Everyday Practices Dental Podcast

"I'm shocked when patients come in and have been through the mill and spent a ton of money on their teeth and they talk about how bad their previous dentist made them feel. I always wonder what purpose is served by dentists making the patient feel bad about themselves," says one of today's guests Dr. Jeff Mader. Dr. Mader along with his good friend, PDA Faculty Member Dr. Pete Thompson, are joinin...

"If you really want to be successful, I think failure is going to be a part of it," says today's guest, Dr. Justin Short of The Lifestyle Practice. "If you're not failing or hitting resistance, then you're probably not pushing yourself hard enough." Dr. Short has spent his career shaping his practice to support the lifestyle he wants to live and now coaches other dentists to find their own success...

"When Rob came on board, his strengths complimented my weaknesses," says one of today's guests Dr. Jack Stephens who is joined on the podcast by his practice partner, Dr. Robert Gatewood. With a 20 year partnership under their belts, these doctors know how to work successfully with each other. However, in 2017, they saw their partnership tested when their practice was devastated by a hurricane. Ho...

"How can you help heal the healers?" Dentists pour so much of themselves into caring for their patients, their practice, and their team, that they forget to take care of themselves. Today's guest, Dr. Bethany Piziks, is a practicing dentist and life-long horse woman. An epiphany in 2001 led her to look for a way to bring her love of horses and the peace she finds with them to coaching dentists and...

"The culture of your team is everything, and that's a leadership thing," says Dr. Steffany Mohan. A neighboring dentist of co-host Dr. Chad Johnson, Dr. Mohan believes in seeing the best in people and considers it an honor and a privilege to serve the patients in her practice. With a unique view on leadership and culture in her practice, she joins Vicki and Chad today for a conversation about: The...

"There's nothing like facing your own mortality to really force you to say this is important, this can wait," says today's guest Dr. Cory Glenn. Known fondly in the industry as the "Dental MacGyver" for his love of creating new ways to deliver care affordably and efficiently, Dr. Glenn loves technology and digital dentistry. But today, he joins Dr. Chad Johnson for a different discussion: about ho...

"The idea of a budget isn't to tell you where not to pay yourself, it's telling your money where to go." Dr. Maxwell Thaney bought his first practice in 2010, and four years later he had doubled his practice and was set to integrate other practices and grow even more. His practice was doing amazing things! But as he was looking at his P&L he had no idea where his money was going. When he took a cl...

Today's guest saw a need in the dental industry and is focused on meeting it. Brian Heyndrickx came from the health care industry where he worked with manufacturers and GPOs (Group Purchasing Organizations). After getting to know several dentists, he wondered why the GPO model hadn't made it into the dental industry. So he joined forces with other like-minded professionals and co-founded IndepenDE...

"Scratch start practices can be very difficult." Today's guest Dr. David Bender, founder of the Dental Success Network, knows.  In the first year and a half of owning his own practice, Dr. Dave Bender says he didn't collect a salary as he struggled to find out what patients wanted in an environment with a lot of competition. Productive Dentist Academy's President and COO, Regan Robertson, joins Dr...

"Tough times don't last, but tough people do." If you had to use one phrase to describe Dr. Emily Letran, that would be it. Born in Vietnam, Dr. Letran came to the United States as a teenager.  A serial entrepreneur, CEO of multiple dental practices, and private coach to many professionals, Dr. Letran is an international speaker and has been on TEDx and shared stages with countless business leader...

"What are your patient retention numbers? What percent of your treatment plans are accepted? What is your production goal for a given day?" asks today's guest Doug Fettig, CPA, MBA.  With over 25 years of business and consulting experience, Doug has the unique ability to understand dentists needs and help them grow efficient and profitable practices. His insight allows him to effectively communica...

"The technology has really transformed our practice because patients can now understand advanced dentistry," says today's guest, Dr. Grant Olson. Dr. Olson as been pursuing his passion of creating brighter smiles with the latest technology and a five-star patient experiences. It must be working because Dr. Olson and his team are looking forward to opening their second location this year. What is t...

"It's all about daily habits," says today's guest Heidi Mount. With no long engagements and no in-office visits, she is often called into situations that need a quick turn-around. By working in so many practices, Heidi has developed a few daily habits that help keep her, and the offices she works in, take advantage of the opportunities sitting right in front of them. In this episode, Heidi and Vic...

"If you're born with talent you'll rarely make a great teacher or leader because you'll be frustrated that people aren't getting it," says today's guest Dr. Michael Di Tolla. In private practice for 15 years before joining Glidewell Labs as their Director of Clinical Education, Dr. Di Tolla has an intimate knowledge of American dentists and their crown and bridge habits. In 2011 was voted the "Mos...

As a Business Development Coach with Productive Dentist Academy, Christine has successfully coached doctors through everything the dental industry can throw at them. Christine is a wealth of knowledge in the day-to-day operations of dental offices and uses proven skills and strategies to help dentists and their teams to enhance communications, efficiency, and care standards so they can provide the...

Sleep apnea is very personal to Dr. Meghna Dassani: she lost her father-in-law to sleep apnea. "If there is a way I can find a way to never have that affect my family again and help other doctors with their patients, then I want to pursue that." A practicing dentist with headquarters in Texas, Dr. Dassani is a self-proclaimed lover of bread and butter dentistry and teaching her fellow doctors how...

With a background in communications and bank finances, Deidra joined the world of dentistry when her husband, a practicing dentist and practice owner, asked her to lead his business through a difficult transition. She fell in love with the dental field and now uses her financial background and understanding of the unique challenges of the dental industry to coach other dentists and teams to succes...

Yes. Dr. Ryan Oakley is wearing Gucci shoes in today's episode. So we kick off (pun intended) today's episode with Dr. Oakely and his practice partner Dr. Ron Miller and a discussion about shoes, clothing, and how fashion choices impact a dentist's persona. Vicki and Chad then lead a conversation that covers a wide range of topics from day to day habits, making "predictable" happen in your practic...

In the second part of Chad's conversation with Chris Moriarity, VP of Client Development at Productive Dentist Academy, we dive further into "gut" feelings and data-driven decision making. Chris and Chad cover some of the fallacies of why you "think" something might be happening verses what the numbers in the practice are actually showing: Using software data to show the relationship between age a...

"There are things about your practice that you feel in your gut that just don't seem right," says today's guest Chris Moriarity, VP of Client Development at Productive Dentist Academy. When Chris talks to dentists in his work with PDA, most start the conversation with something like: "Given the amount of effort I put into this practice, the outcome should be different." If you're experiencing prob...

One of the original PDA doctors, Dr. Kent Smith is the Clinical Director of Sleep Dallas and runs two sleep practices in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. In 2012, Dr. Smith was the first dentist in Texas to be awarded a Dental Sleep Medicine Facility Accreditation. Dr. Smith joins Vicki and Chad today for a chat about integrating sleep medicine into your dental practice, marketing, goals, and more. As...

The formidable Katherine Eitel Belt from LionSpeak joins Vicki and Chad this week for a courageous conversation about courageous conversations. But first, what are courageous conversations? Most of us have things and people in our life that make us think, "If she would just stop doing that or if he would start doing this or I keep dropping hints I shouldn't have to come out and say I'm upset." We...

Today's guest, Dr. Joe Valenzi, practiced for 38 years before selling his practice and retiring. A wealth of knowledge and insight, Dr. Valenzi had an impressive career which included teaching at Yale, accumulating over 2,600 CE credit hours and owning practices in Connecticut and Florida. Happily retired, Dr. Valenzi now spends his days riding his bike and spending time with his family. In today'...

Dr. Alan Mead from the Dental Hacks Podcast is our guest this week and, oh my gosh, did we have a great time with him! Most people know Alan from his Dental Hacks podcast. But many don't realize he's a fantastic clinical doctor as well. There are so many great everyday practices in this week's podcast so let's just jump right into what Vicki, Chad, and Alan chatted about: A sneak peek at what's ne...

Dr. Colin Lathrop thinks differently. Five years ago, Dr. Lathrop opened his practice from scratch and has since doubled and tripled his practice year after year. Part of his success comes from cross training his staff. In fact, from the first day of opening his practice, Dr. Lathrop ensured every admin, assistant, and hygienist was cross trained. Today, Vicki has a lively discussion with Dr. Lath...