Larkhall Dental Institute Secures Future Success with Buy-Out

A MODERN DENTAL PRACTICE SERVING MORE THAN 5000 PATIENTS AT THE HEART OF A SOUTH LANARKSHIRE COMMUNITY HAS SECURED AN IMPORTANT BUY-OUT.

LARKHALL Dental Institute has joined Scotland’s largest dental group, Clyde Munro, which is now sitting at a total of 38 practices across the country, 21 of which were acquired during 2019.

Founded just eight years ago, Larkhall is a forward thinking practice offering the community NHS, private and cosmetic treatments.  It caught the eye of Jim Hall, founder and Chief Executive of Clyde Munro, as being a perfect fit for Clyde Munro’s network of family practices.

Previously owned and operated by experienced husband and wife team, Callum and Heather Graham, the couple have driven the practice to success after starting from scratch and without a client base in 2012.

After opening with just one chair in operation, to now introducing its third surgical room, Larkhall has continued on a path of strong growth from the outset as one of three practices owned and run by the Grahams, the other two of which were sold separately.

Callum, who hails from Strathaven, said: “Larkhall became our third practice when we opened the doors almost eight years ago now. Starting off without any patients was certainly a challenge but with our previous combined experience, we managed to hit the ground running and it hasn’t stopped growing ever since.

“We now have a huge range of pioneering dental and facial aesthetic treatments that we can offer to patients along with a full-time hygienist.

“It was clear from the first time I met Jim that we had the same vision for Larkhall’s future. We shared a sense of direction in terms of growing the business and continuing to expand the treatments and services that we can offer to patients which was really important to all of us.”

Jim Hall, founder and Chief Executive of the Clyde Munro Group, said: “We are really happy that Callum is continuing to stay involved by running the day to day operations at Larkhall. His hard work and dedication is very much embedded at the heart of the business, an ethos that we strive towards across all of our practices.

“Callum has built great relationships with his loyal patients, so we are delighted that they will continue to see the same welcoming face and receive the same outstanding service.

“He is a highly regarded dentist within the industry and he truly is integral to the success of this transition. Looking at the next steps for Callum, we hope to get him involved in training and mentoring programmes across Clyde Munro between practicing at Larkhall so the whole group can benefit from his innovative expertise.”

Callum said: “It has been my goal for the past few years to take a back step from management and focus on practicing so this really is the ideal situation for me and the outcome I have been working towards.

“Selling the practice to Clyde Munro was an easy decision for us, we know that the practice is in safe hands and nothing dramatic is going to change for the patients either, the only difference they might notice will be our uniforms.

“Larkhall was the final of our three practices to sell so I’m now able to continue working with my tools which is what I love. It is particularly exciting to be on board with the ever-expanding Clyde Munro group which I am sure will present some fantastic opportunities for Larkhall in terms of growth and patient care.”

Treatments offered at Larkhall Dental Institute include facial aesthetics, laser treatments, dermal fillers, plasma treatment and implants. Larkhall is also one of few practices in Scotland that has a Cerec machine for 3D teeth scanning.

Clyde Munro is an entirely Scottish-based and Scottish-focused dental group. Since being founded by Jim Hall in 2015 it has enjoyed rapid growth and now treats more than 300,000 patients across the country.

Practices which join the group retain the names and identities they have built over many years while benefiting from help with business functions including HR, accounts, marketing, compliance and facilities management.

Its ambition is to become Scotland’s “local dentist”, operating an expanding network of family dentists across Scotland, with each devoted to providing the best dental care, while reflecting the needs and character of its community.