Abe Gershonowicz, D.D.S.
In 1978, I started my dental practice in Sterling Heights, Michigan and for years it grew steadily. Fairly early in my career, I set a goal to build my practice up to the point where I could bring in a partner. With this in mind, I began to bring in associates in the mid-1980s. I had several who came and went prior to Dr. James Neme, who came on board in 1990. After working with Dr. Neme for several years, I decided I wanted to make him my partner. There was one problem: The practice wasn’t productive enough to economically accommodate a partnership. To make a partnership work, I figured that collections would need a 20% increase from… [More]
Virginia Lee, D.M.D. & Jeffrey Santone, MA
I am an Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon practicing in Washington, DC. I graduated in 1996 from University of Maryland Medical Systems and the Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. At that time I thought that was all I needed to do – just open up my own practice and be successful. My father also had completed his Oral Surgery residency training about 50 years prior to my graduation and he always seemed very happy and successful. I thought it was just natural to do the same in my own practice. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Private practice was a lot of work. Technically I had great skill, but dental school and residency training did not teach me anything about running a business… [More]
Khang Nguyen, D.D.S. & Trang Nguyen, Pharm.D.
After graduating with a Bachelor’s in Biochemistry from UC Davis, I completed my D.D.S. at NYU College of Dentistry. Then in 2003, I moved back to California to practice and began as an associate.
After graduating with a Bachelor’s in Biochemistry from UC Davis, I completed my D.D.S. at NYU College of Dentistry. Then in 2003, I moved back to California to practice and began as an associate.
Just one year into associating, I had an opportunity to start a two-operatory practice from scratch with another dentist in Northern California and I jumped on it. I was still associating three days a week and working in my own practice three days a week—which was supposed to be… [More]
Drew Clement, D.D.S. & Mary Clement, Office Manager
I graduated from the Louisiana State University School of Dentistry in 1981. After associating in 2 different practices, my wife Mary and I decided it was time to open my own office. I looked forward to being my own “boss” and my family and I enjoying the benefits of financial freedom. So, in 1985 I started out from scratch with one operatory in Thibodaux, Louisiana, with Mary as the office manager (and everything else as she was the only staff member)! From the beginning, we saw that our weak point was organizational issues – my first patient walked out without paying us and disappeared! We did a great job clinically, but could never seem to… [More]
Tony Hatch, D.D.S., and Laura Hatch, Office Manager
We were both very confident when it came time to open our first practice in 2003. Since graduating from the University of Maryland Dental School in 1999, Tony had been associating, and was ready to have an office of his own. And, we figured that Laura, with her business background and education (Bachelors Degree in Human Resources and a Masters in Organizational Development from Johns Hopkins University), was ideal to handle the administrative end of the practice.
With a keen eye for detail, we built a beautiful, high-tech, 2400 square foot office with two operatories (plumbed for three more). To cover our bases administratively, Laura attended a number of practice management seminars in the six months leading up to… [More]
Dale Wahl, D.D.S. and Laura Wahl, Office Manager
After graduating from The Ohio State University College of Dentistry in 1983, I decided to start out with my own practice in Aurora, Colorado. Starting out from scratch, I kept busy and made ends meet by associating part-time. I had always heard that a new practice takes about five years to establish, so while things were difficult in the beginning, I figured they would… [More]
