45 Days of Practice Ownership

I alluded to it in my last post, but I have officially purchased a dental practice in Greeley, CO.

The name is NorthStar Dental, and you can find me on the web in these locations:

Website: NorthStarDentalGreeley.com

Twitter: @NSDGreeley

Instagram: @NSDGreeley

Facebook: Click here

I've learned a few things in my first 45 days, but I mainly want to discuss the differences between military dentistry and civilian dentistry here.

1. Treatment planning

Military treatment planning is very conservative. This stems from the fact that we are often so booked out, that it's easier to push off that tooth with some visible fracture lines to next year, or do a big filling and hope it doesn't break in the meantime, rather than stuffing the schedule full of crowns.

In civilian practice, you can pitch the option of a crown as soon as you know a filling is a poor long term solution which means your crowns are going to be far more predictable and often not require a core buildup for the patient (which saves them $) if the existing filling is small.

2. Problem solving

The military has a multitude of issues but most of them are small. However, this constant small background annoyance is akin to a constant static slowly invading your work life. There's a lot of problems that you can't fix at all, or that take so long to fix that you just start to ignore them.

In civilian practice, problems get solved very quickly. There's a host of helpful people waiting to service your practice via equipment purchases, financing, supplies, etc. 

Example: It took 8 months to get new curing lights in the military. In my new practice? 4 days.

3. Administrative tasks

One big benefit of the military is that you have a lot of enlisted personnel to help with admin duties. But wait a minute, you also have your own! Writing notes, running programs, the list goes on and on. None of them are that hard, but again, it's like the constant static in the background.

In civilian practice, you have far less that you are "required" to do yourself (treatment notes are an obvious example here). Not to mention you can run your "programs" (referrals, etc) however you want! My admin burden is probably 10% of what it was in the military. My staff is small and efficient and takes most of this load away. Now, I do have a host of new issues to deal with, but with the right leadership background, I have had no problems at all with these new items and I have more down time (yep) than I did in the military.

My overall thoughts after 45 days:

I have been totally surprised at how easy the transition to civilian practice has been. The everyday joy of treating patients that actually chose to come see you cannot be understated. Having a very small team of highly motivated individuals makes you far more productive than having large military teams (ironically) bogged down with red tape and hours of extra non-dental work. The nearly total lack of administrative tasks in the civilian world is a dream. Solving problems instantly means that there's no buildup of stress "static". Being able to actually lead a clinic and have ultimate autonomy is wonderful.

I've loved it so far. If I had to put a number to it, I would say it's about 20% as stressful as I expected, and 2x as fun.

My big caveat: 

If you're thinking of getting out just to associate forever, think twice. The military has such a great end goal for those that can stay for 20 years, and many private offices hire associates too early which means you won't be busy enough. Working for a corporate office might work because they typically have a better pulse on their needs, but you may burn out quickly because you'll definitely be seeing more patients.

So let me encourage those that are considering getting out. Do it!

If... you want to own a practice :)

P.S. If you decide to get out, you *must* use an intraoral camera for *every* exam finding. Showing the patient what you are seeing is far and away the best tool for gaining trust and building rapport.