Leanna Ellis meets Sameer and Shivani Patel to discuss the enduring success of E11even Dental.
E11even Dental, run by Sameer and Shivani Patel and Anthony Lam, offers its patients a zen-like experience. As soon as you enter its doors on London’s Wimpole Street, you find yourself in a calming space that instantly puts you at ease.
It’s this relaxing, eco-friendly space, alongside its motivated team of staff working collaboratively, that has played a large part in E11even’s success story – one that has landed it multiple awards and a loyal patient following.
Its three founders go back a long way – Sameer and Shivani are married, while Anthony is a long-term friend – and E11even is the product of their combined vision. And it’s a vision that has proved to be a success.
E11even has grown from its beginnings as a three-surgery project focusing on orthodontics in 2009 to a multidisciplinary practice with nine surgeries. ‘E11even was initially an orthodontic practice,’ says Sameer. ‘So, the patients, once they were having their orthodontics, actually wanted more. And that is what we’re seeing in today’s world, where people have some type of alignment orthodontics, and then they want more.
‘So that is what we saw in 2009/2010 when we first acquired the business. Shivani first started out as the orthodontist, I was then doing all of the subsidiary stuff as a general dentist, and we got busier. We had three clinicians. Fast forward a number of years, and we’re now 18 of us in the building, and really we have all the specialists under one roof.’
Teamwork
It’s the patient-focused teamwork at E11even that Sameer credits as a major factor in their success.
‘Collaboration is really important,’ he says. ‘You know, this morning we had a patient come in, and the periodontist was in here, the orthodontist was in here, I was in here, and the patient feels like they’re being looked after.’
E11even started out at 11 Devonshire Place in London, but a change was forced upon the team in 2021, when the building was forced to close due to structural issues. After months of working out of other dentists’ practices, by the beginning of 2023 they had settled into their current spot at 74 Wimpole Street (‘Seven plus four Wimpole Street; we’re still 11 somehow,’ says Sameer).
Not only was this move out of necessity, but it also allowed room for growth in the number of surgeries as well as a larger staff area. ‘In today’s world, people are struggling to grow because they can’t retain and attract the best quality staff, auxiliary staff, to stay with them,’ says Sameer.
‘Always high on our list has been customer quality as well as customer service, but now we’ve extended that to the people that really look after our patients, and that’s our staff.’ This focus, says Sameer, meant that the whole team understood the vision of E11even and worked towards it from the very beginning.
‘I still look back on all the meetings we had,’ says Sameer. ‘They understood the vision very well. And now we’ve created something that is the sum of the parts of all the people working in it. But the thread was always to be relaxed, to be organic, to try and be as eco-centric as possible.
‘I really believe that the old days of micromanagement have gone, and I feel that they should know their role. We should, as leaders, outline what is expected from them and let them go and do it in their own way. That’s really our style of leadership here. And that allows them to create an ownership of their own role.
‘And really, I think that is a testament to the longevity we’ve had with our staff.’
A shared vision
This level of trust and cohesion between the team at E11even was no doubt helped by the strong vision of its principals. Shivani has known Anthony’s now-wife Angela since their university days, and then Sameer joined them to work together as house officers.
Anthony and Shivani would later take a postgraduate orthodontics course together, and then he and Angela married. It was Sameer and Anthony who first found the original E11even practice while Shivani was on maternity leave.
‘I remember Sameer bought the practice without me seeing it, him and Anthony,’ says Shivani. ‘They were so excited: “Shivani, we found this place, it’s amazing! We’re going to buy with Anthony. It’s called E11even, it’s an orthodontic practice.” I said: “Who’s going to work there?” He goes: “You are!”
‘So that was four months of maternity then that’s how the story started, the boys bought it and pushed me into it!’
Since first opening their practice, the husband and wife team have really learned to play to their individual strengths. Shivani says: ‘Over these 15 years, we’ve kind of evolved. It’s almost like a dance that we have, because we’ve now grown together at the practice, with the practice, with the team. The patients love that we complement each other, because Sameer is the foundation of the patient smile, and I’m the one that kind of constructs it as we go along, and then he finishes it. So, it works really well.’
Part of the cohesion among the principals has been acknowledging each other’s personality types. Sameer tends to be the extrovert, coming up with big ideas, while the more introverted Shivani is more likely to be the one with the practical strengths to bring those plans to fruition.
‘There’s a great book called Rocket Fuel, and it talks about how the CEO and the COO of every business, from McDonald’s through to Walt Disney through to E11even, whoever that is, needs a visionary and a systems operator,’ says Sameer. ‘The brains don’t overlap, actually, because they’re just different paths. I’m a general dentist, Shivani’s an orthodontist, so it’s quite complementary.’
‘There’s a mutual respect between Anthony and Sameer professionally and as friends as well,’ adds Shivani. ‘And again, they’re also different personalities, yin and yang. So, they match very well. And I think they lead very well as well. You have a bit of fire and then you have a bit of calm.’
Eco-centric dentistry
An enduring legacy of the trio’s background and cohesion has been E11even’s focus on eco-friendly dentistry, which they agreed was a shared principle from the beginning and is something they have kept at the heart of E11even. Even the cups patients use to rinse are made of metal and put through the steriliser.
‘They’re not plastic, they’re not even paper, because that’s taken a whole heap of energy and water to create and recycle,’ says Sameer. ‘We’ve looked at every area of our business to try to be as eco-centric as we can be. All of our staff have signed up to the charter of coming in on public transport, electric car, electric vehicle, or whatever that is. So that is the way we behave.
‘And then we only order once a week. We’re reducing the number of deliveries to the business. So, everything is based on this eco-centric nature. All businesses should have a responsibility in today’s world.’
The success of E11even has led to a multitude of awards. At last year’s Private Dentistry Awards alone, the team picked up the coveted prize for Practice of the Year Overall, among three others.
‘I think the team feel that what we’ve achieved and what we’re doing is being recognised,’ says Sameer. ‘You’ve got to go through a journey to write award submissions, and that journey has actually been the key to success for us, moving our practice forward.’
‘Awards are great in many ways,’ he continues. ‘Then, obviously, having a celebration with the team, that’s amazing, as is being able to share that with your patients and for your patients to know that you are above and beyond.’
‘The awards have given us a community,’ he adds. ‘I think FMC have done an amazing job to create a bigger fraternity within the dental industry that comes together, celebrates, congratulates, and really that hasn’t been done for many years in the past.’
‘It’s a way of reflecting back on what you’ve done,’ says Shivani. ‘Winning the award doesn’t mean you’ve done it all. It means, OK, how can we do the next thing better? It’s a way of then planning the future.’
Reflection and improvement
However, such successes have not led to the team resting on their laurels. In fact, E11even has not put forward any submissions for this year’s Private Dentistry Awards, choosing instead to focus on their work and their ongoing journey towards improvement.
This fits with what Sameer says is their ongoing reflection on the work they do and how they can continue to improve it. ‘That started very early, when I was playing a lot of sport,’ says Sameer. ‘I would analyse how I could have done that better.
‘It’s the same if I’ve done a veneer case at work, I’d look at the X-rays, look at the pictures, and if there is any way I can improve. I’ve seen that as a trend within really high performing people.’
To have such a focus requires heaps of motivation, something the team feel they have plenty of. Shivani says: ‘A few weeks ago, our daughter asked us: “What don’t you like about your work?” And we’re all at the dining table, and we looked at each other and said: “Nothing.”
‘It’s taken all these years to create somewhere that we don’t have to think about the night before or worry about. Over time, it’s become seamless. It’s taken a few bumps to get there, but because it’s so seamless, and the environment that we’ve been allowed to create is so pleasant to work with, I think that, in itself, is a motivation.’
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