Orthotown November 2017 - 9

guidelines, much less take care of so many
patients.
We consulted with attorneys and accountants and offered a chance to:
* Purchase a portion of the practice
* Receive compensation proportional
to the purchase price
* Review the business plan to move
the needle forward
* Clearly spell out the conditions for
more share purchases in the future.
If you're following along, this is how one
purchases stock of a company. The response
from her as well as from many others was,
"I want it all. I would never be a part of
just a portion of a practice." (In retrospect,
either we were clearly ahead of our time or
too stupid to take advantage of the widely
available money of investors.)
I don't know if it starts in school with
the intense personal involvement with our
patients, but my perception of reality is:
Either you're working in a business you
own or you're working in a business that
you don't own. And when you wish to not
work it anymore, you walk, sell or give the
residual away.
I notice a lot of marketing, technique
and management classes and continuing
education topics are geared at beating the
corporate dental providers, with strategies
to personalize a practice to gain market
share. It seems like the corporations are the
boogeymen to everyone who hasn't been able
to figure out how to put their practice up
for sale and join them. What's not to like?
Tons of Wall Street money being thrown
around, many times by people who really
don't know what makes a practice tick,
grow or serve patients? Multiples are used
to justify various sales price scenarios.
Traditional practice metrics don't apply
and we're told that the new normal is what
we are witnessing.
I, for one, applaud the efforts of the investor and the seller. Having been a participant

in the stock market for more than 30 years
and having a father who on his deathbed
said you couldn't beat it after working in it
for his lifetime, I am impressed. The more
you look at the situation, you see private
companies forming, going public and then
sometimes going private again. This happens
again and again. I'm sure it won't be any
different in dentistry!
The current buying and selling binge
will probably stabilize soon. But for the
moment, there's still a large percentage of
practices poised to grow owned by only one
dentist. The only thing that makes dentistry
and orthodontics different from other health
businesses is that there's not the kind of
insurance money to fund the madness.
So back to the practice sale and purchase.
I believe there is a need to adapt to the
new reality of practice sale and ownership.
Corporate may not be a bad word. Most of
us, in fact, have formed a corporation and
operate our practice within it.
Why don't we look at our practice like a
potential CEO of a major corporation might
look at it, and realize that we don't need to
own it all to have a meaningful impact or
realize a lifetime of success and financial
reward? Tim Cook, Mickey Drexler, Bob
Iger and others never owned their entire
companies while at the helm. There were other
owners involved, all reaping the benefits of
the business that the CEO was leading. Many
working persons could become millionaires
at Microsoft, Apple and the like.
It's time for those of us who have not
realized this to understand the principles of
ownership, business profit and earnings per
share so that large, profitable, orthodontic
concerns can continue to provide sources
of income, smiles and employment for
generations to come. It's important to work
on the business with systems, procedures and
scripts, rather than in the business.
"Having it all" may not be what it's
cracked up to be! ■

Share your
comments about
this column online!

To weigh in on Dr. Dan Grob's
column, go to orthotown.com and
click "Read Current Issue."
If you have a question, email him at
dan@orthotown.com.

orthotown.com \\ NOVEMBER 2017

9
http://www.orthotown.com http://www.orthotown.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Orthotown November 2017
