Dr. Ilan Gamburg on Buying Dental Practices and Creating a Strong Culture

Dr. Ilan Gamburg shares his experience of buying and expanding dental practices in New Jersey. He discusses the benefits of buying existing practices over starting from scratch and the importance of patient flow and revenue. Dr. Gamburg emphasizes the significance of office culture and creating a positive patient experience. He highlights the role of hygienists in building relationships with patients and the importance of having a fun and welcoming atmosphere in the practice. Dr. Gamburg also talks about the value of team building and involving the team in continuing education conferences. He emphasizes the importance of online reviews and providing a consistent patient experience.

Keywords

buying dental practices, expanding dental practices, patient flow, office culture, positive patient experience, hygienists, team building, continuing education, online reviews

Takeaways

• Buying existing dental practices can provide immediate patient flow and revenue.
• Creating a positive office culture and patient experience is crucial for practice success.
• Hygienists play a significant role in building relationships with patients.
• Involving the team in continuing education conferences can foster teamwork and improve patient care.
• Online reviews are important for attracting new patients and building trust.

Sound Bites

"Hygienists do so much more than just clean teeth."

"We wanted to market that the dentist's office is not a scary place."

"Take care of the people that are coming in. Everybody gets, if you market, it's hard for people not to come in at all."

Chapters

00:00

Introduction and Background

03:57

Assimilating Existing Patients and Rebranding

06:09

Advice for Dentists Buying Practices

09:32

Building a Positive Office Culture

11:31

Involving the Team in Continuing Education

16:18

Creating a Consistent Patient Experience

19:28

The Importance of Online Reviews

Connect with Dr. Gamburg

Brielle Dentistry Co.: https://brielledentistryco.com
Brielle Dentistry Co. Location: https://g.co/kgs/MzfiSLb
Ocean Dentistry Co.: https://oceandentistryco.com
Ocean Dentistry Co. Location: https://g.co/kgs/fsGaXVd
The Dentistry Co. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedentistrycompany/

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Transcript

Ben (00:01.821)

Hello, hello. Welcome back to the Dental Flow Podcast. As always, I'm your host, Benjamin Suggs. And today we are excited to have a very special guest. We are on the line with Dr. Elon Gamberg from New Jersey. Dr. Gamberg, welcome to the Dental Flow Podcast.

Ilan Gamburg (00:16.536)

Appreciate you having me. I'm excited. We've been talking about this for a while. So I'm excited to finally talk about some of the stuff that we've been doing on this platform and kind of be able to share and help out people as well. So I'm pumped.

Ben (00:19.302)

Absolutely.

Ben (00:31.526)

Why don't you tell everybody a little bit about yourself and your practices that you own up in New Jersey.

Ilan Gamburg (00:35.704)

Sure, so I bought up my first practice in 2018 and that was from an existing doctor. It was a small practice. We've grown it, I would say, probably about 12x of what it was about six years ago. And then this past November, so about I would say 10 months ago, we've been hitting some capacity issues and we just had a lot of good people and it was time to expand. Unfortunately, where I'm at right now, it's not

I can't really expand the building or the location. So we ended up buying another practice in Ocean Township, New Jersey. The first one was in Brielle. I don't know if people are from the area, but we have one in Brielle, one in Ocean. And that one is undergoing renovations right now. And we're kind of just starting the whole, I would say marketing or kind of building up the practice. So it's still, it's still in its infancy, but it's, have no doubt that it'll turn out to be just as good as the other one that we have right now.

Ben (01:31.74)

Nice. So curious. So you've bought two practices, is that correct? So what was your thought process in the beginning there to, choose to buy versus start like a scratch startup?

Ilan Gamburg (01:43.672)

Yeah, so that's an interesting question when I was the younger me so I bought my first practice in 2018 I was 29 at the time Was never going to do a scratch practice It was always by an existing practice because at least you have the patient flow There's some sort of revenue coming in from the first day that you saw it rather than a scratch practice You know you open the doors you have no patience. I also didn't know much about marketing or anything else at the

I was always about buying existing practices, but we can or not talk about, there's issues with buying existing practices that you wouldn't have with a startup. So I'm not so anti startup at this point. I think that if you can dial the marketing right and have the right people, the startup could be a good solution, but you're putting a lot of money right off the start and you don't have any revenue coming in. At the time, I just, like I said, it was a matter of just having patience, having an existing patient flow.

That was my reasoning. The reason we bought the second practice, it was just timing. We needed to have another space fairly quickly because one of my associate that was out on maternity leave was coming back and I already had needed to replace her position. So she was coming back and I just had an essentially too many doctors and they were all really good. So we just wanted to expand and I needed an existing practice because the startup would just be too long to do.

But again, I think with an existing practice, you're taking the staff that's there. There's also an existing doctor. And I can tell you stories of how there's clashes in terms of treatment planning, because they still think that they're running it. And you're the new owner and there's staff. That's the manager comes in. This is how I used to do it. But overall, it's been a great success. just have to, and I know we'll talk a little bit about the office culture. You just have to put people in place

have your vision and share what you want to do. And I'm sure you see that in your practice as well or in your company. And if everybody believes in the same vision and they want to achieve the same goals and you're going through the same process, I think you could make it work in any situation, either startup or buying a practice or in any particular business.

Ben (03:57.016)

So what was your approach like with the existing patients? Cause I know you rebranded, right? Like you completely rebranded, started from scratch in that sense. So how did you assimilate into with the new patient base and get them comfortable with the new brand?

Ilan Gamburg (04:12.47)

You know, there's always when you buy a practice, you always hope for the doctor that was there to give you their endorsement. And most of the time they do. There's, you know, being honest, there's financial incentives for them to keep the practice growing. You know, it's really in both situations, these were retiring doctors. So they, the patient kind of population knew that they were moving on and most of them will give you a chance if they know that, you know, these guys are in their mid to late sixties.

One of them had health issues. So they knew that this, you know, this wasn't a forever thing and they at least give you a chance. They like the hygienist. Thankfully, I mean, she's still with me, Carrie. She's an awesome hygienist and a lot of patients were coming for her. So as long as there is that trust and that rapport, it's easier to transition them. But also I think a lot of it is how we as dentists and the staff have created an experience for the patient and how we communicate with them.

and also how we explain what they need in terms of treatment, how we treat them. all comes, they're meeting a new person either way. If they go to a new practice or they come into a practice that they're comfortable with, if you can make a good first impression, a lot of times it'll work in your favor and a lot of them have stayed, you know, in terms of retention

Ben (05:27.794)

That's awesome. I think people underestimate sometimes the importance of the hygienists and the relationship that they have with the patients. Cause honestly they spend more time with the patients than doctors do in a lot of sense. So that's really cool. I think.

Ilan Gamburg (05:40.305)

There's a backbone of the practice. And anybody who doesn't think that is, it's just crazy. Like they do so much, at least definitely for me, but they do so much more than just clean teeth. You know, you see your hygienist every six months. You don't see the doctor unless you need dental work. And some even see it more often. So it's just, you know, that's the relationship that we're building. And they do a lot. It's not just to clean the teeth. It's making sure that you're doing a good job at home and maintaining everything. So they definitely have a much bigger role than a lot of times we give them credit.

Ben (06:08.814)

Awesome. So as having gone through the practice purchase twice for any dentists out there listening who are looking to do that, is there any advice that you would give them with things to look out for, to avoid or to be careful about?

Ilan Gamburg (06:22.552)

Definitely you have to do and it's funny we're bringing this up. My friend called me the other day. He's like I already bought this practice I'm buying it like in a month. I'm going in this is what it is And I just thought it was just not a good move Just the way he structured it You have to do a good evaluation of the practice and there's so many different aspects to keep it simple. I would just make sure that Take a look at the schedule. Take a look at the x -rays. Make sure that you're at least similar in terms

the treatment that's diagnosed and the way you're thinking, because there's going to be a big clash with my second practice, we were on totally different wavelengths of how conservative he would just watch a lot of things and we were more proactive and it created a lot of problem with the patient. Unfortunately, he was ready to go and we just transitioned him out fairly quickly so that there was one philosophy in the practice, let's put it that way. But I would definitely look at x -ray, see treatment recommended, that'll just create a little bit less issues.

and then you have to evaluate whether it's a good healthy hygiene program, what other procedures are they doing? I am a dentist that I do pretty much every procedure. love practices that refer out a lot and any procedure that you do that the dentist has referred out. You come in day one, you keep those procedures in house. It's extra revenue. So, you know, an office also, and I'll do this the last one. An office that is running on full cylinders, their marketing is on point.

their rooms are full, like everything is, there's not a lot of room for growth. So that is probably something I would stay away from. You could keep it running, but it's either going to go down or stay the same. I like to look for practices that have a lot of upside against smaller practices. If you can buy the real estate, always recommend that to buy the, you know, real estate has value. And then if you can add procedures, if you can add time, like if they're only open two days a week, a practice open six days a week, there's not much more time you could add.

maybe some more operatories and if you know change fee schedules but always look for the upside is what I would

Ben (08:26.598)

Yeah, definitely. a lot of, you know, what might seem like a negative is actually a great opportunity and buying a practice like that. Like if they're just yanking teeth and you can start putting in implants, there you go. You double it pretty

Ilan Gamburg (08:31.916)

Yes.

Ilan Gamburg (08:37.176)

And they're not doing it. now the root canals and they're, you know, they're not doing a lot of scalings. Like a lot of offices, the dentist is like, only do profies. 33 % of the population has periodontal disease. Every practice should have a third of their hygiene be perio. If it's not, most likely you're under diagnosing based on just statistics. So an office that's doing 40 % perio, you're not going to come and increase that. And one that's doing 15, great opportunity if you just do things the right way.

Ben (09:04.612)

Awesome. So I'm taking a look at your practices. You one of things I really like about what you guys appear is first off, it looks like you all have a lot of fun because you you look at the photos on your website, like you guys are always having a good time. You seem like a very open friendly bunch of people. Obviously, you're very professional. You can see that with all your reviews. mean, people love the dentistry there, love the work you do with your before and afters and everything else. So

Can you just talk about that culture that you've built and how you approach building it? Because it seems like that really is the foundation for what you've been able to do there.

Ilan Gamburg (09:42.424)

So a lot of that comes from the stuff that I hated in the medical field where you go to doctor's office and you're expected to wait. Or it's literally like it's not even expected to be seen on time. that's something that I'm real stickler on. Like we're going to see patients on time or don't have that receptionist that's going to give the patient an attitude. And that's just who we hire in terms of the people that we do there. But when we first started working together, me and you,

the whole goal of the marketing or the way we wanted to appear is that we're a fun office. Don't be so scared coming to the dentist. And we really are, but that was kind of the way we wanted to market is it does, it's not that such a scary place. Like we're nice people come in and you, it's not going to be as stressful as you think it is. And we can take care of your dental needs. I know that we have shifted a little bit now that we're really, really busy. We've shifted our strategy to focus more on high -end procedures, but the core feel of how things are

If you hire the right people, that's the big part of everything, if you hire good people that, again, align with your vision, align with what we want to do, and if they weren't, they wouldn't be there. I can tell you that we've made some mis -hires. Everybody that thinks everybody is perfect, like, it's not always works out that way, but it's just a matter of having people that...

are on the same page. And again, everybody in that office likes to have fun. I think it's attributed to the girls. Like there are a lot of them are friends, which is awesome. But it's just an atmosphere they want to create that it's not like any other dental practice that you've ever been to. Even my new office, we have glass between the walls. We have different colors. It's not so sterile like a doctor's office. We want to give it a different feel that it's not like in any other practice that you've ever been to before.

Ben (11:31.578)

Absolutely. And I feel like that's such an important thing that, you know, even beyond the architecture of the office and everything is we would sell our clients a lot. Like it costs the same amount of money to give a bad experience as it does a good experience just by doing simple things like smiling at people and, you know, giving that warm approach that some offices just don't, as you know, doing what I do, I've walked into hundreds of dental offices over the years and, you know, I often walk in and I get the,

The front desk gives you that finger of like, hold on, you know, I'm not, don't have time for you right now. Just give me a minute, but just having that warm, welcoming atmosphere. and I think you guys do a really good job of doing that inside the practice, but also putting that out on your website, putting that out your social media posts, really showing people kind of the personality, the fun, but also the professionalism of your office.

Ilan Gamburg (12:23.286)

Absolutely. mean, it's part of, like I said, I don't want to have that feel. Like people don't like to go to the doctor. They don't like to go to the dentist. You know, it's not a secret. And the practices that are successful make patients want to come back. You know, we were talking right before this, the dentist you go to, it's like, it's a different feel. And that's how you also stand out. You know, my area, I'm sure a lot of the listeners, there's a ton of competition. It's not like we're the only ones, you know, we're not in a small town

Everybody's like, there's competition, all that. Yeah, there's competition everywhere. But if you just treat people right and you have a good marketing system in place as what we're talking, then you're still going to get people coming in. And if they stay, your practice will just grow. You know, me and you talked a lot. It's so important that your, you know, your back door is not as open as the front door. Right. We talk about that so much, so many times

take care of the people that are coming in. Everybody gets, if you market, it's hard for people not to come in at all. And if you just take care of them, then they're gonna start referring their family and friends and it's just gonna be exponential from that

Ben (13:31.41)

Absolutely. And I think like, you know, as far as your team building, cause I, I really loved it. I was very fortunate. I got to hang out with you and your team in Atlanta a few years ago, I think. and I saw you guys, it was just in Arizona at a conference just recently, maybe last week or so. So talk about that a little bit. I mean, I think that's really cool that a lot of doctors go on these CE adventures and they go by themselves or they take their spouse, but you really like to involve your team. can you talk a little bit about that and what value that brings?

Ilan Gamburg (13:58.572)

Absolutely. So we definitely do a lot of CE in the practice. There's definitely courses I go to by myself, but every year I like to take the team with me on a trip. think it's a good reward for them for working hard during the year. And it's also a time to get out of the practice, kind of disconnect. And I've always found value in, you know, going to a conference that I think is worthwhile and not just, you know, going to sit on the beach. I mean, you could do that, but these conferences,

The one that we met, was DIA in Atlanta. And when we went there, the atmosphere there, it's just such positive young dentists want to learn. It was just such a good environment that I wanted to experience. The last one we went to was Bulletproof. And that one, the reason I picked that one was because they have different tracks for different departments. So it was just, it's not, we're all sitting there hearing the same thing. Like my hygienist did their own thing. My assistant said their own thing, front desk, doctors.

So having those tracks, it kind of appeals to everybody. But the trips, to me it's something that we have a really good team. And I think always as an owner, you have to take care of your team in all aspects, not just benefits that you give them, health insurance, retirement, wages. But if they have this trip, it's always something that we look forward to.

You know, it's just a fun trip. Every year gets to leave. Like we come back. It's such a high and you learn some stuff together. And it's not just even if I took just my lead hygienist on my lead assistant, cause we all have stuff to learn. They're not coming in. It's like girls do this. They all sat through the protocol or the course or whatnot. And now they're coming in as a team. Okay. This is what we want to implement as a team together, as opposed to one person who went as a team lead and is coming in and trying to tell them how we're going to run things.

Ben (15:48.742)

Yeah, that seems so important. I've spoken to another doctor about that who said something similar and just said, you know, when I go, if I go to a conference and come back with a list of a notepad of eight pages of things I want to try, everyone's kind of rolling their eyes like, here he went to another conference. So here we go again. But with them being involved and then coming back with that momentum and that passion, things will get done a lot faster and moving the right direction. So I think that's really cool that you've, you've built such a strong team there. So let's talk a little bit

Ilan Gamburg (16:08.386)

So

Ilan Gamburg (16:16.514)

which and I

Ben (16:18.47)

We'll shift from the team, which I think is a perfect segue into patient experience. Cause like when I look at your reviews, mean, you guys, don't think you've gotten less than a five star review and how many years has it been? Like eight years now. So it's, it, but clearly you've been able to, to, to make them good and get past it. you know, talk a little bit about, but for both your practices for dentistry code, the patient experience.

Ilan Gamburg (16:32.388)

We have a couple. We have a couple. We have a couple. But... Yeah.

Ben (16:48.559)

how you treat your patients, what you focus on, and how that really improves the dentistry service you're able to

Ilan Gamburg (16:58.006)

Yeah, so in terms of... Again, it all goes back to the experience. Like, you know, in terms of having those reviews, I know that reviews... If anybody's looking for a dentist, most of them are going... I mean, they're asking some friends, but they're going online and looking for reviews. It's no secret reviews are super, super, super important. And honestly, having some bad reviews is not so bad. At least it makes it look, like, believable. When I didn't have any bad reviews, everyone was like, these aren't even real. And you're not gonna make everybody happy,

I think all of that is if you make the patient experience really, really good, which is what we strive for, and you ask for reviews, that's the fastest way to grow the practice. That would be my recommendation for lot of people. When you're starting out, ask some family and friends to give you some reviews. Everybody does that, but I think that those reviews are really critical. And like I said, I would encourage everybody to ask for them also.

It's not so difficult. can incentivize teams to your team in order to ask for them. You could do a raffle at the end of the month if your team, if somebody gets mentioned by name in a review. But I think having those, like I said, is super critical, but it's just a reflection of what goes on inside the walls of the practice.

Ben (18:12.796)

Yeah, absolutely. And are there any specific type of things that you guys do in your practices to really to go above and beyond for that kind of patient experience?

Ilan Gamburg (18:21.376)

I don't know that we go above and beyond because to me it's what we do for every patient. So it's not like, hey, this patient comes in, but definitely, you know, we have a great team up front. They're fun. They're warm. Like that's why they're there. They, it's always a lot of laughter. hear from one room to another. think it's just having a positive atmosphere. It's from the moment they walk in the door, they're greeted with a smile. We take them to the back. Our assistants are all, like I said, they all are fitting within our team culture. So.

A lot of times I get, they're so nice. That's all of them there though. And then, you know, it's a process. Then they see me or one of the other doctors in the office. And then we hand it off to the front desk treatment coordinator, either Michelle, Lindsay. They're, also really awesome. And it just, flows through this process, but everybody kind of keeps the same feel I would say. And as long as it's, you know, present throughout the whole practice, I think that

you know, that's the important part. But I wouldn't say it's anything special that we do. It's kind of just how we treat every single patient that comes

Ben (19:23.708)

So it's just very consistent.

Ilan Gamburg (19:27.022)

Yeah, I would say that. That's a good word for that.

Ben (19:28.572)

Yeah, definitely. And I think it's interesting too, like I do work with some other practices that I think sometimes they go a little too far with new patients in that they like have a new patient. I'm exaggerating, but when a new patient walks in, there's like a band playing for him or something. But then the existing patient shows up and it's kind of like, yeah, you you'll sit down. We'll see in a second. So I think that's important that, you know, like you were talking about before.

Ilan Gamburg (19:51.885)

Yeah.

Ben (19:55.536)

that you're creating this consistent patient experience every time they come back that makes them want to come back and makes them want to run out there and refer all their friends and family to the practice. there's nothing.

Ilan Gamburg (20:04.704)

and stay on time. That's the one thing most doctors don't. If we're running late, they either get a phone call or we let them know they're there. Like that's the one, one of my biggest pet peeves is the expectation that we should be waiting at doctor's offices. It's it's insane to

Ben (20:20.146)

It did really become like a normal thing that people just expected. it really shouldn't be the norm. So that's great. Well, Ben, I really appreciate your time. This was great. For anyone out there that wants to find Dr. Gamberg, where can they find you online?

Ilan Gamburg (20:36.568)

So they can find us. have the two practices, Brielle Dentistry Co. and Ocean Dentistry Co. and we also have The Dentistry Company on Instagram, on TikTok, on Facebook, all those stuff. We, you know, all the channels were

Ben (20:49.274)

Yeah, I would really I would would encourage anyone listening to check out their Instagram channel because it's y 'all do a really like a lot of really funny stuff on there. It's not just dentistry. It's a lot of really cool stuff. So if you want to take a break from work and get a chuckle, I would definitely go check out their Instagram page.

Ilan Gamburg (21:06.856)

There's a lot of other good stuff on there too. It used to be all chuckling, but now we have all that and some case reviews and the story of the girls in the office too. So it's definitely been upgraded a lot. And I appreciate the shout out for that

Ben (21:20.068)

Awesome. Well, thank you, Dr. Gamberg. I really appreciate your time and enjoy the rest of your

Ilan Gamburg (21:25.362)

I appreciate it. Thank you.

Ben (21:26.726)

Thank you.