Your lab bill went up. Your nurses' wages went up. Your energy, your materials, your rent, all up.

Your fees? Probably not as much as they should have.

And we all know the reason we hold off. It's not that we haven't done the sums. It's the quiet fear that this is the patient who finally says "that's too much" and books in down the road instead.

So here's the honest question for the room:

When you actually raised your prices, did patients leave? let us know what worked for you?

I’m struggling to fill our new associate’s book and wondered if anyone had any advice. He’s just started and does Mondays. I’ve closed my book on Mondays so he’s the only dentist available. When we offer our regulars their next check up with him (David), they want to stick with me. When patients call for an appointment we offer then Mondays with David but again they want to stick with me. I’ve even incentivised my staff with a bonus payment for each patient booked with David but still no luck. I’ve dropped flyers round all the local businesses and we have a large flyer introducing David on the front desk. I have my staff ringing round patients who haven’t been in for a year or two and we haven’t had any success yet, although we only started doing this 1 week ago. David is away next week and his next day working is Monday 24th and we have just 1 patient booked for that day, for a check up. I’m not sure where to go from here apart from keep ringing around patients who haven’t been in for a year or two. David is really good and patients who do see him love him but obviously he will just leave if this continues. Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

I recently had this question from a potential buyer, who has been an Associate for his whole career, but has always wanted his own practice. My view is you are NEVER too late to take that step. His experience as an Associate is priceless, as he would have learnt alot from the clinics he has worked in. Banks will lend, and as long as he a decent track record, but most importantly he has built a range of clinical skills that he can provide to his target patient base.

My answer to him was - Just do it.

If you are thinking about something similar, you can talk to me, I am 53, and I certainly don't think I am at the tail end of my career, those almost 30 years are the springboard to my next 20 or more!

Have a great week.

Nobody tells you that owning a practice means being a dentist until 5pm and a business owner until 9pm.

The clinical bit you trained years for. The rest you're just figuring out as you go.

What's the part of "the rest" that catches you out most?

The dental market feels like it's in an odd spot right now, and I'm curious how it looks from where each of you sit.

A few things seem to be pulling at once: the ongoing squeeze between NHS and private, rising costs on everything from materials to staff, the associate recruitment picture, and patients who are more price-conscious than they were a couple of years ago. Some practices are thriving by leaning fully private; others are finding the NHS side harder to make work than ever.

What I'm genuinely interested in: what are you actually seeing on the ground? Is demand holding up in your area? Are you finding it harder or easier to recruit than a year ago? And if you've made a deliberate shift, NHS to private, adding a specialism, changing your pricing, has it paid off?

No right answer here, just keen to hear how the market feels from inside different practices right now.

Hi all, Thank for joining the Samera Dental Business Community.

Here are your next steps:

1. Introduce yourself in the Welcome Channel.

2. Read through the community guidelines.

If you have any questions, feel free to message me directly

In this episode

White space in the diary, the empty and unbooked surgery time that quietly drains a dental practice, is the single costliest problem a clinic can face. Every lost surgery hour eats straight into your profit, and no amount of external marketing fixes it if the underlying causes go unaddressed. In this episode Arun Mehra and Chris Barrow explain why empty dental appointments appear in the current climate and, more importantly, exactly how to fill them. The starting point is the most valuable and most overlooked asset you already own: your existing patient database.

What we cover

The two layers of cause. The macro picture, where economic and geopolitical fear pushes patients to defer big ticket treatment like Invisalign or crowns, and the micro picture you can actually control inside the practice.

Chris's five in practice causes of white space, which are almost always all in play at once:

Financial due diligence. Not knowing your operating cost per surgery per day, your daily production, or your KPIs, which leads to mispriced treatment plans.

Marketing systems. External, internal and inbound marketing not firing as they should.

The patient journey. Everything from front of house through to treatment plan presentation.

Digital workflow. Under using intraoral scanners, AI x ray diagnostics and AI note taking, all of which lift treatment conversion.

Team interpersonal skills. The human factor that decides whether a plan converts.

Why some clinicians never have white space while others always do, and how to tell a training gap from a wrong person in the wrong role.

The 90 day plan. Tackle one of the five areas per fortnight and eat the elephant one mouthful at a time.

Recruitment as an X Factor audition. Kiss a lot of frogs, fail fast, and accept you rarely know a hire until three months in.

The practical tips worth stealing

Treat your patient database as your number one asset. During lockdown, 96 percent of UK dental plan patients kept paying their premiums, proof of trust you have already earned.

The Dunbar number in action. Every patient is connected to roughly 150 other people, so a 1,000 patient list puts you one degree of separation from 150,000 potential referrals.

Just ask for the referral. Hand patients a few business cards to pass on, and hold clinicians accountable for doing it. As Harry Beckwith put it, there is no performance without accountability, and no accountability without measurement.

Handwrite the follow up. Chris's advice to a client with a dozen stalled treatment plans was simple: a fountain pen, good stationery and a personal handwritten letter to each patient.

Remember natural intelligence. In a world obsessed with artificial intelligence, the letter, the card and the human touch are what actually reactivate patients.

Books mentioned

Endless Customers by Marcus Sheridan, described as the bible on inbound marketing.

Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara, on delivering a hospitality experience patients tell their friends about.

Coming up next

Episode 3 covers treatment plan conversion and how to use artificial intelligence responsibly to improve the patient journey.

This is the place for the good stuff. Hit a milestone, landed a win, or something just went right in the practice this week? Share it here, big or small.

Seeing what's working for others is half the point of a room like this, so don't be shy. Go ahead and post yours.

A question to get us going: what's the one number you check in your practice every single week, and why that one?

No wrong answers here, just curious to see the mix across the room.

We're Samera. We host this community and we're in here most days, answering questions and joining in where we can.

Helping out here is free and always will be, it's the whole point of the room. If you ever want a proper look at something specific to your practice, whether that's the numbers, growth, buying or selling, or the day to day of running the business, email us at [email protected] and we'll point you to the right person on the team.

No pressure either way. Ask away in the open like everyone else, and get in touch privately if and when it's useful.

Quick hello to get you started. Drop a reply with:

• Who you are and where you practise

• Your practice name (it helps us keep this a room of actual dentists)

• One thing you're working on or wrestling with right now

Doesn't need to be long. I'll go first in the replies so you can see the idea.

This is a space for dentists to help each other, hosted by Samera. Everyone here is a dentist, whatever their stage or experience — so ask freely, help generously, and keep it a place people feel safe to post in. A few simple rules:

1. Keep it clean

No foul language. Keep posts professional — the way you'd speak in a room of colleagues.

2. No personal attacks

Disagree with the point, never the person. No attacks, insults, or pile-ons against anyone — members or non-members.

3. No promoting others (or yourself)

This isn't a place to promote other people, companies, products, or services — and that includes your own. No advertising, no touting, no affiliate links. Recommending something helpfully in answer to a genuine question is fine; using the room as a shop window is not.

4. General guidance, not formal advice

Discussion here is general and shared in good faith — it is not a substitute for personal financial, clinical, tax, or legal advice. Before acting on anything you read, check it against your own professional advisers and your specific circumstances.

5. Respect privacy and confidentiality

Don't share patients' details, staff details, or anyone's private or confidential information. Anonymise real situations before you post them, and don't screenshot or repost what others share here elsewhere.

6. Be a good room to ask in

No question is too basic. If you can help someone, do — generously and without judgment. The whole point of this place is that anyone can ask anything.

# A note on how we host

Samera hosts this community and is here as the expert in the room. We'll answer questions and join in, but the room belongs to the conversation between members. We keep things safe and on-track with a light touch. If a post breaks these rules, a moderator may edit or remove it, and repeated or serious breaches may mean losing access.

You're among dentists here. This is a room for helping each other out. Ask the questions you can't easily ask elsewhere, share what's working, and pull up a chair.

We're Samera. We host the room and we're around to help when you need us, but the best answers usually come from the dentists sitting next to you.

Start by heading to the introductions thread and telling us who you are.

Who you are and where you practise. Your practice name (it helps us keep this a room of actual dentists). And one thing you're working on or wrestling with right now.