Who’s Afraid of the Dentist?

When he decided, back in 2004, to open his first dental clinic dedicated to corporate clients in Bucharest, everybody told Michaell Shkurko this was insane. Born in Russia 50 years ago, raised in Israel and trained as a stomatologist in Romania and Italy, Shkurko set up his first clinic on the Romanian market in a villa rented out on Bucharest’s Ferdinand Boulevard.

Dental Plan, which in the meantime has moved headquarters to Tipografilor Str. (N Bucharest), now has around 5,000 subscribers via the contracts Michaell Shkurko has signed with Petromservice, Volksbank and Bancpost (this compares with the over 70,000 subscribers each for Unirea Medical Centre and Medicover – clinics specialising in general medicine). Last year, Dental Plan posted half a million euros in turnover, slightly above the 400,000 euros originally invested in the business by Michaell Shkurko.

For 2009, Michaell Shkurko expects a turnover more or less similar to last year’s from the Dental Plan clinic, but his businesses will reach one million euros this year after completion of a second clinic – which will be smaller than the current one, and will also have a lab and a training center. Five years from its opening, Dental Plan remains the only clinic opened in Romania on the corporate clients segment. For individual clients, however, the market is very fragmented, consisting of around 11,600 practices throughout the country.

Oana Taban, in turn a trained stomatologist, set up her own clinic ten years ago, by extending her individual practice. ”Initially I had one single dental chair, then realised I had too many patients and started to hire staff,” says Oana Taban, owner of the four Dent Estet clinics in Bucharest, who says she now derives 1.5 million euros in turnover. Apart from the four clinics, Oana Taban also invested in a business that has mainly attracted expats – eco clinic Green Dental, operated together with Cristi Costachescu and Cristi Misailescu, founders of Velvet Dental, Dent Estet’s main rival. Green Dental is affiliated to Green Dentistry, a project initiated and funded in 2004 by the European Union, with its main concern being eco-friendly management of dental waste.

Traducere de Loredana Fratila-Cristescu si Daniela Stoican