![Gel[:b]lau](https://gelblau.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/gelblau-logo.jpg){kind=logo}
Dmitry Schultz: Dentistry should not lose its humanity
Dmytro Schultz's maternal family originated from the small town of Grosbotwar near Ludwigsburg and, like many other Germans, was forced to emigrate to Ukraine in the early 18th century. The Schultz family founded a community on the coast of the Sea of Azov „New Stuttgart“ and helped to found the German church in Berdiansk. Despite two deportations to Kazakhstan during the two world wars, the family always returned to Ukraine and eventually settled in Dnipro. It was at Dnipro Medical University that Dmytro's parents met. They studied dentistry together and emigrated to Germany in 1991. Dmytro continued the family tradition and has been running his own dental practice, Die Dentalfamilie, in Stuttgart since 2015.
Dmitry, why did you decide to open your own practice?
I have been dreaming about this since I was a student. For me, dentistry is not just a craft or medicine, but a real business. Creating something of my own is very exciting.
Every dentist has their own personal vision of their practice. How do you see yours?
I have always wanted to build my own „Dental Family“ (translated from the German „Dentalfamilie“), literally as our name suggests. From a professional and technical point of view, our patients already expect us to be highly professional. But not all businesses can create a trusting family atmosphere between patients and staff. And I expect nothing less from the place where I spend half my life.
What was the biggest challenge before the opening and how are things today?
In 2015, I took over a small internship at Feuerbach (note: Stuttgart district). Then I directly invested in the latest technology. And we did everything possible together with family and friends. We assembled the reception area from Ikea, painted and putty everything ourselves. The result was a small, friendly practice in the old style of a 1950s building.
We have now grown from 110 m² to 350 m², and this move was not easy either. Our current offices are in a new building and the infrastructure had to be built from scratch. It's important to understand that 95% dentists are hired for a price by special firms that are fully responsible for architecture, planning, technology, materials, etc. Their services can reach millions. So, just like in the beginning, I decided to coordinate everything myself, and it didn't always go smoothly.
The biggest problem now is the lack of time to make appointments for everyone. We even temporarily stopped accepting new patients. But since mid-September a new dentist, Andrii Skrypnyk, who also came from Ukraine, will join our team.
What is the philosophy of your practice?
I want to continue to base my dental practice on personal, trusting relationships between doctors and patients. We live in a time when medicine is becoming more and more anonymous. The trend is towards larger and larger clinics, as they are often the only ones able to bear the ever-increasing costs. However, in this process, humanity is often lost. The dental profession requires not only special fine motor skills and precision, but also sensitivity. Even in an „unhealthy“ healthcare system, we try to make dental care not only of high quality but also affordable.
How big is your team and what criteria did you use to form it?
In 2015, we started with five of us. As of September 2023, there will be 16 of us. The criteria are hard work and a desire to learn. We train quickly and thoroughly. My employees quickly gain responsibility to be able to work independently. It is certainly a lot of work at first, but in practice we have some of the best-trained employees in the Stuttgart region. If you've survived our training, all you need is a sense of humour to tolerate our jokes (author's note - the interview was recorded in August 2023).
What was the biggest realisation you had since starting your own practice?
You need a high level of stress resistance and organisational vision. You are no longer just a dentist, but an entrepreneur and a bureaucratic monster.
What has changed in your professional life since 24.02.22?
I will never forget that day. I was in the middle of a meeting with architects, construction managers, engineers, etc. Then we interrupted the meeting, and I couldn't hold back my tears. I knew what was going to happen next would be terrible.
Since then, days, weeks and months have become a blur. Setting up my practice, travelling to the Ukrainian border with humanitarian aid and treating Ukrainians every Saturday at no extra charge. I also spent a lot of my own money on aid funds and projects and helping my own family and friends. This was all at the limit of my capabilities, both professionally and personally.
What advice would you give to future practice founders?
This advice would be worth an entire book. In short: you either have or take a lot of money and delegate to other companies that pave the way for you, or you slowly acquire the know-how yourself while working somewhere else.
In any case, it is not an easy path)
The dental profession requires not only special fine motor skills and precision, but also sensitivity.
Related articles
Myths busted
«A country with deep cracks,» «torn between «East» and «West» or between «Russian-speakers and Ukrainian-speakers,» and «an artificial nation» are just some of the stereotypes and colonial myths about Ukraine that have been particularly prevalent in the German media,...
Behind the scenes of success: how to build a business in Germany from scratch and start living again
It's a bright sunny afternoon in a Stuttgart café. Across from me is a young man with an open smile and no doubt a creative profession. He looks so organic in this environment, as if he has spent his entire life among the artistic community of Stuttgart. This is Mark...
Portraiture for the sake of life
Using various forms of art, such as drawing, sculpture or collage, art therapy opens up a space for deeper self-discovery and healing of emotional wounds. The heroine of today's article is a remarkably strong woman who managed not only to survive the...
Sign up for updates
Get the latest articles and don't miss the release of new issues of magazines!