Success Stories

Susan Baker, DDS

"I started my dental practice in a small town in 1998 in central Texas. I’ve always been busy, we have plenty of patients, but after 7 years I found myself frustrated, barely paying the bills and getting extremely burned out. I was ready to quit dentistry and go back to pharmacy which was my first degree.

Michael Minten, DDS

"I started practicing dentistry about 20 years ago as a Naval officer. Once I retired from the military, I spent five years as an associate before buying a very successful, well-established practice. Keeping it successful turned out to be much harder than I expected.

Andrew Norman, DDS

"For more than thirty years, I have had a fairly successful general dental practice. Every year, things would be a little better than the last. I felt that, as long as things were getting better, I was doing fine. Then, two years ago, I had a down year for the first time in my career. I have used various consultants over the years, and started looking for one to help me get back on track.

Robert G. Marx, DDS

"Back in the 1980s, my dental practice was floundering and I didn’t know why. Patients cancelled or didn’t show up for appointments which made my schedule look like Swiss cheese. Although I was making a living, my production was dropping and I wondered if the economy was worsening or perhaps I wasn’t a very good dentist. I never suspected my appointment secretary was driving down the practice even further.

Sean Tarpenning, DDS

"I’ve always had the urge to be a leader. After completing dental school, I looked for a practice where I could work as an associate and move up to partner. I was lucky to find Dr. Hebert who wanted to groom an associate to someday take over. I joined the practice.

"I was starting from zero, though, and had to prove myself as a producer and an executive. I was filled with self-doubt and didn’t feel I deserved the opportunity I had been given. Although I had extensive dental training, I didn’t know the first thing about running a practice.

John Helscher, DDS

John Helscher, DDS of Washington, Iowa, has been in practice for 32 years. Four years ago he became a Sterling client and his production and collections have nearly doubled since. An essential ingredient in his success was having his wife, Mary Lynn, quit her job as project director for a national testing firm and become his office manager. She accompanied him to Glendale to train for her new position.

Marina Adams, DDS

"I love what modern dentistry has made possible, providing ever-better ways to improve patients’ health and appearance, while minimizing their pain and discomfort. But, as I learned a few years ago, technical skill is not enough. To be able to provide those benefits to as many people as possible, I also needed to become skilled at managing my dental practice.

Paul Rodeghero, DDS

"Thirty years ago, I opened a dental practice in a tiny Midwestern town. I was a country dentist who performed general dentistry with little prosthetic work and not much insurance. After five years of solid growth, my accountant, who had 15 other local dental clients, told me I had peaked out. I was already making more money than the other dentists, and he said it would be impossible to make more than that in a small town. In other words, my growth would stagnate.

Hae Sook Kim, DDS

"I had some personal communication issues which were not good for the practice. The problem was I didn’t like disciplining the staff. For example, I had one employee who was chronically tardy. I knew I had to speak to her but I kept putting it off because it caused me stress. I also really disliked having to fire people. Knowing I would have to talk to a staff member about any of these things created a lot of anxiety in me.

John Hackbarth, DDS

"I was practicing dentistry with my father in the early 1980s when a recession hit. We lost 47 executive families who were transferred, laid off or otherwise disappeared. Before we could fully recover, health issues forced my father to retire. When he left the practice, his patients did too!