Assess the practice and determine how much of the budget will be dedicated to marketing, and how much will be dedicated to training employees. Both contribute directly to the success of the practice and require attention and finances. Hire the right employees for the available positions. Do not be afraid to switch positions around if you see a better fit in the front or back office. Good employees do best where their natural talents lie.

Train all the employees in providing excellent customer service. Dentistry is a service industry. Play out hypothetical situations regarding payment, complaints, or difficulties with patients. Establish the roles of the employees in the practice and how this relates to the doctors. Ensure that the doctors' styles match the needs and wants of the patients who frequent the practice. All employees must be trained in HIPAA and OSHA practices and regulations.

Recruit excellent billing personnel who know how to collect from both patients and insurance companies. All the patients in the world mean very little if you can't collect payment. Decide whether the billing personnel will deal with the patients, or if the receptionist will handle collections. Build relationships with credit bureaus and agencies to enable patients to pay, and enable the practice to collect when they don't.

Implement a strong recall system and have one or two employees consider if their job duty to attend to it on a daily basis. Bringing in new patients is important. Keeping them returning is more important.

Develop strong relationships with your dental labs and suppliers. You never know when there will be an emergency and you need their immediate assistance. Labs and suppliers also have various dental contacts and can be instrumental when you need to find contract employees specializing in specific dental areas (i.e. OSHA manager, malpractice lawyer, etc.).

Keep updated on all federal and state tax laws, and understand your workers' compensation insurance. Ensure that all insurance policies are updated and paid, including malpractice and liability insurance. Not a single day of business should go by without the necessary insurance policies being kept active and paid.

Every two to three months, oversee marketing programs and their success rates. Take note of which demographics are responding to which ad, and implement changes to market more aggressively in the niche that is responding to the practice.

Set aside time each week to observe operations in the front and back office. Managing an office requires a keen eye and an ability to read patients' reactions to your employees. Reward the good employees and retrain the lesser ones on an ongoing basis.