Comfort Dental Podcast

Dr. Rick Kushner founded Comfort Dental in 1977. Fifty years later, the franchise has around 500 partner dentists across 10 states and is approaching half a billion in annual collections. In this conversation with Shawn Zajas, Dr. Kushner tells the full origin story for the first time on the show. He walks through the years he practiced solo, the three associates who left him holding the bag, and...

Dr. Alex Kaiser of Comfort Dental in Montrose, Colorado joins Shawn Zajas for a conversation that gets at what it actually looks like to practice dentistry with honesty, compassion, and zero judgment. Dr. Kaiser shares his unusual path to dentistry. A great family dentist. Five years in braces as a kid. Two years of missionary service. A master’s program at LECOM in Bradenton, Florida that gave hi...

Dr. Matthew Carlston leads doctor recruitment, expansion, and growth at Comfort Dental. In this episode, Shawn sits down with Dr. Carlston to break down what Comfort Dental actually is, why it gets confused with a DSO, and what the recruitment process looks like for doctors at any stage of their career. The conversation covers the franchise structure, clinical autonomy, ownership pathways, and the...

Dr. Heath Colledge has spent 19 years as a dentist. In this conversation, he pulls back the curtain on what the job has cost him, what has kept him in it, and why he tells dental students the path most of them are walking is going to break them. Heath did not grow up in a dental family. His mom drove a school bus. His dad delivered the mail. He chose dentistry at 14 years old because the dentists...

In 1991, Dr. Mike Bloss saw a small ad in the Colorado Dental Association journal. A doctor named Rick Kushner was opening a new practice and talking about something called “lean and mean.” Dr. Bloss was already 10 years into his career, working as an associate in a high-end crown and bridge practice in Colorado Springs with 70 percent overhead. He drove up, listened to the pitch, met with a few o...

Dr. Jon Winnyk owns and practices at a Comfort Dental office in southeast Columbus, Ohio. He graduated from dental school on May 2, 2014, and started as a Comfort Dental partner exactly one week later. Twelve years in, his practice is built around same-day care, high-volume experience, and a mission to serve patients other offices turn away. In this conversation with host Shawn Zajas, Dr. Winnyk s...

Dr. Matthew Carlston has been with Comfort Dental for 22 years. He grew up in Salt Lake City and decided to become a dentist after overhearing two dentists at a bank talk about buying a private island. The island never happened, but he built a career he says he would not trade. Today he recruits the next generation of Comfort Dental doctors, talking with dental students and early-career dentists a...

Dr. Jhossva Rosas grew up wanting to be an architect. Then his aunt and uncle, both dentists in Peru, changed his mind. He became the seventh dentist in his family. Today, Dr. Rosas practices at Comfort Dental South Federal in Denver, Colorado. He graduated from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, where he won an award in prosthetics out of a class of 230. He has been practicing dentistry...

Dr. Jared Stasi grew up in his father’s orthodontics office in Colorado. His dad was the orthodontist. His mom was the dental hygienist. They met in residency. By the time Jared was in high school, he had watched enough patients leave with new smiles that the path started to make sense. He went to Creighton in Omaha for dental school, married his childhood sweetheart in his second year, finished o...

Dr. Michael Rhees runs a Comfort Dental office in a former Dunkin’ Donuts in Old Colorado City, Colorado Springs. The building is a local landmark. The irony isn’t lost on him. In this episode of the Comfort Dental podcast, Dr. Rhees sits down with host Shawn Zajas to talk about what brought him to dentistry, why his practice sees 200 new patients a month, and how his team handles the reality that...

Dr. Michael Vetowich is one of Comfort Dental’s earliest partners, joining in 2000 as partner number 18. He practices near Boulder, Colorado, where he has spent more than two decades building a specialty in implant dentistry and oral surgery while keeping Comfort Dental’s core philosophy at the center of every patient visit. The episode opens somewhere unexpected: music. Dr. Vetowich studied Engli...

Dr. Todd Crandall was not planning on dentistry. He had a master’s degree, eight years as a forensic DNA examiner, four kids, and a salary that required him to call his dad when his car got a flat tire. At 37, he decided to change careers. He graduated from CU Dental in 2016, moved to Durango with his wife and five kids, and opened Comfort Dental there in 2018. Before he opened, he and his wife ca...

Dr. Donovan Browning wanted to be a medical doctor until he watched a girl cover her smile every time she laughed. That moment changed everything. He walked away from medicine and into dentistry with one goal: give people a smile they feel proud of. Twenty years later, Dr. Browning practices at Comfort Dental in Oklahoma, where he has built a reputation for making the dental chair one of the least...

YOUTUBE DESCRIPTION: Dr. Amy Hazen | Comfort Dental Inglewood, CO Dr. Amy Hazen has been treating patients at her Comfort Dental in Inglewood, Colorado for over 12 years. In this episode, she sits down with Shawn Zajas to talk about what really happens during a first visit, how she handles patients who are terrified of the dentist, and why dental care at Comfort Dental costs less than most people...

Dr. Jackie Blasko has practiced dentistry for over 15 years. She works 1.5 days a week at Comfort Dental in Littleton, Colorado — the sweet spot, she says, between showing up fully and burning out. She came to dentistry sideways, failed the MCAT, aced the DAT, and has spent the years since getting very good at something through repetition. In this episode, she talks about what actually happens dur...

Dr. Katrina Rojohn did not plan to become a dentist. She was 16, had just finished high school early, and was following a boyfriend to college when his mother asked her what she wanted to do with her life. She had no answer. The woman told her to become a dentist. That was it. That was the whole conversation. Two decades later, Dr. Rojohn runs two practices in the Denver metro area, one in Littlet...

Dr. Jeremy Liddiard did not grow up planning to be a dentist. He grew up as a dentist's son, decided against it, played college golf, turned professional, and spent years living out of a suitcase competing for a spot on tour. Then one morning, he walked off a golf course mid-tournament and never looked back. Today, Dr. Liddiard practices at Comfort Dental in North Pueblo, Colorado alongside his fa...

Dr. Matthew Chapman was on his way to becoming a painter. He had a full-ride scholarship for it. Then architecture. Then exercise physiology. Then, after a chance meeting with two retired dentists in California who seemed to golf all the time, he found his way into dental school. Today he runs a Comfort Dental practice in Pueblo, Colorado, one of the only offices south of Colorado Springs that acc...

Dr. Daniel Nguyen | Comfort Dental | Kansas City, Missouri Dr. Daniel Nguyen bought a Comfort Dental partnership the year he graduated dental school. He sold it, launched a scratch start in 2021, and now runs an 11-chair practice with three owners and three associates in midtown Kansas City. He is currently working about two days a week. In this episode, Dr. Nguyen breaks down what the Comfort Den...

Dr. Brandon Keyser spent five years as an Air Force dentist before opening a Comfort Dental practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His office serves patients across Northern New Mexico, including communities with limited dental access, and accepts most insurances including Medicaid. In this episode, Dr. Keyser talks about why he calls every patient the day after treatment, his approach to dental anxiet...

Dr. Sean Van Tuyl has practiced dentistry for 21 years. He didn't start dental school until age 39, after working in the corporate world and following his father's example. Now at Comfort Dental in Evergreen, Colorado, he focuses on emergency care, endodontics, and making dental visits less intimidating. In this episode, Dr. Van Tuyl talks about why he never turns away a patient in pain, even on a...

Dr. Heath Colledge | Comfort Dental Golden, CO Dr. Heath Colledge has been a dentist for 19 years and has spent 17 of those at Comfort Dental's Golden, Colorado office. He decided he wanted to be a dentist at age 13, had his first root canal at 14, and never looked back. In this episode, Dr. Colledge talks about what patients experience at his practice, including how he uses humor to ease dental a...