Major League Dentistry
What is the future of being a dentist? The past included treating patients and some kind of business management. One of those you were trained for and one of them you weren’t. Guess which one…
It should not be a surprise that the dental field has evolved and that people who were trained in business could do it better than the dentist. So, with the corporatization of dentistry, we (dentists) have essentially 2 options. You can try to compete with MBA’s and private equity investors who have a seemingly endless trove of cash and expertise to run a much more efficient business or you can double, triple or quadruple down on your strengths and forge the new future path for dentists. Just because there’s potentially a smaller window to own and manage the business in the future, does not mean you don’t have even more potential to achieve a wealthy, healthy and joyous life and career. In fact, I assert that great times are ahead for the dentist of the future.
I will start by posing a question to you? Why do you want to be or did you become a dentist? Was dealing with the headaches or business management part of it? If it was, do you plan or did you plan to receive an education for that? Granted, there are some dentists who are naturals who do build large practice groups and DSOs. However, the vast majority of dentists are reluctant and de facto business owners. As you know, there wasn’t any HR, management, marketing, finance, accounting, insurance… classes between Gross Anatomy and Occlusion 2. We indeed do have a ton to learn in dental school and even with that essentially require further time following graduation to hone our clinical skills. So, could the curricula of dental schools benefit from some modification? Absolutely, but how much time should or more realistically could be diverged to practice management/ownership at the expense of learning health improving knowledge and procedures for patients? Maybe this is the natural evolution that should happening. After All, everything else seems to improve and refine with time. Technologically, we are exponentially further than when we were kids with the internet, smartphones, self-driving car, AI and VR. Dentistry has advanced drastically as we all know from a technology and treatment perspective. So, why should the career experience of the dentist not follow suit? Maybe the corporatization of dentistry is a revolutionary opportunity for dentists to maximize their potential.
I assert Major League Dentistry:
If I may take the liberty, I would like to propose a nuanced perspective. Many of us have had the childhood fantasy of being a pro athlete, dancer, actor or whatever. I can remember fantasizing playing for the Yankees. Now, I understand that for some of you who feel victimized and offended by the use of the Yankees as the comparison, feel free to replace it with any professional sports team that relieves the distraction while satisfying your fantasy. The whole theme is a desire to be recognized and valued for our abilities. The fantasy usually isn’t about owning and/or managing the team. I don’t recall many childhood pick up basketball games role playing Phil Jackson over Michael Jordan. It’s about being the talented performer. Well, for you who are becoming or have become dentists, your time has come. You are the talent. The best players make it to the “big show” while some people get stuck in the minor leagues. Some people get the big contract while some grind out a living. This professional league is the structure that dentistry is adopting. For the most part, corporations with lots of money are buying up smaller teams with existing talent and then building bigger teams. Then they are scouting and recruiting top picks for future development for growth. The players don’t own the team, but they do get handsomely rewarded for great performance. Occasionally, a player may even get shares in the team. The developing professional athlete takes his/her 10,000 swings to hone the craft. The focus is on becoming the best possible athlete. If the players were also expected to manage the business, marketing and accounting of the team as well, this may impact and weaken the performance on the field. Can this be applied to your dental career? I offer a big YES. After all, for some reason, you wanted to become a dentist. This direction should even more pronounced now than during previous years given the current landscape of the diverging and maximizing of roles between management and clinicians. It is more clear than ever that the decision to become a dentist or become a dental business professional needs to be a succinctly deliberate one. Increasingly and almost certainly permanently, dentists will be intensely focused clinicians. And, this is not a bad thing. Granted, I don’t think the corporate world has hit the correct formula to create a steady equilibrium… yet, but when they do (not if), patients will realize the best care that has ever been provided in dental history. Dentists, as they should be, will be 100% focused on the quality of care and experience without the distractions of managing the practice. Afterall, diligent practice owners who are also major clinical providers must make decisions how much continuing education is dedicated to enhanced clinical skills vs. practice management. The key is to strike the right balance of compensation for providing high quality and profitable care.
With a better, more efficient business structure and management, dentists will have the opportunity to thrive on focus, enjoyment and proportional compensation to their skill. In the Major Dental Leagues, a meritocracy exists where a dentist can achieve better opportunity and reward based on his/her talent, expertise and ability to provide a great patient experience. Every team wants to sign all-stars with longevity and recognize the benefit of their investment. As within professional athletics, some dentists will shine as all-stars. All-stars have more power as their own brands with enhanced value and opportunities to branch into other areas. As you can see, this brave new dental world could be something great to embrace rather than fight against.
The big question that remains is can a corporate structure be done right avoiding greedy pitfalls that could potentially short change patients, dis-incentivize high quality and/or a trigger brain drain of smart, well intentioned clinicians? Time will reveal this as the field evolves which seems to be at an accelerated pace.
