We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dr. Lyndsey Theriot a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dr. Theriot, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

It seems as if the dental industry is being taken over by corporations – which their obvious goal is to get as many people through the door as possible without individualized attention. I wanted to have an office that is not one size fits all and really personalizes your dental care. I wanted to focus on quality, not quantity. Spend enough time with the patient to be able to understand their goals and route the plan to achieve them. Dentistry does not have to be cold, scary, or uncomfortable. With individualized treatment, communication, and focus on a comfortable and pleasing environment, patients can better understand that we are here to care for THEM. I wanted to have a dental office that was not only devoted to exceptional comprehensive care but my love for aesthetics and cosmetics would make our office a unique place to visit and to receive dental care. The design of the office needed to embody these values. With the help of our architect, isoA/D, our office feels less like a conventional dental office and more like a spa.

While living in New York City (where I attended dental school), I found that many brands in the health and beauty industries were attracting patients through creating an aesthetic environment and catered client experience. This is how I started to seek out my own care. I knew that this is what I wanted to do for my business. The change has been slow for dental offices and I wanted to bring my patients something special that they may not have experienced at the dentist before.
My ultimate goal was to provide individualized dental care using state-of-the-art technology and design.

Lyndsey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My whole life I was very interested in art and design, I studied photography, printmaking, and art history in college. I worked for several different art museums during college and afterwards in Denver and San Francisco. But in the back of my mind, I always knew I would become a dentist. My father is a wonderful dentist and I grew up spending a lot of time in his office. I admired the craftsmanship, detail, and true artistry of dental work (which many people do not think about!). I admired the true impact you can make in someones life. You can relieve their pain, you can help improve their health, and you can truly change the way that they feel about themselves by improving their smile. I realized that dentistry is the perfect combination of aesthetics and healthcare. I could work with my hands, be an artist, and help people. In dental school, I found my niche. At NYU College of Dentistry, I was a member of the Aesthetics Society and completed a prestigious Honors program in Aesthetic Dentistry. I spent extra time focusing on my cosmetic skills and learning how to comprehensively design smiles.
At my office now, I do a wide array of procedures including: Invisalign, Smile Makeovers, Veneers, Whitening, Crowns, Cosmetic Bonding, Preventative Care, Fillings, Implants, Botox, Fastbraces, Comprehensive Restorative Dentistry etc.. I spend over a hundred hours each year continuing my education to make sure I am up to date on the latest scientific research, treatments, and technology. Dentistry/Science is always evolving and I need to make science based decisions to provide my patients with the best possible care. I truly enjoy the continuous learning aspect of my career and believe that if we know better then we can treat our patients better.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I feel as if I am still unlearning this and working on it every day – micromanagement and learning to trust and delegate. In order to start a successful business, it is important to manage a thousand things at once and make sure each task is executed to a high standard. I’m sure many industries are similar but as a dentist and business owner, I have to wear many hats. Not only do I do the actual dentistry (which is just most people’s full time jobs) but I have to manage my employees, hiring, payroll, marketing, billing, collections, ordering supplies, working with dental labs, budgeting, paying bills, dealing with patients, dealing with insurance companies, sending claims, ordering furniture, building furniture, decorating, cleaning, event planning, outreach, making sure we are compliant with OSHA and HIPAA, continuing education, dealing with computers and equipment when it is not working, among so many other things. As my business has grown, I have been able to hire others to manage some of these things. It has been hard for me to let go of overseeing each and every detail but there are not enough hours in the day for one person to do all of these things – especially to the quality I want. I have found that delegating responsibilities has empowered my employees and they feel a sense of ownership over their work and within the business.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

As my business has grown, I have been lucky to find that minimal marketing is needed to grow my clientele. I have been lucky to find that my approach to dentistry has brought me clients through word of mouth. My patients continue to refer their friends and family and that is truly the best compliment. It has been important to treat each patient with kindness, no judgments, and actually listen to what they want and need. By spending actual time with each person, they have seen the value in the care we provide and are willing to send the people they care most about to us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.albiondentistry.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/albiondentistry/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/albiondentistry/

Image Credits
Justin Martin, Studio 8e8