Dr. Manaloto received her degree from the University of San Francisco School of Dentistry and began practice as an associate in a large general practice with two offices in the San Jose, California area. She later bought an existing practice and recently built a new office near Oakland, California in the city of Alameda.

What criteria did you use when you purchased an existing practice?

Well, my best advice for others is not necessarily what happened in my case. I recommend doing your homework and review patient charts carefully. It is important to ask questions of the selling dentist, evaluate local economics, review finances, and evaluate equipment and office attributes and staff.

In my case, a gut reaction had to suffice as the selling dentist, who had practiced many years, fell ill soon after we began talking. I liked him very much and surmised that he would have a steady, trusting patient base. When I dug into the records, I found that many charts were inactive and many patients hadn’t been seen in three or four years. While he was nearing retirement, much of the recent work had been on a part-time and emergency basis. Shortly after meeting, he was hospitalized and it was recommended that he not return to work.

How did you maintain and communicate with the existing patients?

The first two years were difficult. While I didn’t even get a casual introduction to patients, I reached out to the patient base through calls and letters inviting them to come by and meet me at the office even without an actual appointment. I maintained regular communications through letters and calls, built my staff, and kept a flexible schedule until the appointments stabilized and I could implement regular office hours.

What made you decide to set up a new office at this point?

The practice I purchased was in an older office with some shared staff and facilities along with three other dentists. I was ready to be on my own with a new office using updated equipment and technology

Once you made the decision to build a new office, how did you begin?

I had a good idea of what I wanted before I even approached the landlord of the new building. My first step, and the most important recommendation I can make, was to find someone who could take on the role of project manager for the new practice location remodeling. I lucked out and found someone who also had an architecture background and had the time for meetings when I was attending to my patients. I hired the architect, construction contractors and plumbers myself.

I collaborated with the project manager with research and preparations before talking to anyone. We spent at least two months of research and planning everything including floor plans, furniture, colors and equipment. The landlord was impressed with our plans and we cut half the time typically spent in the design phase.

Did you incorporate any environment-friendly changes with the new office?

Well, I wanted to go paperless as much as is possible. We did that by going to digital radiology and using computers for all patient records, billing and the like. We didn’t specifically choose construction materials so much, but we were working with the benefits of a new building up to current code standards anyway.

Were there any setbacks or things that you would do differently?

We did have setbacks, but they were mostly out of my control. The tenant below our office had a lease that didn’t allow for alterations to existing plumbing, which of course was required for our remodeling. That in turn resulted in delays in scheduling the work to be done. But I wanted to use the contractors I found and those problems are mostly forgotten now that we are fully operational.

Are you satisfied with how you handled patient communications about the new office?

I would have delayed my initial communications to my patients about the move, but I managed expectations by reinforcing the change of plans when we had an actual move-in date. I sent updates through holiday cards that I send every year and made the announcement twice by letter and reconfirmed through each appointment call. I even held an open house with food to celebrate and introduce the new office to patients. That made it a reality for them despite the unexpected delay.