Defining characteristics of financially successful orthodontists

Financially successful personality profiles in most of the business world h ave been reported to be the choleric (powerful) and the melancholy (perfect ) types, in 1996, Hughes proposed that the same relationship possibly exist s in the profession of orthodontics. The purpose of this study was to explo re whether a dominant personality profile exists for the most financially s uccessful orthodontists. A questionnaire was used to gather information reg arding the financial sophistication and the dominant personality profile of each participating orthodontist. One hundred twenty-six of the 300 surveys distributed to orthodontists were returned for a response rate of 42%, For every question, the null hypothesis of independence was tested with the ch i-square test. The nu[I hypothesis of independence was rejected for a P val ue of less than .05. The results revealed that no correlation exists betwee n the financial sophistication of orthodontists and their personality profi les. However, over two thirds of the orthodontists had the choleric (powerf ul) and the melancholy (perfect) as dominant personality types. Interesting ly, the questionnaire shed much light on factors that do contribute to fina ncial success in orthodontics. Although statistical differences are lacking in these data, certain traits about successful practitioners could be iden tified. These orthodontists (1) allow their practices to grow if it will in crease the net income, (2) view control of overhead as a key principle, (3) emphasize the competence of staff in determining the success of practice, and (4) believe in marketing. Implementation of these simple and common sen se principles in some orthodontic practices might affect the business signi ficantly.