Dr. Michelle Tran on Walking Away from Group Practice, Building Bright Path Dental, and the Patient Experience That Changes How People Feel About the Dentist

The pace. In a large group practice, you are often seeing a patient every 45 minutes or less. There is simply not enough time to do the kind of thorough, communicative care that I believe in. I would find myself in the hallway between operatories wishing I had had five more minutes to explain something properly, knowing the next patient was already seated.

I also found it hard to build real relationships. People came back every six months and I barely recognized them because I was seeing so many patients. That was the opposite of why I went into dentistry.

I wanted to be the dentist that my patients called by name, whose front desk staff knew their kids, who made people feel like their appointment was actually important — not just a slot in a schedule.

Carefully and with a lot of patience. I spent the first few months building out my systems, training my team, and being very intentional about how we presented ourselves. We were smaller than I had originally planned, but that turned out to be an advantage — we could give every new patient an exceptional experience without being stretched.

The referrals started almost immediately. When someone has a genuinely good dental experience — where they feel heard, where the care is gentle, where they leave knowing exactly what the plan is and why — they tell people. Word of mouth in a community like Johns Creek moves fast. We were fully booked within eight months.

Communication and respect for people's time and anxiety. A lot of dental anxiety comes from feeling like things are happening to you rather than with you. We narrate everything. Before I do anything, I explain what I am doing, why, and what the patient will feel. I check in constantly. I stop if someone is uncomfortable.

We also run on time. That sounds basic, but it is actually very rare in healthcare. People's time is valuable and treating it that way sends a signal about how we see them. When patients know that a 2pm appointment means 2pm, not 2:20, it changes how they feel about the whole relationship.

With complete honesty. I do not minimize it or tell people they have nothing to be afraid of. I ask them to tell me what specifically has made the dentist hard for them in the past — the sounds, the needles, the loss of control, a past bad experience. Then I address it directly.

For some patients, the answer is taking breaks on request, no questions asked. For others, it is having me describe every instrument before it enters their mouth. For a few, we use nitrous oxide for routine cleanings because that is what makes the experience manageable.

I want the bar to be that people look forward to coming in, or at least that they are not dreading it. When I have patients tell me it was the best dental experience they have ever had, that is not about my clinical skills — it is about how they felt in the chair.

Johns Creek is an incredibly health-conscious, education-oriented community. Patients here ask excellent questions. They are engaged in their own care. They want to understand their x-rays, not just be told what needs to be done.

That active participation makes me a better dentist. When a patient pushes back or asks me to explain my recommendation more thoroughly, it keeps me sharp. I have never had a community that was this invested in the relationship.

I have also been really moved by the diversity of the patient base here. Families who have been in Fulton County for generations alongside families who just moved here from across the world. Everyone deserves great dental care, and being able to provide it to such a wide range of people feels like exactly the right place to build this practice.