The Educated Associate Podcast

She said most patients don’t need an opioid after an extraction — and strangers tried to take her license for it. Oral surgeon Dr. Erin Sheffield holds nothing back: the $500 graft upcharge she refuses to add, the $11,000 cavitation “scam,” and what every associate gets wrong about saying no. • Why “a bone graft is always elective” — and the $500-per-site upcharge most patients never question. • T...

A patient walked into Finlay Sutton’s clinic in 2014. The man wanted a replacement all-on-six in the upper jaw. He’d already sued three previous dentists. Fin took the case anyway. He tried a new technique. He used a different lab. Three attempts later, he refunded the man’s £30,000 — about $30K USD — and stared at his career. He called his wife. She told him to see a clinical psychologist. And th...

"I just couldn't be the boss of 35 offices and I hated my life. I really collapsed because of it." Dr. Richard Low, founder of America's #1 dental podcast, just walked away from his own 35-office DSO. This is the conversation he hasn't had with anyone else. Dr. Richard Low built Shared Practices into the #1 rated dental podcast in America (3M+ downloads, 763+ episodes). He co-founded a 35-office d...

He bought a practice that still placed amalgams. No caller ID. Hygienists had never seen a perio staging chart. When Mark told a patient with 6mm bleeding pockets "I cannot continue to see you" — his staff was shocked. Six months later they were thanking him. Part 2 with Dr. Mark Pugliese: inside year one of modernizing a 39-year-old family practice in Concord, New Hampshire. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: -...

He was running an Aspen Dental office solo by month 4. Two years later, his banker called him first about a practice that hadn't even hit the market. Dr. Mark Pugliese went from BU grad to practice owner by 29 — and the path wasn't what you'd expect. This is Part 1 of our conversation — covering dental school, the DSO decision, corporate systems, and exactly how he found and acquired a 39-year fam...

He was ranked 103 out of 119 in medical school. Today he has $2M+ at 40, hosts a podcast with millions of downloads, and walked away from a $700K/year business because it was eating his life. This episode will change how you think about money, patients, and your career. Dr. Jimmy Turner is a practicing anesthesiologist, host of Money Meets Medicine, and entrepreneur who held nothing back in this c...

What would a mental performance coach for USAF fighter pilots and professional athletes tell a young dentist about handling stress, staying calm when procedures go sideways, and not letting a bad case ruin the rest of your day? That’s exactly what we found out. Gabriel Rocha, MS is a Cognitive Performance Specialist who works with fighter pilots in the USAF’s pilot training pipeline and coaches pr...

The Godfather of Dental Media sat down with us for 3 HOURS. Dr. Howard Farran is the founder of Dentaltown (250K+ member dentists), host of Dentistry Uncensored (1,700+ episodes, 8M+ downloads), and has been named one of the most influential people in dentistry for multiple years running. WHAT WE COVER: AI replacing dental consultants, coding, and practice management DSO truth bombs from someone w...

She's opened 16 practices in 17 years. This is the dental business masterclass you didn't get in school. Dr. Nikki (@dentalgrowthcoach) started as a $11/hour front desk employee and built a dental empire. In this episode, she breaks down: • The embezzlement scams happening in dental offices right now (including credit card refund fraud you've never heard of) • Why the "timid dentist" is the best p...

He got a $0 paycheck. He pulled over and cried on the side of the road. And then he changed his entire life. Dr. Steven Lu (@dentistrywithsteven) is a general dentist working in Medicaid pediatric dentistry in central California — and he’s one of the happiest, most successful associates we’ve ever talked to. Steven’s first associateship was a fee-for-service office with a mentor who held him to an...

He moved his entire family from Russia — parents, grandparents, wife — gave up everything. All so he could become a dentist in America. Then reality hit. • 15 interviews → 3 positions → two-day-a-week jobs • Maxed credit cards to pay for dental school • No FAFSA, no citizenship, no safety net • Works 6 days a week across 3-4 offices Dr. Artem (@Dr. Artem. Newyork) is going viral for posting what n...

Dr. Steve Rasner graduated near the bottom of his class at Penn Dental School — ranked #165 out of 172 students. Professors didn't know his name. He dropped chemistry three times before finally passing. 45 years later, he's trained thousands of dentists and built a legendary relationship-based practice. In this episode, you'll learn: Why Dr. Rasner says "You don't have to be a superstar to be a su...

Dr. Spencer Greer went from making $40K in a down year selling door-to-door to building a dental practice where his associates earn $500K-$700K annually. In this episode, he breaks down the exact psychology, scripts, and systems that separate high-producers from the rest. Spencer doesn't teach marketing. He doesn't teach business ops. He teaches ONE thing: production. And he's the only coach in de...

“You need $750,000 to open a dental practice.” We’ve all heard it. From brokers. From Schein reps. From Ideal Practices seminars. From dental school classmates who “did the research.” And then we talked to Dr. DeAngelo Webster. DeAngelo opened his dental practice as a dental school project . His thesis wasn’t about MB2 canals or periodontal bacteria — it was “How to Own and Operate a Dental Office...

Here’s the thing nobody tells you as a new dentist: Your clinical skills matter less than you think. At least when it comes to attracting patients. That’s not us saying it — that’s Zac Orender, who’s spent nearly a decade building brands for the top cosmetic dentists in the world. In Part 2 of our conversation, we stopped talking about why you need to build a personal brand and started talking abo...

EPISODE SUMMARY: Zac Orender from Cosmetic Social Club and Pasted Studio shares the personal branding strategies he's used to build brands for the world's top cosmetic dentists — and how associates and new practice owners can apply them today. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Introduction — Meet Zac Orender (01:08) What is Pasted Studio? Going global with elite dentists (01:26) Sports jersey day at the office...