Hi Bluechipx:
You wrote: "
Implmex, I ran the math on your $44,000 a month expenses. $270 per hr x 8 hrs = $2160 x four weeks or 20 days = $43,200 and your expenses were $44,000???"
Yeah, I sometimes had to work more than a 40 hour week.
However, some procedures I was billing out at up to $1000.00 per hour (dental implant disaster recovery).
I had a pair of hygienists working for me and billing every hour too (and demanding wages every hour whether they were working or not)
Surgery, prosthodontics, endodontics, implant placement, implant disaster recovery etc etc; all of those more advanced procedures billed out considerably more money, but for routine fillings and other basic dentistry the going rate in those days (early 1990's) was $270.00/hr.
I have no idea how nuts it is now.
A buddy of mine who has a high end practice in San Francisco is bleeding money because of Covid 19 at a great rate...I think his monthly rent alone is north of $30,000.00 (top floor highrise heritage building Nob Hill).
He's thinking about unloading some toys.
There's probably a good deal on a couple of luxury cars and maybe a boat or an airplane in the San Francisco area just now.
Overall the point is, that like big machine shops, these enterprises look very lucrative from the outside, but they're balanced on a huge assumption set, and that is that nothing will go wrong.
The gravy's great when all is humming, but it hurts big time when it's not.
The other thing is the way all this stuff is pricing itself out of the market.
Ordinary folks are finding it less and less affordable, so they are going backward in regard to "optimal dental health".
As a result, many dentists are catering to a smaller and smaller (and richer) slice of the population.
Cosmetic dentistry, botox injections, Restylane and Juvederm face fillers...before you know it they'll be offering tit kits and butt lifts as they find less and less legitimate turf to milk.
It's kind of disgusting!
However, this is all kind of a hijack of the original thread, so let me pull it back and make it relevant again.
Something you may want to consider:
Probably every dentist I know, has a whole drawer FULL of obsolete high speed handpieces.
In the 1990's push button collets became popular, and sterilizable handpieces became mandatory.
A gazillion wrench and chuck key units were retired, and dentists being natural hoarders, most retired to the junk drawer.
This is your opportunity.
You can probably still pick up an old key style Midwest unit (or something like it) for free, just for the asking.
You might have to replace the turbine for a hundred bucks.
I have two 30 year old Midwest Traditions that I still use; as one goes in the toilet, I break out the other, until I run out of good ones, and then I replace the turbines as a batch.
I typically shitcan a turbine once every 5 years or so (the bearings go).
Replacing a turbine is child's play and takes 10 minutes.
Cheers
Marcus
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