Starting a dental practice is an exciting prospect, but it can also be very overwhelming. There are so many things to consider: What type of office should you open? How much money will you need? Who can help you finance your new business venture and how do they work with small businesses like yours?
Though it is not an easy task, it is not something impossible. We’ve compiled the best information on starting a dental practice to help you find your feet. This blog post discusses 7 steps to starting a successful dental practice from starting a dental practice checklist to financing options.
Make a Dental Practice Checklist
Making a starting dental practice checklist is a necessary step. In this step, you will create a list of the steps you need to take. This checklist is your guide and can help you stay on track when starting dental practice tasks. These are some items that should be included in your starting dental practices checklist:
- What type of office do I want for my new business?
- Whether you want to build a dental practice from the scratch or buy an existing dental practice, there is some work to be done.
- How do I want my new business to operate?
- What are the requirements in order to start and maintain a medical license?
- How much money will it cost me to start this project?
- Decide on a location that suits your needs
- Determine how much money you will need?
- From where funding will come from.
This checklist will help you stay on track when starting dental practice tasks.
Create a Business Plan
The more detailed your business plan is, the greater success potential it has for funding and attracting investors. You should include the location of your dental practice; services offered at the office; personnel needed to maintain customer service standards; projected revenue as well as expenses in each category (i.e., rent, supplies).
Develop Marketing Strategy
Developing an effective marketing strategy will help you reach people who are not already familiar with what you offer them and Identify those that need your products or services most urgently so they can be marketed directly. Your marketing strategy should be built on a foundation of your business plan and all the research you have done.
Follow-up reports can help show you which strategies work better than others. Review those reports regularly to adjust your marketing strategy accordingly. If you want your dental practice to succeed, You need not only create content (like blog posts) but also find a way for people interested in teeth-cleaning services or tooth whitening treatments or whatever else might interest them to know that your clinic exists.
Consider Various Financing Options
For starting a dental practice, you want to consider various financing options. There are many types of financing options available for starting new businesses. You can borrow from banks, participate in a business incubator or invest. Banks are the most common source of financing for starting new businesses because they have a lot of money to lend and their rates on loans are available with little paperwork.
Customer financing is another option. For example, if you offer dental services to people who can’t afford them or are unable to secure a bank loan, then customer financing for small business may be an excellent way of getting started with your new practice.
Chose a Suitable Location
One important factor when starting any type of medical practice is choosing the right location. You want to make sure that customers will find you and have access to public transportation so they don’t need their own car while visiting your office. A dentist should also consider distance from other dentists in order not to compete too much with nearby practices.
Choose a location that is near a good school or university for children, since you want to make sure that your patients will have reliable access to public transit. A centrally located office will also serve to attract more customers. If there’s already an established dentist near you it might be tough for patients to recognize the difference between the two.
You should also consider how much rent will be for the space. You can expect to pay more at a prime location in an expensive area of town, but it’s still important that you focus on getting enough patients through your doors so that you can cover your costs as well as make money off of them.
Choosing the Right Equipment
When starting a new dental practice, you’ll need to purchase some medical equipment in order for your patients to have access to all necessary care they may require. A dentist needs a variety of supplies such as an x-ray machine, microscope and dental tools like drills, air mixers and extractors among others.
These items can vary from low quality inexpensive versions that are not durable or reliable enough for serious practices into high end professional grade equipment used by top dentists across the world.
Securing Various Insurances
It is recommended to get various types of insurance coverage such as doing a malpractice insurance or liability protection for your practice. For starting a successful dental practice consider the following insurances
Health Insurance
You will need health care coverage in order to offer the same level of treatment you would give if you were an employee at any other job.
Life Insurance and Disability Coverage
Ensuring that your income from dental practice continues even after death through life policy or disability.
Business Property Insurance
If there are expensive items on premises, this type of property damage can be covered by business property crime policies which should cover burglary, fire and natural disaster among others without costing too much money each month
Errors & Omissions Policy
This insurance protects against lawsuits if the customer has a bad reaction to treatment or any damages that are caused during the dental work.
