“Every dentist is an entrepreneur, whether you’re building from the ground up or buying into something,” he said. “We decided then through several misfires of purchasing an established practice we didn’t want to adopt an existing culture, we wanted to simply create it. We then knew we were always destined to found our own practice together.”

To state the obvious: If you’re starting a dental practice, you need a space for it. That’s not groundbreaking information. McRay and Robbins recognized the importance of a space – a thoughtfully constructed, conveniently located, comfortable space – to provide quality dental care.

But that’s not the only important factor in establishing their practice. In fact, McRay and Robbins view it as part of a three-pronged approach to providing meaningful, comprehensive dental care. To them, the space may have been the least important prong.

“It doesn’t start with the slab, it starts with the relationships,” McRay said. “For us to make the decision to build our own practice, it’s definitely been a risk. But we love dentistry and we’re passionate about trying to be the best we can be at what we do. There are a few components to that, but all of them add up to better goodwill and better predictability in case acceptance and treatment planning.”

In addition to the space, McRay and Robbins recognized two other vital components to practice success: a full team of dedicated, caring professionals; and educated dentists whose drive is matched only by their compassion. The first faces patients see, and the people whom they have the most contact with in the practice, are usually team members and not the doctors. That’s part of why McRay and Robbins feel so strongly about the value of the team.

“You have to have a great team,” Robbins said. “Patients identify with your team and the team makes an impact on how your patients view the practice before you do. The way we see it, in order to provide world-class customer service, we need a world-class team. We were very picky in selecting our team, which is phenomenal because they embrace our philosophy and we make a lot of collective decisions together.”

Then, there’s the matter of knowledgeable, passionate doctors. McRay notes that part of the value of having knowledge is that each doctor should have distinctly different knowledge than the other. If they are cognizant of only the exact same attributes of dentistry, then they aren’t bringing unique aspects to patient care. That’s where Patterson Territory Representative Monetta Reyes said the two dentists truly separated their practice.

“My clients have a unique and incredible opportunity to build upon each other’s strengths,” Reyes said. “As a team they divide between them the procedures that they are passionate about. Dr. McRay enjoys endo, oral surgery, and implants. Dr. Robbins is incredible with restorative cosmetics – ortho and veneers are her passion. Because of the range of procedures, the patients are able to stay in the practice rather than being referred outside for treatment. It’s world-class service with a personal touch. Patients are treated like family here.”