How to Build a Successful Dental Career | DBTN #9

[00:00:00] Hello everybody and welcome again to another episode of Dentistry Beyond the Numbers.

[00:00:08] My name is Dr. Marc Liechtung and I am so grateful that you're back, really grateful as I said previously

[00:00:15] how much support I've been given, the accolades, the reach outs, the shoutouts have been inspiring.

[00:00:21] And here we go! We're going to do another great episode and remember the goal of this podcast

[00:00:26] is to solely educate the different aspects of dentistry that I've touched, I've been involved in,

[00:00:32] that I love and cherish and feel that I could help. Young dentists out there for now guide their careers

[00:00:39] to become seasoned professional high earners and feel that they've given to the profession

[00:00:45] and the profession is given to them. Without further ado today's a great episode. You know

[00:00:55] the last seven eight episodes we dove into the dental hamsa, the hand. We discussed the five

[00:01:02] major categories of dental procedures that I want doctors to really gravitate to. We call those

[00:01:08] doctors the super generalists. Those doctors are doctors that are near and dear to my heart.

[00:01:13] You know they've accumulated great knowledge, great understanding of all aspects, occlusion,

[00:01:20] function, form, all the above terms that we've learned in dental school and now they've

[00:01:28] weave as a group. And I think we're going to be a very select group and we'll get into some

[00:01:33] really exciting numbers but they have really grown their careers to become

[00:01:39] excellent clinicians, super generalists and let's face it with that comes some really

[00:01:46] fantastic earning and that's what we're looking to guide our doctors to because we are gauged

[00:01:53] by how we come home and feel good about our work-life balance is our practice efficient.

[00:01:58] Without further ado let's get into it okay so this episode we talked about the procedures,

[00:02:04] we talked about gravitating towards being a super generalist but I just got out of dental

[00:02:09] school. I just got out of my residency. I just landed my first job and I'm not happy.

[00:02:15] I heard your podcast doc. I want to do that. What's the best way to do it? You know I looked at my

[00:02:21] podcast the last seven, eight episodes and I realized I left you guys on an island. I need

[00:02:26] you guys to gravitate towards understanding how can I accumulate the knowledge, the confidence

[00:02:33] and the ability to do the things we previously discussed. The clear aligners, the root canal

[00:02:39] therapy, the crown and bridge cosmetic surgery, surgical extractions, bone grafting

[00:02:43] and placing implants. That's our ultimate goal in being a super generalist so today we want to

[00:02:50] really start with some really excellent statistics that I've come across and I feel it's

[00:02:56] excellent because it does guide what I'm trying to discuss in our podcast and I think it'll be

[00:03:02] very awe-inspiring as we go forward. First of all the increase of graduates over the last three,

[00:03:09] four years since 2022 has been 1.2 percent. 1.2 percent of dentists have entered an increase,

[00:03:19] of 1.2 percent have entered the workforce. It's kind of amazing if you think about all the doctors

[00:03:25] that are retiring, the dentists you know that are old and affirmed that might be passing on or

[00:03:31] just saying enough is enough, injuries, people that have made a lot of money want to retire,

[00:03:37] people that need to retire for other reasons. Only 1.2 increase leads a large void for us young

[00:03:44] dentists coming out of our programs, out of our residencies to really fill some of these great

[00:03:50] spots that will be in need. The second statistic is 35 to 40 percent of the students that are

[00:03:59] graduating today are moving on to a more advanced program, a residency, a fellowship

[00:04:06] or a specialty. 40 percent, that leads 60 percent that are going into academics staying on for a

[00:04:14] family practice, going into private practice, getting a job in a DSO which we're going to get

[00:04:20] into but not going on to a more of an elaborate educational component to enhance their careers

[00:04:27] and the armamentarium that they're delivering their patients. The next is the big one,

[00:04:33] 64 percent of all dental students that are graduating today have at least $250,000 in debt.

[00:04:43] 39 percent have over 300,000 in debt. Now that makes it very difficult for us as young dentists to

[00:04:51] go to a bank and look to purchase a private practice like many, many people did many, many

[00:04:58] years ago. When rates may have been low, practice acquisitions may have been a percentage of gross,

[00:05:05] not a multiple of the profit of a practice so they would cheap it to acquire less expensive,

[00:05:11] that maybe family and friends can help me, maybe I get a loan from a bank that won't cripple

[00:05:17] my fact that I'm paying the debt. These are the things that go into it. So those are the

[00:05:22] things that directly influence where we're going in the future. Do we have a lot of debt? Do I need

[00:05:30] to go out and make a living to pay off that debt? Can I live with the debt? One of the real attributes

[00:05:36] of an entrepreneur is understanding debt and living with it, sleeping well with it and knowing

[00:05:43] that the businesses you run, the practices that what we are gearing up for much success

[00:05:50] and they will be able to handle any debt that we bring on because as we grow and the debt may

[00:05:57] stay with us, we are making that debt minimal by increasing our revenue. So that is an incredible

[00:06:05] point and I really do want you to understand that all these aspects dictate which direction a

[00:06:12] young dentist will take. The other aspect is what are my options? What are the options of

[00:06:21] today's world? Is it only private practice? Today we sit with the ability and the opportunity like

[00:06:28] we've never had in dentistry. We have a DSO, dental service organization, a DPO which has been around

[00:06:37] for about five years now and gaining much acclaim probably the type of structure that we as dentists

[00:06:46] might gravitate to more and we'll get into why. And third of course is the private practice.

[00:06:53] So let's go through them. A dental service organization is more of a large group. I look at

[00:07:00] a dental service organization where it's more specialty driven meaning the dental group that's

[00:07:06] there whether it be for all our names of a Heartland or a dental Carolines, these are

[00:07:12] large group practices that take in young dentists, have a program for those dentists to do bread and

[00:07:18] butter dentistry, produce what they're going to produce but be very mindful. Molar root canals,

[00:07:25] extraction bone grafts, implant placement, possibly clear liners, they have specialists to do these

[00:07:33] procedures and we're asking dentists in these dental service organizations to treatment plan

[00:07:39] and do all the bread and butter at dentistry but refer all the more specialty work

[00:07:46] into the specialist. The dental service organizations usually rely on the dentist and

[00:07:51] their own ability or their own ability to be in take the initiative to teach themselves or

[00:07:58] define courses and to learn within the confines of the group the specialty or the more advanced

[00:08:03] dentistry that they're looking for. I find that's a little different to a dental partnership

[00:08:09] organization. A dental partnership organization is something that I am actually in right now.

[00:08:15] I sold a group of practices to guardian dentistry partners.

[00:08:19] Guardian dentistry partners attracted me through their educational model. I'm learning that

[00:08:26] these partnership organizations look for the general dentist to not only be a partner

[00:08:31] eventually but to be one of those super generalists. They believe and I believe as well and that's why

[00:08:37] if you heard my podcast, I do like this philosophy is that they believe in something called the

[00:08:43] grow model or advancing the dentist to the procedures and the practice of their dreams.

[00:08:49] They believe and they meaning the group practices that are more partnership driven,

[00:08:55] they believe that if you train a dentist to be excellent, to be proficient, to deliver the procedures

[00:09:03] that they like to do, they want to do and they go home feeling great about it, they will increase

[00:09:09] their production by 10 fold. You will have a doctor that goes to work and is producing three grand a day

[00:09:17] come back and produce $20,000 in a year because they've learned how to do clear liners

[00:09:24] more efficient in surgical extractions and bone grafting, single tooth placement of implants

[00:09:30] and root canal therapy. These are all things that we talked about during the last set of episodes

[00:09:36] in dentistry beyond the numbers and I truly believe that if you get into the right setting,

[00:09:41] your education, your malpractice, possibly your medical they're all covered. This is a great avenue

[00:09:49] a little different than DSOs, a little more in my opinion involved in the clinical aspect although

[00:09:55] please every group, every practice is different. I'm going by what I've experienced in the normal

[00:10:02] run of these groups. The third opportunity for us young dentists is the private practice.

[00:10:09] Pros and cons in a private practice. The pro is you don't deal with corporate dentistry.

[00:10:16] I hear that all the time. I don't want to deal with corporate dentistry. I'm not sure why.

[00:10:20] I'm not professing corporate dentistry but if it's just that you don't want somebody telling you

[00:10:25] what to do, nobody is going to tell us dentists how to treat our patients and if they do

[00:10:32] that is borderline I'm done because I want nobody to tell us

[00:10:40] how to practice and how to treat our patients. So people that run to private practice for

[00:10:44] that reason may have an absolute reason, a good reason. They've had a bad experience,

[00:10:49] their friends had a bad experience but please remember every group and every practice within

[00:10:54] that group has probably a different personality so don't make judgments like that. Do your own

[00:11:01] research go into your own practice meet your own group ask the questions private practice

[00:11:08] you may stumble on a mentor somebody you knew somebody's your uncle your father's best friend

[00:11:14] somebody you've volunteered with so on and so forth somebody you just answered and had it

[00:11:20] but these private practices can give you the mentorship that you're looking for.

[00:11:25] One of the things we touched on back in the dental hamsa is how's the what is the best way to

[00:11:31] integrate an associate into our practice I strongly urge us as young clinicians to evaluate

[00:11:40] not only the financial aspect the package as they say but look at the procedures these practices that

[00:11:46] you're interested in joining are doing. Are they referring out all molar endos? Are they

[00:11:52] referring out clear liners? Do they even bring it up in hygiene? Are they doing all on X's?

[00:11:58] Does the doctor have a good friend that he refers at all surgery and he wants you to do

[00:12:02] the same or that doctor he or she let you get educated and expand your horizons and fly to

[00:12:10] the extent you want to fly with them being a mentor in the practice could be phenomenal

[00:12:16] but needs research needs to evaluate the aspect where you're going to live possibly for the

[00:12:24] rest of your career so you need to know these things it's a beautiful office it's

[00:12:30] beautiful technology but they refer out every single root canal and anything that has to do

[00:12:36] with extractions that's not what I want maybe the doctor will change their philosophy maybe

[00:12:41] that's the way to bring in an associate this is why it's as important for you to interview the

[00:12:46] position as it is the position is interviewing you so we've got our understanding of what our

[00:12:56] opportunities lay we have our opportunities of knowing that we got some debt and we need to make

[00:13:03] sure we make the right move and if we don't have debt is that an avenue to just go and buy a practice

[00:13:09] or is this give me the opportunity to really get involved with understanding what I want in my career

[00:13:18] we are looking as we spoke in the dental cancer before in the in the hand right we are looking

[00:13:25] for a practice so we could do all the procedures that's what I think a super generalist is about

[00:13:30] but we need to evaluate who we are I've broken this down into three categories because I've

[00:13:38] looked at myself many times in the mirror I've looked at my clinicians that work for me I've

[00:13:43] looked them in the eye I look at going into his third year student in my son and I wonder

[00:13:51] what are we are we a coaster a roaster or a rainmaker and someone's going what the heck does that

[00:13:59] mean but do it coasting or roasting well you know I look at it as differently I look at a doctor

[00:14:05] who goes into a practice and says I love dentistry I'm expecting my third child I want to stay at home

[00:14:15] be a mother work three days a week maybe two would be better I don't really have for the next 10 years

[00:14:23] the ability or the desire to go to take extra courses extra continuing ed spend time learning

[00:14:30] had a really treatment plan bigger cases and then be able to do them I want to make my two

[00:14:37] to $300 an hour make my thousand eight hundred seven fifty eight hundred dollars a day go home

[00:14:44] love dentistry but my work life balance barometer is more life than work and my balance is skewed

[00:14:52] in that way right now I love the fact that I went to dental school I did a great residency

[00:14:58] I spent a lot of time being great now I want to spend a lot of time balancing my life with

[00:15:04] dentistry and my family wonderful that's the beauty of our profession everybody pick who you are

[00:15:12] and go get it pick what I want and achieve it that is a coaster nothing negative may sound

[00:15:21] derogatory but it's not meant to be it's meant to be somebody who's going along their career

[00:15:27] and instituting everything implementing everything they want in their life with a great career

[00:15:33] that's given them a very nice earning a livelihood a very nice life my family is very happy maybe

[00:15:40] I'm the second or maybe I'm an equal moneymaker in my family but I just value that aspect more than

[00:15:48] I value to grow to be this super generalist fantastic that's a great avenue but that's

[00:15:55] somebody who looked themselves in the mirror and said this is who I am another person another

[00:16:02] doctor will come up and look at themselves in that magic mirror and say I don't know what I want

[00:16:08] I don't know what procedures I love but I know I want to be great I want to learn and I want to

[00:16:14] be a great producer in a great practice that I call a roaster somebody who's really ready to go

[00:16:22] ready to heat up just not sure needs a little mentoring maybe needs some sort of guidance

[00:16:30] so in the first case let's take a coaster I really think a dental service organization

[00:16:36] or a unique private practice could be the best why because I believe dental service

[00:16:42] organizations want dentists like we discussed not to be such world beaters and money makers

[00:16:50] but really achieve great heights without doing things out of the sweet spot of general

[00:16:57] dentistry they have guidance but they are more of a nine to five situation than anything else

[00:17:05] sometimes you'll find that in a private practice looking for two days so you have to evaluate

[00:17:12] that a roaster is somebody who's right now not looking to have more life than work but not

[00:17:20] sure which way to attack do I want to come in and really I love surgery which way do I go

[00:17:25] do I incorporate molar root canals through rotary more often using certain things that I want to get

[00:17:33] trained on that can work the question is which direction maybe I'm two years out of school I

[00:17:40] went to work for a clinic it didn't give me much opportunity I've heard this podcast I've heard

[00:17:45] others speak I want to dive into something more well to me you could really run the gamut

[00:17:53] of anything you choose it is my experience that a dental partnership organization will educate dentists

[00:18:00] quicker because their goal is to have really great general dentists in our practices we

[00:18:09] educate them on all the aspects we talked about but we do it through vendors through

[00:18:14] the company's training so it's done quickly it's done efficiently and it's some of the

[00:18:20] best lectures you can get and that is for the sole purpose of understanding what we're going to do

[00:18:27] so a coaster who's not interested may not be may not have this as the top of their list

[00:18:34] but somebody who's looking to become that ultimate rainmaker wants to roast along

[00:18:40] be cooking learn all the aspects and then kill it once they get it all under their belt

[00:18:46] those are two the last one is somebody that I always looked at myself as and I I do see a lot of young

[00:18:53] associates that have worked working for me that I see they have that same drive I came out of dental

[00:18:59] school I did a fellowship at University of Pennsylvania after I attended school there and I

[00:19:04] really wanted to you know own the world I must give credit to a great mentor of mine somebody

[00:19:12] who I spent a few years in his practice I learned a lot his name is Dr. Kenny Fishman I want to

[00:19:18] shout him out because Kenny had a great line he said Dr. Mark Leichtam you want to be in practice for

[00:19:25] five years ten years then you need to be in practice for ten years because the experience

[00:19:31] you learned through being in practice for that those many years will never be able to be substituted

[00:19:38] so you want to put yourself in a situation that you will attract and grow great procedures great

[00:19:46] patience and grow the procedures and the level of efficiency and proficiency that we are and we can

[00:19:52] deliver to me I was a rainmaker I wanted to produce a lot of dentistry I wanted to provide

[00:20:00] for my family very well and I wanted to do great dentistry back then I went into private

[00:20:06] practice and I found that solo practices or what I call doc in a box did not really educate me much

[00:20:15] I had specialties specialists I had a partner at the time and we grew by learning from each other

[00:20:22] today the advent of education is amazing every company has a whole arm of education to teach us

[00:20:31] so you don't no no longer have to be mentoring mentored by somebody you could join a dental

[00:20:37] partnership organization like the one that acquired me and have the ability to learn and do as you're

[00:20:46] going so your desire to be great you will plug in the procedures that you're weak in or want

[00:20:52] to grow in whether it be implants root canal surgery cosmetics sleep whatever it's that's

[00:20:59] the sixth finger whatever it is you're looking for these groups will provide education over the

[00:21:06] course of your working and as long as you're increasing your production and your efficiency

[00:21:11] in your practices they will educate you until you are great so a rainmaker is somebody that's

[00:21:19] coming out of school a fellowship mostly of residency and wants to own the world they

[00:21:24] want to be great they want to be a great dentist they want to care about their patients do quality

[00:21:30] work I believe their best avenue is a dpo or a private practice because the educational

[00:21:37] mentorship that's there can't be substituted and I think that eventually it's really important

[00:21:45] to figure out the private practice you're getting into and that you will have the ability

[00:21:50] to grow and we touched on that during the previous episodes these break it down into exactly what we're

[00:21:58] looking for as young dentists a dental partnership organization for a rainmaker means the rainmaker

[00:22:06] comes in in their first year they first six months and I see it now are producing between four

[00:22:12] and five hundred dollars an hour they learn a procedure root canal therapy surgical extraction

[00:22:18] with bone graft and membrane they're producing six fifty seven hundred dollars an hour now they're doing

[00:22:24] better cosmetics they're instituting more clear aligners they're producing seven fifty an hour

[00:22:31] now they're doing implants they gain they've gained a tremendous knowledge of education

[00:22:37] they've been giving hands-on techniques they're ready to embark on a great career of implants

[00:22:42] they're doing over a thousand dollars an hour on a day and if you calculate a thousand dollars an hour

[00:22:49] that is producing over a million three which throws off about four five six hundred thousand

[00:22:55] dollars depending on where you're working so what I'm saying is the level of education is exactly

[00:23:02] commensurate with the amount that you can earn the more you learn the more you add to your

[00:23:07] armamentarium the better you will be the happier you will be in my opinion that's the work-life

[00:23:13] balance I was looking for if I could do it over again I probably would have been a little more

[00:23:20] life work balance because sometimes we get caught up in our ability to grow and and be great

[00:23:27] but I can honestly say it worked for me I'm married for a long time thank god it's day

[00:23:32] it worked but many instances these things could be roadblocks to either your education or your life

[00:23:39] at home so we always must take that work-life balance and really look at it and make sure

[00:23:46] if that's what we want we are not impinging on that level because dentistry is a phenomenal career

[00:23:53] it'll give us everything we're looking for as long as we utilize what's out there to the maximum

[00:23:59] these groups are great these groups are blessed for us they provide us with education benefits

[00:24:09] malpractice paying patients we have to now learn that we are in the driver's seat a doctor that

[00:24:17] comes in as a roaster is going to be great in a couple of years is something that these

[00:24:22] groups would love not more than a rainmaker that comes in and starts producing great

[00:24:28] dentistry and has no very minimal reduce and patients are just applauding the way they speak to them

[00:24:35] and love the way their chair side manner is these are things we acquire and as we grow there'll be

[00:24:41] more patience there'll be more production and there'll be more satisfaction so I do believe in

[00:24:47] these groups utilize the best way if you take somebody that's somebody that's fresh out

[00:24:53] wants to coast along maybe they get over their first three to four years

[00:24:57] all of a sudden they're saying I really want to do more well now I want to sign up for this course

[00:25:03] and I want to do more extractions and I want to do more clear aligners these is the beauty of dentistry

[00:25:09] once you choose something for your first three years doesn't mean you're locked in

[00:25:14] but our ability to grow must be must be focused on education mentorship and and our clinical

[00:25:23] efficiency those are the things that will give us the greatest production and the greatest

[00:25:28] satisfaction of being in dentistry must tell you this is a phenomenal topic because the

[00:25:36] topic just can really grow in the sense that I see doctors all the time that work for me that are

[00:25:45] come out and have to be a little bit shackled a little bit you know held back because we as a

[00:25:52] group and me as the head doctor in my group I want I want doctors doing the best they can do

[00:25:59] for our patients I do not people practicing on our patients so we do have a crawl walk run

[00:26:07] attitude we want doctors to get involved we want doctors to start gravitating towards great

[00:26:14] dentistry treating learn how to develop fantastic relationships in the individual practices

[00:26:21] and subsequently with their patients then run after they achieve that great gain the knowledge

[00:26:28] gain the ability to grow and earn but this is a process and we say that our dental careers

[00:26:36] and I could tell you firsthand our dental careers are marathons they are not sprints

[00:26:43] what I've given you here today is an opportunity to categorize yourself to look at yourself in

[00:26:49] the mirror and say who am I when I come out of dental school do I just apply for a job

[00:26:55] you see then I think we'll call you a puddle jumper you are looking for a job and they're looking for

[00:27:02] a job and they're looking for a job and before you know it in your town I live in a pretty big

[00:27:07] town in New York City you become that resume that's auto auto reply we see Dr. Jones every

[00:27:14] ad we see Dr. Smith every ad and we say I don't want to interview them because I see him on every

[00:27:21] single ad I place our goal is to pick a path choose a lane and whatever that lane is know that

[00:27:29] you can always signal right or left and change that lane but at least you have a focus that focus

[00:27:36] I hope is a little bit less blurry because we break it down to three groups coaster roster

[00:27:46] rainmaker and you have to pick the three avenues going to a DSO is great a DPO will cause you to

[00:27:55] pull up your bootstraps and learn more be excellent and private practice your time is

[00:28:00] going to come when you're going to be really allowed to do whatever you want to do but you

[00:28:06] do have that built-in mentorship a little different attitude a little bit about the way I chose

[00:28:13] things when I came out of dental school I chose and my fellowship I chose two avenues one was working

[00:28:21] on my own in a private practice where I rented a chair and I practiced two days a week but I

[00:28:28] observed a private practice I did not want to work in that practice I want you to have my own

[00:28:34] my own flow I grew up in the city I knew a lot of people I would see a few patients a day

[00:28:40] but I would learn from the doctor that I was paying because he was a mentor the other side of me

[00:28:45] went to a much more fast-paced type of mall practice where I saw a lot of patients got comfortable

[00:28:51] around the mouth got comfortable in certain procedures these experiences were invaluable

[00:28:59] to me one was more high-paced learn how to get people out of pain learn how to take teeth out

[00:29:05] learn how to make people look good or feel good with crown of bridge but it was less of a

[00:29:11] less of a relationship driven practice and more of a production and procedure type practice

[00:29:18] I had the other half of my week we're so much more relationship driven time to talk

[00:29:24] time to do prices are higher and it gave me the opportunity to treat and plan my cases

[00:29:32] sit and talk to them and really learn what it meant to treat people that are fee for service

[00:29:37] or patients that were fee for service and I started to realize what I want in my life

[00:29:44] what type of direction I wanted to go it never really changes but the same token I have a very

[00:29:51] fond fondness towards the groups and private practice because I believe we in dentistry

[00:29:59] provide a service to all types so everything is is valuable to us every aspect but this is

[00:30:07] what I did and I think it's so valuable if you can if you can split your week before you commit

[00:30:13] could be wonderful unless you find that one opportunity if you find that one opportunity

[00:30:18] grab it grab it if you find that one doctor that one practice grab it because that would

[00:30:26] mean that you've got something that you could dig in learn and it is a marathon put those sneakers on

[00:30:33] and just enjoy so at this aspect at this time I would like to say I want to thank everyone

[00:30:41] I want to thank everyone for listening to another podcast of dentistry beyond the numbers if anybody

[00:30:48] has any interest of any topics please send me but we are going to continue developing young

[00:30:53] clinicians and know that we are here for the topics digital x-rays staff I remember the first

[00:31:03] time I worked with the staff we're going to touch on that the do's and don'ts especially this time

[00:31:08] of our lives but remember we as dentists are on the top of the chain we are looked at as the

[00:31:14] high earners let's go out educate ourselves and become great which every direction we go

[00:31:25] whether it's a b.o.c one thing is be your best learn from the best and share it with yourself

[00:31:36] learn it from yourself and keep growing once again I'm Dr. Mark Leichtung this was exciting

[00:31:44] thank you so much and remember dentistry beyond the numbers see you there