How Life Long Dental’s Partnership with Burkhart Became the Catalyst for a 4-Chair Expansion
Dr. Kasey Gillespie had been practicing dentistry in Silverdale, Washington for several years when he started thinking about expanding his practice.
When he brought it up at some dental society meeting, this started a friendly argument among his peers, almost as a game: “If we all went to the same dental supplier, who would we choose? And there was almost going to be a fight if we didn’t choose Burkhart for no other reason than Bill, I think.” The Bill in question? Burkhart’s Account Manager Bill Melius.
“Bill is somewhat of a legend around here,” says Dr. Gillespie.
So once Dr. Gillespie started mentioning building out the practice, Bill was quick to act. “Bill offered his services to help and make sure I had everything I needed, which he’s always done.”
Burkhart’s Bill Melius and Equipment Specialist Steve Stimson were there to assist during the entire process.
“They just gave me so much help and support; it just was kind of natural to continue to expand by adding the four chairs”.
With their support, the expansion process went smoothly. “During the process, I had an…existing chair that needed service. So that was just a phone call to the service department. And they were able to come in and keep us running with our existing equipment…and then, as we got towards the end, there was a whole bunch of supplies, all of a sudden, (that) we needed…(Burkhart) people got them to me the very next day, even big equipment, things like the Nomad, or the lead apron, or a bunch of covers for the light handles. We didn’t miss a beat in our production.”
Dr. Gillespie says he probably wouldn’t have done it quite as soon without Burkhart as the catalyst for change. “If you look at the scientific term for a catalyst – a catalyst is not present in the initial products or the final products. It’s the facilitator between the reaction, right? And so, I would say that’s exactly what Burkhart was. You know, Burkhart is not in our office as our team, per se, every day. But as soon as you need them, they’re there to facilitate the whole transition.”
Another reason for the expansion was a firm belief in investing in products to make a dental office run as smoothly as possible. Dr. Gillespie’s background in engineering helped him understand that things like room design, chair design, and staying on top of the newest technologies would help elevate dental work.
“If you have that good foundation, then it sets you up for that next level of dental quality. A Dental Practice needs to be a finely tuned machine that you show up, take good care of the patient, and then leave. And when you start adding distractions of broken chairs or broken equipment, then it just reduces from the overall quality of your dentistry.”
To learn more about Life Long Dental visit LifeLongDental.com
Written by Dawn Kahl
Published in Catalyst – Q1 2024.
Category: Office Planning & Design
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