Life Is Fuller as a Comfort Dental Dentist
Ask most dentists what they imagined their career would look like when they started dental school, and very few of them describe the reality they ended up with: long hours, a facility that sits empty half the week, a team that’s hard to leave, and no real backup when they need time off. The professional autonomy that attracted them to dentistry can quietly become a trap.
Dr. Mike Bloss, one of the original Comfort Dental franchise dentists, describes a very different reality. “I used to go ski in the morning in Colorado before I worked an afternoon shift,” he says. “It’s a lot of freedom for the doctor, too. You’re only working 30, 36 hours a week, but the office is open 66 hours.”
That sentence captures something important about the Comfort Dental model that often gets overlooked in conversations about profitability and patient volume: it’s also designed to give doctors a life.
How the Schedule Actually Works
The mechanics behind this flexibility are structural. Comfort Dental offices operate on 12-hour shifts, 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., with multiple doctors rotating through those shifts. Because the practice isn’t built around a single doctor’s schedule, it doesn’t collapse when that doctor isn’t there.
This is a fundamental departure from the solo practice model, where the facility is only productive when the owner is present. A solo practitioner working 36 to 40 hours a week has a space that sits idle for the rest. Their revenue is directly capped by their own time. Comfort Dental’s model decouples the practice’s operating hours from any one doctor’s availability, which means the office generates revenue and serves patients whether or not a specific doctor is in the building.
The Solo Practice Trap
Dr. Bloss is direct about what the alternative often looks like. A solo practitioner has employees who’ve been there for years and expect raises, even when the economics of the practice don’t support it. When the doctor is gone, there’s no one to cover and no continuity for patients. And when it’s time to retire, the practice is often worth far less than expected because it was built around the owner’s personality rather than a transferable system.
“You could have been a success anywhere,” Dr. Bloss says of high-performing dentists who’ve joined Comfort Dental. “You were skilled, you have great people skills, you’re good at business. But I still don’t think you’d be as successful if you weren’t in the system. Just because of the volume, the lower overhead, all that kind of stuff. It’s just such an easy way to practice if you’re doing dentistry.”
The Brand That Transfers
One underappreciated aspect of working within the Comfort Dental system is what happens to the value of a practice when a doctor retires or moves on. Patients come to trust Comfort Dental as an institution, not just an individual doctor. “I always tell people when they’re joining: if you have a big ego and you want it to be your practice, don’t join us,” Dr. Bloss says. “But the generic, you’re a Comfort Dental doctor, makes your practice more valuable to sell down the road.”
He’s seen it play out in practice. When he and his original partner had different hair and different styles, patients would sometimes think they’d seen Dr. Bloss when they’d actually seen someone else entirely. The reaction was almost always the same: “Oh, okay, no problem.” That’s the brand at work.
Not Just a Career, An Actual Life
For dentists who’ve spent years in a model that demands everything and still leaves financial uncertainty at the end, the Comfort Dental structure can feel like a recalibration. Thirty to 36 hours of clinical work per week, a practice that doesn’t depend entirely on your physical presence, enough margin to actually take a vacation, and a retirement exit that makes financial sense.
Dr. Bloss practiced from 1980 until 2014, over three decades, and credits the Comfort Dental system as a central reason he was able to sustain his career that long without burning out. “It’s a lot more fun,” he says. “It’s a lot more interesting. I enjoyed it.”
Discover a Practice Model That Works for You
To learn more about what joining the Comfort Dental franchise looks like for your schedule, your income, and your life outside the office, check out the franchise website.