Photos by David M. Jennings
Dr. Gregg Liberatore was looking for a challenge. After being in practice for eight years, he was ready to dive in and begin his own practice. Since opening the doors to his own 3,065-square-foot, five-operatory office in Ballston Spa, N.Y., on June 9, 2003, Dr. Liberatore has found the water to be just fine, thank you very much.
Prior to the opening of Liberatore Family Dental (a space he shares with Dr. Heather Billington), Dr. Liberatore’s schedule was booked out 12 weeks in advance for treatment of any kind, and hygiene was booked past the usual six-month recare visit. He was working five days per week, including two evenings until 9 p.m.
Now more than a year after starting his own practice, Dr. Liberatore looks back with amazement at how smoothly the transition has unfolded.
Two views of Dr. Liberatore’s open bay concept
“It’s been a great experience. There really hasn’t been any bad parts of it,” the 36-year-old general practitioner said. “I knew that I was the only one in my family who would have the opportunity to build his own practice, so I jumped at the chance. I can make my own decisions, and it has been wonderful.”
Part of that decision-making has included incorporating the latest in technology into the practice.
“Opening our new dental office allowed me to position my practice for the future,” Dr. Liberatore explained. “Our office now features state-of-the-art technology to improve diagnostic capabilities and enhance quality patient treatment.”
Included in Dr. Liberatore’s arsenal of technology is the latest Planmeca Prostyle oral X-ray unit, Schick CDR digital X-ray sensors, KaVo America’s DIAGNOdent, and chairs by A-dec with a self-contained water system. But perhaps the technology that receives the most praise from Dr. Liberatore and his staff is the office’s practice-management software - EagleSoft.
“It really drives our practice,” he said. “It does so many things, including making our case presentations easier. When the patient can see what we are trying to tell him or her and the treatment coordinator can be sitting in and looking at the chart at the same time, it makes it so much better for all of us to communicate to the patient.”
While technology may be one of Dr. Liberatore’s passions, it also has been a strong selling point with his patients.
“When an X-ray pops right up in front of the patient, people are very impressed,” said Michelle Dankanich, who works in the office as a dental assistant and receptionist. “Patients walk up to the front desk and don’t have to wait for anything to be printed because our office is paperless. That’s a time-saver for the patients, and they notice things like that.”
“I would guess that about 70 percent of our patients expected this office to be high-tech when it opened, and the other 30 percent have been ‘wowed’ by the technology we have,” Dr. Liberatore said. “Today’s consumers live computerized, technology-driven lifestyles. Why shouldn’t their dental office match their lifestyles?”
Also matching the patient’s lifestyle is the practice’s feeling of comfort. Nine 9-foot windows and an open-bay concept give patients a sense of openness.
“When people come into our office, we don’t want them to feel like they’re coming into a dental office. We want them to feel like they’re coming into someone’s home,” Dankanich said. “We know that some of our patients have had bad experiences at the dentist in the past. We want to put people at ease.”
Part of putting people at ease includes Liberatore Family Dental placing an emphasis on its sterilization center (see below) - so much so that the design of the office puts the sterilization center in the middle of the plan and gives patients a closeup view of the process. Also, an entire section of the office’s Web site (www.liberatorefamilydental.com) is devoted to the office’s sterilization processes.
“There are so many articles out there about people who have become sick because of the dentist that we wanted to eliminate that fear,” Dankanich said. “We promote that we use distilled water and everything in our center is hands-free, which we think is important.”
While the patients may be at ease when they walk in, Dr. Liberatore admits that he and his staff had some jitters about the practice’s success when he first opened the doors.
“We really thought we’d be doing well if we could bring in 45 patients and collect 96 percent of the money during the first month we were open,” he recalled. “Everyone was a little nervous. I remember being asked, ‘What if the patients don’t come?’ I told that person that if we only had one patient per day during that first month, we would make sure that one patient had the most well-documented treatment imaginable.”
But all fears of a quiet month were quickly erased. Between the relationships Dr. Liberatore had built during his more than eight years at his prior practice and the excitement of a new office, Dr. Liberatore and his staff had 186 patient visits during the first month and produced 3.5 times what was expected.
“We were pleasantly surprised,” Dankanich said. “But Dr. Liberatore is a very likable guy. When a patient is comfortable with who he or she is seeing, he or she will do what is needed to keep seeing that dentist.”
The response has been not only satisfying professionally, but on a personal level for the staff as well.
“This office is really a family place,” Dankanich said. “For a week before the office opened, we were all in here working to make sure it would be open. There’s a little of each of our blood, sweat, and tears in here. We all put in a ton of hours during those weeks right before our opening and just after we opened, but it was worth it. We all pulled together and the response has been overwhelming.”
Dr. Liberatore credits his office’s success to a strong business plan that was established long before he saw his first patient in his new practice.
“We looked at the Matsco Company’s demographic reports for this area and saw that the population was really growing in Saratoga County,” said Dr. Liberatore of the area that includes Ballston Spa, which is located 30 minutes away from Albany. “Accessibility to our office was very important, so we looked at accessible locations. We first looked across from a school, but the cost was just too high.
“Next, we looked at the local highway system. We looked at six different locations before we found our spot. We are located just off the highway at an exit that has not grown wildly like some of the others have.”
There also was one other very important factor when Dr. Liberatore began looking for his new address.
“We wanted to be a good neighbor, so we didn’t set up our practice next to an existing practice,” he said. “We made sure that we were not near any of the other general dentists in the area. I really felt like, with our plan and our reputation, we could open up anywhere and be fine.”
Now located just off Exit 13S of Interstate 87, Liberatore Family Dental is near professional offices which house a judge, an insurance company, and the headquarters of Stewart’s, a convenience store chain with 110 employees working in the home office.
So the location is great, the plan is working, and the technology is top-notch, but what about the atmosphere within the office?
“Gregg makes all of us feel like we’re not employees. We’re more like friends,” Dankanich said. “We all get along and we all like each other. Our spouses even do things like golfing and riding motorcycles with each other and Dr. Liberatore. It’s like a big extended family, and it’s a great place.”
To contact Dr. Gregg Liberatore, send an e-mail to [email protected]
What advice would Dr. Liberatore give to a fellow dentist who was thinking about a new design for his or her office?
* Visit as many offices as possible, making a list of likes and dislikes, then design your office with professionals who have experience. If you are starting a building from scratch, you have a blank slate upon which to create. Time and budget are your only limiting factors.
* If you are modifying an existing space, set goals for maximizing the usable space to address the long- and short-term needs of your office.
* Think about your office space. If I thought I would be sharing my office space so quickly, I may have looked at even more square footage than I did. At the time, some thought I was “crazy” to sign a lease for 3,065 square feet and leave my previous position that was considered stable and safe.