CATEGORY 110 AUSTRALASIAN DENTIST A QUISITIONS Are you running a dental practice or dental business? If that sounds familiar, you’ve probably heard it being asked at one of many practice building seminars or motivational speaking type of event – in which case, you ought to know the standard answer: both. Textbook response notwithstanding, it’s more satisfying talking to someone who has actually lived it out, and whose accomplishments alone make plain the thesis of a well-balanced equation. Dr Mitch Innes certainly qualifies as a dentist who has excelled in both his clinical and business endeavours. The specialist prosthodontist and his wife Hayley, a practice and business manager, oversee a thriving dual-site group practice that employs five full-time dentists. Additionally they run their own specialist clinic, a dental laboratory and a professional development company. Been there, done that Business hat firmly ensconced, Dr Innes is a renowned specialist prosthodontist at Sunshine Coast Specialist Prosthodontics, which he founded in 2016. He is the principal dentist at Bright Smiles Dentistry, a two-location practice he founded and recently partnered with Ekera Dental. Along with lead ceramist Marc Collins, the lab-trained prosthodontist also developed Dental Smile Designers in 2018, a dental laboratory that produces case planning, as well as ceramic and implant restorations. If all that isn’t enough, Dr Innes has found time to set up a portal that hosts dental professional development courses (www.dentalcpd.com.au), in addition to his private property and stock investments. Downplaying his serial entrepreneur credentials, he shares: “All that I’ve really done is to continue being a prosthodontist. So we’ve built our businesses out of what is the normal role of a prosthodontist. I agree, it’s big, and there’s lots of work involved with all of it. “In terms of how I compartmentalize it, in my mind, it all goes hand in hand.” Supportive community for dentists The dentalcpd platform provides handson patient education courses in Australia for restorative/prosthodontic dentistry including crowns and full mouth rehabilitation, dental implantology prosthetics and surgery including implant placement and tissue augmentation. For Hayley, the online portal is more than just a learning platform. It is a place where dentists can help and support each other. “As someone who is not from a dental background, I’ve always found it very strange how closed dental practices are,” she adds. “Through dental CPD, we’ve had the opportunity to talk to hundreds of dentists in Australia and overseas and we’ve come to realise that everyone goes through the same challenges. “This was especially true during the COVID-19 lockdown periods where so many dentists experienced the same struggles. “It’s important for us to be in an industry where we can support each other, and that is part of the reason why we chose to partner with Ekera Dental.” Soft transition The Innes’ recently sold their Sunshine Coast-based Bright Smiles Dentistry group practice to acquisition firm Ekera Dental. Set up in 2013, the first clinic is located in Brightwater at Mountain Creek and the second branch in Currimundi opened in 2017. “In recent years on reflection and reassessment, my wife and practice manager Hayley, and I decided that our future passion lay with the specialist Man of many hats Specialist prosthodontist Dr Jonathan Mitchell “Mitch” Innes has created a fully functional dental ecosystem that encompasses general and specialist dentistry, dental laboratory, continuing education and professional development. By Danny Chan Dr Mitch Innes
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