first time and catching up with those I’ve seen before. I made the decision in dental school that I didn’t want to practice at the break-neck speed that is commonplace in corporate dentistry and in the medical world where the doctor is in and out in a flash. I enjoy the relational opportunities dentistry provides, which really allow me to get to the root of my patients’ problems to prevent future issues, not just kick the can down the road and fix problems as they continue to pop up. All too often new patients will say, “No one ever showed me how to brush or floss before,” or, “No one took the time to figure out why I had cavities; they just said I had some and that they needed to be filled. I just assumed I wasn’t brushing good enough.” In the fast-paced world of corporate dentistry, and many private practices as well, clear and thorough communication with the patient can be overlooked. You will have the most training and the most knowledge of anyone at your office, which gives you the greatest responsibility in taking the time to education your patients.

Dr. Eric Anderson graduated from the Dental College of Georgia in 2017 and is now in private practice with his father, mother, and sister in Duluth, GA. During his time in school he served as the president of the student body and president of the school’s chapter of the American Student Dental Association. He remains involved in the dental community, focusing primarily on initiatives for dental students and new dentists, as well as dental legislation.

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