Anderson to expand practice to NYM facility

By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

When Dr. Rachel K. Grieger, DDS announced her impending retirement last year with a call for buyers for her practice, several people in the community reached out to whoever they knew in the profession to see if anyone would want to take over her dental practice in New York Mills. The hope was to keep the small-town business that attracts so many people to town in the community. 

With time to find a buyer dwindling, the business’ future seemed bleak as no one stepped forward to take up the offer. When January arrived, it looked as if the longtime staple business in NY Mills would close for good.

In a last minute plan to save the business from closure, Tammy Anderson, owner and operator of Perham Family Dentistry in Perham, reached out to Grieger about buying the practice. As a small-town dentist herself, Anderson didn’t want to see the only dental office in NY Mills close.

“The main reason I purchased it, I had heard that nobody was purchasing the practice and I just hated to see a small-town dental office just close up shop, so that’s ultimately why I decided to purchase it,” said Anderson, stressing the importance of small-town business.

“We’re not a big company that’s buying this,” assured Tammy’s husband, John. “We’re here for the long run.”

Anderson graduated from Perham High School in 1988, before attending North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) and earning her Associate of Science degree in Dental Hygiene. Prior to graduation, Anderson job shadowed under Dr. Grieger’s tutelage when she still worked at the clinic in town.

“I needed to shadow a dentist, so I came and worked with her for a week, so I’ve known her ever since,” said Anderson.

Anderson worked for 10 years as a hygienist before pursuing her dream of becoming a dentist. She completed her undergraduate studies at Minnesota State University-Moorhead (MSUM) and went on to graduate with honors from the University of Minnesota dental school in May of 2007. Anderson was immediately recruited back to her hometown of Perham due to a shortage of dentists and opened Perham Family Dentistry in June of 2007.

“One of the biggest things is that Dr. Grieger has agreed to stay on part-time,” said Anderson. “We don’t know how long that’s going to be, but we’re going to just carry on with the systems that are in place here. The staff is staying. Holly Gudmundson is the main full-time person so that’s huge, because of course, she’s been here for 20 years. We love Holly, so the fact that she’s staying here full-time is huge.”

The dental practice will have a name change to match its sister branch in Perham: Mills Family Dentistry. Beginning April 1, Anderson will take on her new patients in NY Mills, while Grieger works alongside her in a part-time role.

“We’re super pumped Dr. Grieger and Holly and some other staff members are staying,” said Anderson. “I believe in keeping employees local as much as possible. Staffing issues are a problem in dentistry, as well as any industry. Now we’re fully staffed in Perham and I’m comfortable that we’re going to be able to add some staff over here too.”

Anderson admitted that since she only made the decision to purchase the business in the past few months, she hasn’t had as much time as she’d have liked to complete all of the required steps for taking over the reigns to the dental office. Gudmundson worked throughout March to assist Anderson on the insurance side of the change-over, as well as other transitional efforts necessary before April 1.

“Normally starting a dental office, you usually have a real preparation for getting your i’s dotted and t’s crossed, but I only decided to purchase this within the last couple of months,” said Anderson. “One of the things that helped make the decision is that Rachel’s got good equipment in place, eventually I will probably be adding a few things, but she’s got a great software system, the equipment is all up-to-date, she’s got electronic records, digital x-rays, so nothing major that needs to be changed.”

Anderson mentioned that she plans on “business as usual” at the dental office and that she doesn’t plan to make any immediate changes at the NY Mills dental clinic. Slow additions and improvements are in the long-term plan, but for now it’s business as usual.

“The big thing is that we want people to be comfortable,” said Anderson. “There’s really not going to be major changes, keeping business as usual with future updates and growth. We’re really not going to rock the boat with a bunch of systems that are working really well.”

Anderson said that her practice in Perham had grown to a large enough size that she was intending on either expanding in Perham or opening up a branch office in the surrounding area, so the opportunity to purchase Grieger’s office ended up being a perfect fit for that plan.

“The cost of adding on is just crazy, so it made sense—the building is here, great location, there are lots on either side, so we did purchase those for the possibility of future expansion if we want to,” said Anderson. “Part of the purchase price of the office is the patient base that’s here. Because my timing was a little late, there have been some patients that have left already, but we’re hoping to keep most of them.”

Anderson said that any patient who has sought dental care elsewhere is welcome to return to the NY Mills office. The dental practice will also be accepting new patients, which is a plus for those who have had to seek dental care outside of the community over the past few years. 

According to Gudmundson, Dr. Grieger has not accepted new patients for about 10 years due to an already extensive patient base, only added to when Dr. Gregory Hammers retired several years ago and she absorbed his patient base as well. With Dr. Grieger working part-time as well as Dr. Anderson, there will be enough full-time coverage in the NY Mills office throughout the next few years.

“I do want people to know that we will grow, so obviously the ability to take in patients and look for future growth is there too. I have an associate in Perham, so we have two-full time dentists there, I have a dentist in school that’s coming back in two years,” said Anderson. “She’s a small-town girl, she’s very excited about coming back. Whether she works in Perham or here, between the three of us, by the time Rachel is ready to be done, we’ll have full-time coverage.”

In the extra time that Anderson will be spending in NY Mills, she is looking forward to being a member of the community and meeting new people around the area. She loves to hear the stories about her patients and their families as well as getting to know her new staff members better.

“Getting to know the community a bit better,” she said. “There are plenty of NY Mills people that I know, but I just love that whole small-town feel, I’ve already had so many people that have kids that go to school across the street that just say ‘thank you so much for keeping the practice open, my little Johnny runs across the street for his fillings,’ and you know, Holly has been known to walk the kids back to school.”

“That’s my exercise,” piped in Gudmundson, laughing. “Most of the time the kids walk faster than me, I gotta run alongside!”

Along with Anderson’s passion for small-town life and business, she also knows that affordable, quality care is not always available to everyone throughout the state. She finds it important to be able to offer those services to the areas that might not receive it otherwise.

“A big passion of mine has always been making sure that the underserved are taken care of, so keeping a small-town business is a big deal.”