Turning Inspiration into Success By Nancy Kent

What does it take to turn a vision or inspiration into reality? In April of 2004, Dr. Ryan Swain, a Townie (member of the Dentaltown.com online community) since 2002, had a dream, a vision for his future in dentistry. He wanted to establish a new practice, dedicated to one, single dental treatment. In order to solicit the input and experience of the Townie community, he decided to post his journey on Dentaltown.com. Today, he is well on the road to having a successful, thriving practice.

To understand his inspiration and unique perspective of dentistry we begin his story at age 14, when a sports-related accident gave him the “opportunity” to experience extensive dentistry and orthodontia. Fascinated and inspired by the life-changing potential of both the art and science of dentistry, he felt drawn to the profession and knew that ultimately his future would involve creating beautiful smiles. Upon high school graduation he entered college and majored in communication arts, not fully realizing how important this skill and background would be in achieving his dream. He then applied to and began dental school. “While in dental school, I really questioned my decision and was never convinced that general dentistry was my calling,” Dr. Swain explains. “Rather, I saw my interests leaning toward an area of dentistry where the results would be both tangible and visible, such as orthodontia.” During his residency he discovered the Dentaltown Web site and publication, where he became exposed to the 6-month braces technique. That’s when the idea of establishing a practice that solely focused on adult orthodontics began.

Step One: Test Your Idea and Gather Information

Upon graduation, Dr. Swain became an associate in a general practice, but still felt disconnected and not quite in the right place. His idea of a practice focused on 6-month braces kept nagging at him. “I kept asking myself, what am I going to do with my future? I’m not real happy with general dentistry.” That’s when he turned to the Dentaltown community to test his idea – which was the first step in realizing his dream. “I knew that the people on Dentaltown would be very blunt. From the first day I posted, I had people convinced that a practice with such a limited focus would fail. And others were intrigued by the concept. No matter what the opinion, I was never disappointed with the input and advice provided so readily by the Townies.”

The Townie discussions compelled Dr. Swain to sit down with his immediate family to share his vision. “The biggest challenge, initially, was getting those people who would be critical to the success of the idea on board. My wife and family were at first skeptical like many of the Townies. They didn’t understand the concept of six-month braces and also were concerned that I was going too far away from what a typical, successful practice model was. The second biggest challenge was literally overcoming my own fears and withstanding the pressure of going through everything it takes to get a practice started, especially with so many people telling me that it was going to fail. I fully understood I was going to put myself and my family into debt to realize this dream. That was the biggest challenge, being able to mentally justify the risk.”

Step Two: Start with a Plan

Supported by his family and armed with information provided by his colleagues on Dentaltown.com, including potential challenges, pitfalls and opportunities, he developed a business plan and strategy that detailed needs, budgets and timelines. Once a location was secured and renovation underway, Dr. Swain encountered additional challenges. “When you have no experience at opening a practice, it can be difficult. You seek all the information and advice you can, you put together a plan you think will work, and then you go into the real world. One of the first surprises was how much the cost of equipment could vary. One dental chair is $9,000 and another is $19,000. As drawn as I was to the new stuff with all the bells and whistles, I kept focused on my goal, which was to not get in over my head and to maximize the funding that I secured. So, I got a lot of my equipment used, again, using Dentaltown.com as my resource. Through the site I found a local doctor who was moving into a new office and wanted to sell his existing equipment. It wasn’t brand new, but it was in good condition, and the doctor was very generous, so I got a great deal.”

The second and most critical component of opening a new practice proved to be easier for Dr. Swain. “When it came to staffing, that was easy. My wife was my office manager and we hired one assistant who actually showed up at our door while we were renovating the office and asked if we were hiring.” Since then, Dr. Swain has hired another assistant and an office manager allowing his wife who recently had their first child to stay at home.

Step Three: Adapt and Adjust

One of the biggest lessons Dr. Swain learned was how to change courses and adapt his plan as he gained more knowledge and experience. In one of his earlier threads, he detailed how he was going to support the singularly focused practice by creating a network in his community of referrals from general dentists and traditional orthodontists. But he quickly realized that this was not the best strategy and not only changed his plans, but evolved the focus of his new practice. “The idea of changing adult smiles with six-month braces is the core of my practice concept. But it became quite apparent that patients would want additional cosmetic procedures to complete their smile transformation such as whitening and veneers. So now, my practice is a cosmetic practice, including power whitening, smile makeovers using bonding, crowns and veneers and NTI treatment for bruxers and migraine sufferers. But we still focus most of our efforts and advertising dollars on six-month braces. Expanding my offerings to cosmetic dentistry obviously eliminated the possibility of receiving referrals from general dentists, because they do many of the same procedures.”

So, when attracting new patients from referrals became unviable, Dr. Swain turned to traditional marketing and advertising to get the word out, applying the communications skills he acquired in college. “I feel like I’m a natural when it comes to marketing, so that part of the business I actually looked forward to. But, I didn’t realize just how much marketing I would have to do with such a unique practice. I thought I could follow the marketing model used by specialists, but realized within a couple of months after our doors opened, that in order to maintain patient flow I would have to invest more heavily in advertising.”

Step Four: Add Programs That Can Help You Reach Your Goals

Six-Month Braces and Cosmetic Dentistry opened its doors for business in November of 2005. Dr. Swain continued to work as an associate three days a week to ensure he could support his family and the new practice was open two days a week. Early on, Dr. Swain looked to the Dentaltown.com community to help him face many of the challenges of opening a practice. “One of the challenges that the Dentaltown community really came to my rescue on was collecting payments from patients. My procedures are fee for service, with less than 10% of all production involving insurance (Dr. Swain will file the insurance claims for his patients, but does not participate in any plans). I found out from Dentaltown that billing and collections are a huge source of frustration for doctors, so I knew I was going to have to collect payment from patients before treatment ended. I asked through the threads for recommendations on an outside payment program and CareCredit’s name came up over and over again. So, we added CareCredit as a payment option and don’t worry about collecting fees. Plus, by offering CareCredit, we are able to help more patients. When you see from the twinkle in a patient’s eye that he or she really, truly wants a better smile, we make sure they know about the no interest plans CareCredit offers, so we can give them a comfortable way to get the treatment done.”

In as few as three weeks, Dr. Swain felt his vision was validated. “We had technically been open only three weeks, and I had only worked in the office for six days, when my wife came and told me that we had already collected close to $40,000! My whole vision for this practice obviously included making a decent living. But it also included non-monetary rewards such as fulfillment and enjoyment and satisfaction. In just three short weeks, I realized I actually was enjoying what I was doing, I was having fun and the patients were happy coming to see us and happy about what we could do for them. I knew then that no matter what monetary success I achieved, that this practice, this vision, this idea, was exactly what I was meant to do. It feels right.” Just two-and-a-half months after opening his own practice, Dr. Swain resigned from his other associate position. “I began working in my new practice full time rather quickly, in fact about six months earlier than anticipated.” Today, Dr. Swain sees 25 new patients each month, with 90% six-month braces procedures. Collections for the first quarter of 2006 exceeded $125,000 with an investment in advertising, including radio, television and direct marketing, averaging $13,000 per month.

Step Five: Once You Reach Your Goals, Make New Ones

In his initial practice plans, Dr. Swain set the goal of having one patient a day get braces on, which many of the doctors on Dentaltown felt was highly optimistic, if not downright unachievable. “My long-term goal was to have one patient a day begin the six-month braces procedure. I just knew I could do it. I can’t believe that it’s only been six months and we’ve already reached that goal!” As the practice has evolved, Dr. Swain has made some adjustments to continue his amazing growth. Recently, he hired a marketing agency. “If there was one thing, looking back, that I would have done differently, it would be to hire a talented advertising agency in the beginning. I thought I was capable, but once I began working with people who were professionals, who had experience and training I did not, I could easily see that they’d do a much better job.”

Documenting his journey on Dentaltown.com was a way to not only test an idea and gather information and advice, it was also Dr. Swain’s way of inspiring other doctors to follow their dreams, no matter how different they seem. “You can follow your dreams and have the type of practice you want as long as you’re thorough and have all your bases covered. Dentaltown is a place where you can do these things. The procedures I do, the way we have our payment options, the type of equipment and supplies we have – all of it I can trace back to Dentaltown.”