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When Dr Jenny Liu started Happy Dentistry in 2023, she decided to do things her way. She’s been winning business awards ever since. By Frank Leggett
When Dr Jenny Liu purchased a practice at the end of 2022, her life was blowing up. A long-term relationship had ended, her dog was hit by a car, and in the middle of that, she bought a business that was quietly stagnating. While there was some patient goodwill, she felt like she was starting over from scratch with the new practice.
The first thing she did was gut the premises, update the interior with a contemporary design, and add OPG and CBCT units along with other digital systems. Happy Dentistry, located in the heart of Melbourne, opened its doors in early 2023. While it started as a one-practitioner business, it now has seven dentists on staff.
Winning ways
Just over three years on, Happy Dentistry has won a slew of awards including Business of the Year, Young Entrepreneur of the Year and the Start-up/New Business Award at the 2024 Melbourne Business Network Awards. The practice was also a winner at the 2025 Australian Small Professional Business Champion Awards, and also at last year’s Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards.
“Times are changing and Australian dentistry is progressing at a rapid pace,” Dr Liu says.
“It is well known that businesses struggle when they don’t keep pace with current advances. Whether it’s skills, technology, digital workflows or automated offices, practice owners need to keep across everything and embrace change. They don’t have to apply every single thing to their business but need to be cognisant of what’s happening.”
New perspectives
Dr Liu places great importance on being open and authentic in how she engages with her client base.
“I’m Chinese and Happy Dentistry is proudly bilingual,” she says. “I have a lot of Chinese patients, so I definitely tapped into that market. Our website is in English and Chinese and our phone messages are in both languages. I post on Chinese and mainstream social media. I also believe your beliefs should not be compromised by your business. A couple of patients asked if we could display LGBTQ+ Pride flags in our waiting room. They’ve been there for a while now.”
Dr Liu believes that success lies in simply providing the best service possible. She’s a firm believer in the leaky bucket theory that states businesses are always losing customers, so you have to add an equal number of new customers to keep the bucket full.
“You can’t just focus on what’s coming in, you also have to focus on what’s going out,” she says. “The best way to keep patients is to provide quality care in a friendly atmosphere. This results in the best type of marketing there is—word of mouth.”
Every dentist has their own way of doing things. It’s important to be aware of how your business operates and not to get stuck in a rut. If something isn’t working then change the way you do it.
Dr Jenny Liu, Happy Dentistry
One of the most important things to improve a business, Dr Liu explains, is to look at things with a new perspective.
“As a dentist and business owner, you need to put yourself in the patient’s shoes,” she says. “And not just the patient—your staff too. Creating a nice working environment leads to happier staff who support the business. Getting all bent out of shape because a staff member is charging their phone or taking a personal call at work is ridiculous. There is no value in it.”
Preferred provider
Soon after Happy Dentistry opened, Dr Liu decided to become a preferred provider clinic.
“We signed an agreement with the insurance companies that allows them to essentially cap prices for patients who carry their insurance,” she says. “As a new clinic, that worked well for us, bringing in many patients.”
With no existing business structure for Dr Liu to follow, she was free to go her own way as she built a new client base at Happy Dentistry.
“I was willing to try everything,” she says. “If it worked, great. If it didn’t, then I dropped it. We signed up for Health Engine and paid for Google Ads. We also partnered with a new healthcare platform called Doctify. They all worked nicely. I tried utilising AI-based Instagram ads but that was a complete washout.”
Changing demographics
Dr Liu, who was born in Xinjiang in China and moved to Australia when she was eight years old, graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2018. She then worked as an associate until purchasing her practice in 2022. Throughout the entire COVID-19 lockdowns, when many dentists found it impossible to find work, she remained constantly busy.
“During that time, I was exposed to a lot of emergency work,” Dr Liu says. “It helped me understand that every dentist has their own way of doing things. It’s important to be aware of how your business operates and not to get stuck in a rut. If something isn’t working, then change the way you do it.”
Dr Liu believes the Australian dental profession is moving in the right direction but also notes the changing demographics of providers.
“Australia is a diverse nation that embraces immigration,” she says. “These days, the profession is seeing more young, female dentists of Asian, Middle Eastern and Indian descent. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in regard to the style of future practices and the care offered.”
In the dentistry gender divide, there’s a noted swing occurring. A Dental Board of Australia report states that in 2024/25, female dentists made up 57 per cent of dentists in Australia.
Good night
A major interest of Dr Liu’s is the dental management of obstructive sleep apnoea. She has earned a Fellowship in Dental Sleep Medicine from the Australasian Sleep Association and believes the issue is massively undiagnosed and unreported. Her interest stems from her own genetic predisposition to the issue.
“My dad suffered from sleep apnoea and I also have the condition,” Dr Liu says. “In my 20s, I wasn’t breathing well and even fell asleep at the wheel of my car. I began studying sleep apnoea as part of the journey to fix myself.”
Dr Liu has undertaken treatments that she recommends to her patients, including having her deviated septum fixed, her tonsils removed and wearing a Mandibular Advancement Splint.
“People with sleep apnoea often have no knowledge of what’s happening while they sleep,” she says. “It’s frequently considered an issue that affects overweight, middle-aged men but young women are just as likely to be affected. Sleep apnoea is a spectrum disease, ranging from harmless to very dangerous.”
Community minded
Even though Happy Dentistry has only been operating for just over two years, the growth continues at such a rapid pace that Dr Liu is already looking at relocating the business. “We’ve grown rapidly and our current location is already at its limit,” Dr Liu says. “We’ve simply run out of room. I’m hoping to move to a larger building soon. There is a site just across the road that would be perfect.”
Dr Liu also works as a clinical demonstrator at Melbourne Dental School where she teaches foundational skills. She intends to further increase her community work.
“We’re planning an outreach program to the Philippines inspired by our Filipina practice manager, Anita Logronio,” says Dr Liu. “We’ve taken part in the ADA Dental Rescue Day and will do that again. For me, giving back is not a means to an end. I get great joy out of it and want to do more.”
