The door opens, and a little girl rushes into the room.
'Where is Auntie Inna?' little Slava asks. Auntie Inna steps forward and pets Slava, saying, 'Run along into the office, I'll bring you your present.'
An idyllic scene in a Ukrainian home or workplace? No, little Slava has come for a checkup at Olymp-S dental surgery, and Auntie Inna – Dr. Inna Kleshchova – is her dentist.
The prospect of a visit to the dentist is enough to make many a brave heart quail. Even in the West, where the best and most modern techniques are used, the fear is enough to make a lot of people skip their six-month checkup. In Ukraine, where many perceive dentistry to be less developed, and dentists lacking in equipment and skills, the thought of going under the drill holds still more terrors.
That doesn't mean one can't get the best dental treatment in Kyiv: American Medical Centers boasts some of the best qualified dentists and best equipment to be found anywhere, but at prices beyond the reach of ordinary Ukrainians.
So there is a niche in the market for top-quality dental services at affordable prices, and Olymp-S is aiming to fill it.
'Our [services] have a unique feature,' said Olena Murashyna, chief dentist at Olymp-S. 'We're a family-oriented clinic. People visit us, bringing their wives, children and friends. Most of our clients first came here two or three years ago. So this helps improve our treatment – we're able to track the medical histories of our patients and choose the most appropriate materials and treatments.'
According to Murashyna, Olymp-S is skimping on advertising and instead investing in the best dental equipment and materials. This allows Olymp-S to build a reputation for quality, while it relies on word of mouth to win more clients.
'Money-wise, our priorities are to get the best materials and make the dentist's working conditions more convenient,' Murashyna said. 'We decided to save on things like office equipment and advertising.'
Another important Olymp-S investment is its staff – four highly regarded Kyiv dentists employed full-time.
'We've got four dentists in our surgery, who work closely with their assistants, and all our medical workers have four or five internationally recognized qualifications.'
The practice was founded under the name Oktan in 1996 as a partnership between two dental practices.
'It was a 50-50 investment,' said Olymp-S director Lyudmyla Maslova, although she was shy about naming the initial investment figure.
The business fared well until the financial crisis hit in the fall of 1998. The summer is always a slow time for dental practices, as many potential clients are on vacation. The financial crisis came at the worst possible time, and Maslov's half of the dental practice began to fail.
'Our co-founders were in a better situation,' Maslova said. 'They wanted to split the business, so Oktan broke up. It was fairly painless, as we already had separate premises.'
Renamed Olymp-S, the dental practice hovered close to death as the fall of 1998 wore on. But refusing to give in, the doctors pumped their own scarce funds into the business.
'When the doctors brought in their own money, I felt like crying – I was so moved,' Maslova said.
After pulling through this critical period, Olymp-S started to reconstruct its business.
'Even in economic crisis conditions, we've managed to expand, and we now have two surgeries,' Maslova said. 'By the end of the first quarter of 1999 we returned to our pre-crisis level of profitability of 20 percent. We haven't changed our prices since April 1 this year, so our prices are quite attractive for the city center (the practice is located near Olympic Stadium). I don't think Hr 65 to Hr 130 is very expensive to have a cavity filled.'
Complete courses of treatment, which some patients have to undergo, are more pricey, Maslova admits. But Olymp-S, a member of the Ukrainian Dental Association, offers a two-year warranty for fillings and a 10 percent to 20 percent discount for regular clients and family members.
But discounts aren't the only tool Olymp-S uses to build customer loyalty; patients, surprisingly, appear to enjoy their visits.
'It's my third year of coming here,' said Vadym Petrunenko, Slava's father. 'Each time I visit Olena [Murashyna] … I just want to sleep when she works on my teeth. My wife and kids also love coming here – just look at Slava, she's so happy about her present.'
'We have a system of presents for kids,' Kleshchova said. 'Usually these are toothpaste, toothbrushes, 'I love my teeth' badges, etc. It's hard to make a child feel at ease in the dental chair from the first visit. But I do my best to make them like dentistry, and care for their teeth from childhood.'
Kids loving their dentist? That's quite an achievement, and Olymp-S hopes to build on it by specializing in pediatric dentistry, although it also now offers advanced cosmetic dentistry for both children and adults. An Olymp-S' consultant, Maryna Hubanova, is one of Ukraine's leading orthodontists.
'We are planning to become a kids dentistry clinic, but with some surgeries for adults,' Maslova said. 'This will be one of the best kids clinics in Ukraine. Everywhere in the world dental services for kids are much more expensive than those for adults. As soon as people realize it's better to solve dental problems as they arise – in childhood – we'll be a real success.'
