The Savvy Dentist

What happens when a 46-year-old walks into a company where the average age is 23, and has to earn the respect of every person in the room? In this episode, Jesse sits down with Stephen Scheeler, the former inaugural CEO of Facebook ANZ and now CEO and MD of Omniscient, a company using AI to map the human brain. Stephen's career has zigged and zagged through startups, Silicon Valley, McKinsey and b...

What if the patients you're losing every month are costing you more than the ones you're spending thousands trying to attract? In this episode, Jesse flips the script on practice growth, arguing that dental practice patient retention, not marketing, is the real lever most practice owners are ignoring. Jesse introduces the "leaky bucket" problem: new patients pouring in the front door while existin...

What if the biggest growth opportunity in your dental practice isn't more new patients - it's the ones who are quietly slipping away? In this episode of The Savvy Dentist Podcast, Jesse makes a compelling case that patient retention isn't a marketing strategy, it's a wealth strategy. And the numbers, as Jesse lays them out, are genuinely confronting. Most practice owners are so focused on filling...

What happens to your dental practice when life throws you a curveball? Not a minor inconvenience - a genuine crisis. Health problems, family emergencies, the kind of stuff that stops you in your tracks. For most practice owners, that's the moment they discover whether their business is a life raft or a dead weight. And the difference, as Jesse shares in this episode, comes down to what you built b...

Most dental practice owners are exceptional clinicians. They've invested years and significant money mastering their craft, but when it comes to the business side of the practice? That can be a very different story. In this episode of the Savvy Dentist Podcast, Jesse Green makes the case that running a successful practice isn't about finding the easy button - it's about doing the hard work to mast...

In this episode, I chat with Verne Harnish. Verne is the founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs' Organisation (EO), with over 11,000 members worldwide. He is also the founder and CEO of Gazelles, a global executive education and coaching company with over 180 partners on six continents. Verne has spent the past three decades helping companies scale up. In today’s episode, we chat about: The 4...

You could be doing everything right - attracting new patients, retaining your existing ones, investing in your team - and still be quietly bleeding your practice dry. How? By failing to manage capacity. In this episode, Jesse Green unpacks one of the most overlooked principles in dental practice growth: use it or lose it. It sounds simple, but the implications for dental leadership are significant...

What's lurking just beneath the surface of your dental practice right now? You might not be able to see it, but that doesn't mean it isn't there - just waiting for the moment you step on it. Jesse Green calls these your practice landmines, and every practice owner has them, whether they know it or not. In this episode, Jesse unpacks a practical, three-step dental leadership framework for getting s...

What if the worst moment in your practice could become your most powerful marketing tool? Most dentists pour energy into attracting new patients, but Jesse Green makes a compelling case that the real loyalty-building gold is already sitting inside your four walls - and it shows up every time something goes wrong. In this episode, Jesse unpacks the Recovery Paradox: the counterintuitive truth that...

There's someone on your team right now you know you need to talk to. You've been putting it off, maybe you're worried they'll get emotional, maybe you think they'll quit, or maybe you just don't know how to say it without the whole thing blowing up. Here's the truth about dental leadership: the necessary conversation you keep avoiding is the one that's quietly running your practice. In this episod...

What if the biggest problem in your practice isn't your marketing, your systems, or even your team - but the way you're communicating with them? In this episode, Jesse Green cuts straight to the chase: communication breakdown is not a people problem. It's a system problem. And that means it's fixable. If you've ever felt frustrated that things aren't being done the way you envisioned, or that you'...

Are you the kind of dental leader who hands over the reins - or do you find yourself hovering, checking, and quietly correcting your team's every move? In this episode, Jesse unpacks why micromanagement quietly destroys trust, and what to do instead. Drawing on one of history's most famous negotiating phrases, Ronald Reagan's "trust but verify", Jesse explains how the right systems create the acco...

Are you working hard in your practice, hitting your numbers month after month, and still wondering where all the money goes? In this episode, Jesse gets straight to the point on one of the most common (and costly) traps that stands between practice owners and their dental practice financial goals: focusing only on revenue while completely ignoring the leaks draining profit from the other side of t...

Creating a thriving dental practice isn’t just about hiring great people, it’s about building the right environment for them to succeed. In this episode, Jesse explores the idea that culture is the “soil” of your practice, explaining how leaders shape the environment that determines whether teams flourish or struggle. Drawing on lessons from gardening, the Navy, and real-world practice ownership,...

In the early days of your practice, things can feel a little like a pirate crew - informal, flexible, and held together by hustle and instinct. But as your practice grows, that same looseness can become your biggest constraint. In this episode, Jesse shares powerful leadership lessons from his time as a Navy dentist and explains why scaling a dental practice requires structure, clarity, and discip...

Letting someone go is one of the hardest conversations you’ll ever have as a practice owner. No one starts a business excited about terminating team members. Yet if you’re in business long enough, there will come a time when despite your best recruitment efforts, onboarding, training and feedback, someone simply isn’t the right fit. When that happens, how you handle the conversation matters — not...

Hiring an associate dentist is meant to create leverage, free up your time, and help your practice grow. But when an associate becomes unproductive, the opposite often happens. Many practice owners find themselves working harder than ever, still carrying the bulk of the load, and wondering why the associate model isn’t delivering the freedom they expected. In this episode, Jesse explores why unpro...

Scaling your dental practice can feel like the natural next step once things are going well — but if it’s done at the wrong time or in the wrong way, it can quickly turn a profitable practice into a stressful, cash-draining business. In this episode, Jesse breaks down the three fatal mistakes dentists commonly make when scaling, why they happen, and how to avoid them so you can grow sustainably wi...

What does it take to sell a thriving dental practice in just 81 days? In this episode, Dr Jesse Green is joined by returning guest Michael Filosi, who opens up about the mindset, strategy, and execution behind his successful business exit. From humble beginnings with possums in the walls to running a ten-chair, thirty-person operation, Michael shares how he built a high-performing, sale-ready prac...

If there is one word in dentistry that gets people sweating, it's the word ‘sales’. Sometimes the term ‘sales’ can have a negative connotation. Sales is helping people achieve better outcomes, whether it's in healthcare or otherwise, it's about understanding your patient or your customer and helping them with a solution. In dentistry, we use other words like ‘case acceptance’ or ‘case presentation...

Jesse Green dives deep into one of the most powerful drivers of practice growth: personal leadership. At a time when it’s easy to blame the economy, external events, or staff challenges, Jesse challenges practice owners to take full responsibility for their outcomes - and shows how doing so can create profound momentum in business and life. Drawing inspiration from Theodore Roosevelt’s Man in the...

In this episode of the Savvy Dentist Podcast, Dr Jesse Green is joined by global customer experience expert David Avrin to unpack what it really means to be "ridiculously easy to do business with" and why that’s the competitive edge dental practices can no longer afford to ignore. With consumer expectations rapidly evolving and disruption sweeping through healthcare, practices that cling to outdat...

Hiring a new clinician can either be a catalyst for growth or a source of stress and stagnation, depending on how well the process is handled. In this solo episode, Jesse shares his proven 3-part framework to help dental practice owners confidently recruit, onboard, and retain high-performing clinicians who are not only clinically competent but also culturally aligned. Whether you’re scaling your...

What does it really mean to be an entrepreneur? And how do we build a business that works, not just a job that pays? In this episode, Jesse Green is joined by Alan Manly OAM, a distinguished entrepreneur, innovator, director, and author whose unconventional journey from the computer industry to educational leadership offers a masterclass in business building. Alan founded Group Colleges Australia...

As 2025 winds down and the summer holidays approach, Jesse invites you to pause, reflect, and intentionally design the year ahead. In this solo episode, Jesse walks you through a powerful, forward-focused review to help you set clear goals, close open loops, and define what success looks like for you in 2026. Whether you’re enjoying downtime or making the most of the financial opportunity this sea...