Dr. David Stanley is a pediatric dentist and partner at Wild About Smiles Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He joins us on the podcast to discuss his career, and how things have changed since being diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer. We talk about trying to find balance between working hard to build a practice and pay off loans, while at the same time finding enjoyment in life, spending time with family, and learning how to sleep well at night after a hard day at the office. We also talk about how beneficial talking to a therapist or counselor can be to keep your mental well-being in check. Dr. Stanley and I also have a brief discussion about how his office was recently embezzled from by a trusted employee, so he reflects on things he could have done differently and gives advice to young practice owners on preventing this from happening to them. 

Sometimes it’s nice to have a podcast without a lot of structure where you can just ramble on unfiltered with your old coresidents. In this episode, myself and three close friends and pediatric dentistry coresidents drink a few beers, talk shop, and share crazy stories from residency. Dr Bryce Evans is the owner of Penguin Pediatric Dentistry in Iowa, Dr Kirsty Gratz is the owner of Good to Grow Dental Center in Indiana, and Dr Nate Green practices as an associate in Denver Colorado.

After a lot of interest from listeners, we decided to do an episode focusing on 401ks and retirement plans for pediatric dentists. Jeff Wherry and Shawn Johnson from Treloar and Heisel join us to take a deep dive into 401ks. Shawn has been a guest on the show previously, and Jeff is the director of planning and research who specializes in helping doctors develop retirement plans for their practices. In this episode, we discuss: - What are the different type of retirement plans that a pediatric dentist should consider? - When is the right time to start thinking about a 401k for your practice? - Understanding the tax savings of a 401k, and how much money can you put in? - What is a third party administrator and how do they help the process? - Understanding terms such as safe harbor, profit sharing, vesting schedules, and open architecture plans - What is a defined benefit plan, and how does that layer over a traditional 401k for somebody ready to save more money? For anybody interested in getting more information or looking to start the steps in setting up a retirement plan for their practice, I would recommend contacting Jeff at jwherry@treloaronline.com

A lot of money is wasted in our profession on marketing that doesn't produce a high return on investment. Practice owners need to learn to market smarter, not harder.  In today's episode, Minal Sampat joins us to discuss creative and affordable ways to market and grow a pediatric dental practice. Minal is an RDH and worked for 10 years in a pediatric dental office. She is a national speaker and marketing strategist, along with author of Why Your Marketing is Killing Your Business.   Some of the topics we discuss: - Making your website better than your competition - Better dentist bios - Internal referrals and community outreach - Facebook vs Instagram and how the algorithms have changed - Hiring help to develop Tiktok videos Minal's website and more information about her can be found at https://minalsampat.com/

Dr. Justin Stevens is a pediatric dentist and practice owner in Bozeman, Montana. His wife, Joni, is also a pediatric dentist. Together they acquired a practice and have grown it to the point of constructing a brand new 10-op building. I invited Dr. Stevens to be on the podcast after spending some time in Bozeman after my annual September elk hunt. Montana is a beautiful state and I wanted to learn more about what the pediatric dentistry scene is like out there. Dr. Stevens is also an advocate for using a Solea hard tissue laser. He and his wife have two of them in their practice. We discuss the efficiency of lasers, reducing chair time with less local anesthesia, how to complete specific preps such as class II's and SSC preps, and also how the cost breakdown is more achievable than you may think. This was a great discussion for any pediatric dentist interested in practicing in Montana, building a practice from ground-up construction, or anyone interested in investing in a hard-tissue laser.  https://gvpediatricdentistry.com/

Dr. Yoshita Patel is a pediatric dentist and the owner of Viera Pediatric Dentistry on the east coast of Florida. She has grown a relationship-based FFS practice and has had a ton of success in her community. Her 700+ 5 star reviews speak to that. You can tell by the way she talks about her practice that Dr. Patel emphasizes the patient experience and relationships she has with her patients and families. In this episode we review: - How a FFS office can grow just as quickly as a PPO office - Giving back to your community can accelerate a FFS office - Dental insurance challenges and how to overcome them in a FFS office - Focus on the relationships, and the numbers/money will come - When looking at a start-up, determine your goals and what YOU want, and then structure the practice and your mission statement around that - Implementing tongue and lip ties into your practice, and understanding the struggles that new mothers face

As the two year anniversary of opening my practice approaches, I thought it would be a fun exercise to go over my profit-and-loss statement from the last 12 months and breakdown my expenses. The average overhead in pediatric dentistry is around 50%, but I think we can do better.  I've been able to run a very low overhead, lean office by keeping my expenses in check and doing many services myself. In this episode, I review some of the following that allow me to keep a sub-30% overhead: - How to calculate a true overhead (what do I include and what do I take out). - How being rural keeps my rent, staff salaries, and advertising budgets low - Bringing in more revenue is an easy way to lower overhead that doesn't involve cutting costs - Save money by doing your own bookkeeping, website, marketing, payroll, etc. - Where to shop for dental supplies, and why the big suppliers can eat into your profits. I hope you enjoy this deep dive into practice numbers. Cheers!

Dr. Tim Richardson is guest who has been on the podcast in the past, and it was a pleasure to host him again. He is the founder of Acorn Kids Pediatric Dentistry in the Salem, Oregon area. He currently has six offices, eleven dentists, and a wealth of knowledge on growing and operating new pediatric dental practices.  Today we talk about bringing on an associate. When is the right time? How do you know it's a good fit? Where do you find good associates? Should you offer them equity? What's a competitive compensation package? How do you make the administrative process go smoothly? All details that we discuss in today's episode.  Dr. Richardson and I also discuss listening to Ben Nemtin as the keynote speaker at AAPD San Diego. Dr. Richardson was inspired by his message to live without regrets and to create a bucket list, and he was actually able to convince Ben to give a virtual presentation to his practice. Dr. Richardson is hosting the event through his foundation, Acorn Kids International. Listeners of the podcast are able to join Ben's presentation for free, but donations to the foundation are welcomed, and proceeds go to support children in poverty in Kenya. I'm excited for both myself and my team to tune into this event so that I can help them grow both professionally and personally, inside and outside of the office.  If you are interested in tuning in to this presentation, email Dr. Richardson at timrichardsondds@gmail.com. The event is October 25th and 2:30 PST. 

With oral boards coming up next week, I thought it would be a good idea for an episode to go through my notes and pull out 50 random fun facts that could potentially be helpful on the exam. Some of them may be relevant, and some may not. I also included some tips and things to keep in mind during the actual exam itself that could be good to know to help us better prepare. Good luck to my colleagues taking the test, and here's to having a cold adult beverage next week when everything is over. Happy studying!

Dr. Mikaela Hazard is an Iowa-trained endodontist. She practices in Fargo, North Dakota and frequently treats pediatric patients. She joins us today to give an update (and a bit of an oral boards review) on permanent vital and non-vital pulpal therapies. Some of the things we discuss: - When do you stay out of the pulp vs completing a coronal pulpotomy? - What is the consensus on using sodium hypochlorite to clean pulp chambers in permanent teeth? - What bioceramics are endodontists using right now? - How do you complete an apical barrier/plug in a necrotic, immature tooth? - What are the key steps to success in regendo procedures?