Leader in Reconstructive Dentistry Also a Renaissance Man
Tischler calls himself a big goal-setter, but not just any goals. He focuses more on balancing goals.
I like completing goals that I’ve established for myself to be my best, then moving on to the next one and growing.
His father retired from dentistry last year at age 83.
“He loved dentistry,” explains Michael Tischler, D.D.S., F.A.G.D., who maintains a private practice in Woodstock, NY, while also running the Teeth Tomorrow franchise network. “It always looked like an appealing profession.”
It has become an appealing profession as well for Tischler, a recognized leader in reconstructive dentistry who educates colleagues in state-of-the-art techniques and technologies through his Tischler Dental Seminars series.
LAUNCHING TEETH TOMORROW
Five years ago, Tischler began the evolving process of creating Teeth Tomorrow, a franchise network that provides permanent, natural looking teeth custom-made to patients’ personal requirements. But the actual launch occurred about one year ago — and growth has been significant.
“At this point we have 40 locations throughout the United States,” Tischler says. “Mark Siebert, who wrote a book called “Franchise Your Business,” one of the leaders in franchising, said we’re the fastest growing healthcare franchising he’s seen in the last 20 years.”
The achievement is not lost on Tischler.
“We’re very blessed,” he admits.
Teeth Tomorrow was built out of necessity. Tischler explains that he didn’t like what he saw occurring in reconstructive dentistry. In his opinion, acrylic bridges weren’t working. So, he changed the paradigm. Through Teeth Tomorrow he delivers a final Prettau Zirconia full-arch bridge which is the only solution backed by a five-year study of more than 2,000 bridges with better than a 99 percent success rate as published in the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry.
“No one has ever done that in dentistry that we’ve seen,” Tischler says.
One of the keys to success, he says, is that the provisional is delivered next day versus same day, which had previously always been the standard. The benefit, Tischler says, is that it’s a better provisional, and results in better patient scheduling.
He’s also not surprised by the rapid growth.
“I’m actually happy with it, and we want to grow more,” Tischler says. “We know the availability of 250 locations in the U.S. that are geographically mapped out. We supply a brand that differentiates a dentist from anybody in his or her area. We have a call center and a website, and if the leads come in, it’s a way to separate yourself from every other practitioner in your area.”
The biggest challenge to the undertaking, Tischler says, is that it was self-funded. Beyond that, he says that building a business involved a lot of common sense practices. He feels he has a unique brand, incredible websites and marketing, and social media to help spread the word.
RENAISSANCE MAN
If maintaining a full-time practice and running the Teeth Tomorrow franchise isn’t enough, Tischler is also a noted fine art photographer. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the large images he creates is that they’re printed on aluminum.
“It’s actually an amazing process,” Tischler explains. “It’s not actually printed — it’s sublimated. It’s a plasma process that I combine with a technique called HDR — high dynamic range. The combination of the two makes [the image] pop like crazy.”
Essentially, HDR involves taking three photographs of the same image at different settings and blending them together. The human eye, Tischler explains, sees different exposures. If you take one photograph with a camera, you usually see one exposure. But by taking a darker, medium, and lighter exposure and combining them, it becomes more natural looking.
Does he have a photographic preference?
“I really enjoy photographing New York City,” Tischler says. “I did landscape nature for years, and they’re all in my office. But I do really enjoy the city — any time of day, any time of year, above ground or below ground.”
He’s even rented space in SoHo in Manhattan for a pop-up gallery — space he rented for four months where he had approximately 70 large images on display.
“It was a good experience,” he says, “and there’ll be another one in the future.”
GOALS AND BALANCE
Tischler calls himself a big goal-setter — but not just any goals. He focuses more on balanced goals.
“I set my goals in my life balance for my physical health, family, relationships and career,” he explains. “And those three kind of meet in the middle, giving me success in achieving balance.”
Not surprising is what Tischler feels is the most rewarding aspect of his career, and the work he does.
“I like completing goals that I’ve established for myself to be my best, then moving on to the next one and growing,” he says. “That’s what I enjoy most in my life.”
