Marianne Cohan DDS is a Nevada-based renowned dentist who runs the Summerlin Dental Solutions in Las Vegas. Prior to coming here, she lived in New York where she worked on her undergraduate and dental degrees. She attended the State University of New York at Buffalo and minored in periodontics. During this time, Dr. Cohan established herself as a young leader and won the periodontics and operative dentistry awards.
Over time, Marianne Cohan formed a reputation as one of the most reliable dentists in the Las Vegas market. She achieved this by always being available to her patients and making it a priority to resolve any emergencies immediately. Additionally, her close-knit bond with her patients, which get to fully participate in the treatment planning process, is what ensures that they continuously address their dental needs with her.
What was your best/favorite subject in school?
I always liked math and finance. These two classes came naturally to me as I enjoy solving problems. Although I did not pursue the aforementioned topics later on in my career, I am glad that I spent so much time studying the concepts. After all, math tends to find its way back into practically every job and the field of dentistry is no different. For some professionals, this presents a problem as they are not extremely proficient. In my case, however, years of loving math and doing it almost as a hobby helped prepare me to tackle the numerical problems that dentists must resolve.
What was your first job?
I spent some time working as a student assistant while getting my education in New York. The job was fairly simple and revolved around the office-related duties. These include everything from answering the phones to restocking the supplies and referring visitors to the proper person.
Where and how did you first get into the industry you currently work in?
Well, Las Vegas is where I officially started my career once I graduated. Before that, I did not have a plethora of formal experience as most of my college jobs were not tied to my current field.
How have those jobs prepared you for what you do now?
Most of them had important transferrable skills that I have been relying on for years. For instance, working as a student assistant really taught me a lot about customer service. In other words, maintaining the right amount of patience while still having enough authority over the patients is what helps maintain a successful record.
Describe the best day of work you’ve ever had.
It was a few weeks ago when I worked with a patient that needed to get a never-ending amount of repairs, replacements, and everything else that comes to mind. The session took a lot of time which, fortunately, the patient recognized with an excellent complement to our staff. The day was rewarding because I was able to restore his smile and watch him use it for the rest of the day.
How do you keep yourself motivated?
I focus on my patients and the fact that they depend on me to do my job well. After all. any minor mistake could evolve into a nightmare within a very short period of time. So, I try to emphasize the fact that someone is willing to put their faith into another individual’s hands and that type of responsibility helps push me forward.
What kind of business ideas excite you most?
The ones that are simple enough to be executed properly but not so straight-forward that they are not unique. I think that business ideas need to come with a fair dose of originality while maintaining that easy-to-build balance. Otherwise, you may get stuck trying to help turn something unrealistic into reality. The consequence? You will most likely sacrifice a decent amount of capital and your time.
Have you ever tried any unorthodox techniques to attract attention to your business?
Not yet. I never needed to use unorthodox methods to gain patients because we have a very high rate of customers who visit our practice on a daily basis. Additionally, word-of-mouth referrals have helped me establish a large list of long-term patients who come in for various reasons almost every month.
What personal achievement are you most proud of?
Winning the periodontics award when I was in school is probably the one that I am proud of the most. The reason why is the fact that this particular subspecialty is something that I essentially only pursued with a minor. So, being able to still get an award speaks volumes about my education.
What wisdom would you have liked to share with yourself when you first started out?
I would really not share much because I am a firm believer that people will learn much more when they make mistakes. Although I never made terrible errors myself, there were many instances where I fell short of my goal and thought the world was ending. After a while, however, you realize that there is almost nothing that your body cannot recover from. As far as tangible lessons, I would probably advise my younger self to take some time off and relax instead of constantly working. This could help me maintain higher levels of energy later on in my career because I would reduce the chances of getting burned out.