By Robin Chan

DR NG Chin Siau is no mere dentist - he calls himself a 'dentalpreneur'.

This is no idle boast when you consider that the 40-year-old has rapidly built an empire of 35 branches of his Q&M dental clinics across the island.

'My friends tease me by calling me McDental,' he says sheepishly, while taking time out at a McDonald's outlet near his Bukit Batok clinic.

But has Dr Ng, a 16-year dental veteran, bitten off more than he can chew?

Definitely not, it seems, and there is more to come. The dentist turned chief executive talked passionately during a two-hour interview about expanding the Q&M empire abroad, with a major focus on China. He would also like to list Q&M on the stock market.

It all began with an early setback.

'I was a medical school reject,' said Dr Ng, who left the then-Hwa Chong Junior College with three As but failed to get through the interview.

'It was a joint interview for medicine and dentistry. Three of the four interviewers were doctors, one was a dentist. The dentist was the only one who accepted me!' he said.

'When I was about 13, I had to have root canal treatment on my front tooth. The water in Malaysia isn't as well fluoridated as in Singapore.

'After I was treated, I was quite impressed. I thought to myself, 'The bill was quite expensive, I could do with money like that!''

Dr Ng, a permanent resident, was born in 1968 in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur but left his family home to study here when he was just 11.

But it was not until the third year of dental school at the National University of Singapore that he really bought into the idea of being a dentist.

'It was a really tough time. There was a lot of hand work involved and I thought that I was quite good at it.'

Dr Ng attributes his steady hands to his days as an athlete. He played rugby, badminton and volleyball.

His is not exactly a classic rags- to-riches story, but he nevertheless was anxious to give something back to his far-from-wealthy family.

His father was a furniture businessman from China's Fujian province, who fell on tough times. Dr Ng covered his university expenses with government scholarships and loans.

When he first arrived in Singapore, he lived with a family friend but, three years later, moved out to live on his own in Ang Mo Kio while studying at River Valley High School.

'I remember I had to take three buses to school every day,' he said. 'And I would sleep with the light on every night, because I was scared to sleep alone.'

That early independence was a sign of things to come.

In 1994, after 2 1/2 years at the Ministry of Health and the former Institute of Dental Health, he landed a job with Thong Hoe Dental in Bukit Batok.

But after just two years and aged 28, he bought the clinic and renamed it Q&M Dental Surgery.

Dr Ng and his wife Foo Siew Jiuan, also 40, were so committed to the business that they sold their three-room HDB flat to pool $180,000 - all of their savings.

'I wanted to be my own boss,' he said. 'I wanted to call the shots.'

Why Q&M? In Chinese, the characters Quan Min mean 'for the nation', or 'for all people'.

The superstitious Dr Ng said he consulted a feng shui master who said the 11 strokes used in writing the two Chinese characters were good for him, as he was born on the 11th day of the 11th month in the Chinese calendar.

He acknowledges that pouring all the couple's savings into the business was a big gamble but in those early days, Dr Ng was reassured by the small but steady following of patients he had garnered.

Still, things were not easy at first. He worked seven days a week: from 9am to 9pm from Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm on weekends.

Then in 1997, Malaysian-born Ng Jet Wei, a fellow dental school graduate and now deputy CEO of Q&M, joined him in the business.

Two years later, they pooled their money to set up more clinics, capitalising on the low rents that came in the wake of the Asian financial crisis.

That year, the two Dr Ngs added four clinics - first in Toa Payoh, followed by Sims Place, Kallang and Sembawang.

By then, he was beginning to attract not only more patients, but also more dentists. 'The dentists' circle is very small,' he said. 'People trusted me when I did my recruitment.'

Personality

His easy-going personality may have also played a part.

'I am a 'yes' man,' he says laughing. 'I can't say no to anyone.' He prides himself on being a people person, which has served him well as a boss and dentist.

'In the dental business, you are dealing with a group of highly intelligent people who also have very big egos,' he said, adding that some of his employees often ask for more than they need. 'But at least I've learnt to say no recently.'

By 2005, Q&M had blossomed to 30 clinics with 374 staff, including 76 dentists. It has quickly moved onto a more 'corporate' footing and this year, it appointed a board of directors to make the decisions for what has become a network of 35 clinics staffed by 411 employees, including 87 dentists.

Revenue last year rose 8.5 per cent to $26.4 million, with net profit of $4 million.

The clinics serve 250,000 patients, or close to 6 per cent of Singapore's population, says Dr Ng.

'We employ about 6 per cent of Singapore's 1,300 dentists, but serve about 12 per cent of Singaporean adults who visit the dentist at least once a year,' he said.

'Since 2006, we have had 9,000 new patients a month.

'I am the founder. This is my baby. I want to see it grow further. It is only one of a few dental groups in South-east Asia that is this size.'

He plans to expand to 60 clinics in Singapore at the most, but slowly.

'The Singapore market is already saturated. There are 600 dental clinics in Singapore for a population of, what, 4.6 million people? In Shanghai, there are also 600 dental clinics but for 23 million people - five times the population.

'The China market is going to be my focus for the next five to 10 years. There are Chinese who are willing to spend.'

He has begun discussing ideas with various private clinics in Chinese cities.

His ultimate goal? He looks around, then leans forward and says in a hushed tone: 'We want to go for an IPO (initial public offer).'

Perhaps to the relief of his competitors, he adds: 'But the market is very bad, perhaps in a few years we can talk about this. For now, it is premature.'

In his mind, every decision is clear. From the time he decided to live on his own at 13. Or when he chose to marry his girlfriend when he was 26.

Despite his success in the dental field, he is not sure he wants his children - three daughters aged 12, 11 and four and a two-year-old son - to succeed him.

'They could be dentists, but I would tell them not to be a 'dentalpreneur' like me. It's not easy,' he said.

'It's really about handling the people around you. I think playing team sports, my childhood independence, all made me a very tough person.'

He thinks his success will spur more private group practices to emerge here.

'This will be good for patients because they can get better treatment under a group rather than from just one solo practitioner,' he said.

'While I was working at the Institute of Dental Health, one night I took out the Yellow Pages and a map and I placed a pin to mark every dental clinic in Singapore.'

Today, his clinics would dominate that map.

'Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that I would be where I am today,' he said.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on December 17, 2008.