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Kiera speaks with Drs. Nick and Whitney Forsythe about their journey of being married and buying (then growing) a dental practice, and where they are now. Points include not letting work ruin a personal life, laying the groundwork for a good reputation, managing schedules, and more. Episode resources: Reach out to Kiera Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00.634) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I am so giddy. I had this grandiose idea that I wanted to start bringing on some of my favorite people, my favorite doctors, and I could not be more excited to bring on these two doctors, Dr. Nick and Dr. Whitney. Our story goes so far back. I actually knew both of these two in dental school. I watched them fall in love, get married, have a baby, like all the things. They have two babies. They've got their practice and I just thought it'd be really fun for them to come on. because I think they have a really magical story of their practice and their practice journey and the things that we've gone on. So Nick and Whitney, welcome to the show. Two of my faves. How are you today? So good. for having us. Of course. It's so fun because we talk every single month and you guys are for years. Like how many years? About five, six years we've been doing this and you guys are my 6 a.m. call. We have had that call for years. And to just see where you're at now just makes me so happy. when I don't have my 6 a.m. call with you and I start calls, I'm like, well, my day started funny because it's all good. But it's been so fun over the years. We've just done a lot of fun things. And so I think you guys just have a very fun, like practice journey that you've been on. And I think like, let's just share some of the things as much as you guys want to. But really, I mean, I think you guys need to just share how you fell in love in dental school. Like who saw each other first? Because I don't even know this, Whitney, you were a year ahead of Nick. And it's just been fun for me to watch you like in the tooth lunch. Like I was the lunch lady. I just watched everybody fall in love and you guys were the cutest couple. Like who noticed who first? How did you guys actually meet? I need to know that. I was the cougar. It was just welcome week when they had all those like freshmen events. And then I was like, you're together so much too, that like everyone's kind of like, man, like you guys should meet up. And we, I got her number after a test, like a basic test. test no makeup. I remember walking you know we'd walk back and forth to the class and seeing you and you're like my gosh you guys you saw the progression. The Dental A Team (02:16.637) Whitney was a year ahead of Nick and it was just fun to watch like because Whitney you're a little more reserved which I'm shocked and so happy that you are on the podcast. Nick is the social butterfly in the relationship but still like you've got your reservations and whatnot but I was like watching Whitney like fall in love Nick was so cute and I just loved watching both of you and two of you. You two are I mean I think everybody finds their perfect match but you two are just like such an incredible couple and then I remember Nick you reached out to me you know so we're thinking about buying a practice Kiera what do you think and I was like Well, I think you guys should do it. And then lo and behold, move back up to Washington. You got your practice there. You bought a fee for service practice. I was scared out of my mind and I'm like, whoo fee for service practice. Everyone's kind of scared. Yeah, we get checks. would definitely say, I mean, you have to go with what you feel and you helped us look, we looked for. I was still in school. think we looked for two years. think our main issue was just finding a big enough practice or at least that we can grow into for both of the banks. And I think a lot of people were checking us on like, it's not going to be enough or there's a lot of things. we found, you know, after a while, I think if you look at enough deals, you finally get a sense of what feels good. And it did feel good. And we... Yeah, I mean, at the end, even at the final hour, people were still kind of like, should you do this? it worked out really well. You were with us every step. I mean, it's been an honor and it's been fun. And I just thought like, it's fun to share stories because I mean, even on a coaching call we had the other morning, it wasn't planned. And I didn't even realize we had the podcast coming up when we kind of went like on a little memory lane journey, which is what spurred the idea for this podcast of like, what you've been through to get here. And I mean, for full transparency, it was two doctors and a four-op practice that was fee for service. To say I was a little nervous is an understatement. was like, you guys, two doctors, like you're going to cannibalize this one practice. And like, it's okay. We'll just send one of you off to be an associate. like four new patients a month. Yeah. low new patients, but he had good will in the community. He was ramping down. I think we, The Dental A Team (04:38.605) We maxed out his current impatience to begin with. We came in, we had to be soft changes, I think we called it with you, because we had, I think, four or five 30-year vets in the practice that stayed with us all the way, I mean, until recently, so just retired. But we, our idea, you know, we, with kids, we swapped off days. We didn't work all the time. It was just too much. But we kind of cleared the patient base and the team was so much on our side. It was so helpful. We always in the background, I knew we needed more rooms. had someone look at the building. We bought the building as well, which I'm so glad we did. They kind of said, we think you can get two or three more. And we were like, okay, hopefully we'll cross that when we get there. And then we, you know, Probably every year we've talked about this every year. Okay. When's the remodel build out more rooms going to happen? 2020 happens. So that occurred. And then finally last year we got serious about it and really looked at the numbers and yeah, it was a lot. Our accountant once again was like, are you sure? This is how. Talking with you and really finding like the break even point. we do this build out, what do we have to produce monthly? Is that a realistic thing? And I think that's what helped me throughout this whole process that I'm just like more analytical and I need to see the numbers before I go forward. We bought the practice for 650 was doing eight 50 maybe we. You know, grew, had to replace everything, not visual, I would say. So a lot of my men, but I think we, we were starting to peak at like 1.6 and you know, definitely making huge jumps, but it was peaking all at the right time. We started, it took us a good year to prep for the build-out. So we're planning a full remodel, adding three chairs. The Dental A Team (06:52.301) One more hygienist. Another hygienist. we started to, we were just talking about this. We started to pre-ramp up everything. It all hit, you know, we had all of a gone from four new patients a month to 50 new patients a month. We do accept Delta Premier, but that was it. So it was a good amount. We felt like we were also on pace. All of sudden we couldn't fit in anybody else and we needed it. And so it kind of turned at just the right moment. And it really, I think all the pre-work with you, especially, know, you, Whitney and you are so much better than me at that. I'm like, of like, it will work out maybe. Whitney definitely, you and Whitney had the numbers, you had the forms for her and she had filled them out and you guys had talked like exactly how much we needed to produce. What was the bottom, you know, if things went. the worst it could go. So that like really calmed us. I mean, like, we're like, okay, here's the exact numbers, the exact patients. that was the exact employees. mean, we went from five employees to now like we have 15. it's like, when do you hire them? You know, we kind of, over staff in the beginning, for sure. Yeah. The biggest thing we could have done is over staffing for a moment so that you're ready and everyone's trained. were worried about. training and, yeah, all of the assistants are just super independent now, which was a big thing with more ops. And I remember talking to you, you gave us goals the year before, like, okay, here's where your assistants need to be. Here's how many you should have. So we had like really checked those boxes and it was like, gosh, I'm so glad we did that. Cause it's just a lot. It's a lot going on. It really is. And something like. I just am so proud of both of you. And I love you guys are what five, six years into your practice ownership and you're still in love because I remember when we very first started, I was like, we have to keep you guys also happily married. I have very vested interest in you, but like your practice needs you too as well. And so I think that's been something really lovely to watch both of you do as well. Like Nick, you really come into your role. Like you're really incredible with the team and Whitney's great with the team. She's also really good with numbers. And so we've kind of divided like. The Dental A Team (09:14.325) Nick, take these areas, Whitney, you take these areas. But something I think is so paramount to note, I wanted you guys to get more ops sooner. Do remember? Like it was every all the time from like two doctors for ops. I don't know how this is going to work out. And you were also super adamant with me of like we're not working Fridays. Like you had a baby pretty soon into practice ownership. Then you had a second baby. And something that I just want to highlight that I think you guys have done exceptionally well is you work really, really well together as a team. So that's one thing to highlight. Two, I feel like actually, like you said, Nick, the tipping point was perfect. Like we knew we wanted to expand to more ops, but I think actually like hindsight's 2020, which we're looking at today. I actually think you guys did really well because we maximize every like possible thing we could do other than adding Fridays or another associate. were adding Fridays. Like we were having to do it. Yeah. Cause it was just too, we were almost losing patients because we were too far up of doubt. And that was, so we were hitting and you told us that we were going to hit that point. Right. Like we're sure. Okay. So if we get to this, this is what we're going to do. And it was always like a short-term plan. So we'll do this just for a little while. but I also think it was smart. mean, could you imagine if we would have added in all these ops and you had four new patients a month? Like that would have been. Like we would have made it work, but it wouldn't have been as smart. And so I think you guys have just really played your cards right. And, I remember. Gosh, I think it was last year I was in your practice and we mapped out your block schedule. And I'm like, all right guys, this is what you'll be producing. And I remember taking it to you, you were both producing. I talked to you at the end of the day and you both laughed at me and you're like, there's no way, Kiera. Like that's ridiculous. And now to see all the construction go through, but Whitney and Nick, you're right. Like we literally built the plans of. low end, high end. And I think that that has actually served you really well. We know the numbers, we know the BAMs, we know where you need to be. You guys are producing. Something I've noticed that I think you guys have done ridiculously well is you haven't allowed the practice to destroy your marriage or your life. Like you guys are parents. You really have prioritized being parents. Like it's so cute to see you as parents. You also prioritize your marriage. You also have friends. Like Nick, I know your family's close by. The Dental A Team (11:30.017) How have you guys done that successfully? Because your practice has grown. It's blossomed. Like we just went down memory lane and going from 650 to where you are today is just, I think it's surpassed all of our wildest dreams. I knew you guys would do it, but how have you guys been able to like keep that balance? Cause I think so many people want your life, but they don't know how to do it. I think you guys have just done it really well. So any thoughts? I'm genuinely curious. I don't know the answer. So kind of give me some feedback on that. That's so nice of you. Yeah. We, we definitely. We call you our marriage counselor as well as our business coach and our consultant. it's nice to be so intentional about it. I think it forces us. It doesn't sound romantic, but like we schedule one date a month at least. mean, having a nanny helps. She watches the kids a couple of days a week and now we schedule her out. You know, we also use Nick's parents a lot and Nick's family. So it's just like, have to schedule it and it sounds silly, but that's what we've done. And then just, our goal every year we like, okay, we want to take one vacation a quarter. I think that's been really important, even if it's just a long weekend, a week here, long weekend, next quarter, it's just, yeah, being super intentional about it. And otherwise you do burnout. For sure. And it does get busy and I feel like the first year we didn't have that figured out. we basically, mean, especially without kids, this was our life. This was our baby. so putting the work in front end, guess, paid off. But yeah. And keeping it. Yeah. At our meetings, we do spend time. Like you told us we plan out our personal and our business. So we keep it very like we have to plan it out. And if we do it, it. I mean, we do appreciate it, especially like that one trip a quarter or just something short, just to like take your mind off of it. Cause especially husband and wife, mean, it's all we talk about. It's all we talk about. It's really hard. we have to be like, okay, we're not going to talk about it. We're to do something else. Yeah. Which I think is just awesome. And it is something that I love and you guys do it so well is we do plan your personal life and your professional life. And then we check in on it. I mean, I love this year's scorecard. It's like, did you take your one trip for this quarter? Because I'm, The Dental A Team (13:49.709) Like, why do we not track our personal lives like we do our business life? And so I just think it's been fun to watch you evolve. And Whitney, think something that you just did so beautifully was you really wanted to be a mom and a dentist. And so I thought it was fun where we brainstormed through it and you're like, this is how many days I want to work. And we started low end and high end. Like, what do we have? But we never, I thought we did a really good job of not putting pressure on you to, have to work this many days to produce. We built the practice. with the expansion to be able to sustain whether you wanted to come back full time, whether you want to come back part time, but we did it on like lowest amount of hours. And we knew Nick could do that. And I think that that was just something I don't know how was that for you…
Full show notes at the publisherDid you know? Practices working with the Dental A-Team tend to see a 10 to 30% increase in revenue and at least a 5 to 10% decrease in overhead. In this episode, Kiera talks about key ways hiring a consultant for your practice will boost your success. Episode resources: Reach out to Kiera Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:01.038) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today I am so excited because as things are coming to a wrap up at the end of the year, I know a lot of you are possibly talking to your CPAs, financial advisors, looking for all those different areas where you're possibly like, gosh, like maybe your practice is freaking thriving and you're looking for, it's end of year. What can I do? How can I maximize my practice? What are some options? Or maybe you're on the other end where you're like, gosh, 2024 was such a hard year for me. And so just wanted to pop on and let you know. three ways that a consultant can help your practice either thrive or come back from surviving into thriving. Because oftentimes we don't realize that consulting can actually propel our practices forward. It's also a complete tax write-off for most practices, which is great if you're thriving and you need to find ways to spend cash and be able to get through the end of the year. Consulting is actually a great option that a lot of offices do, whether it's a pay-in-full option or whether it's monthly payments or even some offices will pay 50 % end of year. and then 50 % throughout the rest of the year. So a lot of great options, but the reality is that I love about consulting is I like to invest in things that move me forward. So at the end of most years, I'm looking for what's an area or a gap that I have in my business, whether that's in my marketing department or my sales department or my dentist, like what dentists things can we bring to the practice? But every single thing that I'm adding into my practice, I want to make sure. is going to give me an ROI. So an ROI is a return on investment and I don't like to buy things that are just cash. So looking at like, if we were for example, to say buy a car, well, what's the ROI that that's gonna bring and bring money into my practice? Probably nothing. In Dental A Team, our clients tend to see a 10 to 30 % increase in revenue and at least a five to 10 % decrease in overhead. Now it is a two way street. We can give every tool and resource but if clients don't execute, then they're obviously not gonna see the same results. However, clients who do see the, who do implement and do receive the results, they actually see incredible value. So we have offices like this year that have added 10,000, 50,000, 100,000, 250,000, multiple millions to their schedules by working with us. We have other offices that have decreased their overhead. I had one office at the beginning of the year start out at 75 % overhead and they are now down to 53 % overhead with intentionality. Kiera Dent (02:20.43) leadership put into place where their team is actually looking at the numbers and viewing the practice in a way of as a business, not necessarily just as a practice. And so being able to find something where if we spend, say 20,000, can they give me at least 20,000 back and or more? So 40,000, 50,000, can I get a return on my investment is a really great thing to look. Other examples are like CBCT scans. Like, can you add that in and how many CBCTs could we do and give better patient care with purchasing these items? Maybe looking for an implant course that we could attend. Maybe looking for CE, but really doing something that's for our team and for every person on our practice to elevate. And that's actually something I love about Dental A Team is we aren't just focused on the doctors. I think going to all these events as business owners, I found that the hardest thing for me is when I show up to an event and then I have to come home and bring it back to my team. And it's like, I'm all ramped up and amped up, but the team didn't necessarily get the same excitement that I did. The team wasn't in on all those meetings and different pieces with me. And so therefore I feel like, gosh, like this is sometimes hard to get the buy-in. And so when we built Denali team, I said, hey, what we're actually gonna do is we're gonna build a company where we coach the doctors and we coach the team together. So doctors, we hear your plan of your vision. We help you build that vision. And then team members, help you implement and execute and build leadership teams and train your team on the billing and the tactical and all the systems. But we're helping you build the business, the practice of your dreams to be able to give the patient care and the team experience that you desire. And so thinking of those things, and that's kind of where I just wanted to pop in of like, whether your practice is thriving and you're like, Hey, what it's going to take us to the next level. I might consider consulting as an option. Or if you're like, gosh, you know, could this CE course move us forward? Possibly. But like, I have offices that go to CE courses, like sleep. How do get your team bought into that? How do you like, and how do we know the CE to implement or not implement? Sometimes having a consultant or a coach can help actually get you more revenue, more value, more buy-in because they're helping guide and coach the team. And Denali team truly is experts at this. And so it's something really fun. So I just wanted to kind of give like some areas where Kiera Dent (04:35.488) If you're looking for that way to get some money off of your books, consider consulting, consider something that's gonna move you forward. Or whether you're looking for like, gosh, this year was really, really hard for me, we need to figure out those gaps. Either end of that spectrum, I do believe that consultants can help. And when you're looking for a consultant, some great things to look for are number one, has that consultant or consulting company been there, done that and done that successfully in your situation? Have they coached and consulted offices like yours? Do they have testimonials of offices like you? Do they know where you want to go and do they have the path that they can show you of where you want to go? So if you're looking for, want to sell to a DSO in the next five years, do they know how to do that and have they helped other clients successfully? If you're like, nope, I want to be in my practice for the next 20 years and I want to have a legacy practice. Have they done that for other people? If you're wanting to expand and buy multi-practices, have they done that? If you're wanting to get your office manager to be doing all the pieces, have they done that? If you're wanting to add in a leadership team so that way everything's not on your shoulders, that consultant done that and done that successfully? Have they been in your shoes? And for me, I like it when they'll like selfishly as a business owner, I'm busy. The last thing I want to do is have to go and like learn from my consultant and then go implement it with my team. I really love to have a consultant who teaches me and my team simultaneously. It feels like it allows me to like multiply and double myself rather than trying to do it myself because I feel like there's so much on owners. And so that's something that I just think is niche. None of my coaches coach by team. And I really wish that they would because it'd be so much easier to have somebody else besides me coach and educate and get them excited rather than it all leaning on my shoulders. So when we built Dental A Team that was something I was adamant about of I want to make these dentists lives easier. want to make the team's lives easier. I want to be that bridge between doctor and team member and helping us all align and be on the same page. So as you're looking at it and just thinking that's how you're going to vet for a really good consultant. Also look to see who is that consultant and do they align with where you want to go? Do they have the same principles, the same values? So for me, ours is we want to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. And I don't believe that dentistry is what makes you your person. I believe it can be a great portion of your identity, but I believe that your life and your family and your hobbies and who you are as a person is the most important. So ours is the yes model. It's you as a person we focus on and what your life, your dream, your team, who you are as people. Kiera Dent (06:59.874) Then we focus on E for earnings and profitability and making sure that you're profitable as a company. And then S stands for systems and team development. Do we have the systems to run and we're not dependent upon team members so we teams can go on vacation, they can have fun. And as we grow and expand and, or if we lose team members or we need to hire new team members, we have a system in process where it's system dependent, not team dependent. I say it's system dependent, it's team implemented and adds the sprinkles and the sparkles with the team flair to it. So we have tried and true systems that we're gonna then be able to go in. What are you looking for? Are you looking for someone who comes in and they are A to Z cookbook and they give you the systems that way? Or are you looking for someone who's going to be more collaborative with you and hear what you want and then be able to add in different pieces for it? What are you looking for and what are the results? And then do their results speak for themselves? Can they tell you consistently they hit this? Do you want a doctor community? Do you want a team community? Do you want to go in person and go to events and masterminds? Or do you want to have it virtual? How do you want this to work out? And so really looking at those options are going to be pieces to look for. In Dental A Team we heard, we heard what you guys were saying where you said, we want in-person masterminds. We want to network with these other doctors. We want to learn. so come 2025. Welcome, we are going to be meeting you all in person with an elite leadership retreat where it's doctors and leaders coming together. So doctors in their office manager, doctors in their associate partners, coming together and really masterminding on your life, on your practice and on your business. Having a great time where we actually like hot seat on your business and we work on your life and you workshop for a day and a half and meet incredible people. We also are working with your team simultaneously. So what you're learning. In person, we're gonna be able to help take back to your team. So we still lift that training your team members for you, putting places, pieces into play. And we also have for newer practices that might need just like the foundations and building blocks of a business where we do it in a group setting where every single month there's a new system that you can implement while also having access to the consultants every single week. So different ways and different pieces and what that looks like for you as consulting. Kiera Dent (09:02.422) And then let's just think of like, what are some different ways that a practice like truly a consultant should and could help you go to thriving rather than just surviving. And some of the things is like, I think one of the greatest things we do is find the small little areas to make your life exponentially more efficient, whether that's from handoffs, collections, the way we set up our statements, the way we do our confirmations, the way we build our schedules, the way we do our handoffs, like those very small little pieces. People ask me all the time, Kiera, how are you able to like... add 30,000 to a schedule in one day. And I'm like, honestly, it's from handoffs, morning huddles and collecting at the end of the day. Like that's all it is. It's nothing hard. It's nothing crazy. But when we get a whole team bought into this process and this system, then the system flows and moves. So it's very simple. So things that I think are super important is can we look and maximize your schedule for increased production? I love to do less work and get more gain. And so how can we work less and make more? Like how can we do that and give better VIP patient care? And so I love helping people build out block schedules. Like I was talking to an office earlier and they said, Kiera, should we expand our practice? And I said, well, like, let's look at where you're at and are you maximizing all of what we already have or should we go and like spend more money on it? And so many people don't realize like what we already have, we could like wring it out, squeeze it out a little bit more and there's no extra cost to the practice, but there's actually little efficiencies that we can put into place. One of my favorite examples is I walked into an office and they're like, Kiera, we know we need more space. We have no more space for patients in this practice. And we know we need to have a bigger building. Like we're already like, we've got land. We're already building the other building. Like that's our biggest problem. Within about 15 minutes of working with this office, I was able to find where they could add another operatory. They added another operatory and we were exponentially able to increase their practice, but they were so closed because they thought that there's no possible way for us to add. anything else into this practice. And yet sometimes just having another set of eyes outside is able to help you see what truly is possible. And so that's something that I'm obsessed with that I love. We're able to add hundreds of thousands to this practice and serve more patients while their other building was being built. It made it a smoother transition as they moved into the next location. And really we ramped up their handoffs, their doctor exams, little small things, tracking our treatment so doctors know what they're diagnosing, tracking our case acceptance, looking to see are there little ways we can do it. Kiera Dent (11:28.12) have an office that we've added multi-millions to in the course of working with them. And everyone's like, how have you done it? And they said, we hired this coach. And this coach coaches all of our treatment coordinators. And our treatment coordinators then learn little ways to say things, different ways to present things. They're an incredible office at implementing and executing, but it's in these small, little verbiage tips that are able to help them. And so how can we maximize your practice for exponential growth, but do it in the easiest way? Let's not come in and change everything. Let's look for the tiny little things. So number one that I feel like a consultant really can do of the three ways they can maximize and optimize your practice from thriving to thriving or surviving to thriving is one, maximizing your practice for optimal. Like I said, looking for those little spots where if we just do one or two little changes, a little verbiage change here, a little collection here, a little change in our scheduling and block scheduling, we really truly can actually make your practice so much more profitable. And something I'm very big on, one of our c…
Full show notes at the publisherTiff and Britt discuss what the end of 2024 should ideally look like as far as fee schedule analyses and negotiations. They touch on comparisons within your area, the right percentile to aim for, when to send out negotiation letters and requests, and more. Episode resources: Reach out to Tiff and Britt Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:01.871) Hello, Dental A Team We are back at you again. I have Britt back with me today. We have some fun stuff to talk about and I'm excited for it. Britt think you are fantastic. You're a fantastic brain and I love picking your brain. So thank you for allowing me to do that. And we talked a lot of clinical recently and now I'm like switching your brain because I want to talk business side. Britt (00:02.536) you The Dental A Team (00:29.684) great at everything, but those two are like your powerhouse specialties. Always hygiene because you're hygienist by trade and by heart. But the business piece comes still naturally to you too. So I'm excited for today's topic. But what is something I'm totally making this up you guys so it's nervous now. Britt (00:48.887) I'll say one while you think about it. I'm like, Tiff is very generous. Tiff has a brain too. That's why we're nerdy consultants guys. Like these are the things we talk about with each other all the time. The Dental A Team (00:59.801) That's so true. That's so true. Thank you. That was very true. We're like, guess what happened? Did you know? What is something that you're excited for, for yourself or Dental A Team, like in the professional world we'll say, for this quarter? What's something you're excited for? Britt (01:03.189) you huh. Britt (01:24.503) excited. I'll tell you what, I love our group that we have going. One, we've got quite a few people that are hitting their best months ever. So that's super fun. And I'm just excited for that group over there and all the things they're going to accomplish over this next quarter. Because it's just fun. It's a fun, like I get to interact with them every single week. And it's just such a good time for me that I'm excited for them to end their year super strong over there. The Dental A Team (01:54.958) I agree. I agree. I think the doctor community in general that we've been able to create this year and the momentum that they've got going on over there has been so incredible. We've got the two different communities. For those of you who are with our, I'm going to say practice with our company on the group coaching level with Britt that you guys are thinking that you're speaking of now, it's freaking exploding over there. And those doctors are seeing some massive improvements and it's just so cool to see them. talking to because I think that's something just in nature that we need naturally as human beings is we need that like family space and they say it takes a village, right? They tell you it takes a village to raise a kid. It takes a village to do anything. We are meant to be in groups and not siloed. And in dentistry, it's so easy to silo ourselves. And I agree. I agree. I think that is a space of excitement this year. I love it. I wanted to see what you would say. I'm excited for that as well. And I'm excited to see what's on the horizon for 2025 for the Dental A Team and excited to see who's going to come on that journey with us. And hopefully all of you guys are coming on that podcasting journey with us. You can anticipate that this podcast will forevermore be here as far as we can see. We love delivering this content to you guys. We love being able to reach you in this way. And we hope that you have found benefits in it, that you share it, that you tell your friends, because we know, again, it takes a village. we love hearing stories of sharing. We love hearing stories of this podcast. Help me so much. I sent it to my friend. And just to remember you guys, like our mission is to get as much information out into the dental world as we possibly can and reach as many of you as we can. And it takes you to help us with that. So share these as they become. your favorites and so helpful in your lives and then share with us too anything that you feel like we could do more of anything any topics or things that you want more of we do pre -schedule these and that is on my to -do list so if you've got ideas I'm here for them. Britt (04:04.267) you know who to tell you say, Tiff, we want more of this. And she will, with consultants, help us pick out some awesome topics. The Dental A Team (04:07.649) Yes. The Dental A Team (04:11.694) Yes, yes, it's one of my favorite things to do. So I'm super excited. Today, I really want to talk about rounding out the end of the year and what that could look like as far as fee analysis, fee schedule analysis, negotiations, all of those pieces, we're getting asked to kind of those questions right now. And I think it's a really great topic to just spread the information on. And if you're waiting longer than like October, November timeframe to get started on this, kudos to you hats off, it's going to be going to be a busy road. But October, November timeframe is really when I start pushing clients to start looking at these pieces so that next year we can set you up for a win when it comes to your fees, when it comes to your goals, when it comes to what we're able to accomplish, making sure that we're super set up right away to get into a good group. So these schedule analysis and negotiation. Britt, I know you do a ton of this and you work with practices all across the nation that are doing this and in your group calls right now, a lot of this is coming up. So what do you feel like is the number one space to start with when it comes to fee schedule analysis and negotiation? Now, I think a lot of practices arbitrarily are like, I want to negotiate fees and like, how do I do that? And like, there's so many parts and pieces you could start anywhere, but where do you have your practices start? from the get go to get on the path of getting this done. Britt (05:36.395) Yeah, this is a question that actually like it just came up this. Because we have a new client that just like finally closed on a practice and so they're getting into the practice. And so it's like, all right, well, we need to look at things and it's a little older practice. They're going to be transitioning a lot of stuff to upgrade and update it. And fees will be one of those things that they need to look at. And I think the first thing is knowing how your fees compare to like fees in the area. So kind of where do we land? Are we low? Are we like in the higher? Are we right in the middle and starting to see where we're at right now compared to our area? Cause everywhere is going to be a little bit different. so that's the first thing that I would start with, cause that's going to help you to know how much do we need? Like, are we behind? Do we need to start increasing and maybe a little bit more, you know, a higher of a percentage than someone else who's already in like the 90, 90 plus percentile? So that would be my first step for you. The Dental A Team (06:36.475) I totally agree. Now you mentioned percentile. On the majority, what do you recommend that they should be at? Because I know it kind of differs. It's kind of all over the place. But if you were to give like a flat rate percentage for majority of the procedures, what should that percentile look like? Britt (06:52.663) Yeah, and I want practices to be up at like, I want us to be practices that are providing right really high quality, which all our clients do right. And so I really do want them to be in that like, top 25 % is usually my marker somewhere in that top 25, if not 80 % or higher. And just so that we're staying on top of it. And we know entrance always lags. And so I'm like, Let's not be crazy high, but let's be at the top and let's keep pushing things forward as far as insurance reimbursements go as well. Because that's another thing, if we don't ever look at our fees and our fees stay low, guess what? Insurance companies go off of that and they say, hey, out of all our doctors, we're paying pretty well if we never increase our fees. So we want to make sure that we stay competitive and that we keep driving things in the right direction while still being fair to our patients. The Dental A Team (07:44.308) Yeah, I love that. I agree. think something that we forget in dentistry is that we are not the only dental practice. Number one, not that we forget that because there's one on every corner, but the fact that what you're putting out there, what you're sending to the insurance company is impacting dentistry as a whole. So as people don't increase their fees and they don't change them and they stay okay with a $600 reimbursement or a $600 fee for a crown with a $250 reimbursement as they stay okay with that over the years, it makes it more difficult for anyone to get the increases. And then all of a sudden this doctor that's been getting $600 for a crown is like, what the heck? Why am I upside down? And why do they pay so little? And I'm like, well, you said it's okay. You didn't change your fees. You've universally said this is what I'm worth for my crown. So I think that's a great reminder. And on that just making sure too that in the back of the system, there's always a little button that says your UCR fees go to your insurance companies. I don't need to go on the ledger always because that's a write off and it's like extra work and that's human error availability. So while I'm not saying to put it always on the ledger that way, you can ensure that your UCR fees are going to insurances just so that it's in their system. They're constantly seeing it. They're constantly seeing that $400 write off. for the crown or whatever that might be. So I do love that. So getting a fee analysis, well, looking at your fees, number one, then you said, be in that percentile, get those comparisons. Now that comparison needs to be done yearly. And I know a couple of practices that are like, I did it like two years ago, three years ago, I'm fine. If you're not doing it every year, you have that space to fall backwards. And I don't know about you, but I have never seen a space where inflation falls backwards or doesn't happen. So if we're not looking at our fees, inflation is still happening. So two, three years, you've had two, three years of inflation stacking on you that you haven't looked at your fees and changed them, increase them or negotiated. getting that fee schedule comparison of your local area practices near you is going to be really, really important. You can hire companies that do it for you. The Dental A Team (10:04.31) But I also know a lot of Patterson and Henry Schein reps, those people that are, you know, you're ordering your supplies from, they can usually grab one of those pretty quickly and pretty easily for you. So check with those reps as well. And I would surely get your this year's analysis in preparation for 2025. So once you have that analysis, you see where you're at, you're like, gosh, okay, my UCR, my usual and customary rates can increase here, here and here, we kind of I don't know, I go through them. And when I was an office manager, I'd sit down with my doctor and we'd go through them almost procedure by procedure to look for it. You're looking for like reds, right? I'm looking for like, this is really out of line. Sometimes I'm changing my wings by $2 or an exam by $3. Sometimes it's only a dollar to get in line, but doing it procedure by procedure really is helpful. So you've got that fee schedule analysis, you're updating it, you're going through it. And then what? What's what's next? You're like, cool, I know what I need to do. Now how do I get other people to believe me that this is what I'm worth and get these insurance companies paying more? Britt (11:10.261) Yeah, and I want to make one quick plug. You mentioned on making sure we're clicking the little button that our fees are going out to insurance companies. Guys, that's like a strong recommendation. It's almost like I have to because what happens if we're not is fees can change and insurance might be paying more. But if you're not submitting your office fee and you're submitting what you thought their fee was, they're going to keep paying the lower fee. The Dental A Team (11:23.029) Cheers. Britt (11:37.471) And also a plug for just like evaluating. I know I've seen some practices where I know that that insurance actually pays a higher fee for the service than you're charging as your office fee. And it's a like generally insurance covered procedure. So you're missing out on so much because you're keeping that fee so low. So just a couple of plugs for like the reason why you do it. Those are some of the reasons as it's completely fair. And I know some doctors, right, get afraid of, you know, Well, I don't want to increase it. Or some that have a lot of cash paying patients, which is totally understandable. And that can be a factor in deciding how quickly you start to increase things. But when you start to get it on a track of consistently evaluating where your fees are and every year making some sort of increase, and even if it's on your financial policies that you have a line in there that's like, know, fees are like, may change over time and if you're doing a big increase, I don't like to cause alarm where alarm is not due. So it can be, hey, you know, on all our treatment plans, make sure we've got a disclaimer if it's good for 30 days, whatever it may be for fees. So when we update them, we honor whatever it is we plan to honor. And then we have a line in there that also says that fees can change, you know, or fees may change. So it's only guaranteed for a certain amount of time. The Dental A Team (12:43.104) Thank you. Britt (13:03.147) And that guarantee is not what insurance is gonna pay. That guarantee is just what our fees are that we're charging out. So as long as we have some of those things in place ahead of time, then when we go and increase them, guess what? You go and increase them. And when patients have questions, then you can let them know just like everybody else out there in every other business, right? Our fees will increase over time. We all know, we've all lived in the past. couple of years and seeing what's happened with inflation so it shouldn't be a surprise that just like every other industry out there that the dental practice is going to increase their fees over time as well. The Dental A Team (13:41.662) I completely agree. I completely agree. think you said something really important there of like, making sure that you're honoring what you said and making sure that you're saying everything you need to. And I know, even when I was treatment coordinating and treatment planning patients at the end of the year, that was part of my spiel. Like that was part of what I would say is, I don't know what your insurance is going to decide to do next year. And they may decide not to cover this at all. They may increase the rate so it increases your ou…
Full show notes at the publisherKiera and Britt are joined by Dr. Renae Sweeney, a dentist in South Florida who put in a lot of work to make her practices stand out. The three discuss how she was able to effectively find her client base, the importance of staying confident in your goals, and more. Episode resources: Follow Dr. Sweeney on Instagram! Reach out to Tiff, Britt, and Dana Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00.862) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today is just a super fun day. I have two people on here today. I have Dr. Renae Sweeney. You may have seen her on social media. You may know Rafiki. You may know her birds. You may just see her as one of the funniest people on Instagram. And we have the one and only No BS, Stone coming on today. I'll start with Britt. How are you doing today, Britt? Welcome. Britt (00:24.645) I mean, I'm great. I'm excited to be here. I love when you share my nicknames now with clients since Dr. Sweeney is one of my clients that I get to work with. So you're welcome, Dr. Sweeney. Now you know what my nickname is. Kiera Dent (00:31.874) Ha ha. Kiera Dent (00:35.244) you Dr. Renae Sweeney (00:36.044) Yes, I love it. love it. No, super excited to be here with you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Kiera Dent (00:39.221) And dr. Sweeney welcome. Yeah, we're so excited Like I love you. I don't know as much about you because Britt has worked with you guys for so many years you and Soon to be hubby, right soon to be Dr. Renae Sweeney (00:49.033) Yes, yes. Dr. Renae Sweeney (00:54.355) No, he's so is that it's actually a little bit confusing. So we've actually been married for three years, but we are finally doing our wedding this year. So I know it's like a little bit confusing because yes, we're we're having our wedding actually in six weeks. Funny enough. But yes, we've been married for three years already, which is crazy. Kiera Dent (01:02.249) Okay Kiera Dent (01:09.398) That's amazing. Okay, so married we've been like Britt has worked with you and your husband we can now say husband but like wedding that's exciting. That's gonna be so fun. So I thought it'd just be fun to like bring both of you on. I want to know all about your bird like everybody I think I want to know some about your social media. But I thought it'd be really fun for you and Britt to kind of go on like a little walk of like how you guys were how you guys met Britt told me that she loves working with you and Dr. Renae Sweeney (01:17.706) Yes. Dr. Renae Sweeney (01:30.73) Mm -hmm. Kiera Dent (01:35.82) Dr. Molina because you guys are truly like a dynamite couple. You're willing to try everything. You guys have grown so much. You've gone from one practice to two practices looking for a third. So Britt, I'm going to kind of let you like jump in and guide and navigate on some ways too. But really, I think it's just going to be fun of like, let's go on like a walk down memory lane of what are some of the things you guys have done to get to this level. And Renae, you're so fun. Like you're so happy and so vibrant and yet you guys have a lot going on. So I will kind of turn it to Britt. Dr. Renae Sweeney (01:36.64) Yes. Dr. Renae Sweeney (01:43.478) Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Dr. Renae Sweeney (01:58.923) Thank Kiera Dent (02:02.348) Have fun, let's do a little walk down memory lane and of course I'm gonna interject because I'm gonna have a ton of questions. Dr. Renae Sweeney (02:06.879) Yeah. Britt (02:07.97) Well, the fun thing of the walk down memory lane, I think is that I worked with Dr. Molina first, right? And one location and Dr. Sweeney, you were still, think, working somewhere else, right? Dr. Renae Sweeney (02:14.547) Yes. Dr. Renae Sweeney (02:20.489) Yeah, so when we when we bought the first practice, I was still working actually like at a corporate office. So I've kind of been in my background, worked for a nonprofit, worked for private practice, worked for corporate offices all before I like we bought a second location, which is the location that I'm mainly at. So yes, you did start with kind of like him on the side. So I was like in that but kind of indirectly in it. But yes, so which is crazy, because I think it's been like over three years now, which is wild. Kiera Dent (02:49.068) I just remember calling Dr. Molina one day. Like we were just having a conversation. He's like, what on earth? Amazon just threw a package in our pool. Like that was literally like the conversation I had with him and it feels so telling of his personality. You guys are in Florida. You're in a very saturated area, which I love because you found success in a saturated area, but you've been behind the scenes. You bought a practice that was mostly Spanish speaking and I'm sure your Spanish was like not quite there yet. So. Dr. Renae Sweeney (03:00.545) Yes. Yes. It was. Dr. Renae Sweeney (03:11.73) Yes. yeah. Kiera Dent (03:15.33) That's a fun, like, hey, let's treat these patients and not even be able to sell to them. Cool. So anyway, Britt, keep going. I'm excited. It's like fun things about both of you. Very entertaining couple for sure. Dr. Renae Sweeney (03:19.282) Yes, yes. Britt (03:26.565) They are 100%. I love them. And I love that now I get to work with both of them. Because once we had practice number one, when practice number two came into play, that's when Dr. Sweeney and I got to connect a little bit more to where I got to start working with both practices and her one -on -one. Sometimes I get to see both of them when we like hop on calls together and they're in the same place. But it's been fun having second location. know they've got big dreams and aspirations, which I think Dr. Sweeney can tell us a little bit more about. But I do. Dr. Renae Sweeney (03:33.563) Okay. Dr. Renae Sweeney (03:41.799) Mm -hmm. Britt (03:55.525) love working with them because I think you both were pretty clear on where you want to go from the beginning, right? Like, you know where you want to go practice wise. Dr. Molina has been big on making sure we get all the systems into play. So like, know we're going to be doing this more. So let's make sure we've got things in play. And then it's been fun because now you've got another practice that you're working on. You've transitioned, stabilizing, agreed with Kiera. It's like you're in an area where, you know, you know that there's competition and you guys are creative and get out there. And Kiera, I'll add. Dr. Renae Sweeney (04:00.391) Thanks. Dr. Renae Sweeney (04:06.812) Mm -hmm. Right. Dr. Renae Sweeney (04:22.362) Mm Britt (04:24.975) I know that Dr. Sweeney is working on her Spanish, so like, who's getting there? Dr. Renae Sweeney (04:27.336) Yes, it's funny because now I'm like, have patients now who like have stayed with the practice, know, since prior to me purchasing or acquiring the office till now. And I just had a patient the other day who was like, my gosh, you're like, you're doing so well. Like you sound like you're fluent in Spanish now, which I am by no means like actually fluent. But yeah, it's I always tell people I'm like, careful what you wish for. Because I always used to say like years ago, Kiera Dent (04:28.608) Hola! Kiera Dent (04:48.589) you Dr. Renae Sweeney (04:53.841) before I ever really knew like where I would end up or how things would be. I was said that I wanted to learn Spanish more and I was like, be careful what you wish for. Cause I got exactly what I wish for unknowingly with it. But yeah, so it's, it's been a work in progress, but it's awesome. I love it. And it's, as you said, it's a very unique area that we're in South Florida and like Miami, like as a whole is just very, very different. And I think the unique part about learning Spanish here, I was so impatient. This is that it's not just one type of Spanish because you have people who are from Venezuela, Kiera Dent (05:02.056) Hahaha Dr. Renae Sweeney (05:23.736) Puerto Rico, Colombia, Cuba, like you have so many different dialects of it. So for me, I have to like learn a word like six different ways in Spanish, but my patients are awesome about it. My staff is bilingual and awesome about it. So like they've helped me so much. And it's something that like, it's just another like challenge that I get to take on, but it was definitely like a big challenge having to overcome as a new dentist coming out, buying a practice and finding out like. Kiera Dent (05:32.778) you Dr. Renae Sweeney (05:49.358) in the process of it that it was such a heavily Spanish speaking practice as someone who is not fluent in Spanish and really at the time didn't really speak Spanish at all. But I think it just goes to show that if you're willing to put in the effort and the time, how much you really can, what you can do and the challenges you can overcome and really, it's just so much, so many things are possible if you're just willing to take the time and learn and dedicate towards it. Kiera Dent (06:14.744) So like dive into that a little more for me, Dr. Sweeney. I am dying to know like, what do you guys do differently from your perspective? Obviously like with Britt's help and with different things you guys have done, like what do you feel has been like some key pieces to your success or how do you get that grit? Cause I think a lot of people would have been like, I'm not signing on the dotted line on this practice or I'm going to give up on this. Like it's a saturated market. It feels like you don't allow yourself excuses. So kind of walk me through like, what are some of the things that you feel have really set you guys up to be as successful as you've been? Dr. Renae Sweeney (06:21.391) Mm -hmm. Dr. Renae Sweeney (06:35.907) Right. Dr. Renae Sweeney (06:43.906) Right. So in the process of ours, it was definitely unique. Like you don't know what you don't know. Right. So, I mean, even in the process of getting that office, there were so many things that we were still learning. Because yes, we already had one practice on our belt. But again, every practice acquisition, every practices, it's just different. You're dealing with different owners, sellers, brokers. Like there's just so many different key parts that are. It's different in every single deal and even that we're seeing as we're looking for a third practice now. So we really didn't know up until right before closing, basically, most of our documents and things were kind of said and done that we found out that it was portrayed to us that it was, there was obviously Spanish speaking patients, which is just a very normal thing in South Florida across the board. Most places that you work at, they want you to be bilingual. that was, I figured that was, we were gonna have that, but it wasn't until really closing that we found out. out that it was such a high majority of the office was Spanish speaking, which I remember after we met with the owner that day, because it was different in this deal that we didn't really meet the owner until at the very end. So more or less, unfortunately, the broker kind of misled us a little bit. again, this is, you know, just comes with I'm sure you guys have seen a lot with just different practices, you deal with different people. Right. So I remember we went home after that meeting and we kind of looked at each other and we're like, what do we do? You know, and I remember I was very panicked because I'm like, I don't I'm not fluent in Spanish. Like, should we do this? Should we not? You know, and then we kind of ultimately made the decision that we're like, you know, it's a good opportunity. You I'm willing to learn the Spanish, like all of the staff is bilingual. And for anybody who's from South Florida, they will know that like Miami versus where we are in Broward County, it's about 30 minutes like north. Dr. Renae Sweeney (08:25.076) Yes, you have patients who speak Spanish, but it's slightly different. There are patients who know more English. It's just a little bit different environment. So was like, I think we can navigate it. think we can do this. And I had said, I always wanted to learn Spanish more. I was already kind in the process of trying. So was like, you know what? This is going to be my push that it's sink or swim. Like really, it truly is. And that's how it is with owning your own business, having your own company, your own office. Is that way anyway, that it really is like sink or swim. Like you have to just learn how to figure it out. And I was like, okay, this is just another challenge. We're going to take it on. So definitely, I think we made it a little bit harder for myself in the process, but long term I'm super grateful for it because like I said, it's just a very unique environment that we get to be in. I get to be a part of a community that... is different from what I grew up with, is different from what I, you know, was a part of before. And it was something that I wanted to be a part of and wanted to understand more about. And I just love it. My patients have been super great in the process of like, I've never had anyone be upset with me of getting something wrong. If anything, I think they like try to help me more with learning. And they're like super proud when they come back and they're like, my gosh, you're doing so well with your Spanish. You're able to do this. And for me, I always tell people like, sure, could I get away with not speaking Spanish and relying on my staff? Absolutely. But like for me, Kiera Dent (09:30.05) I Dr. Renae Sweeney (09:37.854) personally that was a big thing because i'm like then i now lose a different level of connection with my patients and again i know people who do that i came from an office where the per se owner didn't speak spanish and we were in a very predominantly spanish speaking area so you can definitely get away with that but for me i was like you know i don't want to lose that aspect of it and i know that it's something that like i can do again it's just have to dedicate the time and effort will i ever be at that point where i'm fully fluent probably not at this point hopeful that like we can get close but you know i think it's just one of those things that like when you really are willing to set your mind to it and have a vision for what you want and how you want things to be like you'll just do what it takes to get there no matter how long it takes because more than anything i'm like now we're i'm little bit more than two years into this office. And I'm like, time is going to go by no matter what. like, if I keep taking steps forward and keep dedicating the time and effort, whether that's to learning Spanish, whether that's to our systems or, or to, you know, the vision that we have for these offices, like you're going to get there eventually. And before, know, like, it might not be as fast as I want it to be, but it's when you look back in time, like you get there and then for other people, they're like, my gosh, this happened so fast, you know, so we oftentimes, I think things feel with progression. I'm sure you guys can even feel that way, you know, with your own businesses is that progression sometimes feels a lot slower to us as we're in it…
Full show notes at the publisherTiff, Britt, and Dana are on the podcast to celebrate those guiding dental practices around the country, including Dental A-Team's own, Kiera Dent. Let's give it up to the bosses who we know constantly have their teams' well-being top of mind. Episode resources: Reach out to Tiff, Britt, and Dana Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:01.719) Hello everyone. Welcome back to the podcast today is a really fun adventure of a podcast for us today. I snagged both Brittany and Dana for today's podcast and this is super special to us. This is like so close to our hearts and we're so excited to be here. I don't think that we've done a threesome here in a while and that makes me excited. I hope it makes everyone excited. But today is. bosses day you guys this is national bosses day and this is a day to recognize our teams as well as most importantly today our bosses and we really just want to have some discussions around that so I snagged Britt and Dana today for this incredibly special and hit home hit our hearts podcast today ladies Britt so we don't all speak at the same time how are you today how is how is Britt's world Britt (00:56.812) mean, Britt's World is good. Whenever I get to spend time with you guys all together, I don't know that all our listeners understand how much we actually enjoy hanging out with each other. And so getting to spend some time together on the podcast, thanks for doing it, Tiff. The Dental A Team (01:04.62) That's true. The Dental A Team (01:10.856) Of course, of course it was Shelbi's brilliant brain came up with this idea and she's like, this is coming. I was like, thank goodness. I always miss these dang things. I'm like the, the, you know, thought that counts person. So I was just so happy she thought of it and Dana, Danie over there. How are you? Dana (01:29.574) I don't know if I'm gonna live that one down. I'm doing good. Again, just like Britt said, excited to be here, excited to just get a couple extra moments with you two. The Dental A Team (01:31.68) You're not. The Dental A Team (01:39.131) Awesome. I agree. I agree. And today you guys, I love having the two of you on here. It's so fun. And I'm just so excited to really pour our hearts and our souls into today's podcast for the listeners and for the world to hear but specifically right now in this moment from this care that to hear she is our boss, our leader, our you know, star finder and growth. grower, like she's our pusher, she's our everything that this company requires in order to keep going. She is the push that's behind us and the love and the heart and the soul that's behind us as well. And I think every one of us on the team could come up with 500 different reasons why she is the incredible leader that she is. But luckily for us, we're the podcasters. So we get to do we get to do the fun part today and love on Miss Kiera Dent and I think each of us will kind of chime in here and go. We're not gonna take two hours of your time diving into all of these pieces, but Ms. Kiera Dent, she's likely listening to this. At some point, she listens to all of them. And I really want to, from the bottom of my soul, recognize today just the incredible leadership skills that she has honed in over the years. Kiera and I, we've known each other for... seven, a little over seven years now. Gosh, I think we're like coming up on seven and a half years actually, which is a long time in the world that we live in. And I have had the incredible experience and the incredible opportunity of watching Kiera grow as a human, a real life person and as a leader. And within this company, I have seen her grow through so many stages. And I can't say all, because I know there's still more to come, but she has just become this incredible, invaluable. piece of all of our lives whether it's in the business and in the company or outside of the company and I hope that she Realizes that and I know she doesn't so I know As often as we can saying it out loud to her in a public platform or wherever it can possibly be She needs to hear those things and the culture that she has she has created and the culture that she has realized that we needed and that she realizes realized that she wanted to emanate to The Dental A Team (03:54.642) her team and to the world to massively impact the dental industry on such a high scale like we can is really, really, really key aspect of who she is for us. And ladies, I don't want to steal all the show. know I talk the most. It's just my God given talent here. But I want you guys to chime in too and just let's love on Kiera. And then you guys, we're going to dive into some stories and it's going to be going to be boss day story time. Don't worry, Kiera. personal stories, it's going to be a boss day story time for all of our clients too. So ladies, welcome to the show. Thank you for being here again. I'm so excited to hear from you. Britt (04:31.934) Yeah, you bet. I think Tiff, you said a lot of amazing things, but I think one of the things that I truly appreciate about Kiera and her as a boss is all the ideas that she brings to us, right? Dental A Team, all the things we do, all the random things we come up with, a lot of them come from her brain. And she comes up with way more than what our listeners out there even get to hear experience. The Dental A Team (04:54.246) That's so true, yes. Britt (04:56.546) Which coming from me like that is a weakness for myself and so I appreciate that so much in her and coming up with ideas and I think when anything needs to be done she can figure out a way, something to figure out a solution to it. And so I think that's one of the things that I value in her the most is just her creative brain, that visionary brain to come up with a million different ideas and I also appreciate that she and I get to go back and forth on some of those ideas and I'm like we'll workshop that one, we'll come back to that one, let's talk about it. And it's great and it's fun to be able to kind of go back and forth with her. So I truly appreciate that about The Dental A Team (05:32.326) Totally agree, totally. Britt (05:34.42) Thank Dana (05:35.238) But I'll piggyback off that just from the opposite perspective of that. I love that she does bring all the ideas, but she also gives us the space to bring our own ideas and understands that like the team can come up with things and can, I just love that she allows us to be a part of that creative space because it doesn't happen everywhere. And so I do truly. admire that in her as a leader. And I think that too, like having her as a leader in our company also allows me to be a better coach, right? Because I see the things I see the grind that she puts into the culture pieces. I see the consistency that she does all the time. And then it makes it easy to say in my coaching, like, I know it works. I've seen it, I have a vision of it. And I have somebody who lives, breathes and is it that just helps make me coach in those areas so much easier because I see how it works, I see the consistency, I see all the pieces and so those are probably the two things that I truly truly just love and admire is like she lives what she says. The Dental A Team (06:45.146) Yeah, I totally agree. And I think it's really cool that we were able to come together today to do this for sure. And like I said, listeners, we're going to get into a couple of other discussions and conversations. But I think it's really cool because the three of us actually have, and listeners for you to know, very different relationships with Kiera in and out of the company. So within the company, we are all consultants, right? That's our first born name here is consultant. but we each have a different space of life that we live in within the company. And then obviously, know, friendships outside, you know, I've been here for seven and a half years. So like, things are different, you ladies three years, like that's a long time. So things are different in and out of the company, but I just think it's really cool to be able to hear these things from you guys too, and see how different the perspectives are, right? The different pieces that land like, Britt, you're... you're talking to her constantly. you guys just FYI, Britt is kind of a boss to us too. So Britt, love you, two pieces. Thank you for everything that you do. It's really cool that I get to do this with you on here. But Britt's in that space of like that in between where she's, she's kind of, she is still a consultant. She does still have a handful of clients and she does a lot of our group coaching models, but. she is that in between space for a lot of things with us. So she gets a perspective of Kiera where she kind of gets hit with the ideas first, and then they get down to the rest of us. you know, and Dana's ton of virtual clients, holy cow, she works so well with so many pieces. And so she gets a lot of the the creative side from Kiera where you guys are creating so much content and just creating this incredibly magical space of information for so many people and so many so many clients and non clients and a lot of the stuff that you guys see from us comes from, you know, the brainchild of Kiera, but the brainchild of Dana to her Dana, I love that you you spoke on the innovation piece because you really do you have so much innovation in our company and so many ideas and Carol give like a tidbit, you know, after it goes through Britt a tidbit of an idea. But then Dana, like you just run with it and you create this and The Dental A Team (09:00.097) incredible product every single time we know we can count on it. We know you're going to get it done and that it's going to be magic like no matter what. So it's just really cool, I think to see those different perspectives based on the positions within the company. And I think it's cool because we all share the same feelings, right? We have different pieces that we'll pick out. But the overarching theme really is that she's been able to build a company that we can be proud of working with and for. And she's been able to build a company that we can reach so many people and change lives on this massive scale. And we're constantly innovating to ensure that we can reach even more people without detracting from the results or the, you know, the relationships and really just adding value every time. And that comes from Kiera's push and, and her kind of, almost training us in that way, right? Like her leadership and Dana, like you said, what we get to see, we get to become. And so it builds this space and breeds this mentality where we're like, yes, I can step into that. So as she's stepping out and into a new space, like we're almost right behind her stepping into the space she just showed us and trained us on in all of our different spaces. And it makes me think too of of the practices that we work with and all of the bosses who are out there, managers, office managers, regional managers, dentists, the doctors, the practice owners, all of you bosses who are out there who are running a similar situation or learning how to do that. And maybe you're at the baby step stages and I want you to know we've all been there and know, Kiera I told you seven and a half years ago did not look like this. were just babies like trying to figure it out and what it's been able to grow into and the human that Kiera has been able to grow into, even if you're at your baby stages, I want you to know, like you've got examples all around you and you've got mentorship and we're here to say, it's not always easy, but it can be fun. And you can find that path, but with all of those leadership spaces and those quote unquote bosses of the practices, The Dental A Team (11:13.01) Dana, you were just talking about a client that you spoke with, I think you said yesterday, and I want to hear, I want you to kind of talk about that. Like I want to hear that side and I want doctors to know and leaders to know that you're all in a very similar space most of the time. There's always someone that you can relate to. So don't ever feel like you're alone and teams. We really want to take you through just some of the pieces that we see on the other side, that it looks like to be a boss so that we can really talk about how we can always appreciate it, whether it's National Bosses Day or not. And Dana, really talk me through that conversation. think it was spot on and I have a lot of doctors that I talk to, they're in the same space as your client and tell us about it. Dana (11:59.129) Yeah, sure. I think it does not open my eyes because I see it all the time. Doctors come to us and it's like part of why they bring coaches on is for their team, right? I want my team to feel like they have a really great resource. I want to figure out how to lower the stress of my team. I want to figure out how they can be more efficient so that like they feel better at the end of the day. And so it's just in recognizing bosses today, I wanted to recognize like the doctors and the owners who really do stress about their team and not about like my team stresses me out but about how my team is doing are they feeling stressed are they feeling fulfilled are they feeling motivated and the doctor I talked to yesterday was like how do I how do I stretch and expand to able to give my team members raises before I even take home a paycheck And I just think it's so important to recognize those owners and recognize those bosses and team members to hear that like these owners stress about you and your livelihoods and how they're going to make your life better, whether it's at work or whether it's outside of work. through a raise or through bonuses or through those are things that doctors ask us about all the time because yes, the practice is right there but the team is right there too. And I think sometimes like that gets missed or unheard or I don't always think to doctors or owners know how to translate that to the team. The Dental A Team (13:28.39) I totally agree. totally agree. I think that's something that's a hard conversation to have. think already like finances and financial conversations are difficult, regardless. And for bosses for owners, it's even more difficult. Because when you do collect that money, you know, you know where it's going. And I think a lot of team members are like, okay, I know where this is going. But so it's difficult for doctors to even say, Hey, guys, guess what, like, I'm living off my savings right now or I'm living off of the loans that I took out to have this practice so that I can make sure you guys get to have a paycheck. And like that's part of practice ownership for sure. And I'm not discrediting that that's not just a factor of practice ownership. So I don't want team members to feel like, gosh, let's go praise our doctors for that. But I want you to understand those spaces. And like Dana said, And I have a client too that recently said a similar thing where she's still doing a lot of her hygiene on her own and like trying to build her practice, but her TC is like needing a raise and wants a raise and she's like, she deserves a raise and I have to find the money and I'm going to take it out of, know, this space…
Full show notes at the publisherIs there a service in the dentistry field you're interested in learning more about — perhaps enough to add it to your practice? Tiff and Britt dive deep into how to go about expanding services. They give examples, how to tap into your creative side, hurdles that might come up and how to pivot, and more. Episode resources: Reach out to Tiff and Dana Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:01.134) Hello Dental A Team listeners, we're back today. You've got Tiff and Britt and I'm using your Britt nickname today. Always, I said Brittany Stone last time and like you mentioned, like it's always a little weird. It's so weird to me when people say, this is Tiffanie. And I'm like, it's Tiff. Tiffanie is like so formal. It makes me sound, it either makes me feel like a child or old. Like there's no in -between. It's not my age right now. Whatever, whatever this in -between stages is Tiff. So Britt. Welcome back. I'm excited to be here with you today. I think we have a fun topic that is right up your alley. You love the clinical stuff and this one's diving into clinical. How are you this beautiful afternoon? Yeah. Britt (00:44.197) different crowds. don't know about you, Brittany or like Brett or if you're Tiffanie or Tiff for me, like it just it depends on what crowds and like kind of like what phase of life did I go by my full name or my short name. So but I'm doing great today. I'm excited to be here. Agreed. I love chatting a variety of things, right? So it's always fun. We love it with clients because you never know what they're gonna throw at us, which just makes our life super fun, which I think we love about it. And I think we've got a fun one for everybody today. The Dental A Team (00:54.293) Yes! I agree! The Dental A Team (01:07.628) So true. The Dental A Team (01:13.036) I agree. I agree. I do love I like have a love hate for it. I should say, right? Like I love being thrown curveballs. But then sometimes I'm like, Whoa, my brain. Like this is a big one or dang, I had 15 curveballs but five with five clients this just today like and sometimes it's exhausting but I do love it. I had a client yesterday. We were talking about Britt (01:22.03) That's nice. The Dental A Team (01:38.528) something I can't even I told the last podcast I told you I can't remember all that far. But we're talking about something and I was like, gosh, this is actually it was it's a different type of marketing. And it was two days ago. That's why I can't remember. But they're in a space they're in a they're in Texas. And they're in a community in Texas that is it's just oil fields like they're just it's the oil field industry. And Initially, they're like, how do we stop cancellations? I'm like, fantastic. Like, here's some pieces, here's some things. And then we're like digging through and we're realizing, I'm like, listen, guys, like, let's put these pieces into play for sure. But sometimes you're just in a place that's like, you're going to experience cancellations. These people are getting sent out at midnight for three months to go work in a different oil field. Like they don't have the flexibility. And so it was really cool. And the conversation, the point I say this is like, I had to really think outside the box and I said, you guys, your marketing, your systems, while I have systems that are tied and true and I know that they work, this is why doing it here is different. I may say this is why Dental A Team is different, because calling further in advance on your confirmations or telling them you're going to charge them or coming up with all of these solutions that work for many practices, let's implement those for sure, but you've got a different type of community. I think changing your marketing to we're here when you need us, because that's what you're hearing. And more of that like same day, let's get patients in, hey, call us, switching the marketing efforts is going to work in your area. And the reason that was so cool was because it was so drastically different than majority of other clients. And it was really fun to get that outside the box thinking and like, gosh, okay, let's put our hats on and we brainstorm together and the hygienist in that call was just like, she stood up at the end and she was like, I am so excited for this because at the end of every visit, when I walk them up and I do my NDTR, I tell them, if you need anything else between your appointments, we're here for you, please call. She's like, so this is expanding on that and I was like, you've already been priming your patients for it. The Dental A Team (03:48.199) This is exactly what we need to do. But it was so cool, Britt, because that just highlights like the differences and really getting thrown those curve balls and having fun with it and really diving in and figuring out where are you and how can we expand on that. And that's something I think clinically that we want to talk about today even is really how to expand your range of services. And Britt, I know I didn't prep for this piece and I do this to you guys all the time. I realized that but my brain just is like ping, ping, ping, ping, and I just go for it. So before we even get into like the super doctor clinical stuff, I know that you as a practicing hygienist before you were all into the state you guys, if I need any information on what the dental industry is doing and what's progressing, I know Britt's my girl. So she I know that you have always been so invested in that and I would love to pick your brain right now on. Britt (04:34.747) Thank The Dental A Team (04:44.87) Before we talk about doctor clinical, hygiene clinical, and how did you as a clinician or as being over the clinicians as a manager, how did you help hygiene to expand their services? Britt (04:59.291) Yeah, so I mean, it's always fun. Doctor can do a lot more than the rest of the team, right? So when we get there, there's a lot more options. And for hygienist and even assistants, right? It's gonna be a little bit of like, what can you do within your state, right? That you're under your license, under your scope of practice that you can do. I'd say number one, be aware of that. And even if you want to be able to do more in your state, even I would say encourage you to like. be involved if you want to, you know, you can give anesthesia now and that's something that hygienists want, you want to be able to do one day, be involved with your local associations and things and help move those things forward. Cause it'll help to expand and just make you a, like a more advanced clinician in the end of it. So that's my like one plug is like, cause I know every state's going to be a little bit different and then know what you can or can't do and explore it. And at the end of the day, hygienists and doctors, right? Whatever and assistance, whatever we see that's gonna be a benefit to our patients, kind of like to what you were talking about, custom fit it, but what are the advancements? What are the new things? What can we do that would be beneficial to our patients and in line with our standard of care or something we might wanna evaluate and adding to our standard of care? What is there number one and just get familiar with it. and then see if it's something that you want to be able to add to your practice. know I'm a big laser fan from like back in the beginning when I first got out of school, because it's something we could do in Arizona. I'm a big believer in it for those who can do it. If you're not doing it, it might be something worth considering and starting to look into to see if it'll benefit your patients. I love it. I know these days a lot of hygienists like Airway, Myofunctional are big things that are coming out now that can be super beneficial. And a lot of people are learning that. Even things like for assistance, right? Being able to learn to do things that like maybe your doctor is doing now, but you could do. Those are also things that are expanding. Maybe it's not a new procedure for our practice, but you, it's expanding you and what procedures you can do, which is gonna help the practice overall. So I think just look, be aware of what's out there. Read your articles, be a part of groups, go to your CEs and just be aware of what. Britt (07:14.477) exists so then you can determine what might be good. And I think for doctors, doctors are they've got a lot on their shoulders and they're they learn a lot and they're exposed to a lot. But team members bring stuff up to doctors all the time that they haven't heard about or they didn't know their team would be interested in doing and you can help to kind of have the practice progress and expand things. The Dental A Team (07:36.275) I totally agree. I love all of that. I may you're gonna say laser, I think laser is huge. I think it's a giant benefit. And I think that got really hyped when it you know, first started and then people are like, I don't know. And I think it's something that kind of has fallen off. So I, I surely encourage hygienists to go do that. But something else that you mentioned was the like my functional space, the airway, the sleep apnea, those spaces, and I actually worked with a client over the summer. who had a really fantastic, thriving sleep department. And she did it, it's taken years to get there and she's done it. They've got the systems and processes, everything's written down, write it down. But the interesting piece to me about it was that the doctor barely touched that department. She had a hygienist that loved it, that just saw the need. She, from a personal level, she connected with it. Britt (08:09.317) Thank Britt (08:26.171) Thank you. The Dental A Team (08:34.826) She loved it, she wanted it to do well, and the doctor handed it over to her. So she had a hygienist that went and learned all of this stuff down to the medical billing. Like she's processing the claims for that department. So one of her top hygienists in her practice actually is now running her sleep department. And so expanding her range of services, and I'm not saying go pull a hygienist to start a sleep department. I'm saying look for the things that interest you guys and see how can you expand on that, even if it's something you're already doing, how can you do more of that? I think is what Britt's saying, but watching them thrive in that personally, like she was so happy and she loves hygiene. She still does like a day or two of hygiene a month because she loves hygiene, but she was genuinely lit up talking to me about the sleep department. And so it expanded the services of the practice, but it expanded the services for her and the impact she can potentially make. personally on on the community. So I love that you said that. That highlights a piece that I want to make sure we talked about was what interests you. So hygienists, RDAs, FDs, dental assistants, doctors, associates, all of you guys. What interests you? Like what do you look at and you're like, gosh, that would be cool. But maybe you're afraid to step your foot into and dip that toe in and kind of test the waters or you're like, gosh, it just seems so hard or whatever. reason why aren't you doing it? What interests you? I've had a lot of practices this year that I that were like, gosh, I need to expand services. One PPL reimbursements suck you guys we know that and when you can expand services, you can do higher value things like obviously it makes the production the collections easier. So I had a lot of practices this year that were like, I can't and don't want to drop insurances, but how do I make more? So one space I had them evaluate was to because most people don't put it in their system. I hope you are track, truly track what you're referring out and how many of those things you're referring out. So root canals, perio procedures, implants, oral surgery procedures. I love all of my specialists. I love you. But really if there's something in there for my dentists and FDs and RDAs and all of you guys, like, is there something The Dental A Team (11:00.851) that you enjoy and you want to learn more about, look at what you're referring out. Kavya, I had an office Brit, she was like, I refer out a ton of root canals. I wanna do root canals in office. And I said, okay, we can do that. We can pull root canals back in office. There's courses all over the place that you can go get refreshers on. There's an hour -end course I know of that's fantastic. You can do this. She's like, okay. I said, let's sit on this. Like, let's think about the work it's going to take and let's evaluate how many root canals you're going to do. I talked to her on our next two week call two weeks later. She was like, Tiff, I hate root canals. I was like, yeah, I didn't think you liked them, but I needed to go. We needed to go with it for a second. She's like, I don't want to do root canals. I send them out because I hate them. Cool. Then let's not do root canals. Let's look at the other pieces. So caveat is don't pull things in just to expand services, just to offer more, just to make more money. If you hate doing something, don't do it. Do more of what you love. So we're evaluating here to look at what interests you and how can we do more of it? Are there things, Britt, you mentioned, you mentioned, right, you talked about, right, getting the things that the hygienist can do and within your state it's different, especially when it comes to FDAS, RDAs, dental assistants. It's all over the place, you guys. In Arizona, like, we don't get any special acknowledgement, we just. do everything and you either know or you don't know and you learn it. So, Wild Wild West out here, California, Colorado, like they're Colorado's placing fillings, right? Like that's cool, Tennessee, they're placing fillings, they're like a provider. Here, I actually don't know anymore what that is. I mean, I know what is fine. Britt (12:44.057) It depends. There's some places where it's rural and even hygienists can place fillings if they get certification for it. So sometimes there's some if it's an area in need. that's where it's like, know what's going on in your state. The Dental A Team (12:50.182) Yeah. The Dental A Team (13:00.246) Exactly, exactly. And to speak to that point, like once you do know, Britt, like you said, for those spaces, hygienists, for sure. But then you guys, my RDAs, my FDs, my dental assistants that are listening, I know what it's like to feel like such a big important piece of that appointment and feel like, gosh, I really helped this patient or I really helped my doctor. Go figure out what you can do. And where can you expand so that your expanding your range of services because that adds value in. Britt, I'm sure you've seen it too. You've got practices too, or have worked with practices too, who have these expanded functions that they're able to do in hygiene and or assisting side. And what has that done when they take on those pieces and the support team will call them, right? The support team is like, no, like I can do th…
Full show notes at the publisherKiera is a guest on the Dental Lighthouse Podcast with Jason Tanoory to talk about the power of quarterly meetings. They discuss the benefits of a third party, how to have healthy conversations, and why there needs to be an atmosphere of trust and vulnerability to have good communication. Episode resources: Listen to the Dental Lighthouse Podcast Reach out to Kiera Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:02.151) Dr. Jason here, welcome back Dental Lighthouse podcast. On today's show, I have the one, the only, Kiera Dent. And hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today I have the one and only Jason Tanoory. This is seven years in the making. seven years I've been trying to get on Kiera's podcast. And after begging, for the last three days, because Kiera and have been together nonstop for the last three days. She has finally allowed to give me a six minute window of recording time. Not true. We had to extend this longer because we only had 30 minutes originally. you said, no, no, need more time to unpack this. I have so many issues that I need to unpack that doing it in six minutes was not going to be a window. It's true. But honestly, I do feel like it was It was a missed opportunity. I've podcasted with Amy many times on the podcast, but for Jason and I to get here, I mean, think this is the most we've hung out at any time I've come to these meetings with you. And so maybe that was what, how it happened this round, but truly, think honestly, in the seven years we worked together, it's been really fun to watch your practice evolve. And so I'm super excited to rift on this. I mean, I can ask questions. We didn't know whose podcast we were basically hosting from, cause we now are both hosts. But I think there's just been some really incredible things that have come out in seven years. I watched your practices grow exponentially over the years. I watched you grow. I watched Amy grow. I watched your teams evolve. And being able to do these quarterlies, everyone says, Kiera, you still consult. And I'm like, I do consult still. But honestly, Jason, and this is not me trying to boost your ego for any stretch. I continually have come out here. It's so far away. You my furthest office. The Dental A Team (02:19.946) I even got COVID here one time and stayed at the holiday for like a week. But I just learned so much. I think you're an incredible leader. think the world needs more of you and what you're doing. And so it's just really fun to have you and me kind of have this rift of a podcast today and share the things that we've learned possibly over the years. Wow. So I was not expecting that. Maybe we should have practiced before we hit record. But thank you so much for saying that. I really appreciate it. Let's give our listeners a little bit of context here, right? So you guys know my story and you obviously, if you're a listener of Kiera's podcast, you know her story. Our story is that about six or seven years ago, we were starting to scale at a level that I was worried about controlling it. I was worried about how to get out of the weeds and work on the business instead of being stuck in it. And I was worried about having someone to basically MC our leadership meetings, facilitate them, run them, make sure we stay on track. And the first person I thought to help me with that was Kiera. And she has been doing that in some capacity for us over the last seven years. And it's just been... such a blessing for us to have her to lean on over the last seven years as we've continued to scale. And that's why we're together today. We're basically wrapping up our final quarterly meeting. this week had two quarterly meetings every day lasting anywhere from two to five hours, depending on the size of the office. We're just about to roll into our final one in about an hour or so. So maybe we talk about this week, maybe we just talk about, well, I'll talk about anything. What do you think? Yeah, I think talking about this week since it's so relevant and I think it's actually super interesting to know something as I watched, you asked me to come in and help. We were kind of building off of the EOS model. Traction was where we started. I remember I had no clue what you were talking about and you said, don't worry, Kiera, you know dental, we know traction. We'll just work together. The Dental A Team (04:42.606) But I think that that's something I've always loved about you and your practices is you guys will try anything. You're great implementers, you're great executors, you have a really beautiful vision. And I even think back to our first meeting, what your vision was to what your vision is today and the way you've been able to explain that to your team. so yeah, I think, and then I remember Amy called me one time and said, Kiera we're not just gonna have you work with one office. We now have four offices. So that felt like, let's try and figure this out. And then it's like, now we've got five offices and now we have six offices. And I think we've done a really good job of figuring out what are the best things to implement, what do we want to do for these offices? But what I love is that you are so obsessed with making sure your entire teams are bought into the vision, bought into the pieces. And it's been really fun this time, you're no longer clinical. So you actually get to like come around and be a part of all of it. And I think it's been a really, it's been a fun yin and yang this round that we've never experienced. This was our first time doing it together fully for all of the practices. Yeah, I think. So yeah, a hundred percent everything that you just said. You know, we started with EOS and the Gino Wickman model from the book Traction. And if you guys haven't read that book and you feel lost in as far as how to facilitate growth in your business, I think that's a great place to start. And then we've used that as a core and then incorporated some, some Lencioni principles into there. And basically by sprinkling in a little bit of this and sprinkling in a little bit of that, coming up with our own. secret sauce that I feel at least at this moment serves our purpose and our intentions really, really well. And your point about me not being clinical and being able to actually be at the meetings and be engaged in the meetings, it's bittersweet because I think leaders or let's call them owners, owners of dental practices would probably rather abdicate the responsibility of having these meetings. And there was definitely a part of me that said, well, we'll just bring Kiera in to do it. So I can, you know, dot, dot, dot. And really the self-talk that I was, I was saying to myself was, I don't want to do it. I don't want to have uncomfortable conversations. I don't want to work hard on trying to create clarity of vision and where we're going. So I'll just go work on this crown while Kiera does it. The Dental A Team (07:07.287) And that served me well, selfishly, for a year or two. But then you start to realize, if we're going to scale, the founder, the owner, has to be an integral part of the process. Now, they don't necessarily have to lead the meetings, per se, but they have to be there. They have to chime in when it's appropriate. They have to even give someone like Kiera, who's facilitating these, clarity on the vision. And I feel like this week was really great where we could play off of each other. You did just a phenomenal job of running the meetings, going through the agenda. And then you leaned on me if there was a specific part of vision, you know, where are we going? What do we mean by this? Jason, can you speak to that? And I think it ultimately benefited each of our teams. Definitely agree. And I think like, just to help listeners see, You didn't start here, right? And I think so many people, when they look at where your practices are, they're like, well, Jason's not in them. He's running all these meetings. But like, let's back up. There were a good five, six years where you were at the core one. You and I would always chat before every quarterly. So I'd at least understand what you wanted. And I would go with Amy, who's just incredible. Amy makes my life easy. I love you, Jason. And I love Amy. Like, is really, they're an incredible group. They make my job easy. But there was always clarity before everyone. So if you are a practicing clinician still, don't feel like maybe you have to completely remove yourself clinically to be able to do this. Jason scaled up to this and it was always within the goals. We knew that he wanted to eventually get out of clinical. So I knew where he wanted to go. It was always working the practices up to that. But I think to your point this round, what I think has been so powerful between both of us is, I think sometimes when you're the founder, it's great to give vision, but sometimes it's hard to be the only person, at least for myself and my team and in other teams I coach, sometimes having to be all of it is hard. And when they hear it from a different perspective, like, love that you're a male, I'm a female, we bring two different energies to the table. When we're going through the meeting, I rally them up and then I ask Jason to share about the vision because I think it's so important for teams to really get behind you. You set the North Star for it. The Dental A Team (09:24.354) But then it's also, they're hearing it from multiple facets as well, which I think helps the team. Like you'll hear things that I'm not hearing. I'll hear things that you're not hearing. We're coming together. Cause at the end of the day, we want these teams to win and flourish. but I also think the relationship we've built over the last seven years helps us really jive on that. And I think coming to the table, we were very aligned on, on values already. And so I think when you're looking at coaches and doctors, like, are you aligned? Because I think it would have been hard if I'm always pushing production and you're pushing culture. that's not gonna mesh. And so making sure that you two are aligned, I think when you're guiding a team and we've really ripped it off of each other, I think in a really great way, because I know where you wanna go. And honestly, I love your team so much. mean, they've had babies, they've grown, they've evolved. And it's really fun for me to see these cultures and these teams talk about numbers and get an ownership mindset, but they didn't start there. And we've like really grown them through. But I mean, even today we were talking with a team about profitability and to teach them. how to look at P &Ls and teach them about numbers and to think like owners. I think the light bulb moment was when our first meeting this week, you have an office manager. How long has Megan been in her role? She's been with me for, it's gotta be almost 15 years. And she's been the office manager of our flagship office, our biggest office for gotta be seven, eight years maybe. Megan. if and when you listen to this, I'm very off in those guesses, I apologize. That's why I write things down so I don't have to remember them. But the reality is she's just an amazing key part of what we're trying to do. Totally. And what I loved about Megan this meeting, because I watched her when she came into the OM role, was she said, hey, what about this? This is me thinking like an owner. And she questioned something that was going on within their practice of how is this going to hit my PNL? How's this going to impact her profitability? And honestly, I felt like both you and I probably saw like fireworks go off because she gets it. She understands that she thinks about the numbers. She thinks about the profitability. She thinks like an owner. And I think her decisions are much stronger and much sounder because she's coming from that viewpoint. But like, again, it took time. The Dental A Team (11:36.088) But I really love Jason that you are so passionate about growing your team into these incredible leaders and they know where you want to take them. And I love that in all the meetings you've said, this is our reason, this is why we exist. This is selfishly what I want to do. And if that doesn't align with you, that's okay. And I think giving teams permission of if they're not aligned with you, you'll help them find another job, but this is what we're doing and we're really passionate about it. And it's been really, really awesome to see the teams gravitate towards that and learn and ask the questions. I think that's something I've learned from you over my years. You do a good job of making a safe space for them and we work on that every time of trust and vulnerability, saying the things, asking the questions, giving the clarity so that way they can really be empowered to make decisions and grow their own practices. And truth be told, of all six of them, no meeting is the same. No teams winning statements are the same. No teams objectives, the rallying cries. None of them are the same. None of them have the same metric issues. Like they all are very individualized and giving them the empowerment. to figure out what they want and guiding them. But really they set the stage and I think that that's what buys them into the culture and also to the practices. Yeah, so much to unpack there. So we're here. That's why we have you now all the time in the world, Jason. We could not do this earlier. He was stressed. I could feel it from him. like, let's go. He's like, hold on, hold on. Yeah. need more time. Yeah, I can't stop me sweating, right? Man, where do I start? There's so much. So much wisdom in what Kiera just said. So first off, I do think that there's a tremendous amount of value in having quarterly meetings and figuring out a way to get out of the whirlwind and work on the business and set it in it. I also think there's value in bringing in a independent party for lack of a better term, because they get to see it with a new objectivity that maybe you are not seeing it with because you're constantly caught in the storm. Now you might be at where you can't afford something like that, or you may be at a point where you feel like you can do it better yourself, whatever it is, you're going to ultimately work through those pain points and those issues. And I would suspect that you come out the other end realizing that I need someone to help facilitate this, someone that's not so attached to it personally. Yeah, I'll never forget. The Dental A Team (13:59.962) you know, we'll go on a little tangent here. So we used to do, anonymous surveys with the team. This is one of the first times that Kiera ever came to our, one of our quarterlies to help us. And at the quarterly, we used to unpack the results of these anonymous surveys. And this was an anonymous survey for a particular office. And we were getting a lot of what back then I would call negative. Nowadays I would call constructive feedback regarding a specific employee. And everyone at the table was trying to spin it in a way where, yeah, but she's still able to do this or she's still able to do that. And we were like basically lying…
Full show notes at the publisherSo much of practice profitability comes from tracking supplies and overhead. Kiera pulls back the curtain on how practices can keep track of supplies, avoid shortages, and stay within budget. Episode resources: Reach out to Kiera Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00.59) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and welcome to the podcast. I hope you guys, it's crazy to think I've been doing this podcast for so long and I still get new ideas and that's thanks to you guys. So just so you know, the podcast is built for team members and teams, doctors and owners by team members and practice owners to give you guys the best tips and tricks to be able to share from hundreds of practices across the nation and across the globe to give you the shortcuts to success and to give you a community so you don't feel like you have to do this alone. I was at my, my gosh, I'm going to say the words on the podcast. You guys, you're going to find out how old I am. I went to my 20 year high school reunion. I kid you not. And I was terrified to go. none of my friends from high school that I hung out with in high school were going. So I was going kind of solo and, and by like none of my friends, did know people, but they weren't like the close friends that I'd hung out with all the time. None of them were going. And I was super stressed and I didn't know if I wanted to go. And I almost bailed about 20 times. And then I decided, you can always just leave. Just go say hello. You've already paid. It's right by my parents' house. It's not far away. And it was interesting because there was a girl that we weren't necessarily close in high school. I knew of her. She knew of me. But it was fun because she built a business. I built a business. And we were talking because when you're business owners, know there's not a lot of people you can actually geek out with all the time and talk to them about business strengths and weaknesses She said to me, said, know, Kiera I'd really love to get with you more often because I feel like as business owners, we need that community and we need people that are like us to help us know that we're going through it. And I just thought, I am so lucky because my dentists do have a community and the dentist I consult have a community and they don't have to do this alone. And they're like, I've literally been there, done that and done it successfully. And our team has been there, done that and done it successfully. And we're able to share with you all the tips and all the tricks and all the things. So that way you don't have to go through the hard things. If I could find somebody who has grown a consulting company, which I did, that's who I hired as my coach. but really just like leaning in. And then what I decided to do is our dentists, we actually meet the first Tuesday of every month. call that think tank Tuesday for our one -on -one clients. And then our group mastermind, which is so freaking fun. It's a really, really, really, really awesome community that I'm loving. And they get. Kiera Dent (02:21.448) way more access than they even do on one -on -one. But every single week they come together for Ask Consultants Everything. And then we also have a mastermind where they get to come together as well. And my biggest piece was I was thinking back to why did I join Tony Robbins? And I thought I joined it for Tony Robbins, but I realized I joined it for a community of people that push me, that I'm not the smartest one in the room, that people can help me run my business in ways that I don't even know because community is what we're all here for. And so for you guys, to just think like how blessed are we to have this podcast community to be able to come and share from hundreds of practices and get best ideas and to really get out there. Because what I found is in today's world, we don't have to be alone unless we want to. We don't have to do this on our own unless we want to. And I will literally give you every single piece of knowledge that I have anywhere and everywhere to make sure that you succeed and that you've lived the life you want. My goal is to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. Dentistry is my platform and life is my passion to give you guys the life that you deserve, to give you the team and the skills for doctors and teams to flourish. So today I really wanted to just go through a quick tactical for you about inventory management, which is not my typical podcast style. Normally I'm more about life, but today I thought, let me give you guys some quick tips on how to do supplies and to keep track of your supplies and make sure that we don't have shortages, make sure that we're within budget. And kind of just helping you and your team get on that because what I found is so much of profitability comes from tracking our supplies, tracking our overhead. And if we can get that dialed in, that's one less thing that we have to worry about. So, Hey, who's for ease. I'm here for ease because at the end of the day, we can do it the hard way or we can do it the easy way. And I would love to share with you the fastest, easiest tips I've learned. And then also what I expect from you as the community is if you have ways that I'm not talking about on the podcast, please email me. Hello @ TheDentalATeam.com I'll either bring you on as a guest or we can take some of your ideas if you don't want to be a guest and share it because I believe that yes, while you're consuming and receiving, it's also important for you to give back. And I believe that the secret to living a fulfilled life is giving back and serving as well. There's so much fulfillment in my life to serve you and to give you these tips and to give you resources from other practices, but I wouldn't be able to give it to you without their experiences as well. Kiera Dent (04:36.354) Whether that's you join us and become one of our ambassadors who actually get to help coach some of our doctors. Whether it's you become a client, we're able to help with that. Or you just email me in and share some of your greatest ideas. I would love that. I would love it so much and it will make you feel good because then you were able to share an idea. And everyone thinks their ideas are dumb and guess what? Going from hundreds of practices, most practices are actually not doing it. And some of my best ideas are the simplest things like an office had standup desk for their front office and I thought, gosh. I wish so many other offices knew that. So no idea is dumb. And I just want you to not feel scared to share. And don't worry, I will always polish it up and make you sound like a million bucks. So you never, ever, ever, ever have to worry. Just email me Hello @ TheDentalATeam .com and be sure to give back. Cause I think that that's a great way for you to also feel fulfilled. So with supplies, number one, I like supplies to be at a four or a 5 % of total collections. So a great thing, there's a supply spreadsheet that I've given to a lot of our offices that we consult. where it literally is just what are they doing for their ordering and then what is the budget? Because so often, like I was a dental assistant, I would just order what we had always ordered in the past. And that's actually not the best way to do inventory management and that we don't need to. So if we give them a 4%, so let's just make our math super simple. If we're collecting 100 ,000, 4 % is four grand, 5 % would be 5 ,000. And then what they do is, whoever's ordering, they just put it on a spreadsheet, they just deduct it down, and that's our budget for the month. Now, something else that I love are clear tip out bins. I'm obsessed with going into offices and finding this beautiful blank wall and I found it in every practice. So don't think that your practice can't do it. Sometimes you have to get a little creative, but there's always space for it. But the clear bins, when I worked at Midwestern University's dental college in Arizona, we bought so much extra inventory because we couldn't see things. And think about our houses. Like, yes, we can tuck it in drawers, but we can't see things. And for inventory, we want to be able to see things. to know how much do we actually have of things. And so even at the dental college, students would stock their drawers and we would go through so much composite because people would be hoarding composite. And so I'm also not obsessed with stocking rooms a ton, especially if you wanna get your inventory down and get your supplies lower, which you can absolutely do. And so what I love to do is have one, the spreadsheet and the budget. So whomever's ordering knows exactly how much they can spend. Kiera Dent (06:54.83) Let's not have it be free reign. You can also do it for the front office. I know Amazon can really run quickly on us, but make them just track it on a quick, simple spreadsheet. That way we can always watch that and get that in control. I understand that if you order implants, you might need to go higher. If an office is doing implants, usually add together the supplies and the labs. I do about between 12 and 14%, again, depending upon the rest of your practice. I'm aiming for a 50 % overhead, excluding Dr. Pay. So you can kind of play with the numbers and figure but a good like overall supply budget is like four to 5%. That does include hygiene supplies as well. And front office, I usually give them a half a percentage to 1 % for front office supplies. Again, look at your overhead, look at the percentages. We have an incredible overhead calculator that has it all broken down into the percentages of what we recommend for each category. And then you can use your P &L and plug it in and it's really awesome. So with that said, I love to get that budget set up. And then if we can, let's get those clear, Clear bins set up so that way we can see. Some offices will draw a line on the bin of like when it gets down to here, this is when we order. So we can visually see and it becomes so fast. You can put tags, there's some inventory management where some people will tag it and then just scan it. Other people have the tags on the bin so it's very quick when we need to reorder, cuts down the time for us. I do really love some buying GPOs. Synergy is one, so be sure to let them know Dental A Team sent you. I think they're great because they have a whole buying group. It's kind of like Costco where we get cheaper items because we're with the group of multiples. And I think Synergy is one of the best that allows you to still work with your preferred vendors. They do work primarily with Darby. However, with that said, you can still work with most of them and still get discounts. So yes, it might take a little bit of time to get up to date, but hey, if we can buy the same stuff and actually just save ourselves a couple hundred bucks a month or a couple thousand, isn't that worth it? I always say yes. So that's another thing is to look into that synergy or a buying group such as that. If you have a buying group you love, please be sure to reach out, let me know. Hello @ TheDentalATeam .com. will happily vet them, find out about them and see if it's someone I would recommend to our community. But with that, then what we wanna do is we also wanna make sure that our team knows what our supplies need to be. And then everybody, I really am not obsessed with having things in operatories because if I have to stock. Kiera Dent (09:11.724) six operatories with composite that can get very costly. And so also having tubs or those carts, if you don't know what I'm talking about, be sure to reach out. I'm happy to share pictures with you. But cart parking, and so we have like two carts for implants. We've got a cart for endo. We've got our composite, and you can have little tubs or bins. It just has everything in it. And think about how many doctors we have, how many providers. But then we just basically take it from sterile on our tray setup, take it to the room, we clean it all put it away and off it goes. And then all I have to do is just stock the carts or the bins rather than stocking all the rooms. And I had a practice that we were actually able to cut down their supply costs exponentially due to the fact that we, all we had to do was literally just take it out of the operatories. And we were able to save so much because stocking each room was so costly and I'm having to stock basically six offices versus just having to stock those bins. The bins are also faster because I can look for it. We can fill it. And then it's all in sterile. Everything's there. You can have drop downs. saw an office that actually had drop down bins. It's like a, I guess a clothing pull down, you know, like in closets where they're really tall. They did that for their sterile and it was amazing because they were able to have all their supplies right there. People were able to then just like restock the bins. And I did this at Midwestern when I was at the college. And what I found was I didn't have to have as many supplies because I was able to see everything. And also we had the tubs and the bins, so not as many things had to go. And I think that's just a good way for you guys to get the supplies down to keep track the supplies to not have the supply shortages But again visually getting everything out. So if you were starting this sometimes even just in the operatories I do keep my disposables like cotton gauze floss things that we're using all the time that are very minimal cost Those stick in the operatories. You can also get the clear bins and stick them right behind your 12 o 'clock cabinet That way all those things are very easy. You can see them They're not very minimal things that we've got a stock, but really the bins are so easy Offices love them. It might seem like a little bit change, but it makes it very, very, very simple for it. So a lot of those things, yes, I keep my disposables, my sections in the room. So those things are very simple. We use them all the time. Keep those there and they're not very costly, but the composite, the matrices bands, the impression material, all those things do become a little more costly. And so being able to cut those down really can save and then empower someone, empower them to be your supply champion, empower them Kiera Dent (11:37.538) really be able to grow this and to, and get the person who's obsessed with like winning and figuring out how they can make ends meet. They're usually the person who really loves to be over supplies. And then they know their budget, they save the money and they're able to get it. Oftentimes buying deals when like a company has like buy two, get one free, run the numbers and make sure it's actually a good deal. Cause sometimes they're not that good of a deal. So there's my quick tactical practical for you of inventory management. Like I said, Set up the spreadsheet with the budget, make sure we're tracking it, give the budgets to them, look at your overhead. Then the clear bins are a great thing. You can just Google them. There's a lot of them, like Z -Line, I think, is a company that has them. But just Google clear tip -out bins. They come in multiple sizes. You'll want a nice big wall. You can a…
Full show notes at the publisherTiff and Dana are encouraging listeners to start planning for an end-of-year celebration now to show your appreciation for the team. Their advice includes ideas that cost money, and ones that don't! Episode resources: Reach out to Tiff and Dana Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00.756) Hello Dental A Team listeners, this is Tiff I am back at it today with miss Dana and Dana I'm so excited for you to be here with me We've had a lot of time together like this recently and it makes me so happy. I love when we can do it and Gosh, we need to schedule that hike. I'm telling you it's getting to the fall So I can come down and see you soon. know that Aaron and I want to do that soon. So how are you today, Dana? How's life in Southern Arizona treating you today? Dana (00:31.429) doing pretty good like you said around the outfall although it's still in the hundreds so the thought of hiking sometimes is like you know what Tiff like maybe October you know what you're really good The Dental A Team (00:35.934) It's so hot! Yeah, maybe November. Yep. Good. Awesome. Well, Dana, today's podcast is your baby. This is something and I know I always give you like props for the operations manual and you guys yeah, she is our operations manual whiz but this this today is something that Dana's actually really fantastic at, she is fantastic at that too, but this is something that comes from her heart and her soul and something that we at Dental A Team gifted her as part of her position with us, just because it really, it literally comes from your heart and your soul, Dana. And you are so, so good at keying into people and what will make them happiest and how, how to make people feel appreciated and valued and with gifts and words for sure, but like celebrating other people and building out end of year celebrations. And I really want this podcast today. This is your baby. I want you to speak to one, how you do it and two, are some, what are some things that doctors and practice leaders and owners can really can do to celebrate the end of the year, whether we hit our goals, which I hope you did, or whether we didn't, we should still celebrate the work that we put in. But This is your baby and I want to hear from you, Dana, on how you think end of year celebrating should go for practices and number one, how you do it because you are so passionate about this space and we value and appreciate that. you guys, you clients get birthday presents, celebratory gifts, cards, flowers, any of those pieces, I want you to know that Dana is the person behind all of that. The Dental A Team (02:32.106) incredibly valuable piece of our company. So Dana, thank you for that. Take us away. This is your baby. Dana (02:38.251) Aw, thanks, Tiff. It truly is like one of my favorite spaces, just in life in general. I think I'm like this in my personal life too. And I think it comes down to being intentional. And I think for a lot of office this end of the year, like we don't think about it until the end of the year. And so I am going to prompt you that yes, while we are closer to the end of the year, be thinking about this. as much as you can, right? And so I think a great thing is knowing your team, right? Whether it's through one -on -ones, whether it's through a survey when they're hired, whether it's through just taking inventory and listening to conversations that you hear, but knowing the things that your team members like, enjoy what makes them feel appreciated. So I think it's doing purposeful things throughout the year to gain some of this information to be able to celebrate at the end of the year or celebrate throughout the year too. A lot of this information is super helpful for birthdays, super helpful for work anniversaries, super helpful for like you just did a fantastic job and I appreciate you. So I think it is getting to know those spaces and then the pieces that your team member really like they do get excited about and then kind of to feeding a little bit of like common interests. Are there things that when it comes to the end of the year and we're doing something for the team, are there things or common interests woven throughout the team that really would make it more special or more memorable? Or you know make them feel more appreciated because it is tailored to like their likes their goals their dreams those types of things and then I also just want to highlight like budget for this right because it's oftentimes we get to the end of the year and it's like man I've got to do this end of the year shebang and like I don't have any funds for it I wasn't thinking about it or planning for it so when you're planning for your year make that a part of if we can say hey if I set aside $100 or The Dental A Team (04:16.551) Yeah. Dana (04:30.813) $200 every single month in my little end of the year party bucket. It will make doing this for your team much less stressful. Okay? The caveat to that too is if this year wasn't a fantastic year and you weren't able to do that, it doesn't have to be monetary. So if it can't be monetary, make it fun. And you can do a lot of fun things that make people feel super appreciated, that make them come together and bond and all of that and get time with you and time with each other. It does not also have to be about gifts or bonuses or money or any of those pieces. Team members will always appreciate that. And so if you can't do it or if you're limited on the fun's part, focus on the fun part too. The Dental A Team (05:19.14) That was beautiful. I love that you said that the fun versus the fun, you know, I love a good time. Good job. That's beautiful. And Dana, I love that we can hear your passion in it just in you speaking and thank you for sharing that. Beautiful tips, start building a bucket right away. And I do have a lot of clients that I push to do that because they want to do end of year bonuses and they want it to be grandiose. And I'm like, fantastic, build it into your goals. So put a percentage X percentage more in on to your goals so that you can take that percentage then and put it into your bonus your end of year bonus bucket. It's totally doable. You guys you just have to prep and plan for it like Dana said, and it is the end of the year right now are rounding out the end of the year. So whatever that looks like for you is totally fine. I have a lot of clients who are in that that situation where they're like, Tiff, like, do we go to a restaurant? Do we have a caterer come in? Do we do it at the practice? Do we do it somewhere else? And I think what Dana said is really like, she mentioned take inventory really of what people like, what do they want to do? How do they feel appreciated? Do we get asked, do we do families? Do we do just our team members? I've had practices of all walks of life. I've had practices that have had a little bit of a difficulty in. the family aspect being there, the spouses, and they've had like run -ins, but that's non -typical. I've had practices that, gosh, even my own practice, one of my favorite, my practice I worked for for years, we always did a Christmas party or a holiday party at the end of the year. One of my favorite memories, Brody is 16th as of recording this, my son. He was three or four. It was a long time ago and this was one of the parties that just sticks with me. I actually think about it a lot. And our office manager and our doctor put together a family Christmas party and his actually the doctor's wife had majority of planning on this one. But they rented out a space at a hotel nearby the conference room. So they rented out a conference room and we had this patient. He's incredible. He plays Santa. Like he's Santa all year round. The Dental A Team (07:34.455) He has a small voice. He looks like Santa. He wears red every day. Like he, and he plays Santa during the holidays for different events and things, because he loves it so much. And his wife looks like Mrs. Claus. Like literally what you would imagine Santa and Mrs. Claus look like that's these people. Well, they got this patient to come be Santa. And we did. cookies and hot chocolate and like make your own, you know, cookies, do your own icing and stuff in a hot chocolate bar. And we had this incredible party where everyone could bring their kids and they could socialize and get to know each other and, do all of this stuff. And it was one of my most favorite events. And I can't even tell you guys, I'm sure there was because I think we did it every year. I don't know if there was a bonus or not. I don't remember the Christmas present that I got. I know you get that every year. And I don't, I don't know what it was. But I do know that my kid sat on Santa's lap, got this incredible experience, our patient, like the best Santa you could ever ask for, got to experience that with us. But I want you to understand that memory of that time together with my team and the people that I love and that far outweighed the monetary piece that came in addition to that. So My point in that is Dana, you you said if you can't if the funds aren't there, make sure it's fun, right? And it doesn't have to be even that grandiose. That was a big party. And I'm like, dang, this is really cool. It doesn't have to be that big. But I also remember parties that we just did in the practice where it was a potluck and we each brought our own favorite dish that we make. I had I remember my co worker, Michelle, she made this amazing like corn casserole dish. that I had never had before and she brought it and I was like, you're bringing this. We did a recipe book. So then at the end of the year, everybody submitted their favorite recipe. And I was like, if that corn recipe is not in there, like we're fighting like it needs to be there. Right. But we, we figured this out about each other and became closer because of simple things like that. And Dana, think even that one, like a potluck where everybody brings their own stuff, that's very minimal funds from the doctor. So those are Dana (09:33.783) Thank you. The Dental A Team (09:48.308) Those are just some ideas and some concepts that I've experienced. But Dana, what do you suggest? And I know a lot of doctors are coming to you right now asking and managers asking like, what do we do? And you get this all year round, actually. Because I watch it happen. I watch it happen in like our, doctor conversation, even of like, what do I do? How do I appreciate my team? And like you said, know your team, but what are some fun end of year holiday or beginning of year? Celebration ideas that you shared with some of our community in the past that they could consider right now Dana (10:23.241) Yeah, so I mean, you can always do a special dinner, you can always do those things. I've had an office that did a shopping spree. So everybody got x amount of dollars, they went to either a mall or a Target or somewhere. And the reason for that was they felt like if they gave a bonus, team members would spend it on bills or family instead of themselves. And they really wanted it to spend it on themselves. So everybody got x amount of dollars they had to and they made it a game to they focused on the fun. It had to be like up to that amount, like not one penny less or more. And so was really fun The Dental A Team (10:39.889) Mm Dana (10:53.117) figuring out the math. I had an office take the team to see the Harlem Globetrotters because they're all huge sports fans and that was amazing. I've had The Dental A Team (10:57.66) yeah. Dana (11:02.675) Doctors just have team members over to their home and they do just games and make it something that's more relaxed. If you've got some introverted team members, that's a really great space for that. That makes that easy. and you know, if you're into music, like going to a concert and there are all forms of that, right? So if you've got people who are interested in sports, you don't have to go to a professional sports game, find a college sports game, find a local sports game, right? It's about being together. I think sometimes we The Dental A Team (11:11.07) Mm -hmm. Dana (11:32.802) Forget that really at the end of the day, that's what we want to do We want to say thank you for a fantastic year for really hard work We want to do it in a space that is together. So there's all sorts of things if you've got outdoors You can do scavenger hunts or hikes together like we've talked about doing together If giving back is super important to your team, you can even do community service together You can do a food drive together You can volunteer somewhere together and all of that because it is special to them will be appreciation The Dental A Team (12:05.947) Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. That's that space of getting to know your team, right, and really figuring out what's valuable to them. I think speaking on behalf of leadership within that too, I know within our company, it's fairly simple for us to figure out what we can do together as a team, because within our culture, we have built, we've built a culture that attracts someone who fits our culture, who fits our core values. And it means that we're all super similar. And while we do have varying hobbies and interests all over the place, like Brit gosh, you mountain bikes and road bikes. I'm like, if you put me on a bike, like I am unhappy, right? Dana, you crossfit and I'm like, gosh, if I could get my elbows to move that way, sure, I could try crossfit, but they just don't do it, right. But I work out myself at the gym and I love it. And I have my peloton and I do my spin. And the three of us Like, and the rest of the team, right? They all have their varying hobbies within that similar vein of activity. So it's like, we know that our culture and our core values has attracted a group of individuals who are interested in health and fitness and who value that aspect of our lives. And it's an important space and an important hobby. So it makes it very easy to be like, great, we all want to move. we want to be doing something. So if you stiff us in a room, in a potluck, we're going to eat and we're going to enjoy it, but we're going to be like, okay, well, what are we doing? Like, what's the activity? Like, what are we? Yeah, who wants to go for a walk? Literally? Like we would just be like, cool, like there's a mountain not far from here. Like maybe we could like anybody, everybody down great. And we're gone. Right. So we know like who we are as a team because we are so culturally based. So as a leader, Dana (13:34.709) See you soon for a walk! The Dental A Team (13:52.898) and a practice owner, lean on that too. Lean on what your culture is, look at your core values and really look at how similar you guys are because you're gonna be very different. and I, super similar. We have a lot of things in common, very different, right? Very different. If we switched lives, I would die. I would die, Dana. I don't know how you do it. I watch you and I'm exhausted, right? Like we are so similar in so many ways but we are very different in a lot of ways as well. But those similarities, instead of looking at the differences, because I think we tend to say, well, so and so would want this, so and so would want that, and she wouldn't like this. What's the similarity between all of the peopl…
Full show notes at the publisherKiera sits down with certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon Dr. Jason Auerbach, also known as @bloodytoothguy on social media. They discuss Dr. Auerbach's love for and journey through his career, standout surgery moments, the pros and cons of building his DSO, marketing advice that will take you far, and more. Episode resources: Follow Dr. Auerbach on Instagram Follow him on TikTok, too! Reach out to Kiera Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00.886) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera And today I am so excited. We have been Instagram fangirling over this man and he is finally on the podcast. We are super excited to have him on here. You guys might know him as the bloody tooth guy. You might have seen him. He's a really fun board certified oral and maxofacial surgeon. He has a ton of experience. I'm so excited to bring on Dr. Jason Auerbach. Welcome to the show. How are you? Jason M Auerbach, DDS (00:25.733) I'm doing great, Kiera. Thank you so much for having me. I'm looking forward to it for sure. Kiera Dent (00:29.29) Of course. Well, we were chatting pre -show. I loved how you explained it's your back, my back, our back is your last name. So now everybody will get that right. But kind of tell us, give us a story of how you came from Dr. Jason to now Instagram's famous bloody tooth guy and doing all the things that you do. Kind of just walk us in on your journey of who you are, who is this man? And then I'm excited to dive into some fun things with you today. Jason M Auerbach, DDS (00:37.639) There you go. Jason M Auerbach, DDS (00:44.315) you Jason M Auerbach, DDS (00:53.341) Sure. So, I grew up in the Northeast. I grew up in New York and, went to school undergrad at Syracuse. And I met a very, very close friend of mine still to this day, whose father was an orthodontist. had very little understanding of what I really wanted to do when I entered college. and he introduced me to this concept of dentistry and dental school. So I ended up applying to NYU, getting into NYU and, and kind of finding my little niche there. I, I happened to find my way down to the basement of the school, was where the undergraduate oral, or the dental oral surgery clinic was. And met a man named Clarence Kalman, who was an attending at the time and kind of mentored me in exudantia, which is all I knew from oral surgery at the time. Applied and found my way to Kings County Hospital, which is Downstate SUNY Downstate's oral surgery program in Brooklyn. I four years there and ended up working for attendings of mine right out of residency in Manhattan. After a year or so, I ended up kind of leaving that practice. I was an associate there. They were great to me, but I ended up leaving that practice and finding what I perceived was a better opportunity in New Jersey, right over the bridge. And I was there for a couple of years and had, like many people have had, some promises made that were not necessarily kept. And so found myself in 2007 in a position where I was moving out to New Jersey from New York City. I was having my second daughter, my wife was having my second daughter, and I was working in nine different offices kind of as an itinerary neurosurgeon. started Riverside Oral Surgery in 2007 in a town called River Edge, New Jersey, which is maybe six miles from the George Washington Bridge, grew it over the course of about, let's call it 12 years or so, to 10 or 11 locations with a partner, Sung Cho, and we built a full scope oral maxillofacial surgery practice. While that was happening, life was happening as well. Social media was growing. Jason M Auerbach, DDS (03:08.879) And I found that there was opportunity or I thought to myself, maybe there's opportunity on Instagram that people might be interested in bloody teeth. They were interested in people watching people pop pimples. Maybe they'd be interested in bloody teeth. so a bloody tooth guy was born initially anonymously, basically because I didn't understand the hip aspect of it. And also I didn't really understand how my competitors. Kiera Dent (03:21.804) Bye. Jason M Auerbach, DDS (03:36.797) would potentially use it against me. I just really wasn't exactly sure what was going on or what was going to happen. So I was anonymous and then a few years later came out and the rest is history. We've been very, very fortunate to have built Riverside Oral Surgery, now MAX, which is a surgical specialty platform that supports 24 offices, 25 offices in four states, about to be five states. build a pretty engaged, respectable following for Bloody Tooth Guy as well. So I've been very, very, very fortunate my whole life in many ways. And just being kind of recognized for it is a nice thing, for sure. Kiera Dent (04:19.914) Yeah, no, that's a super fun story. my, so I worked at Midwestern's Dental College. And so you are the student epitome of the one who's just like, yeah, I just woke up one day and decided to become a dentist. And I'm like, how do people get there? And now we have another story of said student. But one of the favorite students, he went through dental school and decided this isn't my thing. So actually went to do all face reconstruction. It was another like, four years through med school and then four years and then two more years. And I call him up all the time and I'm like, okay, so if anything ever happens to me, if I ever get in a car accident, you've got to make me like at least look this good again. That's our plan. I'm like, I'll help you with anything dental. You just have to make sure. So I feel like it's always good to know like an oral maxofacial. So I'm dying to know so many random questions for you. Okay. How many teeth in your career do you think you've extracted? Like just like random. Jason M Auerbach, DDS (05:07.741) it is. Go ahead, anything. Kiera Dent (05:16.746) I mean, we can throw out, it's gotta be like, I mean, do think you've crossed the million mark? Jason M Auerbach, DDS (05:22.141) maybe it's it's it like maybe. so I'm, I'm 50. I finished training in 2003. and so training at Kings County hospital in Brooklyn, was a full exedontia clinic. We used to see a hundred plus patients a day and many people needed many teeth extracted. and I think that's partly why, you know, people talk about 10 ,000 hours or whatever it is to become an expert at whatever it is that you do. mean, I had that probably, you know, Kiera Dent (05:31.596) Okay. Kiera Dent (05:36.363) Thank you. Kiera Dent (05:46.571) Yeah. Jason M Auerbach, DDS (05:51.037) 15, 20 years ago when I came out of residency, thought I had done so much. And again, 20 years later, it's like unbelievable. It's possible I've extracted a million teeth. I don't know. I wouldn't say, but it's, it's definitely a lot. mean, yeah, it could be a million, could be a million. Yeah. Kiera Dent (05:56.289) Yeah. Kiera Dent (06:09.984) Right? I was like, I bet he's crossed the million mark. Like thinking of how many patients and all that. So, okay, that was like number one. Number two, I'm not even know like, what do you like, why, what do you love so much about oral? Because oral maxillofacial is so bloody. And funny story, as a dental assistant, I was doing my internship. I was there. The doctor was so nervous for my first extraction. I was watching it. He's like, Kiera, make sure you like sit over there. I don't want you passing out. Jason M Auerbach, DDS (06:27.623) you Kiera Dent (06:39.05) washed the extraction, I was totally fine. That night I went home and I dreamed about it and I puked my guts out that night. So I didn't do it at the place and then it was fine. did like, I went and like learned about implants and I loved it. I do get a little weird about cadavers like that. I dry heat like left and right. I don't even know how you guys work on it. Like it just, but I need to know, like tell me like, what is it about oral maxofacial that you just love so much? What's the fulfilling piece to you? Like, what is it about that? It's so bloody. It's so much blood. Jason M Auerbach, DDS (06:56.656) Right. Jason M Auerbach, DDS (07:07.037) So actually the beauty of true oral maxillofacial surgery is in the efficiency of motion. I come at everything I do from a creative side. So the people come at it from an engineering perspective. I come at it from the creative side, from an artistic side. That's just how I see things. So part of what draws me to the surgery is the ability to see a problem, understand it, and fix it with my hands. in an efficient, clean, not that bloody manner. Now, of course, these are human beings. They bleed, they're alive. It's kind of a positive thing. But the fact is, is that I really see surgery as such a beautiful artistic expression of how to solve problems. in truth, that's how I come at it from a technical artistic side. From a psychological... Kiera Dent (07:39.916) Yes. Kiera Dent (07:45.139) Yeah. Jason M Auerbach, DDS (08:05.467) Like how I help people, you know, every single person who comes into my office every single day is anxious or in pain or scared or a combination thereof. and in a, in a really very, very quick way, we're able to, kind of convert them from being, from feeling that way to being appreciative, almost mind blown in terms of how easy and simplistic. the solution to their problem is. And I think a lot of people don't really understand kind of the scope of oral maxillofacial surgery. And it's why I think even dentists, even people in the dental world don't truly understand the training that we have. And it's really kind of incumbent upon us to really kind of spread the word on that. And I think I do that to some degree with the dental alveolar stuff I do. But I do think that we have in our bag of tricks so much that we can work with. that patients who come with seemingly complex problems from a dental perspective, from an oral perspective are, I don't want to say easily solved, but you know, fairly routinely solved. I personally treat a lot of oral surgery, right? I'm a full scope board certified oral maxillofacial surgeon. I've done everything from frontal sinus to the clavicles, you know, everything anterior. I've harvested ribs, I've harvested hips. I've done all kinds of stuff. Kiera Dent (09:20.885) you Jason M Auerbach, DDS (09:33.499) But the fact of the matter is that I do dental, alveolar surgery, I a lot of wisdom teeth, I do a lot of dental implants, advanced bone grafting. And I do that comfortably because I'm able to handle anything that comes my way because of how I was trained in such an extensive way. And so, you know, when you go to watch a procedure done by an oral maxillofacial surgeon is in his or her office, you're oftentimes, one would oftentimes be amazed by how seemingly easy it is and they're encouraged to kind of try it and then they find that it's not necessarily as easy as it looks and that's because we've been trained to do it. We do minimally four years of training as you know after dental school that's after dental school up to six or more if you're fellowship trained and so we're able to you know we get the reps in early versus kind of an extension throughout your entire career done like X number of whatever. sign -as -lifts because you've taken a course or something like that. Not to disparage, but it's a different thing. Kiera Dent (10:34.081) Mm Kiera Dent (10:38.304) Totally. No, and that's so interesting to me. We harvested one time right before Thanksgiving. I was working with a dentist and we decided we were going to try and harvest from the ramus. It did not go well. And I remember we got a lot of flak. Like you guys did this right before Thanksgiving, right before this patient was going to go on their like dream cruise of their life. Needless to say, was, I mean, Jason M Auerbach, DDS (10:50.074) Hmm Jason M Auerbach, DDS (10:58.973) to it. Kiera Dent (11:01.394) hats off. have so much respect for what you guys do, but I'm dying to know. My husband, worked, he's a clinical pharmacist and he did a lot of rotations in the ER. He thought about being an ER pharmacist and I'm such a gross human, but like it's just fascinating. Like that's what people are fascinated with you. They're fascinated with the pimple popper. So every day when he'd come home from work, I'm like, tell me what happened. Like did someone die? Like what was the crazy stuff? And he told me some wild things from that ER. So I'm dying to know in your career, Jason M Auerbach, DDS (11:23.6) you Kiera Dent (11:28.47) What are some of like the craziest things that you have gone through? Like for my husband, I think the one that I remember the most is when he said a woman's face went through the windshield and her whole face was de -gloved. That image has never left my mind. Cause I'm like, that is bananas. Like I wear my seatbelt crazy now because I don't want my face ever de -gloved. But I'm curious, like in your career, what are some of the craziest stories or things that you're just like, I remember this one time. That's just the kind of with you throughout your career. Jason M Auerbach, DDS (11:52.795) Yeah. You know, so most of those stories for me occurred in residency because I, again, I training, I was training in, in the inner city, in the late nineties, early two thousands. And there was a lot of interpersonal violence, gunshot wounds and stab wounds and things like that. Not high, high speed, motor vehicle accidents or anything like that. Cause we weren't near a highway and we were in the city, but. Kiera Dent (12:00.54) sure. Kiera Dent (12:12.619) Yeah. Kiera Dent (12:20.012) Sure, you're downtown. Jason M Auerbach, DDS (12:22.821) You know, I had a gentleman who was caught mistreating a woman and a group of guys, I would say appropriately decided that he needed to be punished for his actions. And so he proceeded to receive pretty significant facial injuries with a bat and a shovel. Kiera Dent (12:36.129) Yeah. Jason M Auerbach, DDS (12:51.185) And so we're talking about, so when you talk about degloving your face, traumatically, we do that with something called a bichoronal or coronal flap where we actually make an incision in the scalp and bring everything down so that you can access the frontal sinus and and OE area. and, and so that was a case that was, that was, something to remember just given the circumstances that he sustained the injury. Kiera Dent (12:54.944) Yes. Kiera Dent (13:05.354) Mm -hmm. Kiera Dent (13:16.086) I'm so sorry. Jason M Auerbach, DDS (13:16.893) Another guy had a machete impaled and created what we would do surgically, a Lafort 1 osteotomy. Part of what we do as orthoporomaxillofacial surgeons is orthognathic surgery, basically jaw repositioning. And this guy had it done just in one fell swoop because he ran into a machete. And then the most, the case that meant the most to me, that probably attached me to patient care more than anything else was there was a young boy who had fractured his jaw. Kiera Dent (13:38.9) Mm -hmm. Jason M Auerbach, DDS (13:46.173) When you fall on your chin, oftentimes you fracture the condyle, which is the part of the lower jaw that articulates with the skull in the TMJ. And he went back down to Jamaica. He was from Jamaica. He went back down to Jamaica and got lost to follow -up. And he developed something called TMJ ankylo…
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