The Dental Marketer

What if your practice could add $30K or more a month just by giving patients the confident smiles they already want? In this episode, Rachel Hicks reveals how this overlooked service could be a sleeper profit center in your practice. While most practices chase expensive ads, add more operatories, or focus strictly on big-ticket treatments, they miss the chance to turn empty chairs into steady reve...

Have you ever questioned the traditional drill-and-fill mentality in your dental practice? In this Fail Forward episode, seasoned dentist Dr. Ankur Gupta reveals how he broke away from the traditional "drill and fill" approach engrained at dental school, after seeing his teenage daughter multiple cavities. Reflecting on the long-term effects of extensive fillings he performed on his patients, Dr....

Scaling a dental practice sounds exciting until growth starts to feel like extra weight on your shoulders. In this episode, Dr. Brinda Patel of Smile Select Dental unpacks the real costs and lessons of scaling a dental practice across multiple states. You’ll hear how her family’s journey from four to twenty locations came with tough calls: when to expand, when to consolidate, and what it actually...

What happens when the weight of practice ownership gets too heavy, but partnership and selling don't work out? In this Fail Forward episode, Dr. Michelle Jorgensen discusses her challenging journey in dealing with practice partnerships and selling to a DSO (two major choices that didn't pan out as expected.) Listen as she shares her revolutionary "ecosystem of a dental practice" concept that categ...

What if your practice could run smoother, convert more patients, and scale without burning out your team? This episode dives into the playbook of Kristen Davis, a strategic operator who’s worn nearly every hat in a dental office, from ground-level execution to high-level growth planning. Kristen shares the real story behind launching and scaling a de novo dental practice during the chaos of COVID-...

Are you a caring dentist who finds it hard to accept when a patient is beyond your help? In this episode, Dr. Don Barden, a scholar of economics and human behavior, candidly talks about a critical failure, one that many dentists might relate to: assuming you can help everyone. Sharing his wealth of knowledge and experience, Dr. Barden shows the dangers of this mindset and explains the importance o...

How did a Colorado dental group turn technology disaster into a growth catalyst? This episode takes us behind the scenes of a bold, full-scale transition at a seven-location pediatric dental group: moving from server-based Open Dental to the cloud-powered Dentrix Ascend. Nicole Hartshorn, COO and regional manager, shares how scaling demands seeing every location not as isolated outposts, but as pa...

Are you scared of going against what's popular or accepted in dentistry, especially when it hits your patient base hard? In this episode, Dr. Delaney Spaulding, the fearless owner of Ross Bridge Dentistry, underscores the value of courageous decision-making through her own story. Dr. Spaulding moves from a terrifying plunge into an out-of-network practice model that losses half of her patient base...

What does it feel like to jump off the cliff of comfort and control, building your dream dental practice from the ground up before the first patient ever walks in? In this candid conversation, Dr. Ryan Le and Dr. Tran Nguyen open up about the exhilarating and anxiety-filled final days before launching Lakeview Dental, their new practice in Horizon West, Florida. After three long years of planning,...

What does a million-dollar mistake in dentistry look like? Dr. Nathan Coughlin reveals the hard lessons learned from choosing the wrong business partners (a decision that cost him over a million dollars and countless sleepless nights.) Despite the significant financial strain and emotional toll, Dr. Coughlin has transformed this setback into invaluable wisdom about the importance of vetting partne...

What if the biggest threat to your implant outcomes isn’t technical, but the urge to treat your next patient? In this episode, Dr. Ivan Chicchon, founder of Implant Ninja, flips the script on implant success by showing that mastery starts with mindset, not just motor skills. He reveals that the most dangerous enemy in implant dentistry is the rush. When clinicians try to wedge implants into the us...

Can detaching your worth from your title pave the way for better leadership? In this episode of Fail Forward, Lorie Streeter dives into a pivotal crisis (the closure of an enterprise she nurtured for nearly 20 years) and how this seeming failure propelled her towards purposeful leadership. Listen in to understand how separating her worth from her role sparked audience-resonating authenticity and e...

What if the real obstacle to growing your practice isn’t getting more calls, but what happens after the phone rings? In this episode, Dr. Len Tau unpacks the step-by-step system any dentist can use to turn a $500,000 practice into a $1 million powerhouse in just 12 months (without breaking the bank on marketing.) He dispels the biggest myth in dentistry: that growth is out of reach with limited re...

Stepping into dental practice leadership can be overwhelming, especially when you don't see yourself as a born leader. Come along as Dr. Eric Block recounts his journey from struggling with leadership and practice management to becoming an efficient leader, all by developing comprehensive standard operating procedures. By documenting every process, from clinical setups to insurance claims, Dr. Blo...

Who you hire in your first year will shape your dental startup for years to come. Are you choosing team members that truly click? In this episode, Dr. Kelsi Lewis of Glow Dental Co. opens up about the real challenges and rewards of founding an intentional, community-focused dental practice while balancing dentistry, business ownership, and motherhood. She shares honest insights on her current stre...

Have you ever felt devastated when someone beat you to a brilliant idea? In this episode of Fail Forward, David Jenyns talks about his venture of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) wood sale and how it got hijacked by a stranger who went on to become a close friend. While you unwind the twist and turns in his story, you'll realize how acting quickly on your ideas can prevent others from beating yo...

Can you still win patient loyalty when you walk away from insurance contracts? Dr. Parth Kansagra did just that, launching a premium-priced, insurance-free dental practice in Orange County against all conventional wisdom. Dr. Kansagra shares why he walked away from burnout and chose the hard road of building a practice on his own terms, leaning on his MBA skills, strong patient communication, and...

What would you do if your high-performing practice was flooded and couldn't operate? Dr. Sonny Spera faced exactly this in 2006 when a disastrous flood wiped out one of his three dental offices. Amid the chaos, Dr. Spera showed exemplary leadership by ensuring no team member lost hours and every patient received their care. The key? Pioneering solutions, resilience, and a shared commitment to thei...

Can you protect both your marriage and your margins while building a dental practice from scratch? In this episode, Eva Baughman of Clearwater Dentistry in Greeley, Colorado, shares the behind-the-scenes story of launching a practice with her husband just before the pandemic hit and how she transitioned from a non-dental background to becoming the financial strategist their office needed. Eva unpa...

Could you be mistaking tolerance for compassion as a practice owner? In this Fail Forward episode, Dr. Adrian Cummins from Cummins Dental Group shares a critical setback he experienced in his practice due to a lack of firm boundaries and leadership clarity. Listen as he illuminates how tolerating substandard performances led to not just revenue loss, but a depletion of peace and time, which act as...