Dentaltown April 2022 - 24

message board
Bought an Old Offi ce During COVID
A Townie shares the start of a saga in buying a precarious practice-read the beginning here,
then scan the QR code to head online and catch up on what's happened since
newdent18
Member Since: 03/14/17
Post: 1 of 89
I had planned to close on a practice on March 16. That got sidelined. I fi nally closed on
June 1. Follow along to see/hear/learn/laugh at all of my follies. I had planned to start a thread
from day one to inspire/warn any fool brave enough to take on a small practice with plans to
grow it, but then COVID happened. And then reality also happened. I thought I was ready to
own a practice and, well, I'm fi nding out otherwise! It's quite humbling.
Practice stats:
73-year-old selling doc. Averages $400k collections, $200k profi t but he doesn't pay himself
rent. The seller has been caring for his ailing wife (Lou Gehrig's disease) for the past several
years and takes at least six weeks off. He refers out all endo, the vast majority of extractions, all
perio,and all crowns (yes, really) for at least the past fi ve years.
One FD. No internet; sends paper claims and balance bills. Has no clue how to verify
benefi ts or estimates. Two assistants who don't even know how to take more than the standard
two bitewings with horrid overlap. Two part-time hygienists equate to one hygienist per day.
Open 4.5 days. The front desk and both assistants have only ever worked in this offi ce, and have
all been here for 39+ years.
Completely OON. Low fees. $120 for POE, 2BW and prophy. $98 posterior fi lling.
2,400 prophys/year. A weird mix of some patients on four prophys per year and many on one
prophy per year (or less frequent). Seller does at least 1/3 of prophys himself. Does basically only
fi llings and prophys. He also does Hail Mary denture and partial repairs and only charges the
lab fee. Four to fi ve " broken tooth " calls per day are typically patched for the $98 fi lling fee. No
X-rays taken, no limited exam charge. Everything is very clean but very out of date. He's never
" run the lines. " He has an R&D amalgam collector that he dumps down the sink annually.
All instruments are wrapped in a towel and sterilized at lunchtime and stored unwrapped in
drawers. He's never thrown anything away. Anesthetic is all three plus months expired, and
don't even get me started on the composite and bond expiration dates.
The building:
Three ops outfi tted. Two ops are pretty updated (2004) Adec. Hygiene works out of a 1990
op, and it looks old. Three additional ops: One is built pit with '70s gear and unused, two are
plumbed and not outfi tted. The building is 2,400 sq. ft. with a full basement. This sounds like
a dream, but there are 46+ years of junk stuffed in every corner. There's literally no room for
any of my new supplies (which all had to be replaced). There's a lot of linear feet of plumbing.
This is an issue in itself.
So far, collections vs. overhead are great. Updates to come. ■
8/15/2020
norcaldentista
Member Since: 02/24/13
Post: 2 of 89
Wow, congrats. How do you even do $400k by referring out everything including crowns??
I bet despite him having these absurdly low fees, lots of patients have insurance which will pay
much better, the easy upside for you. What's your plan with staff? ■
8/15/2020
24 APRIL 2022 // dentaltown.com

https://www.dentaltown.com/messageboard/thread.aspx?s=2&f=148&t=346662&g=1 http://www.dentaltown.com

Dentaltown April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown April 2022