An interview with Dr. Howard Farran

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Dear all,  

There are many questions on all aspects of clinical practice and pls read the views of Dr. Howard Farran on each of them.

Not just read but also try and implement his suggestions in day to day practice. 

How you been ever sued by a patient?

I have never been sued by a patient. The main reason, if not the only reason I have never been sued by a patient, is because if they want their money back, I refund the money. A lot of dentists won’t refund the money because of their ego and pride and the patient feels the only way they’ll get it back is to go sue them. So give more refunds, you’ll have fewer lawsuits.
 
Do you do treatments & afterwards the patient could pay in installments?
No. I am not a bank. I am not a credit card company. I am a dentist. If you want to make payments, then use your credit card. If you want a loan, then go to a bank. I am not a banker.
 
When & how will you retire from dentistry?
About five seconds after I die.
 
Your plans after retiring from dentistry
Retire to what? I’m going to quit doing what I love so I can sit on the couch and watch TV? If I really wanted to travel the world, I should do it while I’m a dentist and still making money and meeting dentists around the world. I have no idea what I would retire to.
 
How should a dentist plan his retirement?
A dentist should seek professional advice. We have many courses on Dentaltown. Doug Carlsen is a great read. Doug Henderson is a great read. For every nickel you want to live off, you’re going to need a dollar. Every nickel per year is going to cost you a dollar. The average retirement plan is earning about five percent. So that means for every dollar that I want to retire off of, I have to have 20 dollars in the bank. So if the average dentist makes $100,000 a year, they’re going to need $2 million to make $100,000 per year. And I’ll tell you what, the best way to make that $100,000 a year? Stay healthy in mind, body, spirit and soul, and keep working.
 
Lab offshoring. Your comments
Competition is what is good for the consumer. When you need a car, you want a dozen different major car companies all trying to make you the best car for the lowest price. I’m old enough to remember before there were any foreign cars in the United States from Germany or Japan. Every weekend a third of the households were out on the driveway fixing up their cars. Then slowly these very small Volkswagen Beatles started coming in, and everybody laughed at them, but what did it do? GM lost half its market. Japan and Germany raised the quality of cars in the United States. I think offshore labs have brought a massive increase in competition in the United States as well.

 

        

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