CAPTAIN ARTHUR H. ROSTRON: OUR MISSION AND PHILOSOPHY

What is in a name? Who was Captain Rostron? What does he have to do with the dental community today? The name: Rostron Dental Management is in reference to Captain Arthur Henry Rostron (pictured right) and his valiant actions on April 15, 1912 as he rescued the survivors of the Titanic catastrophe
www.titanic-titanic.com/carpathia -

As dentists set out to organize and develop their practice they find limited choices in the options. 1) They can join the corporate version of dentistry, 2) locate an associateship with an option to buy-in or 3) invest in their own start up practice. For many dentists, their journey to become a successful dentist can be compared to the journey of the Titanic’s maiden voyage in 1912. The comparison is fitting because so many dentists seeking a healthy practice to own, find few choices to develop their skills. So at great concern and caution they make decisions to join a dental management group or group partnership that has more access to capital and equipment. Once the dentist has joined the group they are integrated with other dentists as passengers in a vessel that they cannot control.

The Titanic was the largest, most sophisticated vessel ever built. So confident were the developers of their steam ship that they called it “unsinkable”. Most agree that the ship itself was safe, but the carelessness of the vessels' leadership was the downfall. Like the Titanic, many of the country's dental management groups are massive and sophisticated. However, the leadership of these groups rarely have experience operating an actual dental office. So the dentists/passengers and patients are not their first priority; instead their highest imperatives are blind record breaking speed, and short term growth which comes at the cost of safety and stability of the practice. Often, the individual dentists affiliated with corporate management can do very little except to adopt the group’s “priorities” thus allowing their corporate leadership to take them full speed ahead into the ice fields of dental economics.

A review of history shows us the way to a prosperous business is to remember the lessons taught by Captain Arthur Henry Rostron www.titanic-lore.info of the RMS Carpathia who applied the principles of leadership and rescued the 702 survivors of the Titanic tragedy.