The Word of Mouth Podcast

Why Google Ads Are the "Carbs" of Dental Marketing (And What Actually Grows Your Practice) If your entire patient acquisition strategy runs on Google Ads, you're not building a practice — you're renting one. In this episode of the Word of Mouth Podcast, Jeff, Troy, and Sarah break down why an over-reliance on paid search is quietly commoditizing dental practices everywhere, and introduce the first...

Two practices in the same town, offering the same treatment, can need completely different marketing strategies — and most dentists never stop to figure out which one they're actually running. In this episode of the Word of Mouth Podcast, Jeff and Troy break down a simple framework for matching your marketing to your practice's real position: clinical expertise on one axis, patient experience on t...

Most orthodontic practices are optimized for throughput. Dr. Fallah built hers around something different — and it shows in every patient interaction. In this episode of the Word of Mouth Podcast, Jeff sits down with Dr. Fallah, founder of NRH Orthodontics in North Richland Hills, Texas. They dig into what it actually looks like to build a boutique specialty practice from scratch, why she went all...

Most dental practices are spending more on marketing every year — and trusting patients less and less. There's a reason for that, and Seth Godin nailed it. In this episode of the Word of Mouth Podcast, Jeff and Troy pull apart the core ideas from Seth Godin's This Is Marketing and run them straight through the lens of dental practice growth. From the difference between publicity and public relatio...

Free Copy of The Inside-Out Practice Book: https://opkie.com/free-book/ 📞 Interested in talking with Opkie? Book a call here for a free practice market analysis: https://opkie.link/Word-Of-Mouth The dental hygiene shortage isn't waiting for permission to force change — and neither is the profession itself. In this episode of the Word of Mouth Podcast, Jeff and Sarah break down the growing movemen...

Dentists might be the most important person in a sleep health journey — and most people have no idea. In this episode of the Word of Mouth Podcast, Jeff sits down with Dr. Mark Musso of Musso Family Dentistry in Garland, Texas — a 32-year dental veteran who has spent the last 16 years transforming his practice around airway, sleep disorders, and TMJ. Dr. Musso breaks down why sleep dentistry is on...

The dental industry is being squeezed from both sides — and most practices are solving it with the wrong tool. In this special episode of the Word of Mouth Podcast, Jeff and Troy announce the launch of their new book, The Inside-Out Practice, and break down the framework that's helping private dental practices stop the leak, rebuild from within, and grow in a way that actually sticks. In this epis...

The People Problem: Why Hiring and Retention Is the Real Growth Strategy for Dental Practices You can have the best marketing, the latest technology, and a beautiful office — but without the right people, none of it works. In this episode of the Word of Mouth Podcast, Jeff and Sarah dig into one of the biggest pain points in dentistry today: hiring and retaining quality staff. From hygienist short...

The Old Dental Marketing Playbook Is Dead — Here's What Actually Works Now The days of set-it-and-forget-it dental marketing are over. In this episode of the Word of Mouth Podcast, Jeff and Sarah break down why the strategies that built practices a decade ago are now quietly killing them — and what the most successful independent practices are doing instead to attract, convert, and keep their idea...

AI isn't coming for your dental chair — it's coming for your X-ray reads, your scheduling, your patient follow-ups, and your implant placement success rate. In this episode of the Word of Mouth Podcast, Jeff and Sarah break down exactly how artificial intelligence is reshaping modern dental practices, from diagnostics to patient trust to the business side of running a practice. In this episode: 🔬...

Drilling and filling may soon be a thing of the past — and the innovations replacing them are more exciting than most patients (and dentists) realize. In this episode of the Word of Mouth Podcast, Jeff and Sarah break down the wave of biological and tech-driven treatments reshaping modern dentistry, from peptide therapy and platelet-rich fibrin to laser dentistry, 3D printing, and AI — and why den...

The Dental Workforce Crisis: Laws That Are Changing Everything in 2026 The dental labor market is broken — and lawmakers across the country are scrambling to fix it. In this episode of the Word of Mouth Podcast, Jeff and Sarah break down the biggest legislative moves shaping the future of dental workforce access, from state-level creative solutions to a rare bipartisan win in Congress. In this epi...

Breaking the Cookie-Cutter Mold: Future-Proofing Your Dental Practice Welcome back to the Word of Mouth Podcast , the weekly show where we discuss the business, trends, and tech evolving the dental practice landscape. The dental market is predicted to double by 2033, yet many dentists are seeing a decrease in their take-home pay. Why? Because the old, cookie-cutter approach to dentistry is losing...

Wanna see how Opkie can help your practice? https://opkie.link/Word-Of-Mouth Links to Articles mentioned: ADA article: https://adanews.ada.org/ada-news/2026 ... NADP article: https://www.nadp.org/a-hard-needle-to ... Actual Utah Legislation: https://le.utah.gov/~2026/bills/stati ... Persistence Market Reserach: https://le.utah.gov/~2026/bills/stati ... Defering Dental Research: https://link.spring...