Although I moved to my present NY dentist office in 1984, I actually started my practice in 1982. I was working for an insurance practice in Spanish Harlem, located on the corner of Madison anf 106th Street. There was a giant sign attached to our building that simply said "DENTIST" (Dental Marketing circa 1984).
I mostly treated patients with 1199 or DC37 dental insurance plans. My pay was low, but the dentist I was employed by was an honest, hardworking and decent guy. At the time, I wanted to practice my craft in order to improve my clinical skills and his office gave me my first foothold on the island of Manhattan.
We made a deal that I would treat his patients and also be able to see my own private patients. It was a generous offer, but our location was such that it was hard to get any of my friends or aquaintances to come up from their jobs in midtown or Wall Street to see me. When I had a private patient it was mostly after their work.
At the time, the neighborhood wasn't the safest place and it got scarier after dark. After one of my patients got mugged, I prudently decided to offer to my last patient a ride home after his appointment. He needed a number of fillings and we became friends. Often we would stop at a local Church's Chicken and share dinner before going home. , When I saw him in my office the other day (He still is my patient)He smiled when he reminded me of this arrangement.
After about year, in 1983. I moved my dental practice to 94th street, on the Westside, to more convenient and safer location, only a two blocks away form where I lived. The dentist who owned the office , Dr. Marvin Mansky, allowed me to use it when he wasn't there and rented it to me by the hour. Although this was an extremely affordable way to rent an office, again it was hard getting people who worked in midtown or wall street to come to see me there. My practice was pretty much exclusively a nights and weekend dental practice.
In 1984 I met Marvin's practice consultant at his Christmas party and she cozied up to me and whispered "Have I got a practice for you!". The dental practice was located at 40th between Park and Madison and had a great location just two blocks south of grand central. I had no savings but the owner was offering his own financing and by July I had purchased his practice and merged it with my own.
In my next post I will continue this story and relate some of my experiences starting my midtown Manhattan dental practice .
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