Meet and greet: Roisin O’Brien

Irish Dentistry gets to know Roisin O’Brien, mergers and acquisitions manager for Portman Dental Care – her role at the business, and her passions in and out of the profession.

What exactly is your role within Portman Dental Care? 

I’m the mergers and acquisitions manager for Portman Dental Care in Northern and Southern Ireland. 

I see acquisitions through from the first viewing, right through the diligence process until completion.  

I like to develop a good working relationship with the vendors so that they feel they can pick up the phone to me at any time. 

What do you love most about your job?

I love that every day is different and also that every acquisition is different. All acquisitions bring new questions to be answered and I really enjoy the exploratory and diligent aspect of the job.  

In order to bring an acquisition through to completion, many teams within Portman Dental Care come together and It’s great to be able to work so closely with all of them and learn from them also.

Portman Dental Care itself is a great company to work for and there is a strong family feel where we celebrate each other’s successes.

How long have you been in the dental industry?

I have worked in the dental industry for nearly 15 years now. Most of that time, I worked for a dental implant company and that’s were my passion for the industry grew.

Where would you most like to travel to in the world?

Other than the obvious, idyllic islands (like the Maldives), I have always wanted to spend a couple of months travelling throughout the US in an RV. 

I like the idea of visiting all the national parks and go to the ‘off the beaten track’ type areas.

Who would play you in the movie of your life?

Who would want to play me? I think Saoirse Ronan is such a great actress.

What is your favourite meal?  

I actually find this a hard question to answer, as I like so many different types of foods! 

The easier question, I suppose, would be: ‘What food do you not like?’ – and I would have to say blue cheese.

What makes you want to dance? 

In fairness, when I hear good music, I do love a dance. I think it’s hard to beat the golden oldies! 

Other than that, my husband and our little boy makes me want to dance every day.

What are you most passionate about in dentistry at the moment? 

Keeping up to date with the current changes in dentistry, especially digital dentistry.  

Currently, AI is the hot topic of the moment, it can be used in so many aspects of dentistry – from treatment planning, simulating different treatment options and their outcomes to diagnosis of dental conditions through analysing X-rays and scans etc.  

There appears to be huge advantages to this in dentistry, for instance, it will allow clinicians to create and personalise detailed treatment plans, which allows for effective and efficient treatments plans.  

I believe this advancement will also allow for better communication with patients and will also help in streamlining the practices with administrative tasks.

What advice would you give to principal dentists/practice owners?

The best piece of advice I could give would be to start thinking about what your exit strategy looks like before you think you need to. I have spoken with a lot of vendors who wish they had done the same. 

Getting your practice in a ‘sellable’ condition that is attractive to buyers can take time. 

There are certain systems that the principal may need or want to put in place before selling so that the practice is more valuable and attractive to buyers such as Portman Dental Care, but I am more than happy to discuss that further with any principal dentists who would like more information on the topic.

How many practices does Portman Dental Care have in Ireland?

Currently, in the south of Ireland, we have five that we have completed on and are going through the process with some more at the moment.  

Portman Dental Care is actively seeking to build upon the number of high-quality private practices we have here in Ireland. 

We are very proactive in Ireland and on the back of the revenues publication in December, we are looking to facilitate a new joint structure that may be more beneficial to future vendors coming on board with Portman Dental Care. 

Roisin is happy to talk to anyone wondering how Portman Dental Care can help make their practice more valuable. 

Contact her by calling +44 (0) 7780 152838 or emailing roisin.obrien@portmandental.co.uk.