Financial Success for Dentists:

Foreword

Conducting a successful dental practice requires much more than a high level of clinical expertise and a broad range of current clinical knowledge and skills. An ability to manage the complex human interactions between dentists, staff and patients is also important and as a practice grows, the complexity increases exponentially. Financial and compliance issues demand a good deal of a practice proprietor’s attention.

Guiding a proprietor dentist through the management of these complexities with a clear plan for operational success and a long-term set of goals from graduation to retirement is something in which a professional advisor requires broad and multi-faceted experience. Long term disciplined adherence to direction from a skilled advisor with targeted milestones and end point goals will guide a dental practitioner through a successful and satisfying career and to a staged transition to a comfortable and financially secure retirement.

Graham Middleton has had over three decades of experience in advising dentists from a broad background of maturity in practice experience and in settings from rural, suburban and central business district environments across Australia. These practices can range from sole practitioner, single or multiple proprietor arrangements with single or multiple employed dentists and the full range of professional and administrative support staff. 

Many years ago, as a younger dentist, I was convinced that delivering a high standard of clinical skills and having a full appointment book would result in financial success without further management input. This is occasionally the case but without a clear road map for a career long pathway that includes financial goals and a succession plan, many dentists will arrive at the end of their career ill-prepared for retirement.

Graham’s ability to assess the key performance indicators within a practice and compare these with data gathered from hundreds of other practices across Australia allows accurate benchmarking assessment to inform practice change and development with continued quality improvement resulting in better financial outcomes while maximizing human resources efficiencies for employees and enhancing clinical outcomes for patients.

A clear grasp of proven and successful practice management strategies, accounting requirements, current taxation issues and investment strategies and the attendant compliance requirements have formed the basis for Graham’s advice on building a successful and satisfying career for many of his dentist clients across Australia. His thoroughness in research of stock market investment options for superannuation funds and private portfolios has proven to support his investment advice which has returned sound results for clients over many years.

Graham is skilled in advising dentists on life’s major decisions including property purchase, home and practice premises and practice acquisition and sale. Graham is also a skilled negotiator in mediation on behalf of clients involved in partnership/associateship and employer/employee relationships and disputes. In particular, Graham’s approach to practice valuation is respected at a national level as a clearly understood method to assess the ability of a practice to produce a predictable income for the purchaser. His valuations have been accepted in many Family Court settlements and are a benchmark in fairness for practice acquisition and sale transactions.

His direct, no nonsense approach to client advice may often not be the advice the client dentist wishes to hear but Graham’s delivery is well targeted, often focusing on one key issue at a time. His good-natured counsel balances hard-nosed economic reality with job satisfaction and work-life balance. Illustrating his advice with personal experiential anecdotes and often with reference to historical events including military conflicts and triumphs (particularly the American Civil War in which Graham is quite the scholar), Graham gives clients a sense of perspective when faced with difficult decisions.

Graham demonstrates insights into the intricacies of interpersonal relationships and hierarchies within a dental practice that are often beyond the reach and understanding of many dentists. He fiercely supports the independence that comes with proprietorship of a privately owned dental practice and the ability of the proprietor dentist to determine and control their own career destiny.

The breadth and detail in this book allows the dentist reader to identify the stage in their own dental career life cycle that aligns with Graham’s clearly described career progression. In turn this informs what may be appropriate for them in change for improvement and a way forward to direct their current position towards the career ideals described by Graham.

In addition to two previous books on dental practice, Graham has published in his regular newsletters and regular articles in Australian Dental Profession magazines over the last 25 years.

I congratulate Graham on a successful career and personally express my gratitude for his sound advice and counsel and for his support over my career. I commend this book to all dental practitioners for the insights it provides into dental practice management, financial planning and as a well proven strategy to a satisfying career in the practice of Dentistry.

Associate Professor John Boucher AM