Hello, I’m Dr. Shalini Nair. I was born in Texas and raised in Montgomery, AL. I graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a B.A in Psychology and later pursued a Masters in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ- Rutgers. In college, I spent most of my career dipping and dabbing in different pathways because I didn’t quite know what I wanted to do. All I knew is I wanted to work hard, earn a good living and live a comfortable and stress free life (ha!) I started thinking about dentistry as a career option because I always wanted to be in healthcare, help people and I love that dentistry seemed to combine the art of wellness and beauty (another passion of mine). I was also inspired by my own family dentist- it was amazing to see a female practice dentistry while being a successful business owner. This really helped me decide with certainty that dentistry was for me. I picked my top choice of UMDNJ-Rutgers to attend dental school and earned my Doctorate of Dental Medicine (DMD), graduating with the class of 2004 at UMDNJ-Rutgers.
After graduation, I completed an optional one year hospital based general practice residency at JFK Medical Center in Edison, NJ. This enabled me to harvest additional experience that would prove useful in treating patients of all ages and ailments. After finishing my residency, I was an associate in both private and corporate dentistry. I opened my 1st practice Good Dental Care in 2012 in Roswell, GA. Practicing on my own terms and building a business was exciting and scary. But being the only dentist of the practice AND having to manage it by myself proved too daunting, and after a few years I was at the height of burn out. I sold it to a DSO group for a profit and thought I made the best decision for myself and my family. After working as an associate for a few years, I realized that I missed being my own boss and bought my 2nd practice in 2018 Lawrenceville Healthy Smiles. I thought that the years of experience behind me would make this venture easier, if not effortless.
While the dentistry and clinical challenges were less overwhelming for me as a more seasoned dentist, the daily management and business analytics proved once again, tough to navigate. After practicing a full day of dentistry, managing staff and every in and out of the practice, I also had my family and 2 little girls to come home to. Once the pandemic happened in 2020, staffing shortages hit my practice like a ton of bricks. Even the simplest tasks needed to be handled by me. I was in tears. I had worked so hard my young adult life for this? No doctor deserves to be under this much pressure. I wanted to change how dental practices could run. I wanted to simplify things, lessen stress and give back to my healthcare community. So the best way to do this was through technology.
I built an intelligent practice management system that would help not only with daily tasks that need to be done in order to deliver excellent patient care, but also serve up business analytics in a simple, actionable and transparent way so doctors could stop buckling under pressure like I did, and start being transformative, profitable, and at ease.
Prerak Patel is a successful entrepreneur, a business professional, and a visionary. He is passionate about technology and solving complex problems. After graduating from the University of Houston with B.S in Computer Engineering Technology (2003), Prerak set himself on an entrepreneurial path immediately. He foresaw that Internet and technology would have an extreme impact on any business model at any stage, whether it be a start-up, mid-level or an established large company.