May/June 2020 | Page 18

WHAT’S A MERGER? That was my question when my dental transition specialist suggested it to me as an option. Of course I knew what a merger was. They happen all the time in the business world, but dental practices. I had not heard of that before for dental practices. By Stephen T. Radack III Editor First let me go back to 2017. I had been thinking about a transition and what would be next for a while. Maybe it’s because I had started teaching part time at the LECOM School of Dental Medicine clinic when it opened in 2015 and enjoyed that. Maybe it started when I hit 30 years in practice, or maybe it happened as I seemed to be working just as hard for less during the last couple years. Dentistry is a great profession and being in solo private practice was always the goal, but flying solo all these years was sometimes exhausting, and maybe I was hitting the proverbial career burnout. Maybe it was that I was about to become a grandpa and wanted to be able to travel to see him at will. I had long conversations with my wife Mary about how I was feeling and that I wanted to sell my practice or at least see what it was worth. I talked to PDA past president Dr. Bill Spruill at Pennsylvania’s Dental Meeting that year. He and his wife/ dental partner Dr. Lillian Wong had just sold their practice (see their story on pp. 18-20 of this issue). He gave me the name of dental transition specialist who was also still a practicing dentist. It was time to a make a move. 16 MAY/JUNE 2020 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL