Dentaltown July 2022 - 28

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Life After Heartland
A Townie talks about his DSO journey, including an update three years in the making
v0g3L
Member Since: 11/24/14
Post: 1 of 91
What up, DT! Long time, no chat. So at the beginning of this year, I fi nally purchased a
practice. I was planning on documenting my journey into practice ownership, but things were
just too hectic and I actually have far less time to post on forums these days.
First, a little back story:
My wife and I started working for Heartland straight out of school in 2014. Our intentions
were to do that for a couple of years and then fi nd better opportunities elsewhere, whether
that be practice ownership or associate positions in a desirable location. Our main decision to
start with Heartland was because we wanted to improve our clinical effi ciency and make good
money to get our student loans down (two dentists = massive debt). We told Heartland we
would go anywhere there were two positions available, warm weather and the highest income
potential. This brought us to rural Arizona. Things were going great and we were able to pay
down our debt immensely because of the income we were making and the low cost of living.
(Our 1,700-square-foot house mortgage was only $550 a month.) Because of how well things
were going, we decided to stay a little longer to continue to pay off our debt.
My wife and I had our fi rst child in 2017 and decided we needed to move back home to be
closer to family. At the time, Heartland didn't have any offi ces in Oregon, so we started looking
for jobs in that state while Heartland searched for our replacements. They asked if they could
open us an offi ce there and I let them know that I was planning on buying a practice but my
wife, who has no intention of working with me, decided that she would love that, so she agreed
to let them build her a brand new practice.
It opened in September 2018 and I wasn't slated to purchase my practice until Jan. 1, 2019,
so I asked if Heartland could use me during those four months. They fl ew me back and forth to
help their Arizona offi ces, which I thought was nice of them to do, especially because they knew
I was leaving the company. They also offered me their legal team to help me with the purchase
of the practice I was looking at. They are probably playing the long game and want me to sell to
them when I retire or if I ended up hating owning, but still ... very kind of them.
Now, let's talk a little about the purchase of the practice:
I ended up purchasing my old dentist's practice. I reached out to him before graduation to
see what his retirement plans were and he said he had about fi ve years left. When I had my son, I
asked him again and he said at the end of 2018, so that was the plan.
Perhaps it's because I was thinking it would be an easy transition because of me knowing the
seller, and perhaps I didn't seek as good of representation because of this, but it was quite a headache.
I had been planning on working with him for a few weeks but because of many delays and
hold-ups, we did a clean-cut transition. I started running the offi ce before I offi cially owned it.
The practice was solid, though; fi ve chairs, two hygienists, two DAs, two front offi ce; four
days a week and around 1,800 active patients. The previous doc referred all ortho, oral surgery
and RCT. Great practice for a single doc who can add those services to grow the practice.
Practically zero systems in place, so tons of room for increasing effi ciencies as well.
Taking over the practice also gave me a greater appreciation for the things Heartland did
for me. For the fi rst year, I wanted to handle everything in the offi ce so I knew where every
dollar was going and coming from. So I am doing the payroll, the accounting, the ordering,
28 JULY 2022 // dentaltown.com

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