T-Bone Speaks

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Join me on the latest episode of T-Bone Speaks where I talk with Dr. Ashish N. Kakadia about the struggles of being an overseas graduate and how he overcame them.

Dr. Kakadia was born and raised in India and finished dental school in 2001. Ashish admits that he detested dental school in the beginning but that all changed when he relocated to the United States. He received his DDS from the University of Illinois at the Chicago College of Dentistry in 2008 and opened his private practice, ‘Modern Dentistry’ in Roswell, GA in 2009.

Ashish is a proud member of the American Dental Association and completes over 100 hours of additional education per year.

To listen to to podcast hit play below:

            
• Ashish’s inspiring journey from studying dentistry in India to moving to the United States and opening his own private dental practice
            
• Common struggles and hardships that many foreign graduates and dental practitioners face in today’s society
            
• How to build a new practice from scratch and the importance of chasing your dreams
            
• The importance of marketing and implementing an effective marketing strategy to help raise awareness for your business
            
• Investing in high-tech machinery and equipment is worth the risk
            
• Overcoming hardships and always striving to put your patient’s wellbeing and happiness before profit

Here’s a bit more detail about our discussion…

The Struggles of a Foreign Graduate

Dr. Kakadia studied dentistry in India, where he believes the dental education system let him down. His professors held back on practical teaching and instead focused a lot of their time and energy on theory work.

When he came to practice dentistry in the U.S, Ashish didn’t know how to carry out some of the more intricate dental procedures such as root canals or crown placements. He had to complete additional educational courses and training regimes to help polish his skills in the areas that needed more work.

Building a New Practice from Scratch

As Ashish gained more experience working as a dental hygienist and associate for different practices, he realized that he could not succeed as somebody’s employee. He didn’t like the fact that he felt as though he worked in a corporate office rather than a dental practice and he didn’t like having someone look over his shoulder and tell him what to do.

So, Ashish decided enough was enough. Despite the fact that he didn’t know much about the business side of dentistry, he was determined to own his own private dental practice. However, the first year was a struggle, and the practice wasn’t making much with an average of just $130k per year – the practice was losing money.

Desperate for some financial help, Ashish called his father-in-law and asked for help. He was gifted with $10k and had to let his consultant go as he simply couldn’t afford to keep them on the payroll.  

Marketing & Introducing High-Tech

After the third year, everything changed.

Ashish told me that his practice was doing better than ever, and it was all thanks to marketing. The first step Ashish took to spread awareness for his business was to send out 2,000 flyers each month.

Following the success of his marketing efforts, Ashish began introducing new high-tech technology and procedures to his practice. He bought a Dental Cone Beam CT and the CEREC SpeedFire on the same day and never looked back.

Although a lot of people told him that he was foolish for investing so much money into new technology for his practice, Ashish didn’t listen. His practice continued to grow, and it made a total of $940k last year and is well on his way towards reaching the one-million-dollar mark in 2018.

Overcoming Hardships

Dr. Ashish N. Kakadia is living proof of someone who never gave up on his end goal. Although he faced a lot of hardships throughout his life, he had enough belief and willpower to stick with it until his dreams became a reality.

Inspired by his story, I asked Ashish what is next for him and his dental practice. He explained that he is currently focusing on bringing on a new associate to help ease his own workload so that he can focus on specialized procedures.

Unlike many dental practitioners that we see today, Ashish has a very noble and honorable goal for his practice. He simply wants it to be more patient orientated than money orientated so that he can provide for his family and still sleep soundly at night knowing that he did everything he could to help his patients.

Dr. Ashish N. Kakadia reminds us that it’s easy to forget the struggle and hardships that foreign graduates face, but he also tells us that if you want something strong enough and you have the courage, belief, and will-power to go after it, anything is possible. 

You can watch a video of our discussion on the player below:

If you’d like to keep up-to-date with the T-Bone Speaks Show, follow me on Facebook  and Twitter for regular updates and information about upcoming courses at 3D Dentists.

This article originally appeared on T-BoneSpeaks.com.