Owner, not operator.
How to build a profitable, associate-led dental practice, one that runs, fills its diary, and grows without you in the chair.
A full day with Smita and Arun, the dentist and the accountant behind The Neem Tree Dental Group and Samera.
One day, every part of the model, in detail. The structure, the associates, the numbers, the marketing that keeps the chairs full, and the tools we use to run it all without being in the building. No lecture. Just the model, the mistakes, and what we'd do differently.
Early-bird price £395 until 31 December, then £450 · A full day · lunch, refreshments & closing drinks included · seats strictly limited
Your practice can't run without you. That's the problem.
If you stopped drilling tomorrow, what would happen to the income? For most owners, the honest answer is that it would fall off a cliff, because you are the practice. Your earnings are capped by your own two hands. Your diary is full of other people's patients. And the business you thought you owned turns out to be a very demanding job you can't step away from.
An associate-led practice flips that. The clinical work is delivered by a team you've built and kept. The diary is filled by a system, not by luck. Your income comes from the practice running well, not from you running yourself into the ground. That's the difference between owning a job and owning an asset.
The whole model, in detail, in one day.
An evening gives you the outline. A full day gives you the detail. We'll walk you through every part of a profitable associate-led practice, show you where most owners have gaps, and give you the fixes. Some are systems. Some are numbers. Some are marketing. Some are tools we've built at Samera. All of them are things you can start on the Monday after.
For owners who want out of the chair, not out of the game.
Whether you run a single site and want to step back from clinical, or you're building towards a group, this day is for practice owners and principals. Not associates. Not suppliers. Not vendors working the floor. Just owners who want their practice to work harder, so they don't have to.
Every corner of practice life, in detail.
Seven sessions across four themes. Bring your numbers, your questions and your diary problems.
Building the machine
- The associate-led model: how the structure actually works, and the maths that makes it profitable
- Associates: finding them, keeping them, and paying them in a way that works for both sides
- Time & admin: the operational load that keeps owners in the building, and how to lift it off
Marketing that fills the chairs
- Where new patients come from: Google, referrals, reviews and your own website, and what each one really costs you
- From enquiry to booking: why most practices lose enquiries they've already paid for, and how to stop it
- Treatment plans that convert: following up unbooked plans without being pushy
- Measuring it: cost per new patient, and the lifetime value of the patients you keep
Where the money is
- The numbers that matter: the handful of figures that tell you a practice is healthy, and the ones that flatter to deceive
- The profit leaks: where money quietly escapes a practice, and how to plug it
- Growth, value & exit: what makes a practice worth buying, whether you sell in three years or thirteen
- Growing beyond one site: when to add chairs, when to add practices, and how to fund it
The tools we built because we needed them.
Running The Neem Tree meant we needed to see what was happening without standing in the surgery. So we built it. In the afternoon, we'll show you the screens we actually use, and how they let an owner step back without losing sight of the practice.
The four things it does
- Empty chairs, found: where the gaps in the diary are, and the patients with unbooked treatment plans who could fill them
- The numbers, live: practice performance in real time, not three months later in the accounts
- Associate pay, done: accurate monthly pay runs straight from your practice software, without the spreadsheet
- Every enquiry, tracked: where new patients come from, and which ones never got booked
It's called Clever Practice. You don't need it to run an associate-led practice. But it's how we stopped needing to be in the building to know how the building is doing. See Clever Practice →
Owners who've done it, and got some of it wrong.
We built The Neem Tree into an associate-led group, sold a practice or three, and made plenty of mistakes along the way. You'll get the version with the scars showing, what worked, what it cost us, and what we'd do differently now.
Dr Smita Mehra
BDS MFGDPRCS · Founder, The Neem Tree Dental Group
A dentist with 25 years of clinical experience and co-founder of Neem Tree Dental, with practices in Wandsworth and Esher. Smita knows the chair, the clinical reality, the team, the patients, and the daily pull of being a clinician and the owner of a business at the same time.
Arun Mehra
FCA · Founder, Samera
A chartered accountant (ICAEW) who left PwC and Bank of America to build Samera from his late father's dining table in 2002. Twenty-five years on, it's a group spanning accountancy, tax, finance, practice sales and technology, built for the dental profession. Arun co-founded The Neem Tree with Smita and has coached hundreds of owners. He sees the practice through the numbers, where the profit is made, and where it leaks.
EBITDA · without the principal in the chair
A well-built associate-led practice can generate £300,000 or more in EBITDA without the principal in the chair. We don't say that to impress you, we say it because it's the target the structure is built around, and most owners have simply never been shown what that structure is. This day is us showing you.
One day, a room of owners, and a practice that works without you.
Friday 12 March 2027
Central London · exact venue shared on booking
- £450 per seat (£395 early bird until 31 December), lunch, refreshments and closing drinks included
- 9:00am to 4:30pm, drinks until 5:30pm
- Practice owners and principals only
Timings indicative and subject to change.
Questions we get asked.
Is this for associates?
No. This day is for practice owners and principals. We run a separate evening for associates on tax: the Associate Tax Day on Saturday 6 February 2027.
I only have one practice. Is it still relevant?
Yes. Most of the room will be single-site owners who want to step back from clinical. The model works at one site; it just scales beyond it.
What's included in the ticket?
All seven sessions, lunch, refreshments through the day and closing drinks.
Should I bring anything?
Your last year's accounts or management figures, if you have them. You'll get more from the numbers session if you can test it against your own practice.
Will you be selling to us?
No. We'll show you the tools we use and how we use them. What you do with that is up to you.
Is there an early-bird price?
Yes. Seats are £395 until 31 December 2026, then £450.
Can I bring my practice manager?
Yes, if they help run the business. Each attendee needs their own ticket.
Is this CPD?
Yes.