Ilona Casellini, DMD, comes from a family with more than 100 years of dentistry experience, which helps her to successfully lead her plos Angeles practice.
Dr. Casellini is the owner of Swiss Quality Smile, a boutique-style office where an emphasis is placed on enhancing the patient experience.
Dr. Casellini recently spoke with Becker's about her family's history in dentistry, how she prioritizes patient comfort and the challenges she's experienced as a practice owner over the last 11 years.
Editor's note: Responses were lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: Can you tell me a bit about your background and how you got started in dentistry?
Dr. Ilona Casellini: So I grew up in Los Angeles. I'm a fourth generation dental professional on my dad's side of the family, so it was in my blood to become a dentist. Both of my parents were dental techs and I've got some uncles who are dentists and dental techs, and grandparents on either the dental tech side or dentists. We have a mix of both in the family. I didn't always want to be a dentist. I actually went to college and was planning on being a veterinarian and got my bachelor's in animal science from the University of Vermont in Burlington, and then graduated a semester early and needed to get a job. So I worked as a dental assistant for a prosthodontist in Vermont, and actually really loved the experience working in the dental office.
Both of my parents are dental techs, so my exposure to the dental field was more from the technical aspect, and that wasn't something I was that interested in, but then after being a dental assistant, I was like, "You know what, I actually really love dentistry." I ended up deciding to apply to dental school. I went to the University of Pennsylvania for dental school, and then after I graduated, I came back to Los Angeles and went straight into private practice. I opened my own practice, and I had that practice for about three years, and then the dentist who was working across the hall from me was retiring and he knew that I was looking to expand. I ended up buying his practice and then merging my two practices together. That's the space I'm currently in, and I will have been there for 11 years. That's how I got to where I am today.
Q: What about your first experience working in a dental office inspired you to become a dentist yourself?
IC: [The prosthodontist I worked with] was just such an amazing mentor to me and dentist. I learned so much from assisting him and seeing dentistry from a dentist's point of view, where I'd seen it more from a lab point of view [before.] He just made me see that this is something I would really enjoy. I knew so much about teeth already, but living it firsthand and being in a dental office setting changed my mind about how I felt about it.
Q: How do you work to enhance patient comfort at your practice?
IC: One of the things our patients love is that we offer them a hot towel after every visit. It's always our patients' favorite thing. They're always looking forward to it. They're like, "Oh, it's like the spa experience." We have a very small boutique-style office, so basically we see one patient at a time. I do my own hygiene. We spend a lot of one-on-one time with our patients, so that just really makes them feel comfortable and well taken care of, and they're not just feeling like the dentist is popping in for five minutes after they've had their teeth cleaned. So I have really great relationships with my patients because I spend a lot of time with them. So those are the kinds of things we do to make them feel more comfortable. We offer them blankets and pillows, so we try to make it as stress free as possible.
Q: What inspired you to open a boutique-style practice?
IC: I wanted to have an office that felt like I was making a difference in my patients and creating real relationships. Once you start going into a larger practice where there's multiple dentists, multiple hygienists, you just can't cater to your patients' needs as much as on a one-on-one basis. It works for some people, and a lot of those offices work great. It just wasn't something that I strived for when I first opened my original practice straight out of dental school. I just have one operatory, I did everything myself, so I just came from that environment, so I wanted to continue that when I bought the second practice. I think my patients just really appreciate it, and they are more adept at referring to our office because they actually have a relationship with me and my staff. That was just something I felt worked best for me. I know it doesn't work for everybody, but that was the kind of office I wanted to have.
Q: How do you use your family history and background to guide your practice today?
IC: My parents retired, but before that, they were actually in the same building as me, so we really had almost like an in-house laboratory, which was really amazing because I just learned so much of the technical aspect of after the cases leave the office [and] what happens with the making of a crown, which most dentists really have no experience or contact with if they don't have an in-house lab. They just really helped mentor me and make me a better dentist ... They helped me see things from a more technical aspect, and also just taught me a lot of things I didn't learn in dental school. Coming fresh out of school and having a practice on my own, it was just so nice to have their guidance and mentorship.
Q: What do you love most about practicing dentistry today?
IC: Being in Los Angeles and being a cosmetic dentist, one of the things I really enjoy is when we do smile makeovers. It really changes people's lives. Sometimes people are really anxious about making such a big change, but once they do they always say, "I wish I had done this years ago. I don't know why I waited," and I get it. It's such a scary thing to change your look and everything. That's my favorite part, really going through the process with the patient and just seeing how excited and happy they are at the end and helping them through that process as well [and] emotionally guiding them through that. That's what I enjoy a lot.
Q: What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced as a practice owner over the past 11 years?
IC: Probably staffing. When I first took over the practice, I had a lot of turnover with staff and what I wish I had learned earlier is, that's your family away from home, and finding people who have the same values and goals and who can support you in your vision is so important. It took me a little while to figure that out. My assistant has been with me for 10 years now, so she is like my family, and my front office coordinator was with me for seven years. She just recently left for some personal reasons, which I was really sad about. I just think finding people who are going to support you and your vision, and make coming to work enjoyable because you spend so much time at work, is really important. Sometime's that's hard to find, so I think that's been the biggest challenge.