Watches, chocolates and banking may soon be joined by cosmetic dentistry as the key sectors associated with Switzerland – at least if the sisters behind Swiss Smile have anything to do with it. voyager caught up with them as they prepare to expand into the Middle East and USA

WHEN THE SWISS-based sisters Haleh and Golnar Abivardi both chose to qualify in dentistry, they didn’t imagine they would go on to create a new business model for the industry. But since setting up their company Swiss Smile in 2001, their concept of a one-stop-shop for medical and cosmetic dentistry is one which has left their balance sheet gleaming as much as their customers’ teeth. Now the sisters, who were born in Iran but live in Zurich, plan to roll the concept out globally.

They have gone on to garner business recognition (such as a Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year Award in Switzerland in 1997) and expand from one clinic in Zurich’s rail station to several international ones, including London and St Moritz. They will soon launch several more in Switzerland and the UK, with New York, Dubai and Madrid to follow next year.

“When we first set up, we found that people were having basic dental appointments with us before going somewhere else for cosmetic dentistry, because how can you have beautiful veneers on teeth that need root canal treatment?

“As a result we expanded the business by developing both sides: having healthy teeth and gums as well as the aesthetic part of a nice smile. When Pricewaterhouse did our audit for 2006-7, they found our turnover had risen by 62% from the previous year. This is partly to do with our expansion of several clinics – and we will have another five new openings over the next 12 months – and also because the aesthetic treatments are much more expensive. You get a better turnover from performing cosmetic dentistry than doing a normal filling.

“In Zurich, our teeth whitening treatments have risen from 20% to 50% of the services we offer. In London it started off at a high 40% and within eight months reached 60% overall. However, we’ve still maintained very reasonable costs for our aesthetic treatments without compromising on quality, which was a deliberate strategy.

“People think that we are in London’s Mayfair and therefore are extremely expensive. But our research showed that some of the private clinics in London charged £500-£1,000 for teeth whitening; we chose to offer it from £195. Dental implants in certain Harley Street clinics were quoted at £4,000 whereas our price is from £1,300, so it’s an extreme difference. How do we offer those prices? Because our brand has grown so much we are able to negotiate special prices on our products and we pass those discounts onto the patients. Also, all our practitioners are self-employed and we keep lease rents reasonable.

“The dentists we brought to the clinics are specialists in their field – after all, the Swiss are generally known for high quality – and therefore it meant that if a patient needed to be referred for other work, they would be seen not only by a leading dentist but that the specialists would discuss the treatment so that they had the whole picture of what this patient needed and was getting. It wasn’t like the old days where you went to your neighbourhood dentist for regular check-ups and then a different clinic if you had wisdom teeth problems and then yet another place if you needed your teeth whitened – it could all be done under one roof.

“So the appointments were tailored to suit the patient and right from the start we opened 365 days a year, and wanted to have enough staff to cater for emergency walk-in treatment. Where we also differed was that we had state-of-the-art equipment. But instead of looking like a sterile clinic, we wanted the atmosphere to be more like a boutique hotel so that it removed the fear that many people have of visiting the dentist.

“That’s why many people used to fly specially to Switzerland to have their dental treatment done with us. In our Swiss clinics, the ‘dental tourists’ make up 30% of our customer base. They also account for a significant amount of the turnover because many spend from £20,000-£40,000 on cosmetic dentistry – we call it a Porsche in the mouth.”

“The organisers of the Veuve Clicquot Swiss awards contacted us and asked us to put in an application, which we did. We had studied dentistry, not how to be businesswomen, so did not imagine we would be recognised for our business skills. So when we won it we were so thrilled. The award also really helped to promote the business as it made a lot more people, both in Switzerland and abroad, aware of us. Until then, we were well-known in Zurich but after March 2007 we saw a faster turnover, as patients started coming to our clinic from Geneva, Paris and Lugano – with 300 to 400 patients a day.

“To run Swiss Smile with my sister, we separate the areas of the clinics, marketing and finance. The clinics are in my hands but we have a shared vision for them. The sector with most growth is definitely the cosmetic industry. Over four years ago, when we started to offer teeth whitening services, we carried out about three bleachings a day. Today, it is between 20 and 40 a day. What surprised me is that 50% of those were for men, mainly executives and senior businessmen. Men form 30% of the overall business, but our clients for other treatments range from young children to grandmothers.

“Another way of developing the brand was to launch our own product range. There are now 11 products, including toothpaste, flossing tape and our special toothbrushes, but we’ve designed them like accessories that you would show off in your bathroom. Originally they were exclusive to our clinics but then other businesses approached us to stock them, including luxury perfumery chain Marionnaud throughout their 120 stores in Switzerland and five-star hotels.”