116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
My Biz: Dental Repair Guy fixes dental tools
Mike Nicholls opened his North Liberty business after retiring
NORTH LIBERTY — At the workbench in the basement of his North Liberty home, Mike Nicholls peers through an illuminated magnifying lens at an air-powered dental tool.
“This one’s got a problem,” Nicholls said. “I’ll show you. I’ll open it up.”
Using a wrench about the size his thumb, Nicholls opened the tool’s head, revealing a space the size of a pea. Nested inside was a minuscule turbine, an even tinier bit of which was failing.
“There’s a bearing on the back end, and one on the front end,” Nicholls said as he peered through a lighted magnifier lens. “You can see it’s kind of dark in there. See the debris that’s built up? That’s what causes the bearings to fail if you don’t properly maintain it.”
There are electrically powered dental tools, but Nicholls specializes in those driven by high-pressure compressed air spinning the tiny turbine wheel to 350,000 revolutions per minute.
The turbine housing Nicholls opened had a grayish cast, tiny particles built up over a year’s use that can get baked on when dental tools are sterilized in a 275-degree autoclave. Nicholls cleans heavier accumulations with an ultrasonic cleaner.
“This one had debris, so I had to clean that out,” he said. “When I find stuff like this debris, I’ll take a picture of it with my phone and attach it to my estimate. I like the part about troubleshooting and finding answers for them, rather than saying ‘Go buy a new one.’ These are $900.”
Retirement job
Nicholls, 73, has been keeping powered dental tools — handpieces — properly maintained since 2008, when he started looking for a retirement occupation.
Born and raised in Wellman, he’d moved to Cedar Rapids, where he owned the Donutland chain, which he sold to move to Chicago to work in sales. After several years there, he and his wife, Priscilla Sackett, wanted to return to Iowa to be nearer their grandchildren.
“I was looking for something I could do from my home, and I wouldn’t have any employees, and it would be a type of business that would be repeat,” he said.
An online search led Nicholls to dental handpiece repair and a franchise based in Portland, Ore., where he went for two weeks of training.
“From there, I just learned it on my own and made phone calls,” Nicholls said.
Nicholls first went to dentists’ offices in a van outfitted with a work area.
“I got older, and it’s cold in the winter and hot in the summer,” he said. “So now they mail it to me. I give them a mailer, and they fill out a form and they put it in the mail.”
National market
Big dental-supply corporations can outfit new dental offices with a complete suite of equipment, often with a service contract.
“They’ve got autoclaves, they’ve got X-ray equipment, they’ve got chairs and all the handpieces they need,” Nicholls said. “But the problem with big corporations was that they’re slow in getting the repair done. Now they mail it, and I get it back to them within 24 hours of when I receive it.”
The approach gives Nicholls a national market.
The handpiece on his bench on a recent morning was sent from a dental academy in Brooklyn, N.Y., that sends a monthly shipment. Still, he likes to stay in touch with his local clients, visiting several on a regular basis for on-site testing and maintenance.
“The dentists are just amazing, nice people, and they’re under a lot of stress,” he said. “It’s the most stressful job. They create a positive environment in their dental offices. I like that, going into the offices and meeting the staff and the dentists.”
Dental Handpiece Repair Guy
Owner: Mike Nicholls
Address: 795 Broadmoor Dr., North Liberty
Phone: (888) 723-7307
Website: https://dentalhandpiecerepairguy.com/
Know a business that should be considered for a “My Biz” feature? Let us know by emailing mary.sharp@thegazette.com.
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