New Podcast lean and mean ➞ Get more details here
New Podcast lean and mean ➞ Get more details here
After nearly 20 years in dentistry, Dr. Heath Colledge knows that the clinical work is often the most straightforward part of the job.
Diagnosing a tooth, presenting treatment options and performing a procedure can eventually become second nature. What remains difficult is everything happening behind the scenes: managing employees, making payroll, monitoring the schedule, paying bills, answering phones, attracting patients and carrying the responsibility for the entire practice.
In this episode of the Comfort Dental Podcast, Dr. Colledge joins host Shawn Zajas for an honest conversation about dentist burnout, the pressures of ownership and why sharing those responsibilities with trusted partners can make a meaningful difference.
Patients generally experience only one part of a dental practice: the care they receive in the chair.
They do not see the dentist thinking about whether the schedule is full, whether the team is being productive, whether bills need to be paid or whether the practice is bringing in enough revenue.
For an owner-dentist, all of those concerns continue in the background throughout the day.
“There’s a lot that goes on in a dentist’s mind during the day besides dentistry,” Dr. Colledge explains.
Over time, carrying so many responsibilities can become more exhausting than the dentistry itself. Even when the practice is performing well, many dentists continue raising the standard they expect themselves to meet.
There is always another number to improve, another system to fix and another way the practice could operate more efficiently.
Dentists are often meticulous people who hold themselves to extremely high standards. That drive can help them provide excellent care, but it can also cause them to focus on the one procedure or interaction that did not go as planned.
A dentist may successfully treat dozens of patients in a week, only to spend the weekend thinking about the one patient who left unhappy.
Dr. Colledge explains that perfection simply does not exist in dentistry. Dentists work with the human body, mechanical instruments and circumstances they cannot always predict or control.
A root may break during an extraction. A patient may be difficult to numb. A dental instrument may fail. A denture may require repeated adjustments even when the dentist has done everything possible to prepare the patient and create a successful result.
The dentist can respond appropriately, communicate clearly and work to correct the situation, but not every outcome can be controlled.
Recognizing that reality does not mean lowering the standard of care. It means allowing dentists to give themselves some grace when they have provided very good care in an imperfect situation.
When asked what advice he would give his younger self, Dr. Colledge offers a straightforward answer:
“Give yourself a little more grace.”
He encourages dentists not to discount a very good result simply because it is not perfect. He also sets that expectation with patients, particularly when discussing cosmetic dentistry, veneers or clear aligner treatment.
Teeth are not naturally perfect, and no dentist can promise absolute perfection.
Setting realistic expectations protects the relationship between the dentist and the patient. It can also help dentists avoid placing an impossible burden on themselves.
Dr. Colledge spent approximately a year and a half working as an associate before joining Comfort Dental.
As an associate, he could see the pressure placed on the practice owner. One person was ultimately responsible for the staff, the finances, the production and the success of the business.
Comfort Dental’s partnership model offered a different approach.
Rather than carrying every responsibility alone, Dr. Colledge has always practiced alongside other owner-dentists. His practice currently has four doctors who share both the clinical workload and the responsibilities of running the business.
When something needs to be handled, one partner can reach out to the others for help. The question is no longer, “What do I have to do?” It becomes, “What do we need to do to make this practice successful?”
That distinction matters.
The partners can also divide business responsibilities according to their individual strengths. One doctor may be comfortable tracking finances and paying bills, while another may be stronger at hiring, training or managing employees.
Every partner should understand how the business operates, but they do not have to be equally gifted in every area.
“When it works, it really works,” Dr. Colledge says. “What makes the core of the dental office is the partnership.”
Dental school teaches students how to become dentists. It cannot fully prepare them for everything involved in owning and operating a practice.
That can create a significant gap between what new dentists expect and what they experience after graduation.
Some graduates assume that becoming a better clinician will automatically lead to greater financial success. Dr. Colledge cautions that clinical skill and business performance do not always directly correlate.
A highly trained dentist can struggle as a business owner, while a competent and patient-focused dentist with strong business systems can build a very successful practice.
Dentists who want ownership must continue learning after graduation—not only clinically, but also in leadership, communication, finance and practice management.
As Dr. Colledge puts it, graduating from dental school gives a dentist “a license to learn more.”
The realities of student loan debt make these decisions even more important for today’s graduates.
Dr. Colledge regularly speaks with dental students carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in educational debt. While a guaranteed associate salary may initially feel safe, he encourages graduates to think carefully about whether their income will allow them to create the lifestyle they want while meaningfully reducing that debt.
“The best way to manage your student loan debt is to make enough money to pay it off,” he says.
For Dr. Colledge, ownership was an opportunity to continue betting on himself. He wanted more than a paycheck. He wanted responsibility, autonomy and the ability to build something meaningful.
That path requires work, but it can also create opportunities that may not exist in a traditional associate position.
Dentistry will always be demanding. Patients will still have difficult days. Procedures will still present unexpected challenges. A business will always require attention.
But dentists do not necessarily have to carry all of that weight alone.
Through the Comfort Dental partnership model, doctors can maintain clinical autonomy, build ownership and share the business responsibilities with partners who are working toward the same goal.
For dentists who feel burned out, isolated or overwhelmed by solo ownership, that shared model may offer a more sustainable way forward.
