No Images? Click here DENTAL NEWSLETTER September 2018 School dental bus fined $200,000A Sydney court has fined a mobile dental service almost $200,000 after the NSW environmental watchdog said that the company allowed unlicenced staff to xray the teeth and jaws of thousands of NSW children. Dental disruptors Ed Ambrosius is not an orthodontist by trade but has worked in the dental industry delivering Clearalign braces. Patients fill in their details, sign a consent form online and then one of the EZ smile orthodontists reviews their case according to an article in The Age of 13th August 2018. Patients use an “impression” to take an imprint of the teeth then the orthodontist creates a treatment plan for them to wear the braces over the next 4-6 months. Established orthodontists invariably receive new patients being the siblings of existing patients or referral from parents’ networks like the mothers group that volunteer at the school canteen. Most dentists would point out that there may be a significant problem with patients using their own “impression kit” to take an imprint of their own teeth. Such articles are invariably planted by the subject concerned as part of their marketing because these days much of what is taken to be the news in newspapers is actually planted by organisations. Practice business advice Advice concerning practice performance, structuring of dental associates, timing of associateship changes, performance measurement, health funds, marketing of practice services etc. For initial discussion on these subjects contact Graham Middleton – if unavailable contact Jenny O’Brien 03 9843 7777 to make an appointment for a face to face meeting or telephone conference – charges apply. Family Law Valuations Unfortunately dentists are not immune from relationship breakdown. We have many years’ experience in providing joint valuations in accordance with Family Court requirements. Our valuations invariably stand up to scrutiny as being both thorough and objective and result in the value of the dental practice being agreed by the parties. You cannot afford to appoint a valuer who is not experienced in valuing dental practices or to allow your lawyer to appoint a valuer who is not experienced in valuing dental practices because invariably inexperienced valuations are subject to challenge by the other party. For further information speak with Graham Middleton or David Collins 03 9843 7777 or if unavailable speak to Jenny O’Brien who will arrange an appointment for a telephone conference with Graham or David. Same size practice – vastly different outcomes Having done detailed financial analysis of a vast number of dentists over 31 years I am continually struck by the fact that two dentists retiring at approximately the same time with approximately similar size practices have vastly different net financial wealth at retirement. Invariably the genesis of this rests with initial advice and strategy when setting out as a practice owner 30 years earlier. The differences are not small. Variances of several million dollars are common. Furthermore the differences occur between two practices of average size of around $1.3 million of fees or between solo dentists with fees of around $650,000 to $700,000, or larger practices with fees over $2,000,000 each, or big practices with fees over $3,000,000 each. One issue is that it is apparent a multitude of accountants and financial advisers give strategic advice of vastly different quality to dentists. While your local accountant may have an excellent understanding of the basic tax rules and have a sign over their practice suggesting they give business advice, the fact is that many have so little experience of dentists that they can’t tell the difference between a well run practice and a poorly run practice and can’t advise accordingly. Don’t practice in the dark – Practice performance benchmarking Following the production of dental practice accounts by our team of accountants we benchmark our clients’ performance against the continually updating database of dental practice performance from an Australia wide clientele of dentists. Does your accountant understand your dental practice? Many dentists practice in isolation with no idea as to how their practice compares with other dentists. Many accountants have only one or two dental clients and give inappropriate guidance by comparing their performance with miscellaneous small businesses whose performance is irrelevant. If you’re in the dark speak to Graham Middleton 03 9843 7777. We will analyse your issues and guide you to a Synstrat accountant suitable to your needs. For appointments with Graham, speak to Jenny O’Brien 03 9843 7777. Charges apply. Falling health cover Private health insurance statistics released by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority show that another 57,512 Australians ditched hospital cover in the June quarter according to The Australian 17 August 2018. By the end of June only 45.1 percent of the population had hospital cover. The tenor of the article related to the impact on private hospitals particularly Ramsay Health Care with APRA statistics showing that overnight volume growth at private hospitals remain soft. This may make the health funds more desperate to weedle people into extras cover which is of greater benefit to the individual health fund as:- 1. They rip off a high margin on it, and 2. Unlike hospital cover they don’t have to cross insure risk across the health insurance industry. Hospital cover which can be very important when people require emergency heart surgery or need to relieve enduring pain by having hip surgery is better value than extras cover. Hospital cover can be bought without extras cover - Bundled policies often add to confusion. Burroughs of many companies! Dr Peter Hughes (his doctorate is in management) continues to push his Kikada Lane Dental Scheme to dentists. Carl Burroughs (he of many companies) is his marketing director and material put out on the company website as of 23rd August 2018 refers to Carl’s company Integrated Dental Marketing (IDM). A search reveals that there is not a company registered of that name but there has been a company of that name which has been deregistered – see below. Carl has an interesting history. Kikada Lane/Carl Burroughs’ approaches to dentists refer to Carl as one of the original founders of Dental Partners in 2007. Actually there were two companies with differing ABNs called Dental Partners. The first one was quietly put to bed after Synstrat exposed a history of its key persons and some mistruths in information being circulated to dentists. A prominent dental specialist and a prominent dentist resigned as directors when they realised that key people had interesting histories. Another company called Dental Partners was raised with a different ABN. At that time Carl Burroughs was referred to as the founder and managing director of Integrated Dental Marking Pty Ltd but searches revealed that the company had different directors and that its shares were held by another company whose owner lived in Fiji. A Commonwealth Gazette of 24th May 2011 recorded that Burroughs Consulting Pty Ltd formerly known as Integrated Dental Marketing Pty Ltd was wound up as the company was unable to pay its debts. The notice was placed by the liquidator of the company. As usual in those matters creditors lost money. More recently a creditors report by court appointed liquidator Bruce Gleeson 7th March 2018 referred to the liquidation of company ACN 118 850 427 Pty Ltd, formally known as Integrated Dental and formerly trading as Marketing Dentistry, Burroughs Consulting Group, I/D Marketing, IDM, Integrated Dental Laboratories and Integrated Dental Marketing. Again a number of creditors were left unpaid. The big question The big question is will enough dentists trust a man with the history of Carl Burroughs to induce them to join Peter Hughes’ Kikada Lane Dental. Kikada Lane Dental describes itself as a corporate aggregation entity but is not a company. Kikada Lane Dental names Carl Burroughs among a group of people referred to as its board. It claims that its business models are built on trust and transparency. The big question is will dentists trust a business with Carl Burroughs as a marketing director given his history of liquidated companies and changed business names? Dare we suggest that a bit more transparency is required. Saving money on life insurance Many dentists have been sold inappropriate level premium policies which are unnecessarily expensive. Successful dentists gradually reduce their need for life insurance as their assets including superannuation. Cheaper life insurance cover will meet their needs. Speak to Cameron Darnley, the Synstrat partner who deals with life insurance to determine whether you can save money through a better deal. Financial Advice Many financial planners belong to banks or other major organisations and have no idea how to integrate your dental practice performance, your dental practice premises and your tax planning into an overall financial plan. Much of their advice can be inappropriate and actually result in holding back the rate of dentists’ financial improvement. Synstrat is experienced in assisting dentists. Speak with Graham Middleton, Cameron Darnley or Roger Armitage. Appointments can be made via Jenny O’Brien 03 9843 7777 Best wishes to all Dentists, Graham Middleton The Synstrat Group are Australia's most experienced Dental practice business advisers, accountants, practice valuers and licensed financial advisers. The information contained herein is of a general nature and no specific action should be taken without individual advice. Synstrat Management Pty Ltd P. 03 9843 7777 ABN 57 006 295 325 If you are not the intended recipient of this communication please delete and destroy all copies of this message and telephone Synstrat on +61 3 9843 7777 immediately. If you are the intended recipient of this communication you should not copy, disclose or distribute this communication without the authority of Synstrat. Any views expressed in this communication are those of the individual sender, except wh ere the sender specifically states them to be the views of Synstrat. 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