The Small Business Spotlight: Starr General Dentistry
In this "Small Business Spotlight," presented by American Bank, Austin Meek of Waco Business News highlights brothers Taylor and Martin Starr of Starr General Dentistry.
Dr. Taylor Starr shows a young patient a model of a mouth.
Going to the dentist can be a frightening experience. My daughter, Stevie, is almost three and for the last few weeks we've been mentally preparing for her first teeth cleaning next month.
A sense of humor helps kids (and adults) keep calm. Brothers Taylor and Martin Starr learned that from their dad, Kent, who founded Starr General Dentistry back in 1974.
Taylor joined the family practice in 2004 and Martin followed in 2006. Taylor wasn't always interested in working for the family.
"I thought I might want to be an orthopedic surgeon or at one point I thought I wanted to be an animal photographer.”
But Martin had planned to follow in his father's footsteps from an early age.
"Since I was three we have an audio recording of my dad asking what I wanted to do and I said I wanted to be his business partner and practice dentistry with him. So it always was a dream of mine."
The last year has wrought multiple changes in the business. Every patient is checked for temperature and then run through a battery of questions about recent whereabouts and possible exposure to the Covid-19 virus. But we're starting to see glimmers of hope; as of March 15, about 20% of the Texas population has received at least one vaccination shot.
"I think most people want to get back to normal and so going to the dentist is part of that. We've had a good response from our patients coming back."
A second significant change brought by 2020 is that Taylor and Martin now run the business without their mentor. Dr. Kent Starr passed away 11 months ago.
"My dad's philosophy in life was quite simple. It was just to do the right thing. You know, he had a saying of, 'What does it cost you?' And in our practice we just have learned that philosophy from my dad. And so we're always looking to do the right thing, to be honest, to care for patients, to go the extra mile for patients."
Dr. Kent always made time for sporting events and school plays. That family-first mentality is what drew Martin to dentistry as a young boy, and it keeps clients coming back to this day.
"I think you have an understanding of what other families are looking for. If you care about your own family you obviously are going to care about families coming to you as a patient."
Dr. Kent was an industry leader with vision. Despite his advanced age, the brothers haven't needed to spend a lot of time and money modernizing the business.
"He was always so quick to the newest technology whether it was the CAD-CAM technology or lasers or digital radiography. Instead of having paper charts, dad was one of the first ones in Waco to have computerized charts. He was always on the cutting edge so we're carrying that on as well. So there's really nothing to change - we were already so advanced the he way he had practiced."
It all comes back to making clients comfortable. I asked a dental hygienist Madison what makes her bosses special.
"They're surprisingly really funny."
Despite losing the paterfamilias, the Starr Doctors are welcoming a new generation.
”It really has been incredible because, you know, not only are we treating patients that were patients of my dad for almost 50 years and continuing that, we are now treating people who were maybe teachers of ours when we were kids. We're getting to an age now where we're starting to grow the business through our kids' friends and families. And so it's been such an intergenerational track living in Waco getting and knowing so many people and getting to work with them."
This "Small Business Spotlight,” co-produced by Waco Business News and KWBU, first aired on Friday, March 19, 2021, on Episode 100 of Downtown Depot on 103.3 KWBU-FM Waco.