Then my wife wanted the opportunity to earn a doctorate. I was very encouraging. Our 4 sons were mostly independent or in distant colleges. One day she asked to take a drive to a small rural town that was home to a prestigious university. I was not sure how we would handle the situation, if she was accepted to this program. I figured that we could work it out.

Then the letter of acceptance arrived. She was overjoyed and excited. It was over a 3 hour drive, I pondered our situation. My salvation came as a change in viewpoints. Why not embrace this as an opportunity to not only change my suburban paradigm to a rural homestead and more challenging to re-invent myself as a dentist.

My friends and colleagues tried to talk me out of leaving a successful practice at 55 years of age. Many of my staff and patients had been with me for decades and probably assumed I would eventually retire but not at 55 years of age. How could I abandon such loyalty?

I made a long list of things I love about dentistry and things I did not like. Tops on the list of things I wanted to change was, Insurance participation, rigid time slot scheduling, the politics and hassle of managing a large staff and my mission or philosophy of practice. It was not enough to make a good living and do good repair work on patients teeth. My mission had evolved to providing the best quality at affordable costs, while earning the trust, confidence and mutual friendship of my patients. Key to this was a needed emphasis on helping patients help themselves with better communication and coaching.

I found that I could not simply purchase an existing or retiring practice without inheriting the previous dentists paradigms and issues. So, I bought an adorable pre-civil war Victorian home in the downtown of this rural town. I totally renovated this gem into a small high tech boutique style dental office. After 6 months of commuting between locations I sold the existing behemoth office to two dentists. I opened my new office with no patients. Fortunately, it is true… “if you build it they will come”

Now I had the opportunity to create the practice that was compatible with my philosophy and compassion. I am very lucky!

P.S.—This suburban dweller, raised in Queens, NYC now also enjoys his farm, tractor, excavator and trout pond. Yes, I’m very lucky!

Dr. Alan Ross, Keene Family Dental, 67 Mechanic Street, Keene, NH 03431 Phone: 603-357-6767