Improved from every angle

Dr Sheri Naghibi talks about the impact on her practice, Hyde Park Dental Clinic, since partnering with Dentex

I bought Hyde Park Dental Clinic in 2009. Since then, I have been doing a lot of work improving the practice, offering a standard of dentistry inline with my values and principles. I managed the practice myself as best as I could, along with two or three associate dentists and the rest of my team.

I decided to sell in 2017 as I was jaded by the day-to-day running of the practice. I felt inundated with paperwork, even though I had some help from my receptionist and practice manager, I was taking on a lot of the admin myself and it was consuming my free time. For me, the relief came when I actually got to practise dentistry – that was the relaxing part. I wanted to carry on with dentistry, but with freedom from the day-to-day managing of the business.

I put my practice on the market with an agent and had good interest; three corporates, including Dentex, and one individual put in offers, which were at, or close to, the asking price. As I considered the next steps of my career, I knew I wanted to stay in the practice, so Dentex’s offer of co-ownership matched most closely with my own aspirations.

Co-ownership

Co-ownership was what made Dentex stand out for me; I would receive a windfall payment for the sale of the practice but also become a shareholder in the Dentex group. I would still retain control of my own practice and stay on as the principal, whilst benefiting from the growth of the group.

Co-ownership was a completely new concept to me, but one I really like. Once I had a chance to think it through, it actually suited me to stay as principal dentist; I liked my practice and my patients and didn’t want to walk away from something I had spent so long building.

I also found the people at Dentex whom I dealt with very professional, they had a great way of dealing with a very cumbersome process while being willing and helpful.

Improved from every angle

The sale completed in October 2018, so that’s 18 months ago now! As far as the practice goes it has only improved from every angle. Firstly, I have been relieved of much of the admin work and have been enjoying more free time, which is something I craved. I now practise three days a week and that’s it.

At the practice, the whole process has been very professional, my practice manager deals with Dentex for everything on the admin side. In terms of improvements, we have all the materials we need with no restrictions, no cutting corners. We have budget allocated for any extra equipment we might need to help the practice grow. We have taken on an extra receptionist to help with the extra bookings. We are busier as a practice, but there is less stress overall for the whole team.

After just 18 months our revenue and treatment offers have both improved drastically, even though we haven’t changed our core business. The results have surpassed my own expectations. For the future, the maintenance of this steady improvement is my main goal.

Thanks to Dentex, my team has a huge number of courses available to them, most at reduced or even no cost. My associates have been on endodontic treatment and advanced restorative training. As the team has been upskilled, we don’t refer many cases out now, only the complicated ones.

As far as the patients are concerned, there has been very little change; the practice still looks the same, but we are able to offer them a better experience. I never wanted to change the practice’s brand. I was involved in creating the name and the logo, as well as the ethos, presenting a holistic and peaceful patient-orientated practice. It has meant a lot that I’ve been able to find someone who will nurture and enhance this ethos, which underpins our success as a practice.

Thanks to Dentex’s support, everything is running very smoothly.

This entry was posted in Private Dentistry in April 2020 by http://dentistry.co.uk/