The Special Lists

Bring a second periodontist into one of your offices and the dentists who send you cases will still ask for you by name. Adam McClellan's fix is counterintuitive — he stops taking new patients at that location entirely, so there's no option to request him, and the incoming doctor inherits those relationships outright. Adam is the CEO of Periodontal Care, a five-location periodontal group he built...

Owning the hardware is not the same as knowing what to do with it. Gregg Kinzer has spent 30 years teaching dentists to think their way through complex cases, and he argues the profession is drifting toward letting the computer do the thinking instead. Gregg is a Seattle prosthodontist, Faculty Chairman at Spear Education, and one of dentistry's most respected educators. He joins Cameron Full and...

The thing nobody tells you about running your own dental practice is that the anxiety doesn't quiet down — it just gets louder for the first 20 years, and then you look back and realize none of the things you were afraid of actually happened. Eman Traynor knows. She built Traynor Periodontics & Implants from scratch in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1998 and ran it solo for 27 years on a steady dri...

Andrew Skasko spent a full year working shoulder-to-shoulder with his associate on every procedure, paying him the whole time, before they opened a second location together. That associate is now his partner across multiple practices, with three to four more sites in the pipeline. Skasko is a restorative dentist in New Albany, Ohio, a clinical assistant professor at Ohio State, and a two-decade Se...

AACD taught Dr. Tracey Nguyen to be good with her hands. The mouth–body connection taught her how to keep that work intact for years. Tracey is a restorative dentist, scientific advisor at the Kois Center, AACD Accredited Member, and co-founder of ASAP Pathway — the first comprehensive online education platform for pediatric airway and sleep dentistry. She joins Cameron, Dr. Seda, and Dr. Souyias...

Running a dental practice isn't taught in dental school, and most owners learn it the hard way. Practice coach and former periodontal practice co-owner Geri Gottlieb joins the show to share what 30+ years in dentistry — and a humbling jump into ownership herself — taught her about what actually makes a practice work. Geri unpacks why dentistry is a team sport, why culture is anything but soft, and...

Beyond clinical skill, running a successful dental practice requires clear vision, strong systems, and the right people. Periodontist and MAZ Management co-founder Dr. Justin Zalewsky shares the leadership principles that guide his approach, including organizing life into three buckets — work, thinking, and personal time — and using tools like impact filters to keep projects and teams aligned.  He...

What does it really take to build a dental practice that’s future-proof and not just profitable? Through relentless investment in safety, leadership, and education, oral and maxillofacial surgeon Dr. David Lee Hill shaped Chapel Hill Oral Surgery into what it is today.  From rebuilding his entire facility to meet AAAHC standards, to adopting a dual-provider anesthesia model, to embracing dynamic n...

Dentistry looks polished from the outside, but behind the scenes, it’s harder, messier, and more human than most people realize. Dental industry veteran Mike Gergen believes the key to success is lifelong education, culture that holds up under pressure, and leaders willing to admit that dentistry is both a clinical craft and a business.  Hear why “just go to the course” might be the best advice de...

Want to know how one periodontist turned patient-centered care into a thriving, multi-practice powerhouse? Dr. Amit Patel is the founder of ROOT Periodontal and Implant Centers and co-founder of the Center for Oral Pathology, one of the country’s busiest oral medicine practices. Frustrated by slow biopsy results and limited patient access, he and his partner now see 150 new patients a month for or...

From Army infantry to dental empire, Dr. Jeffrey Burch explains his formula for building a team that actually sticks. He’s a periodontist, former Army infantry soldier, and the CEO of Burch Dental Partners, overseeing 15 practices and 23 dentists. His “Team Never Sell” model focuses on long-term partnerships instead of flipping practices, with retention rates far above industry averages. Culture i...

North Carolina periodontist Dr. Deana Cook believes the real engine of a dental practice isn't the dentist, but the team running it. Dr. Cook has two thriving practices and an executive MBA from UNC. With a background in art history, she blends creativity with science and a people-first approach to running her team.  In her practices, Dr. Cook leans into transparency, daily KPIs, and fun incentive...

For Dr. Lee Cochrane, clarity came through doing: learning on the fly, adjusting quickly, and letting the early chaos shape better systems. He talks about what it really takes to build a periodontal practice from the ground up, and why you often have to start before you feel “ready.” A big part of his story is culture. Lee is honest about how much a practice depends on the people inside it. He des...

Dr. Nicole Saldua is a general dentist known for her shockingly candid Instagram takes on the human side of dentistry—the loneliness that can creep in, the challenge of calming anxious patients, and dentistry’s failures to explain care in a way real people actually understand.  For her, clarity comes from simple language, strong analogies, and frameworks that make consent feel collaborative, not s...

With a decade of experience in dental private equity and specialty group leadership, Chicago entrepreneur Rashed Din’s biggest lesson is simple: culture is the real engine. It's daily behaviors anchored in clinical quality, clear values, and leaders who actually live them. Growth only works when new partners share those fundamentals. He keeps finance and operations just as grounded. Deals should b...

Dr. Krupa Patel knows that success in dentistry isn’t just about clinical skill—it’s about connection, communication, and shared vision. Reflecting on her journey from associate to soon-to-be partner with Dr. Jason Souyias, she offers an honest look at what it really takes to build trust and grow through collaboration in today’s dental world. Her path was built on mentorship, mutual respect, and c...

Dr. Jason Stoner built his career with equal parts vision, grit, and style—often quite literally. From a single practice in Columbus, Ohio, he’s grown to eight locations, achieved financial independence by 48, and earned a reputation as one of dentistry’s boldest innovators. Dr. Stoner shares how reverse engineering guides both his business and his life, why teamwork is the ultimate growth strateg...

Dr. Chris Catalano started early, mopping floors at veneer courses and absorbing everything. Working alongside some of cosmetic dentistry’s biggest names, he learned through failure and built a practice patients rave about today. Reflecting on what it means to be a “safe beginner,” Dr. Catalano’s special list includes lessons from a practice collapse that reshaped his vision, and why vision boards...

Dr. Mitch Godat never planned on becoming a dentist, but a life-changing accident at 14 set him on a path to periodontics and dental implants. He looks back on his career, from joining Dr. P.D. Miller’s practice to learning why mentorship and community matter just as much as clinical skill. Learn about the value of mastermind groups where peers share challenges, swap strategies, and lean on one an...

Dr. Rob Ritter has spent decades proving that dentistry is so much more than drilling and filling. It’s leadership, branding, and running a small business that actually thrives. Since the early ’90s, he’s watched the profession change and has built a career on mastering his craft, protecting his brand, and never lowering his standards. His course, The Protocol, bridges the gap between what dental...

Dr. Jennifer Doobrow knows leadership isn’t just a fancy title—it’s a lifelong grind of learning, serving, and owning your actions. From running the playground in elementary school to shaping the future of dentistry in Alabama as president of the Alabama Dental Association, she’s dedicated herself to mentoring, facing challenges head-on, and keeping her ego in check. She breaks down why transparen...

Dr. James Woodyard doesn’t believe in coasting.  After over two decades in practice, he still looks at everything with a “fresh eyes” approach, from hygiene exams to communicating risks without sugarcoating to help patients confidently make difficult decisions. From the team training method inspired by his Boy Scouts leadership to his zero tolerance for gossip, his special list will help you rethi...

There’s no such thing as autopilot when it comes to running a dental practice. Every day brings new challenges, and there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution.  Hosts Cameron Full, Dr. Michael Seda, and Dr. Jason Souyias bring their combined decades of failures and wins in the dental practice management world to help you problem solve and do what best fits your practice. From hiring sma...

Running a dental practice isn’t easy, and if you’re in private practice, it can sometimes feel like you’re on an island. That’s why finding your people—those who’ve been in your shoes and can share real, lived experiences—changes the game. The Special Lists, presented by Referral Lab, is the podcast for dentists and dental specialists.  Hosted by the team behind Referral Lab, we bring you hard-ear...