By: Casey Goetz
I knew for years that my ultimate professional goal was to start my own pediatric dental office. I wanted to have that autonomy and be in control of my career so that I could deliver my dentistry in a way that I thought was superior.
I briefly associated with another office for eight months after residency, and then COVID hit and I was laid off.
The pandemic ended up being a blessing in disguise, for I suddenly had countless hours isolated at home where I could begin working on my dream practice.
Starting a Pediatric Dentistry Practice
I secured the loan, designed and constructed the space, purchased the equipment, hired the team, and ran my own marketing campaign during that time. By the time I opened the doors in October 2020 to Cuivre Creek Pediatric Dentistry in Troy, Missouri, we already had a list of over 100 kids waiting for appointments.
In our first year of business, we went from seeing our first patient with zero dollars in the bank to a very lean, seven-figure collection practice. I’d like to share the most important keys to our success, while at the same time outlining some common mistakes and how to avoid them.
As Socrates was quoted,
Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.
Tips from a Successful Pediatric Dentistry Start-Up
Here are five things I did right when I started my pediatric dentistry practice and five things I wish I would have done differently.
Learn How To Do Things Yourself
Modern, young dentists need to be resourceful in the era of being squeezed out by insurance companies and rising costs. I learned how to do my own graphic design, social media ads, build my own website, do my own bookkeeping, etc.
Eventually, you can outsource, but it will save you money and give you better control of your overhead.
Don’t Be Afraid of Going Rural
In full transparency, it’s easy to be successful when you have no competition. Dentists love to ignore the hard demographic numbers in the name of practicing in a “high-income area.”
I instead would vote to find an area with minimal competition, lots of cavities, and enough of an employment base in the community to support working families with dental insurance.
You’ll never be short of work, as our rural office sees 150+ new patients every month.
Be a People Person
I was able to grow my referral base from day one by personally going to every dental office in the surrounding counties and shaking hands with dentists and physicians.
It’s important to make those connections and pretend like you are running for mayor.
Invest in Your Community
The dividends paid by supporting my local FFA, 4H, fundraisers, and community non-profit donations have greatly outperformed any ROI on traditional advertisements. Support and buy from other local businesses as well.
Don’t underestimate the power of being active in your community, as other small business owners will notice and refer patients your way. The first day I moved to town, I walked into the local furniture store and bought appliances for my dental office. I gave them my business, and now all of the staff there bring their kids to see me.
Be Organized
Running a dental office requires endless logins, spreadsheets, emails, schedules, pin numbers, and passwords.
Keep documents on the cloud, and keep them organized and current.
Don’t Depend on Equipment Reps for Everything
It’s an easy mistake to write the fat checks to your local supply rep in exchange for a turn-key practice. Take some time to shop around online instead, you can save thousands.
I purchased a lot of equipment from my reps that I later found at a fraction of the price online.
Learn the Insurance In Your Community
I tried to go out-of-network with Delta Dental early on but didn’t realize that 50% of our community has a Delta plan through work. This really restricted our growth during the first few months.
Stay Productive
If you have a lot of unproductive downtime during your early months, you probably need to re-focus and adjust. Don’t sit around and wait for the phone to ring. Instead, make connections and pass out business cards and referral pads at local businesses.
If it takes going door-to-door shaking hands, don’t be above it. Early on patients would fail their appointments and I would sit around waiting for the next one to come in. I could have used that downtime much more productively.
Don’t Become Stagnant
If your practice plateaus or grows very slowly, don’t become ok with that. It’s critical to keep the growth pedal pressed to the floor early on.
Add team members, equip an additional chair, spend more on your marketing. That growth is compounded early on, especially if it allows you to afford things like establishing an office 401k, investing in better technologies, or paying down debt.
Study other Successful Pediatric Dentistry Practices
If you’re going to start a practice, you should shadow or visit at least 10 other similar offices. I visited around a dozen colleagues in their offices, and wish I would have done twice that many.
Learn what you like and don’t like by seeing these examples in person. Once you invest the money and build your own, it gets harder to make big changes or alterations.
NEXT READ: What to Do and What to Avoid with a Dental Start-Up
