Starting a dental practice and a life together

Dr Vince Figliomeni and Dr Angela Pathmanathan found themselves starting a dental practice and a life together at the same time, thanks in part to BOQ Specialist.

  6 minutes

Amore is a powerful word that features prominently in the worlds of Perth dentists Vince Figliomeni and Angela Pathmanathan. It was a shared love of dentistry that saw them both attend, and later graduate, from The University of Western Australia. It was professional respect, as well as their devotion to each other, that saw the pair starting a dental practice together.

So, it makes sense that when they were searching for a suitable name for that first practice, it was the Italian word for love that they settled on.

The start of something big

Compelled by the need to work in a hands-on industry with a strong academic component, Albany-born Vince moved to study dentistry at UWA in 2003 after being inspired by his own orthodontist Dr Steven Singer. 

In a quirky twist of fate Angela, born in the same year in Perth, was similarly inspired by her own orthodontist Dr Mithran Goonewardene and commenced studying dentistry in the same year. Platonic friends, they graduated together in 2008. Six years later they began dating. It was also around this time they began sensing symmetry between their professional approaches and discussed the idea of heading into business together.

“We're both very passionate about dentistry and whenever we discussed work, our treatment ethos and patient care seemed very aligned, so it was a very natural decision to start a practice together,” says Dr Pathmanathan.

That’s amore!

As their personal relationship progressed so too did the momentum behind starting a business relationship, and they found themselves planning their wedding and their first dental surgery, Amore Dental, at the same time. They were married in December last year and just seven months later opened the doors to their Hammond Park practice.

They decided against buying into an existing clinic as they were not wanting to compromise on the type of clinic they envisioned. “Although business conditions in general aren't the best in Australia at the moment, we preferred to find a location which had growth potential rather than buy into an existing practice,” says Dr Figliomeni.

He adds the pair had been individually looking out for possible locations for the past few years but soon realised that city fringe suburbs offered the best commercial opportunities.

The couple approached BOQ Specialist about finance for their new site, where their application proceeded without any hiccups as they had done their research and knew exactly what they wanted and what was required.

Starting a dental practice and building a life

With clear ideas about the fit-out, the pair were both very hands on when it came to the design of their practice. Eager to develop the site “efficiently and to a high standard, without unpleasant surprises”, they worked alongside Medifit Design and Construct to design a modern light-filled clinic with a practical layout easily able to be navigated by staff.

Everything has been designed with ergonomics and efficiency in mind—automation for lights and air conditioning, kill switches for circuits for start-up and shutdown efficiency, and foot control faucets for dirty sterilisation areas are just some of the features incorporated. The entire surgery also has temperature sensors for each room’s temperature control for individual patient and operator comfort.

A beautiful friendship

Drs Figliomeni and Pathmanathan both cited a lack of time as the biggest challenge they faced in getting their practice up and running, particularly as they were both working full time and planning their wedding. Yet the pair both agree that it was well worth it to ensure the practice reflected their vision.

“It's still a very developing area, but people are steadily finding us and we have already seen some great local patients. At this stage we want to focus our energies and grow in this location with the community alongside us. We intend to add more staff to our team when we get busier and there is a third room ready for equipment and cabinet installation when we are ready to grow.”

Thinking about starting or growing your practice? Click on the link to find out more about our tailored financial solutions for setting up a practice. Ready to take the next step? Contact us to find out how we can tailor a practice finance solution for you, or call us on 1300 160 160.