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Navigating Dental Practice Ownership: Insights from Dr. Jackie Hassenplug (Part One)
30 Plays23 days ago
About the Guest:
Dr. Jackie Hassenplug is a dynamic and passionate General Dentist based in St. Charles, Illinois. Originally hailing from Chicago, she graduated from Midwestern University in 2021. In December 2024, she took the bold step of opening her practice, designed to reflect her ethos and desired style of dentistry. With a wide-ranging skill set allowing her to perform many dental procedures, her journey in dentistry started with personal experiences as a child undergoing orthodontic work. A former educator at Midwestern University, Jackie brings a unique blend of clinical expertise and practical business acumen to her practice.
Episode Summary:
In this engaging episode of the "Beyond Graduation" podcast, hosts Drs. Savanah Craig and Ronnetta Sartor welcome their first-ever guest, Dr. Jackie Hassenplug, a determined dentist and new practice owner. The episode dives into Dr. Hassenplug's background, from her challenging personal experiences with orthodontics to her ultimate decision to open a dental practice. The conversation explores the nuances of practice ownership, balancing clinical desires with business responsibilities, and the harmony between patient care and operational efficiency.
Dr. Hassenplug elaborates on her turbulent yet enlightening journey through various dentistry specialties before settling as a general dentist. As a practice owner, she reflects on the realities of managing a dental office, highlighting the importance of systems and preparation, such as morning huddles and monthly meetings, to ensure practice success. This episode brims with informative insights on dental practice management, startup challenges, and the intricacies of life as a recent dental graduate.
Key Takeaways:
- Dr. Jackie Hassenplug shares her journey from orthodontic struggles in childhood to pursuing and establishing a successful dental practice.
- The episode discusses the benefits and challenges of opening a startup practice as opposed to acquiring an existing one.
- Importance of effective practice management tools like morning huddles and structured workflow to ensure smooth daily operations.
- Dr. Hassenplug's pragmatic approach to balancing clinical aspirations with the financial realities of dental practice ownership.
- Insight into the decision-making processes that guide new dentists in choosing their career paths and specialization.
Connect with Us:
- Savanah Craig, DDS: @savanahcraigdds
- Ronnetta Sartor, DMD: @dr_sartor
- Jackie Hassenplug, DMD: @dr.jackie_dmd
- FutureDentists Beyond Graduation: @futuredentistsbeyondgraduation
- FutureDentists: @futuredentists
- IgniteDDS: @ignitedds and @ignitedds_coaching
- A-dec: @adecdental and https://www.a-dec.com/find-a-dealer
Through this enlightening episode, listeners are encouraged to learn about the real-world experiences and insights from a newly graduated dentist navigating the early years in dentistry. Tune in to this episode for a candid discussion filled with valuable guidance for young dental professionals and those considering practice ownership. Stay tuned for more insightful content from the Beyond Graduation podcast.
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Transcript
Introduction and Smart Start Program
00:00:00
Speaker
ADEC's Smart Start program offers first-time practice owners their deepest discounts on equipment and furniture for two years, plus other savings and complimentary services. Ask your ADEC rep for details and start smart with ADEC.
00:00:13
Speaker
Join Drs. Savannah Craig and Renetta Sartor as we navigate life beyond graduation. Real conversations about forging our own paths in our early years in our careers.
00:00:24
Speaker
There's a reason it's called practicing dentistry. All right, everybody, welcome back to a very special episode of Beyond Graduation. this is our first guest appearance ever.
Jackie's Educational and Career Journey
00:00:35
Speaker
So Renetta and I are super excited to have Jackie Hasenplug here with us today. So welcome, Jackie.
00:00:43
Speaker
Thank you, guys. Thanks for having me. Awesome. but So we would love if you would tell us a little bit about yourself, tell the the listeners what you do, where you live, and all things.
00:00:54
Speaker
Yeah. So I am from Chicago, Illinois. i am about 35 minutes outside the city. i went to Midwestern University. I graduated in 2021. I just opened a practice in December in St. Charles, in Illinois, so one of the Western suburbs.
00:01:11
Speaker
And I'm a general dentist and pretty much do almost everything. So, yeah. That's awesome. so Congratulations on practice ownership.
00:01:22
Speaker
Thank you. Thanks. It's been fun so far. Ups and downs, ebbs and flows. Yeah. We joke about it the time. But, you know, it's worth it in the end. That's awesome.
00:01:33
Speaker
So tell us a bit about your journey in dentistry. Yeah. So i growing up, had a lot of dental work done. I had impacted canines and was in the ortho chair for seven years. My first round of ortho, the orthodontist at the time missed that I had impacted canines. So I went through expansion and all this ortho for three or four years.
00:01:58
Speaker
And then he took everything off, did the final pan. I was like, oh, we got to start all over. And my mom was like, time out. We just finished. What do you mean? So she dragged me to a million different orthodontists.
00:02:14
Speaker
I'm not kidding. i think it was 15th. And she's like, we're not extracting teeth. Everybody was giving us treatment plans to extract teeth. She's like, no, we're not doing it. like Find another way.
00:02:26
Speaker
So finally found orthodontist who finished my case was first appointment for the consult. He's like, what do you want to do when you grow up And I always loved like science and art and stuff like that. And so I always wanted to be in the medical field. And i was like, I'll be a doctor. i don't know.
00:02:43
Speaker
It's think you should be an orthodontist because you're going to be in my chair for a really long time. And that's how it started. that point forward, I was like, okay, great. Like, let's do ortho. It just stuck with me. And then I kind of like started to do shadowing and stuff like that. And always said, I don't think I want to be a general dentist.
00:03:02
Speaker
I want to do ortho. Then I got to dental school and I was like, oh, ortho might be kind of boring to do all day, every day. And so then i was like, you know what?
00:03:13
Speaker
I went through every specialty in dental school. I was like, I'm going to be pedo. I'm going to be endo. I did apply to endo residency and then I was in my endo residency interview and I was like, why do I want to do this all the time? And I was like, forget it. that I am meant to be a general dentist. That's what I learned to through that whole process.
00:03:30
Speaker
So yeah, that's that's kind of what brought me into dentistry and I love it. I love every part of it. So it's been fun. Yeah. it sounds like you've, everybody has that moment in dental school. I think as you learn a new thing, you're like, oh, I could do this forever. And then you realize as a general dentist, you can do a little bit of all of it. Yeah.
00:03:49
Speaker
Well, that's when I kind of realized, because I like doing a lot of cosmetic cases and stuff like that. And so I'm like, I can never do a crown. i can never do veneer. I can never do like whitening. Like, what do you mean?
00:03:59
Speaker
yeah Yeah. No, I don't want to just do root canals all day. I can do root canals when I want. Yes. Yes. Great. I think one of the things, because I didn't have that thought process while in dental school, but once I finished my residency and I started doing a good bit of PROS work, I toyed with the idea of going and doing a PROS residency. But the thing that you've got, I had to realize about it is the cases I'm doing now are fun and I have the option to refer.
00:04:31
Speaker
Yes. But when you become the specialist, like you are the, you're the last line. So you get you don't get the, sometimes you get the fun cases, but you get the more difficult cases for sure.
00:04:44
Speaker
ah hundred percent. Yeah. There's cases where I'm like, oh yeah, no. Like, you know, that's going to take me way too long. It's going to take him like half the time it takes me. So just go enjoy, have fun. It's, it's, it's,
00:04:57
Speaker
takes a little bit of the stress out of your day. I don't know how specialists do it. I mean, obviously they have more experience, but it's just definitely stressful for sure. Certain cases, I'm glad i can just say, hey, you know what? I have this guy down the street that I absolutely love.
00:05:12
Speaker
Go there. He'll treat you just like like your family here. So Absolutely. do you Do some
Specialties and Practice Focus
00:05:20
Speaker
ortho? Do you do aligners or dabbling? I do. I do Invisalign. I'm in a clear aligner study club.
00:05:28
Speaker
So I do that once a month. And then i do a decent amount of cases. I'd like to do more. But I also, i love my orthodontist I refer to. Yeah. I also, am like, you know what? Like all kids. I don't touch kids.
00:05:41
Speaker
I'm like. Fair. You go to him. he can yell at you about not wearing your rubber bands and all that stuff. and I like to do more of the simpler cases with adults and like teens.
00:05:53
Speaker
Totally. And then if you don't mind sharing what happened with your impacted canines, did what was the result? Final result was they they were in like the roof of my mouth coming forward towards my anteriors.
00:06:08
Speaker
So they exposed them in the roof of my mouth. They put brackets on, put chains and dragged them down with another round of expansion. so yeah, that was probably another three years of ortho, I think at that time. So, and then I was the terrible kid who didn't wear my retainers. And so I then put myself back in Invisalign another couple, it was like maybe a month or two, just to kind of touch things up here there. My mom probably wanted to murder me. But hyper retainers under the bed. that's stuff you you Did you really?
00:06:42
Speaker
No. not say what oh no I wish. I probably, I don't even know what I did with them. I don't remember. I probably tossed them at lunch or something. Who knows? Like every kid does. you oh yeah, for sure.
00:06:55
Speaker
Adults to throw them away. oh yeah. I was trying to, one time I tried to use like the spring holly retainer to move one of my lower teeth and I definitely threw mine away. So it's, it's easy to do. That's why I like preach to patients. I'm like,
00:07:12
Speaker
put it in your case. Do not wrap it in a napkin. And sure enough, I'm like, did you? I know. Yeah, I wrapped it in. It's okay. It happens. So often. For sure Very nice. Okay. So graduated in 2021. graduated in 2022. So new grads, new-ish grads for the win. did you And then you opened your practice in twenty four 24. Yeah. Like, i I don't know if we can even count it as 24. It was literally the day after Christmas.
00:07:43
Speaker
So like the last week of the year. Well, that's a great Christmas gift, right? It was. It was. It was.
Opening a Dental Practice: Challenges and Insights
00:07:51
Speaker
i like when I signed my lease and everything, i didn't really calculate like, oh, we're going to open at Christmas time.
00:07:57
Speaker
So as it got closer, I'm like, oh my God, like the most stressful time of the year, I'm opening an office. But it actually worked out great because I was able to like have time off of work, my associate office and was able to organize everything. And my family was able to help me with a lot of stuff that probably in a normal week they couldn't have. And so it was it was a blessing in disguise.
00:08:22
Speaker
That's great. So how has practice ownership been treating you besides the ebbs and flows? Is it everything you thought it would be or? It is. Yeah, it's it's nice to be able to walk in and And, you know, do the dentistry you want to do.
00:08:37
Speaker
Nobody has like any rules on you. Not that I ever practice in an office like that. I know I have friends that have, but I, you know, there's always like that little part of you that's like, I wish I had this sorry I wish I had that.
00:08:52
Speaker
And so that's like no longer a thing. Like if i want it, I can get it. in reason. yeah i think I think that could be part of the problem too for too because it's like, oh yeah, i want that.
00:09:06
Speaker
I'm going to get that. But will I use it? Well, that and then you see the the price of things and you're like, I don't really need that anymore. You're like, that was like a nice want, but like I can wait for a little while.
00:09:19
Speaker
Business owner brain versus doctor brain. 100%. 100%. It does play a role. Like I know I would like ask, the owner doc of my associate office, like, can we get, and he's like, that's a want, not a need. And I was like, okay, but that's fair. That's very fair. so I'd be like, okay, he'd reel me back in a little bit He's like, this is not dental school anymore. You don't have every instrument under it. I'm like, yeah, you're right.
00:09:44
Speaker
You're right. Wasn't that lovely though? We could just like hold our hand out and in dental school, we had it. Do you remember like the matrix beans of like the garrisons and like people would take like a handful of them?
00:09:57
Speaker
And so I taught for a little bit too. So oh cool I taught for like, i don't know, six months at Midwestern. They asked me to come back. And so it was fun. I was in the clinic, but I would see these kids like take like a handful of the beans and then they'd use like two and then they'd toss the rest of the garbage. I'm like, that's like $30 you just threw.
00:10:17
Speaker
Yes. Yes. yeah whatever so they keep throwing in i'm like oh that's why your tuition's so high hundred hundreds of cotton rolls just into the wind yeah we had so i went to ohio state and they had we had to like buy our electric can pieces which is a whole other thing but we had like these special cleaners and lubricants and we would just be like like for five minutes and one of my classmates bought her own practice and uses the hand that's $200 a can. Like we were just like, she's like one squirt, and you get one second. Like they should tell us these things. Like, you know.
00:10:58
Speaker
I had one faculty that he would do like a PowerPoint presentation, like couple times a year for like his small group of students in his suite. And it was like, kind of like a jeopardy of like, what do you like, what do you think this costs?
00:11:13
Speaker
And nobody was ever close. It was always so comical. And he would be like, can I have your Patterson me like magazine that you get so I can like look at the prices to like tell them. I'm like, yeah, here, take my walk in.
00:11:26
Speaker
Right. Prices change. to know Yeah. It's good to know like kind of what things are. Because I mean, even just like leaving like the cements uncapped, Oh my, that's my like biggest pet peeve. A drop of bond. Yes. Yeah. Yes.
00:11:42
Speaker
Bond is expensive. It's crazy. I was going to say one one of the best things in residency, because Savannah and I did the same residency just at different times, was an exercise that one of our program directors made us do where we had like five procedures, the most common procedures, and we had to go through and figure out how much everything cost.
00:12:05
Speaker
to figure out what chair time was, how much you were paying people to be there, how much like every cotton roll and glove costs. And it definitely put things into perspective. It's, it was funny, like how it would be wasteful beforehand. And then after we did the procedure, right. Procedure for that project, this study project.
00:12:25
Speaker
Yeah. That's so funny. Yeah. That would be like an interesting, they should do that. I feel like in all schools, because I think it would cut back on so much waste.
Practice Management and Team Dynamics
00:12:35
Speaker
And then even too, like it sets it into perspective for when you do graduate, right? Like, okay, now I understand why they were so crazy at me in dental school.
00:12:45
Speaker
Oh yeah. It also gives you a perspective of like why dentistry costs what it costs. Cause you're like, all of these things are disposable. And then my assistant that like, yeah, just this whole overhead thing. I didn't understand until residency. For sure. For sure.
00:13:05
Speaker
So how did you find your practice? did Did you do a startup? Did you do an acquisition? is it close to where you, okay. Were you, how close was it to your associateship? So it's about 35 minutes away. but I wanted to be far enough away. i live like two stoplights away from my current, ah my current associateship.
00:13:25
Speaker
And he was my childhood dentist growing up. We have a great relationship. The office is fantastic, but it was just time for me to start my own thing. know, he wasn't ready to retire and that's okay. Right.
00:13:38
Speaker
And so just going in and doing my own thing and still having that relationship to be able to still work there while I grow my own practice. So I wanted it to be somewhere a little bit further away and that I could see myself potentially living down the road.
00:13:53
Speaker
So st Charles is, it's like kind of like a city feel like there's a lot of younger people, but a lot, it's like ah a more affluent area of the suburbs of Chicago. And so it's got a lot of like fun things going on all the time. Like they're always doing fun events.
00:14:11
Speaker
So I wanted something with like more of like an upbeat city feel, but not be in the city. And so i happened to be out to dinner one night with my boyfriend and I was like, Hey, look, that's that's available.
00:14:23
Speaker
um And we were looking with my broker. I was working with car and they were fantastic to work with. And so they just kind of helped guide me through that process. I was like, Hey, can you look at this one? And he's like, yeah, sure.
00:14:36
Speaker
And it all just fell into place. So it's been cool. Very good. Yeah. So what made you decide to do a startup versus an acquisition?
00:14:47
Speaker
so I went down both paths. I was talking with my current doctor about potentially buying his practice. I went and talked with like, I don't know, maybe 10, 15 other doctors.
00:15:01
Speaker
And it was either i was going to buy my associate office Or none of these other offices felt right. It didn't feel like me. It didn't feel like I was doing the dentistry that I wanted to do day one.
00:15:14
Speaker
I'd have to completely change like the processes and everything. like My associate office is very well ran. He has the structure and he had a consultant come in years ago.
00:15:26
Speaker
And so everything is like for a reason of why we do things. And these other offices I'd walk in, and I was like, I want to pull my hair out just being here for like 30 minutes. So i was like, you know what?
00:15:37
Speaker
It's either that or I just do my own thing. And so ended up working out. I did my own thing. I'm like, I put those same processes that he has in place. to be very structured and to have a system for everything we do.
00:15:52
Speaker
Very cool. tell Tell us some of your favorite systems. I think this stuff is super interesting. And at Ignite, we're very focused on the peoples, the processes, the systems, and how those all actually make a practice run and not be stressful and crazy. so we would love to hear what some of those things look like for you.
00:16:13
Speaker
I would say like, I mean, one big one is just like a morning huddle every day. It just gets everybody on the same page, right? Like, okay, whatever happened yesterday happened yesterday.
00:16:24
Speaker
If there were things that like didn't go great yesterday, let's talk about it so we can improve, right? And always look at like how we can keep bettering ourselves, but also like what went really well yesterday and that we want to continue doing.
00:16:38
Speaker
Maybe we figured something out that we haven't been doing and maybe we want to keep on that or we've been working on something and it finally clicked. Right. And then talking about our our schedule for the day. Right. So kind of going in and, you know, front desk looking at like, is there any outstanding balances or things of that sort?
00:16:56
Speaker
Is there a recall schedule? Does all that information like making sure that front side of things is being taken care of, but then also the back, you know, seeing, okay,
00:17:09
Speaker
Are these codes attached properly? You know, are they the right surfaces? Is it even the right tooth? Is there in the treatment plan multiple of these codes? Do we need to delete something? Have we already done something?
00:17:21
Speaker
Are we to run behind on a procedure and like, hey, can someone seat my next patient for me? Because this procedure might take a little bit longer than expected. And then same thing with hygiene, like they do the same thing.
00:17:34
Speaker
So just having that structure in place to really talk about and like walk through your day together to then have a more successful day. Because if everybody's just running on their own time and own schedule, becomes a little bit more chaotic.
00:17:49
Speaker
um So being able to kind of talk through that's always nice. That's probably my favorite one, but. I have a million more. Well, it's is's interesting that it's something that's so small, but it sets you up for success every day. does.
00:18:03
Speaker
It does every day. And that's what like, even like if there's like one person saying like, oh, my kid ran late for school today and I got to take them. They missed the bus or whatever, you know, it happens. Like there's not a perfect day every day. Right.
00:18:18
Speaker
But even just that one person missing in that huddle, you're like, okay, someone else needs to look at their schedule and like, hope this is like what they're thinking in their head, right? Because they're the ones running that schedule for the day. So you got ah kind of play that into account. And so it makes a huge difference in how the day kind of flows. And, you know, if somebody's out sick or whatever, how are we going to jump in to help cover for that person?
00:18:45
Speaker
So it's just like our our one meeting time. And we do a monthly meeting every month too. So having that to just kind of say what went well this month, what didn't go well, and kind of fine tune everything and have you know my staff bring things to the table and say, you know what if we did and Okay, great. How how are we going implement it? Let's try it.
00:19:06
Speaker
Let's put it into place. Because sometimes, I mean, I don't have all the answers, right? As doctors, we don't know every little thing. And maybe somebody's bringing something from another office that works fantastic too.
00:19:17
Speaker
And then we can go back next month and say, Did we like how that ran? Did we not? And go from there. Thank you for joining us for this episode of Beyond Graduation. If you enjoyed this week's episode, be sure to share it with a friend.
00:19:31
Speaker
Connect with us on social media at Savannah Craig DBS and at Dr. Sartor. And remember, you are not alone on this journey. ADEC certified pre-owned equipment is a sustainable, affordable choice that makes genuine ADEC equipment available to every doctor.
00:19:48
Speaker
Each package is sold on a first-come, first-served basis. So if you see one you like, contact your dealer. For more information, go to www.adec.com backslash findadealer.
00:20:00
Speaker
Thank you for listening to Beyond Graduation, brought to you by Ignite DDS and Future Dentists. This episode was sponsored by Ignite DDS Coaching. We build self-determined futures. For more information, please reach out to the Ignite DDS team.