Success Stories

Sterling Client Case Study - Dental Practice #4

Client: Isam Estwani, DDS, Practice Owner
Practice: New Horizons Dental Center

Challenges: Dr. Estwani opened his practice in 2002. Despite being busy treating many patients, practice income continued to decline while production figures increased. There was no collection system in place and so fees were not paid at the time of treatment, insurance claims were not chased up due to lack of staff and, most significantly, the doctor himself would grant patients permission to pay later.

It's Impossible to State in Words How Grateful I am for Taking the Training, But The Results Speak for Themselves

This successful dentist trained on the Sterling program at their premises in Glendale, CA and he was very glad he did so.

"My name is Brian Billard. I have had a general dentistry practice in the small town of Oglesby, Illinois for 17 years. During this time, I have been fortunate enough to enjoy steady growth.

"However, over the past couple of years, I began to feel as though I had hit the limit. I had nowhere to put new patients, all staff felt overworked, and I felt as if everything I did revolved around the office.

My Practice Has Increased by 20-25% Per Year Since I Became a Sterling Client

Doug Podoll, DDS, who has trained on the Sterling program at their premises in Glendale CA, has been practicing orthodontics for the last fifteen years in America's heartland. We interviewed him on vacation in Florida.

"I practice in West St. Paul, Minnesota and Amery, Wisconsin. West St. Paul is a suburb of St. Paul, so it is a town of about 25,000 people in a metropolitan area. Amery is very small, about 3,000 people. Currently I have two associates and about 15 staff between the two practices.

With the Sterling Program You Can Accomplish Anything You Want

Dr. Mahesh Patel's practice in metro Chicago has kept him and his five staff very busy for the last twelve years. He's been a Sterling, Glendale, CA client since March of 1998:

"My personal feeling toward dentistry was going downhill. I didn't have the energy or push to drive the practice to the next level. We didn't have a problem with profit margin or production, per se.

"The main thing we were going through was staff turnover and not having any type of goals for the future. We weren't doing anything in a successive step way toward completing our goals.

I Find That my Life is Much More Enjoyable and Stress Free and I Have a Lot More Free Time to Spend with my Grandson

"My name is Martin Jacobs and I am an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon in Caldwell, NJ. I have been in private practice for 27 years.

"I always thought that I had a pretty good practice until several years ago when I realized that my accounts receivables were very high. I had been complaining to my accountant that I was having a hard time paying my bills. Shortly after this, my accountant took courses with Sterling in Glendale, CA.

I Now Have Weekends Off

“I used to hear stories about dentists who were making a lot of money and would think that it was a bunch of hogwash. At least that was what I thought before I started attending the Sterling workshops in Glendale, CA and meeting many who are doing just that.

“I graduated from dental school in 1989 and spent five years associating with another doctor before opening my own office in San Diego, California. It wasn‘t what you would call a model practice.

Our Bottom Line Went Up as Much as Eighty Percent

"I graduated from Loma Linda University’s School of Dentistry in 1996 and in 1999 bought my own general dental practice in Redlands, California. There are three dentists, one specializing in pediatric dentistry, and two hygienists.

"We used to do a lot of HMO-type insurance work which wasn’t paying very well. A year ago, I was in that fearful moment where I was going to drop all the HMOs, but I didn’t know if I would survive the transition. They do bring in some money but you have to work too hard for it.

I Can Run This Practice Instead of it Running Me

Montgomery Dental Associates is a booming general dentistry practice in Chicopee, Massachusetts, near Springfield.

When its owner, Dr. Tony Hojnoski, left a partnership practice, he wanted some kind of system to manage himself and his new practice.

New Patients are Almost 100% Going Ahead with their Proposed Dental Work

“I began with Sterling in Glendale, CA in October of 1997, because I felt that after 20 plus years of practicing dentistry I should have it all together financially and that just wasn’t the case. I was disappointed in how I was doing financially and in how I was managing my patients and my employees. It was stressful meeting my payroll and bills every month.

“The work I did with Sterling and their executive training program applied directly to me and my practice. During the training I worked on direct applications of the material to my practice; it seemed very relevant.

If You Build it, They Will Come

What convinced Dr. Ruth Morgan that after 12 years of dental practice, things could be better? Plenty.

"We weren’t making enough money,” says Dr. Morgan, “we were having staff turnover and the staff we had were driving us crazy. I was coming home exhausted and our family life was going downhill. My husband Robert said, ‘We have to do something!’

“What Sterling in Glendale, CA had to say made immediate sense to me.