The Birth of Premier Smiles

So, this is the very first blog post of Premier Smiles. In fact, it is also the very first blog post for me personally. Having never blogged before, I hope I do this correctly (can these even be done INcorrectly?)
I sat here for a while, trying to figure out what topic our first blog should be about. I finally came to a decision that I should write about Premier Smiles and how it came to fruition. Numerous patients have asked already, so why not blog about it.
After dental school and the prosthodontics residency, I went to work in private practice. Things were going well but the commute was a little bit of a killer. At the time, the Woodrow Wilson bridge project was ongoing, and didn’t help matters at all. Completion of the project improved situations, but didn’t make things any more pleasant. So, why would I continue working at a place so far away for so long? A great staff and business partner, and the relationships built with the patients. It’s hard to leave a good thing, even if the commute is horrendous.
So, several years later, my business partner and I decided to open up another office in Bethesda, Maryland. This was a much shorter commute (especially when using the Express lanes) and took away 2 days of having to commute to Southern Maryland. Things were good.
Then there was the greatest life changing event that occurred in my life. The birth of my son, Ryan. Priorities changed instantly. Once things normalized (as much as things can “normalize” with a new child), and I was back to my normal routine, I started to realize how little time I was able to spend with Ryan. Wake up in the morning and get him ready for my wife to take to her mother’s place. Work. Come home. Feed Ryan dinner. Get him ready for bed. And repeat the next day. My wife and I had several discussions about this and how my commute gives me little time to really spend playing and interacting with my son. By the time I get home, it’s almost time to put him to bed. I needed to be closer to home so that I can spend more time with Ryan. And this, I guess you can say, was the initial spark that ultimately lead to the culmination of Premier Smiles.
I came upon the future site of Premier Smiles pretty quickly. Our broker showed us several locations the first go-round, and I quickly narrowed down the options to our current location and 2 others. The current location used to be a dental office, so this became the more ideal choice for me. Clean things up here. Refine a few things there. I would be able to quickly and easily set up and start working. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out as easy as I thought it would be. It turns out that treatment areas were going to be very cramped. And the setup of the other rooms were not ideal. Since this was going to be our new home for many years, I wanted to make sure we were going to be comfortable and that the patients would be comfortable as well. This, of course, meant I had a complete rebuild at hand; completely tear down the original office and start from scratch. Here are some “before and after” pictures of the new office!

Breakroom:

before & After breakroom

Hallway:

Before & After hallway

Patient Operatory:

Before & After operatory

Patient Lounge:

Before & After waiting room

Although this became a lot more time-consuming, and required a lot more planning, I believe that this was a blessing in disguise. Starting from scratch allowed us to make treatment rooms more spacious, not only for ourselves, but for our patients as well. It allowed us to design an office that “flowed” better. I want Premier Smiles to be a place where patients come in and feel comfortable and at-ease. Hopefully we were able to achieve that.

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