The Impactful
Dr. Monica Madan on starting an orthodontics firm, what she’s learned from her patients, and her pride in culture and community
Dr. Monica Madan is an orthodontist who co-founded Beverly Hills Orthodontics, an orthodontics firm created by and for women, millennials, and families. She is at the forefront of innovative orthodontics treatment and prioritizes the patient experience above all.
I sat down with Dr. Madan to discuss her experiences growing up, her journey in founding Beverly Hills Orthodontics, and the role of culture in shaping who she is.
Tell us about the community you grew up in. What led you to becoming an orthodontist?
I was born in Los Angeles, and I grew up in Pasadena. Pasadena was incredibly diverse, but no one talked about diversity in the same way it is discussed today. I just knew I was Indian, and that was great. I had a vibrant and robust social life outside of school with my family and friends who were mostly Indian. I went to the East Coast for college and was struck by how closely groups stuck to themselves, even in a place as liberal as Brown.
Everyone at Brown was either going into consulting or banking or law school or med school. For me, I was going to go to med school. I think I’d already had my application ready to go. As I was studying with a friend of mine, I asked him what medical schools he was planning on applying to. He said he was going to dental school. I thought that was interesting, and then all of a sudden, I realized, I should be an orthodontist. I’d never even had braces. I should be an orthodontist. I called my parents and told them I was going to apply to dental school. I didn’t want to work in a hospital run by insurance companies, and I wanted to have a job that I could control. So it was very functional — I wanted to control my destiny and it seemed really fun to work with kids.
I went to USC for dental school and it was brilliant because they launched a new program called Problem Based Learning, which was started at Harvard. It’s very like, here’s the issue, now figure out how the system works. You ask questions and then you have to go find the information yourself. So it’s not taught in a typical lecture environment. Then I went to Seattle for orthodontic residency, which was really exciting. It was phenomenal working with such a great group of people. Then I came to LA in 2008 and started my practice with another orthodontist.
Walk us through your journey of co-founding Beverly Hills Orthodontics.
My business partner Erin is from the East Coast and her dad’s a dentist and she had the opposite story of me where she knew she was going to be a dentist and was drawn to orthodontics from a young age. When we first started out, we didn’t know what we were going to be and who we were. We were both pregnant with our first child and we somehow decided to start a practice in a dense area that already had orthodontists, but she and I were pretty motivated. We found that moms were attracted to us because we were moms and we had a gentler touch and we didn’t force our ideals on the patient or the parents.
In the past in medicine and dentistry, usually doctors were men, so people were used to seeing men. So patients were very excited to come see a woman. Also, most of the time, men in this field carry attitudes like, Oh, it’s just braces, it doesn’t hurt. This is a total anxiety inducing experience, so my partner and I would say instead, this is just straightening teeth, not life or death. To us, this experience needs to be enjoyable, comfortable, and centered around the patient.
In that time, we were in the business area of Beverly Hills. So a lot of professionals found us. And then a lot millennials found us. Orthodontic treatment has grown to become more of an adult thing than it was before we started, and that’s when our demographic morphed to not just children and moms, but to young adults and millennials. We’re big on No, we’re not going to keep your braces on for 100 years.
Our strives for excellence and communication with our patients are central to us as doctors. Now, as we started to enhance the experience in our practice, we play music, celebrate things, and are transparent about what we feel. With the recent protests and George Floyd, that is something that we are willing to go towards and talk about.
How did your heritage shape your perspective and identity?
How does one separate themselves from their heritage? We are walking, living, breathing beings of our heritage.
My first identity is being from Los Angeles as an Indian Los Angeleno American. I feel very connected to Los Angeles — I can relate to the people and I feel I belong by the ocean as an untethered spirit.
And then there’s mom, doctor, and all that. Those things come together and they really sort of converge. Anything Indian is always woven into our office when there’s a holiday or celebration. Everything that I do and every perspective I have, I feel very lucky that I never had any issues in terms of heritage. I feel proud and accepted, and my children are in Bollywood dance class, which is super fun! And it reminds me of all of the sheer fun I had as a child. I grew up with my grandparents and my parents and I have a very strong connection to language. That’s because there was so much Hindi happening around us when we were little. Language is a very important connection to your heritage and I do speak Hindi. It’s a mix of Hindi Punjabi. Punjabi is another dialect that strengthens my sense of identity and is my heritage. All of these things are important vehicles that shape my concept of self.
