Australasian Dentist Magazine Nov Dec 2021

106 AustrAlAsiAn Dentist aqUiSitionS t he dynamic dental practitioner is a well-known figure in Victoria’s close- knitted dental circles. With a finger in every pie, Dr sternson’s abbreviated bio contains more commas than the grammar police would be comfortable with. President of the Victorian Branch of the ADA; Fellow of the Academy of Dentistry international (FADi); Honorary Fellow at the university of Melbourne (uoM); Fellow of the Pierre Fauchard Academy (FPFA); Fellow of the international College of Dentistry (FiCD); President of the Australian Dental Association, Victorian Branch (ADAVB); Deputy Chairman of the eviDent Practice- based research network, treasurer of the evident Foundation; and Associate investigator in the eviDent implant Complications Project; Australian Dental Council examiner; Professional Assessor for AHPrA and the HCC. the list goes on. On top of all that, Dr sternson ran a thriving Melbourne CBD dental practice for 21 years as co-owner and practice principal. Before asking if he requires eight hours of sleep like the rest of us, or surreptitiously keeps “time in a bottle”, you’d be somewhat relieved to find out that Dr sternson has scaled back his practice involvement in recent years. Along with Dr Greg Barton and Dr thomas Joseph, he sold the Melbourne Dental Group to practice acquisition firm, the ekera Dental Group, in 2019. Time to focus Dr sternson’s primary motivation for the sale was, well, he needed more time. More specifically, he wanted to devote more attention to his original passion. “i’d been a practice owner for 19 years and frankly the way compliance, regulation and everything was going, i found i was spending more of my time running a business than doing what i loved – dentistry,” he says. “Hence the idea of joining a corporate Baptism of fire Selling his practice months before the black summer bushfires and COVID-19 proved a timely decision for Dr Jeremy Sternson. By Danny Chan such as ekera was attractive as it offered to take away the headaches of running a practice, allowing me to focus on why i became a dentist in the first place.” staying on as practice principal following the sale has deepened Dr sternson’s appreciation for the practice buyer’s laidback mode of operations, and their robust back-end support. “ekera has a very “hands-off approach” allowing the practice principals to continue to practice with autonomy and keep the practice running as it was – albeit with more efficiency and help from the ekera team. “there hasn’t been much of a change except that now i get spare time in my day to catch up on things i’ve been trying to do for years.” the indefatigable dentist devotes a fair chunk of that spare time catching up on his multifaceted role as the ADAVB President, while championing practice- based research and advocacy work at the eviDent Foundation, where he served as past chairman. The Ekera difference Hearing stories from industry colleagues, in addition to first-hand accounts from his vantage position as AVADB President, Dr sternson admits he once held a “grim view” of corporates. it was ekera Dental’s well-known “hands-off approach” that changed his mind.