Women-Owned Business Series: Dr. Alice from Brooklyn Mint Dental

Welcome back to our Women-Owned Business Series! This week, we are happy to highlight Dr. Alice Hoang, DMD, FICOI, AADSM Qualified Dentist, from Brooklyn Mint Dental. Opening the dentistry with Co-Founder, Christopher Bowers, DMD, MS, six months ago, Brooklyn Mint prides itself on making philanthropy a foundational element of their practice. Read on about Dr. Alice’s journey!

First, tell us about your business and anything special we should know about it or you.

My parental leave ended the week after the world shut down thanks to COVID. I was supposed to go back to my career as a dentist at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center. Like everyone else, I was forced to slow down, re-evaluate my big “why”, my goals, my dreams and my future with my family. I realized that I needed a career with more flexibility so I could not only support my family, but have time to spend with them.
I wanted to create a new and inviting experience to help people look forward to coming to the dentist. I wanted to address every pain-point people experience when they go to a dental appointment. I wanted to adopt the latest technologies to aid in keeping my dentistry as conservative as possible. As a mom and owner of a cosmetic and general dentistry studio for the whole family, I wanted it to be as family friendly as possible.
Perhaps the most compelling reason is that I’ve always had a vision to create something different in the world of dentistry, a way to fuse philanthropy and social conscience into the DNA of a profitable practice. Plenty of practices have an outreach day, donate to non-profits, offer pro-bono work, but I wanted philanthropy to be foundational.

Why do you feel a connection to your work?

I’m not just a dentist, I’m a medically trained artist who loves to build relationships. Dentistry allows me to do the things I love – art, science, working with my hands, connecting with new people while helping them and giving back to my community.

As a business owner, community is everything. In what ways do you serve your community and how has your community served you?

I’m looking forward to breaking a profit, so that we can start on these philanthropic initiatives, but we are already doing a number of these:
-We support other small businesses by offering a discounted Mint Condition Membership plan so they can offer dental benefits to their staff affordably. We also have a treasure chest for the young at heart: gift certificates to other small businesses (currently a woman owned craft beer bar Beer Witch Brooklyn, a POC woman owned coffee shop Gorilla Coffee and a woman owned sustainable coffee shop IXV).
-We will have artist residencies and use our space as a commission free art gallery/performance space for community artists, performers, musicians, comedians etc.
-We will be donating 10% of the proceeds for our Mint Condition Memberships to a rotating list of non-profits tackling the same issues we feel passionate about.
-We offer smile sponsorships/scholarships so people or nonprofits can gift a makeover to someone in need. We do these cases at cost.
-My big vision is to ultimately create a Dental Assistant (DA) training program for single parents allowing participants to get paid while learning the skills to become a DA. Because we are fully digital, we will also teach exocad and smile design. Because we will be crosstraining our staff, they will also learn concierge level service, front desk, business management, insurance navigation, etc. This will allow our trainees to create an income stream that works for them and their family. In community health, I treated so many (often single) parents working so hard and never seeing their kids working multiple food and bev jobs. This program would give them access to stable employment with benefits (access to good union jobs too!).

What advice would you give to young women who want to start a small business?

I came across this quote and I meditate on this often whenever things get tough and I don’t think I can do it anymore: “Whenever you think you can’t do something, just know that there is someone out there confidently doing it wrong right now. They have no plans on doing it better and people are paying them to do it. Believe in your own excellence as much as they believe in their own mediocrity.”

What women inspire you and why?

Single working moms – I don’t know how you do it, but I salute you!

What do you think are the most significant challenges for women business owners or women in leadership positions?

Implicit bias, patriarchy and privilege

In March, Brooklyn Mint Dental will be celebrating 6 months, and they are always accepting new patients! They accept most PPO insurances, but we also offer an in-house membership plan as an alternative to traditional dental insurance. To celebrate our grand opening, our Mint Condition Memberships are 40% off ($600 for adults and $400 for kids under 14) for a limited time until 4/31/2023. Check it out before it’s too late!