From Hands-On Practice to Data Based Decisions: A Non-Linear but Clear Career Path

Learning to lead is something that happens one step at a time—although some people, of course, come by it naturally. As I sat down with Dr. John Poczatek to discuss his new promotion to Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Smile Partners USA last week, I was struck by how easy the conversation was from the start. When I started working at SPUSA, Dr. Poczatek was described to me as someone with a data-driven mind and a genuine understanding of the story behind every question that requires those data-centric answers. What does that mean? Dr. Poczatek is someone who listens, absorbs the often intricate why behind a question, and he finds solutions that can be backed and proven.  

Dr. Poczatek didn’t plan on dental school. In fact, he first majored in computer science. He was drawn to the fast-paced, constantly evolving nature of technology. While he ultimately heeded his parents’ advice and returned to a path aimed towards a medical career, his aptitude for computer science has played a role in his career trajectory. His ability to think systemically and break things into parts when addressing a problem has proven invaluable to him time after time. He always wanted a hands-on career and eventually chose dentistry.  

After graduation, he partnered with his brother and wife (and later his childhood best friends) to open a private practice which swiftly grew. From 2017 to 2021, prior to partnership with Smile Partners USA, that growth included expansion from four practices to nine. It all started with one office, though, and a lot of hard work. Learning how to grow, reinvest, and successfully expand year-over-year, eventually led Dr. Poczatek away from an operatory role by necessity. His background in computer science, and his knack for problem solving, led him to leadership within the development, marketing, and management side of things. His expertise is varied because of this experience. He can speak from experience about the unique challenges doctors and their staff face daily within their practice and can also confidently address the challenges faced when expanding from a single office to multi-office practice and beyond.  

While growth is rarely linear, well laid plans typically come to fruition with time. Dr. Poczatek’s story is a shining example of that. He knew success and growth were the goal. Working backwards from that whether it meant stretching a shoestring budget or digging in using his natural inclination towards a “hands-on” approach, he worked to get it done. But success goes through metamorphosis as a career matures. A goal often feels like a new beginning upon completion. A steady occurrence through each stage of his career, however, was a willingness to dig deep into the data. In the early days of expansion, Dr. Poczatek built out an analytics platform to avoid paying a third party—a move that was not only financially advantageous in the long run but would be a foundational part of his career trajectory. As he dug deeper into analytics, he found a uniquely fulfilling, and more often than not fun, side of the business. Taking a challenge and going for it became part of his personal ethos. With that said, we know that success always leaves breadcrumbs. Dr. Poczatek has taken note through the years of the markers of success that catapulted his practices to success, and which continuously drive the success of so many top performing practices within the Smile Partners USA network.  

Until now, the role of Vice President of Clinical Affairs hasn’t existed within the Smile Partners USA network. The evolution of the network, however, calls for the fulfillment of that role by someone who understands the ins and outs of the business from the ground up. Data driven decisions are important, but there is a creativity and individuality present for each practice that carries equal weight. While success, particularly within the DSO space, can be formulaic, it’s critical to create balance between conformity and chaos with best practices while allowing clinical autonomy. It takes all parts of the journey to be successful. Systematic thinking is an important key because it is essentially the ability to get into the data looking to measure in a way but also understanding that the numbers aren’t steadfast, inflexible truths. Rather, data paints pictures and for the trained eye sparks questions that should be asked.  

Dr. Poczatek has seen what works over the years, and plenty of things that do not. As the VP of Clinical Affairs, his mission is to take all of those lessons and share them in order to create more efficiency without choking out individual creativity in the SPUSA network. Rather than working to help practices fit into a mold, his goal is to amplify the already successful pieces of each practice while addressing data through an inquisitive lens and opening the door to additional wins on the path to success. In a practical sense, beyond expected involvement and deep dives into data, this looks like community. While every practice within Smile Partners USA will always retain their individuality, there is a thread that weaves through each practice and brings us all together. While each practice is of course tied to the clinical part of dentistry, every practice within the network is also connected by similar missions and long-term goals. We are not, and will not be, islands but rather instances of the same mission: to create legendary patient experiences.