Hello Community! 
We recently spoke to owner of Eclipse Dental Care, Matt Collins to find out more about his journey in dentistry. From a typical week balancing the demands of running a practice to the strategies he uses to switch off at the end of the day, see how your experience compares to your fellow dental professionals. Share your thoughts below and leave us a comment if you’d like to be featured! 
Can you tell us a bit about your practice? What makes it unique, and what are you most proud of?
Whilst I feel we are not particularly unique, we are fairly proactive. I am most recently proud of our customer reviews. We get a lot of organic Google reviews and we have seen an uptick since adopting Working Feedback a few years ago.
The patients we have clearly appreciate the staff and the interactions. This makes it all worthwhile as a practice owner. If you put the patient first, then some profit tends to follow.
We obviously need to be profitable or we'd go bust, but profit is not our main driver.
Where possible we treat patients as we would a family member.
The practice has evolved in recent years; it was very much a family practice when I took over in 2007, and that is still at our heart. Everything else is built on that and we are not trying to be something that we are not - we are very much a general practice, but we have an Orthodontist, Endodontist, Implantologist, and a Periodontist all in the mix to make it as good as it can be.
Inspiration & Motivation:
What inspired you to start or join your practice, and what continues to drive your passion for dentistry?
I fell into it, as most people do. I don't enjoy underperformance for myself, so I always strive to do the best I can and I do not enjoy it when I know we could have done better - we are hugely reflective as a practice. I don't, and have never had, a particular goal or vision but by taking things one day at a time with the attitude to do your best you do progress forward.
Everyday Success:
What does a typical day look like for you, and how do you tackle challenges in your practice?
I have two days clinical and a few days admin; so the clinical days are fairly full-on - typically 12-13 hour days on clinical days. The advantage I have got now is being structured with clinical time and admin time. I spent many years running the business amongst patients and you just end up not being able to do your best - to separate these out has worked really well. On clinical days I tend not to get pestered with admin jobs and I get to focus on clinical. My admin days allow for flexibility and so I find time to go to the gym and complete jobs, but I'm still at my desk for 6-8 hours. Something I need to work on is maintaining intensity when completing non-clinical work as it can rumble on and take longer than it should do.
Key Milestones:
Can you share a recent success or breakthrough in your practice that you’re particularly excited about?
In recent years private dentistry has become more socially acceptable within demographics like mine. We're in a Northern Mill Town where traditionally you felt like you had sold out by working privately. The last five years it has got easier and there is more acceptance.
About the community
Early Community Adoption:
You jumped right in to the Community ready to support your peers and learn from others. Tell us about the benefits you have recognised from being apart of the Community? Why is the Community such a poignant resource for Dental professionals of all roles, experiences and backgrounds?
Dentally is quite unique that it is constantly evolving, it can be difficult to be fully on the pulse with how things are done and to keep up with new tips and tricks. Having an active online community forum can be really helpful, especially for practices that have been with Dentally for quite a while. Whilst new practices have just had training and are up to date, for those who have been with Dentally longer the online forum can be really helpful to see if there is something you can be doing better or even to sense check some improvements you have thought of as you've gone along.
We have been with Dentally for a long time and we have seen areas improve with Dentally and it keeps going forward. We know Dentally changed hands a few years and we have not seen this impact service and it has kept being innovative.
Community Impact:
Has there been an instance where a quick chat, shared tip, or piece of advice from the community has helped you solve a problem or see things differently? Is there a piece of advice, or a quick tip, you have been able to give others?
Not as such but I did post a query about how the reporting works when scheduling tasks in advance that repeat. I got an explanation fairly quickly from the admin as well as other suggestions to make it work.
Future Collaboration:
How do you envision professional communities, like Dentally, playing a role in your and your teams success and professional growth?
Networking has been really important. Real life networking as well. I'm not sure what the younger generation want (I'd like to say I'm middle aged but I'm probably getting beyond that), but there definitely is a lack of connection now apart from social media and I'm not convinced about the value of that connection and the advice you can receive. To have something a bit more formal and professional is a good thing as it is more collaborative.
Advice for Others:
What advice would you give to fellow dentists who are balancing the demands of running a practice while exploring opportunities to connect with peers?
There is a lot of talk online and social media about how dentistry is so stressful and I've been thinking about this quite a bit. I did a job for one shift when I was younger which was packing detergent into boxes in a noisy factory where all I did was put the item into the box for eight hours, that nearly killed me with the lack of stimulation. A lack of stimulation is far worse than having a job that is constantly challenging and changing, having a job that is never going to be boring. We need to rethink what we are framing as stress as part of our coping strategy.
Balancing work and life is important, but I think ultimately you need to find the joy in your job as then you can appreciate the work part as well as the other part.
When I first started running a practice it was exciting, it was stimulating staying up until midnight doing tasks for my new shiny practice but over time that seems really unattractive and you go through the motions - you need to have a new target and new goals to work towards and don't let yourself get beaten down by routine. The routine, which can become a bit boring is what turns into the stress.
In terms of running a practice, if you're currently an associate, whilst you're working the time and the price/income are intrinsically linked - buying a business is incredibly scary and the debt you go into will keep you awake. If you do take the leap and accept the hard work to get through the first 10 years when the debt is high, then after that it can be very fruitful. This is usually the principle/boss that associates see as doing very well. It is still an achievable goal but the hard work initially can not be understated.
Matt, you have a great way to work through the stress yourself and proactively set goals to keep yourself engaged. What strategies do you bring to the team to help manage the stresses and switch off at the end of the day?
As the team gets bigger it gets harder. With a smaller team you have an opportunity to have frequent light touches with all team members to help improve and move the practice in the right direction. If you go into a challenge as an opportunity then you can help others adopt that point of view, even if you are not feeling that way internally at the time.
I had a period of time where I was pretty stressed, I had a shoulder reconstruction and I was off work for four-weeks. That break was enough to help me realise that shuffling around at home was boring and work was great for me.
I do journalling and mindfulness and have tried to introduce this to the team. It is always an individual journey where you almost need to reach breaking point to put strategies in place that work for you.
I think for me, the main one is having a go-to-bed and get-up routine to help start and finish the day well; it is when you're not sleeping as well as you should be that this needs to be the first thing you work on. This doesn't mean with a glass of wine!
I lead by example, I am on the cleaning rota for the kitchen, and I always try to mop the floor and do the bins better than anyone else to set a message that if I'm doing it then they need to be doing it too.
If you had a chance to ask just one thing to all the community or wider dental community in general, what would you ask?
I would ask that as a profession we are more helpful to others without seeing others locally as a competition. We need to be more supportive without necessarily charging for it. We should look to help everyone and do our bit to pay forward. Those ldentistry professionals] struggling, need to know there are people out there to support them.