Five years and counting…….reflections on the first years of owning a specialist practice

In June 2012, I was invited to join a consultant colleague to purchase a NHS specialist orthodontic practice. At that time, I was working as a Consultant Orthodontist for three days a week and as an associate in a specialist practice for one day a week. I had just had my first child and I liked my work-life balance. However, NHS contracts are hard to obtain and this was an opportunity not to be missed. I was glad to have a partner to share the load and we worked well together in the hospital, so I went for it! We bought a leasehold practice and four years later bought a house, converted it into a state of the art orthodontic practice and relocated (Figure 1). It was a huge undertaking but we have not looked back once.

I wrote this to share what I have learned along the way to run a successful and profitable orthodontic practice.