Sudden entrepreneur

Dr. Ruth Rojas's resume is littered with quirks.

Born in Colombia, she learned English in Toronto when she was an exchange student in 20s. She pursued a career in graphic arts and worked in web development for furniture company Ethan Allan in Philadelphia.

A little more than a decade ago, Rojas decided to chase another dream. She went to dental school, at Temple University in Philadelphia, and followed that with a three-year residency in a prosthodontistry, a specialty in replacing and restoring patients' teeth. Later, she was a hired as a prosthodontist at a U.S. Air Force base in New Jersey.

Rojas's latest entrepreneurial quest involves a somewhat unusual business obstacle. In November 2015, she bought and took over the Sarasota-based practice of a dentist she never met, who died in late summer 2015. “Not only did I acquire a business, but I was new in town,” Rojas says. “People had to get to know me.”

Rojas faced a double challenge. She had to maintain the practice's patient list of some 800 people and navigate being a first-time practice owner. There were other issues, too, particularly because the former owner was well liked by employees and patients, says Dr. Richard Kennard, a former dentist who helped broker the sale.

“She had to quickly gain the trust of the staff,” says Kennard, a Sarasota area dentist for 20 years before he went into brokering dental practice sales, working with Associated Financial Transition Consultants. “They had just lost their friend, mentor and employee.”

Another obstacle was the unusual nature of the sale. Normally when a dental practice is sold, Kennard says, it's when a dentist in his or her 60s or 70s seeks to retire or scale back. In this case, it was an estate sale, and with attorneys and accountants, the process quickly grew complicated. There was also a sense of urgency, he adds, because patients and employees were in limbo.

Some connections in the dental community led Kennard to Rojas. She had just moved to the area with her children and husband, Dr. Javier Rojas, a pathologist. Ruth Rojas was teaching classes at the Lakewood Ranch campus of Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, and looking for an opportunity to get into a practice.

Kennard met Rojas, and thought she had the right skill set and bedside manner to run the practice. Rojas met with the late dentist's widow,, and she too thought Rojas would be a good fit.

The sale process took about two months. Rojas declines to disclose the sale price, only to say that a practice this size, with four chairs for seeing patients, would normally be listed for around $1 million to $1.2 million.

All four employees agreed to stay on with Rojas. A large majority of patients remained with the practice as well, some who were in the middle of dental work. Others wanted to get to know Rojas before making a decision. “I got interviewed by my patients many times,” says Rojas. “That was an interesting experience.”

Coming up on 18 months, Rojas has begun to shift her focus from maintaining to growing the practice. She bought a new dental scanner for $100,000, a unit that can rotate around a patient's head and take better and more distinct images. Rojas also hopes to expand the cosmetic dentistry and implant side of the practice in the near future.

On marketing, Rojas has sponsored several high-end Sarasota philanthropic events. She also launched a postcard mailer campaign.

Rojas says the former owner's name occasionally comes up, and patients share fond memories of their late dentist. “He was very friendly and very personable, so it was a hard transition for some patients,” says Rojas. “It was unfortunate, but it was a good opportunity for someone looking to get established.”

(This story was updated to due privacy concerns over the name of the late dentist.)