Before you start or acquire a traditional dental practice, consider an alternative practice model designed to meet the needs of patients who struggle to receive care by making dental house calls.
This model could offer major benefits to you as well.
If you have been looking to delve into practice ownership, you have probably envisioned a traditional dental office setting where you’d offer services to the general public. In that case, your practice, like most dental practices, would exist to meet the needs of most patients.
Traditional chairside dentistry remains the most-efficient dental delivery model from a public health perspective and offers a valuable service to the community.
Still, there are patients who do not benefit from the typical dental office structure. What if your practice could be designed to meet the needs of patients who cannot get to the dentist?
Consider Making Dental House Calls for the Homebound
There are currently four million American adults who could be described as “homebound.” These people may have special needs, cognitive impairment, limited mobility, autoimmune disorders, dementia, extreme anxiety, or a multitude of other conditions.
This four million figure doesn’t even account for all of the children with these same conditions who are safer remaining at home, too. You probably know and love someone who falls into one or more of these categories. Furthermore, someday you could find yourself in a situation where you are unable to get to the dentist.
If millions of Americans can’t safely leave their homes, how do they access dental care? Sadly, many of them don’t. Many patients who cannot get to the dentist are going without any care at all because there aren’t any house call dentists in their community.
We cannot let that remain the standard. These patients are best served in the comfort of their homes and we need more house call dentists on the ground.
Maybe your new practice should be a dental house call practice.
Benefits of Dental House Call Practices
If you’re hearing about dental house call practices for the first time, you aren’t alone. This career option isn’t typically presented during dental school.
It is a field that is hardly acknowledged by organized dentistry. Plus, there are so few practicing house call dentists that offer mentorship opportunities are extremely scarce.
Rest assured that there are already dentists around the country going into patients’ homes for ongoing care or to address dental discomfort. If they can do it, you can too. Plus, the need for house call dentists is overwhelming, so you’ll be busy!
Mobile primary care physicians, visiting nurses, traveling physical therapists, and other medical professionals acknowledged this need for in-home care decades ago. Unfortunately, in-home dental care remains so rare or “niche.”
Pursuing a career of in-home dental care would undoubtedly enhance the quality of life for your patients and it could enhance your quality of life, too.
Owning a dental house call practice is different from owning a traditional practice in all the best ways.
1. Debt Freedom
If you are considering opening or acquiring a private practice, you’re likely having conversations with lenders.
Their argument is that, even though you have student loan debt, you can use even more debt to purchase an asset, the practice, which will help you earn money and pay your student loans off more quickly.
Well, what if you could create a money-making asset without borrowing any money at all? If you were to save just thirty thousand dollars, you could start your own dental house call practice.
💡 You wouldn’t have any obligation to a lender, just profit.
2. Low Overhead
The majority of revenue in a typical private practice is spent on overhead. A typical private practice requires the labor of a team of people who all need to get paid
Also, a typical practice is usually located within a commercial property that requires rent payments or, if you’re willing to take on even more liability, mortgage payments.
In a traditional private practice, payroll and real estate expenses are massive and unavoidable expenses.
In a dental house call practice, the fixed expenses are minimal:
- Eliminate the commercial property expense by utilizing a large closet or small office in your home to store dental instruments.
- Use your personal car to get to your patient’s homes.
- A dental house call practice requires only your labor. You can decide to have a small team as you become more profitable, but when you start, the only person who MUST be on the payroll is you.
Imagine the relief!
💡 Both the home office and car mileage are tax-deductible, by the way!
3. Time Freedom
For every traditional practice owner who is completely happy with their business, there is another traditional practice owner who feels like they’ve created their own trap.
They thought practice ownership meant freedom. Well, with a team to support, real estate expenses, and debt to pay, it’s no wonder someone could begin to resent the business they’ve created. Their time is spoken for because they need to be at work.
Imagine owning a traditional practice in a state that requires direct supervision of hygienists. You’re working Friday afternoon (because you have to) and your last patient of the day calls in to cancel. You would LOVE to head home to see your family and get the weekend started, but you can’t. Your hygienist has two more patients scheduled this afternoon.
Unless you want to cancel on your patients by canceling and then rob your hygienist of their hours, you are not going anywhere. You are trapped in your own business on a Friday afternoon.
Time is our most valuable resource, it’s finite.
We all know we’re mortal, but somehow still find a way to rationalize owing money for thirty years and dedicating our precious hours to years of repetitive work without ever knowing what the future holds or how things will change.
When you have a dental house call practice, you are free. You are not answering to a team, lenders, or a landlord. The only people you are answering to are your patients.
You can work with your patients to decide what appointment times work best for both of you. A dental house call practice allows you the time freedom and flexibility that most traditional practice owners will never get to enjoy until retirement.
So before you take on the risk of opening yet another traditional practice to meet the needs of most patients, consider opening a dental home care practice.
💡 There are patients who need you and you can offer them dental services on terms that do not confine you.
Should You Start a Dental Home Care Practice?
The truth is, if you were willing to commit to a lender, a team, and some real estate, you are definitely risk-tolerant enough to take a chance on offering in-home dental services.
Even if your dental house call practice is a part-time endeavor, it will offer immense value to your community.
Remember, worst case scenario, you’re a dentist, you’ll be able to find another job or continue with your traditional private practice plans a little later.
If in-home dental care is new to you, you probably have questions. Perhaps you’re wondering about the logistics with materials or equipment. Maybe you’re wondering about the ethical considerations of treating patients at home. Maybe you’re even a skeptic of this entire delivery model. That’s okay!
Check out resources like the ResiDENTAL Movement podcast or the Special Care Dentistry Association for more information and some answers to your questions. Really do some research and consider how this practice model could work for you.
At the end of the day, it may or may not be for you. Either way, that’s fine! Most people need standard chairside dentistry, remember? Whether you decide to pursue in-home dental care or not, please support in-home dental care practitioners and the patients who need these services.
Discuss this career option with dentist colleagues who are looking for something meaningful to pursue. Advise dentists of the need in the community. Remind patients to demand these services in their residential communities or from their local dentists.
As more people, dentists and patients alike, learn about the possibilities of dental house call practices, access to care for patients who are homebound will only increase.
