Lillian and I are from different exits around the Washington Beltway.
Our lives came together at the University of Maryland school of
dentistry. Our lives parallel each other through graduation, general
practice residency at Fort Sill, Okla., then a tour at Carlisle Barracks.
In 1980 we started a family dental practice in Carlisle and soon had
a family of our own; always balancing our children’s lives and our
profession. Our girls grew up knowing all the dental jargon, insurance
and business dynamics. One night at dinner our oldest asked, “can we
not talk about root canals tonight?”
It was a great run our 37 years of practice in Carlisle.
A Note from Dr. Spruill and Dr. Wong
Before we get to the Q & A, we want to share a few things with our colleagues.
• Every practice will transition, because you choose to or because you have to;
most often because of a medical issue. Better to plan and to choose!
• Your transition will take longer than you think. Our sales consultant told us
when we began the process, “this will be a marathon not a sprint.” The process
for us was two and a half years.
• A practice valuation begins the process. The more honest, accurate and well
documented it is the fairer the pricing will be and the fewer headaches as
you approach closing.
• Be flexible and learn from the process. Our initial plan was a walk-away sale.
We had several interviews with pre-qualified buyers and a few inquiries from
“corporates.”
• After years of practice, long-term relationships with patients and activity in
our community, your patients are like family. If you care about people, you
can’t just turn them over to someone like they are a commodity. Finally, in our
process, we explored an acquisition by a nearby practice, which as it turned
out was a perfect solution.
MAY/JUNE 2020 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL
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