My Rookie Year

By Clayton Sorrells, DDS

One day, you’re freaking out because you’re learning to do a Class I cavity prep, you keep burning the plastic tooth, and you have no idea how to move your hand while looking in a mirror. The next day, you are a full-blown dentist and have owned a practice for a year. The first year of practice ownership has been nothing short of incredible. I firmly believe I have the best staff and group of mentors. I have learned a lot about business, teeth and people in the first year of ownership, and my hope is that the things I have learned will help those who find themselves in a similar position.

Let’s start with something hard for me to say: I am not special. I say this because I am not the most outstanding dentist or practice owner. I still have a lot to learn, and my first year of practice was not perfect. I also say this because, if I can do it, you can, too. When I graduated, I met with the previous owner of the practice, Dr. Plyler, and he said, “If you show up, do the work and treat your patients well, your practice will be successful.” So, what did I do? Exactly that. I worked my butt off and challenged myself every day. I stayed late many days to learn just a little more about teeth or business. I reached out to people when I didn’t know the answer, and I wasn’t afraid to ask for help. Whether you are an owner or an associate, you need to do the same when you are a newly graduated dentist — show up, do the work and treat your patients well.

I learned that dentistry can seem isolating. When you are the solo dentist, a complex case can walk in the door at any time. And the most challenging statement that patient can make is: “Well, it’s up to you, doc — I trust you.” Well, that’s great, but I don’t know exactly what to do! When this happens, don’t be afraid to “do a hygiene check.” By this, I mean step into your office and call one of your mentors and friends. Dentistry is hard, and every patient and case is different. As a one-year dentist, I have not seen everything and do not know everything, but I know plenty of people who know a lot more than me.

My next piece of advice is to be kind to yourself. This statement means different things to different people. For me, being kind to myself means turning the computers on at the office on Sunday night, having my Keurig pod ready to go and laying my clothes out for Monday morning. These three simple things instantly put me in a good mood on Monday. If I receive a text message that says, “Dr. Sorrells, the hygienist is sick,” it’s OK. Why? Because the computers are on, my coffee is ready to go, and I know what I’m wearing. You need to find out what being kind to yourself means — the earlier, the better. You should play golf on your day off, do yoga, get your nails done or whatever takes the stress of the week off you.

If you have ever heard, “Don’t bring your work home with you” and thought, “You’re right. I will never do that,” then you’ve never been a small business owner. I have gotten much better at leaving my work at work, but, in the first six months, my wife knew how to run a dental practice just from how much I talked about it. If this is you, do not beat yourself up about it. Emily understood that this was a current, temporary scenario, and she knew (well, threatened) that it was not a forever scenario.

What did I accomplish in my first year? What I am most proud of — and you might roll your eyes — is that I made many people laugh. People are terrified of the dentist, so if you can make their visit not so terrifying, why wouldn’t you? Now, I did not make everyone happy. I could tell some people did not entirely trust me because I was a young dentist, which was OK. If you know the treatment you are presenting to the patient is the best possible, do not lose any sleep. Some people will inherently not trust you because you are young, and that is on them. We also modernized the practice by adding an intraoral scanner and text reminders. We changed practice management software and the way we submit insurance claims. We added financing options to offer more dentistry to more people. We bought a lot of new equipment to make things more efficient. I say “we” because this was a group effort. I would not have survived without my staff, mentors, friends and family.

This first year of ownership was fueled by many of the people I spoke with while in dental school about buying a practice who said, “Hmm. I probably wouldn’t do that. I would look at being an associate first.” It was not easy, but I give so much credit to Dr. Plyler and his wife, Julie, for setting me up for success. I was reflecting on my first year yesterday, and this adage came to mind: “If they tell you that you can’t, it’s probably because they can’t.”

Clayton Sorrells, DDS, is a new dentist and previous AGD chapter president at Louisiana State University School of Dentistry. To comment on this article, email impact@agd.org.