Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert D’Alfonso.
Hi Robert, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I graduated from UT Health Science Center and received my DDS in May 1998. After passing the regional/state board successfully, I obtained my practice license that summer. I practiced in The Woodlands, TX, with Dr. Guy M. Lewis at the Texas Center for Cosmetic and Implant Dentistry from 1998 – 2009. I enjoyed learning from Dr. Lewis and colleagues there, helping with and performing numerous full smile makeovers. This experience made me very passionate about this area of dentistry, so I quickly obtained as much continuing education as possible through the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and numerous other organizations (i.e., Pankey Institute, University of Minnesota Dental, etc.) After marrying my wife, Allison, in 2009, we moved back to Central Texas to be closer to the family since we planned to start our own family and now have three wonderful children! We opened my current practice, Lakeway Center for Cosmetic and Family Dentistry, in February 2010. The following year, 2011, we were blessed with our first child, Joseph. Our daughter, Tenley, blessed us in 2013, and then our youngest son, Caleb, blessed us in 2015.
In 2013, I began training to surgically place implants at the Zimmer Institute in Carlsbad, CA. I also underwent comprehensive training during the following three years at the Health Science Center, San Antonio. This enabled me to obtain my Fellowship with the International Congress of Oral Implantologists. Implants have become an advantageous area for me within an overall smile design when missing teeth are involved. One final piece of my story in Lakeway is being blessed with a very experienced and talented ceramist/lab technician on-site for all our custom shadings. He can make customizations and corrections chair-side so that our patients can handle needing to come back and rescheduling if something is any less than ideal.
Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
With the business, the biggest challenge involved having a well-trained, competent staff that could take great care of our patients and work harmoniously together. We have had multiple hires that did not work out for various reasons, but I’m proud of our team now! My office manager, Laura, is a business owner with her husband’s restaurant, so she always has my back when hiring and “letting go” of potentially toxic employees. Harmony within our team is vital since dentistry is a personal, hands-on business, and people need to feel extremely comfortable with the whole process and atmosphere. One bad employee can cause a patient to go elsewhere even when they like the dentist and dental treatment received! I check on patients who have received treatment later in the week to see how they are doing, and I always get wonderful reports from my team about how the rest treated them. However, it has sometimes been different, so along the way, I have had to decide to let go of certain employees, a task that hardly any business owner likes having to do! One final challenge with the business had to do with office overhead control. I have found the expense of having a great staff, lab, supply support, and technology to only sometimes even out with how some dental insurance companies decide to reimburse. Therefore, I have had to choose to drop some in-network companies to obtain a fee schedule that allows us not to lose money with various treatments or make compromises to our process or service. Most patients understand and are fine with paying a little more to get the service level we provide, but unfortunately, we lose some.
Let’s switch gears and talk about work. What should we know about your work?
The biggest thing that can set me apart from many in my area is my extensive experience with comprehensive cosmetic procedures. From the onset of my career, I could learn and hone my craft since I did not have to manage a dental practice or business simultaneously. For nearly 12 years out of dental school, I could learn within the practice of one of the founding members of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Much of our practice success I can attribute to multiple people and influencers. Not the least of which is my wife, Allison! Not knowing much about dentistry, she quickly learned to run a dental practice with me, starting it from scratch. With three children at home now, she helps with some things remotely but has always been my biggest cheerleader and encourager! I am also thankful for my fantastic team, not the least of which is my office manager of over 10 years, Laura Bruner. I am blessed to have someone with her skill set, work ethic, and integrity, managing and caring for our patients and team members! Finally, numerous colleagues have encouraged and supported me, including those within our local study club (a Seattle Study Club Affiliate).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.LakewayCosmeticDentistry.com
- Instagram: LakewayCosmeticDentistry
- Facebook: LakewayCosmeticDentistry
