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A Voice in the Arena: You Can Always Find an Irish Pub by Dr. Chad Foster

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Categories: Practice Management, HR and Accounting;
A Voice in the Arena: You Can Always Find an Irish Pub

by Chad Foster, DDS, MS, editorial director

There’s a song called “Irish Pub Song” by the band The High Kings. I love it because I’m a big fan of Irish pubs (my wife, Natalie, and I built one in our basement, seen above) and also because the song’s message strikes a chord with me. The singer basically explains that if you’re Irish, you can go anywhere in the world and still feel at home because there are Irish pubs all over the world. In my own nerdy way, I feel the same about being an orthodontist!

Whenever I travel with my family—which is as often as possible—I always make an effort to visit a local orthodontic office. I do so for a few different reasons. First, they are always some of my most memorable conversations with another colleague. English may not be both of our first languages, but we are always both fluent in orthodontics. Also, these conversations allow me to see our craft through the experiences of another in a totally different culture while connecting over a shared love for what we do. It takes my mind out of the day-to-day minutiae and challenges of my own office and puts me in the shoes of someone who lives a completely different life and style of practice. I always leave those experiences with a big and meaningful perspective change and more gratitude for what I do.


The practice comes with a warning
In April, my family and I visited an island where there is only one full-time orthodontist, who’s been the only full-time orthodontist on the island for more than 30 years! (He wished to remain anonymous in this column.) During our time together, he told me a story I’ll never forget: He recently sold his practice to a young orthodontist who will take over the practice soon. His process in identifying the right candidate is a testament to the love he has for his practice and his community.

When the orthodontist decided it was finally time to sell the practice, he worried that the lure of practicing orthodontics on a beautiful tropical island would entice candidates who might be chasing a romanticized fantasy of island life, rather than someone who would be committed for the long term. So he wrote a two-page letter describing the opportunity of the purchase of his practice and sent it to a large number of residency programs. In the letter, he went to great lengths to specifically lay out all the reasons why someone would not want to buy the practice.

Living on an island is not all surfing and piña coladas—if you’re not used to living on one, “island fever” is real and you’ll very likely miss the trappings of big city or mainland life. There’s very little nightlife or commercial entertainment, no theater or museums, the singles scene is basically nonexistent, the school system is adequate at best for children, there are a few nice restaurants but not a big variety, and so on.

His actual description was much lengthier than what I’ve provided here, and also much more purposefully dissuading in its nature. The doctor further said that his office does well enough financially, but because of its location, it will never be a large practice for those who are highly financially motivated. In the end, only six orthodontists reached out to him and from those, he was able to identify his top pick—an orthodontic resident who actually grew up on a different small island himself and was familiar with the difficult aspects of island living.


Caring about the community
So why on earth would an orthodontist write a letter describing all the reasons not to buy their practice? Why wouldn’t he just list the practice traditionally and sell to the highest bidder? Well, he didn’t want it sold to someone who would buy it, realize that the reality of island living is quite isolated and end up selling it again after just a couple of years. He cares about his patients and his community too much, and doesn’t want his unique practice in paradise to become a revolving door for orthodontists chasing a fantasy life. He understands how a new orthodontist every handful of years would affect the care the practice provided to the community he loved. Even on an island, he understood what a carousel or revolving-door doctor model would mean for his community.

Needless to say, it was a memorable visit and conversation. More than anything, it gave me perspective on what love of and stewardship to a community look like. Being in the first half of my career in regard to my practice, my mind is admittedly and rightfully more occupied on a day-to-day basis by the nitty gritty aspects of keeping the train on the tracks. I hope one day, though, at the end of a long career, I can be fortunate enough to have keys worth passing, and be equally as choosy about whom I pass those keys to.
Find your next practice on Orthotown!

Looking to buy (or sell) your own practice? Orthotown’s online classifieds include listings of orthodontic practices for sale from Alaska to Florida, and dozens of states in between. To check out the offerings, click here.

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