In this episode of Practice Underwater, Dr. George Hariri consults with Dr. "Alejandro," a solo dentist who has navigated dental practice ownership in the Midwest for over 20 years. Four years ago, Alejandro made the leap to drop Delta Dental and transition to a fully fee-for-service model. While this shift elevated his clinical freedom and defined his dental practice ownership style, it brought new challenges to his dental practice management, including patient attrition and staffing shortages.

For any ambitious dentist evaluating their own dental business strategies, Alejandro’s journey offers a transparent look at the realities of fee-for-service dentistry. With $1.13 million in collections and an active patient base of 875, Alejandro has successfully established himself as a productive solo doctor. However, to reach his stretch goal of $1.5 to $1.6 million, he must evolve his dental practice ownership systems to address his primary bottleneck: keeping the restorative schedule full without compromising his "one patient at a time" philosophy.

Here is your survival guide to optimizing a productive solo practice:

- Navigate Network Drops: Understand the hurdles of requiring patients to prepay for services when going out-of-network.
- Expand Hygiene Capacity: Recognize how relying on a single full-time hygienist mathematically limits your restorative growth.
- Define Your Clinical Box: Maximize dental practice profitability by focusing heavily on the specific procedures you actually enjoy, such as crown and bridge or night guards.
- Clarify Your Vision: Avoid the pressure to build a mega-group if your true passion is performing high-quality restorative dentistry four days a week.

Ready to take the next step in your dental practice journey? Visit https://sharedpractices.com to learn more about our Buyer Representation and Coaching services, designed to help dentists buy, grow, and optimize profitable practices. You can also use our Free Look to evaluate dental practice opportunities with real data before making a decision. For daily Dental Moneyball insights, strategy tips, and updates, follow us across our social channels.