Danny Cammarosano is a regional director of practice finance for Provide. Provide is a tech company that has entered the dental practice lending space and has grown to be one of the top players for financing dental practices. Provide sets itself apart from the other big players like BOA and WF by offering better customer service and a more practical approach to lending. Danny shares updates to what's been changing in the practice lending space in this new era of high build-out costs,...

In this solo episode, I wanted to review a scoring system I created that allows pediatric dentists to reflect and compare their own attributes. Some pediatric dentists are great at running a business, some are excellent clinicians, some have great behavior management with the kids, and some are extremely efficient with their time.  But often times as dentists we fail in other categories where we should be trying to improve. For example, just because somebody can see 80 patients a day and...

Dr. Jay Crews is a pediatric dentist who has been in private practice for 20 years. He owns a large practice in Owensboro, Kentucky, where he lives with his wife who is also a pediatrician. Dr. Crews discovered that he had worsening and profound hearing loss during his pediatric residency. He began wearing hearing aids and dealt with progressive hearing loss until it got to the point where he was nearly unable to function. He spent his days at the office lip-reading and relying on his staff...

Dr. Alex Otto is a pediatric dentist who with her husband, Tim, have opened three pediatric dentistry practices since 2020. They have offices in Buda, Kyle, and Austin Texas with plans to continue expansion while providing a 5-star patient experience. Dr. Alex was a GP and an associate who worked at multiple practices before going back and completing her pediatric residency in Alaska. Her husband, Tim, worked in the corporate business world with multi-million dollar companies after obtaining...

Dr. Arielle Faden is a pediatric dentist and practice owner out of Jersey City, which is a large metro area near New York City. She was a guest on the podcast almost two years ago when she talked about practicing as an associate in a large city like New York. Since that time, she has gone through the journey of partnering with her boss to become a 50/50 practice owner. We discuss how there's a lack of podcast content for dentists in these situations, but that partnerships are a great...

We all know the struggle of placing posterior pre-fabbed zirconia crowns on primary molars. Sometimes they fit like a glove, and sometimes they become a hot dumpster fire where you try 5 different crowns and none of them fit. Dr. Chad Davis, a pediatric dentist out of Arizona, and Dr. Andrew Johnson, a prosthodontist out of Arkansas, have worked together to develop Alphabyte. Alphabyte is a scanning system that allows you to quickly scan a primary molar and determine the correct crown size...

I love interviewing a good power couple where we can have a drink and talk about teeth! Today we are joined by Dr. Beth Pfohl, a pediatric dentist, and her husband Dr. Chad Pfohl, an oral surgeon. The Pfohls are University of Iowa grads and at AAPD 2022 in San Diego, we had a few drinks at the welcome reception and I decided I needed to have them on the podcast.  Dr. Beth is unique in that she went back to dental school later in life with two kids at home, and continued for the additional two...

Dr. Lee Boyd is a pediatric dentist and practice owner from Allen, Kentucky, a town of just 700 people. He joins us today to talk about how even in a rural practice, he is able to generate massive revenues from the incorporation of orthodontics and Invisalign.  We discuss how pediatric dentists are the oral-facial growth experts and that we should be doing our part to not only diagnose, but also to treat malocclusions and orthodontic problems for our patients. Dr. Boyd is an advocate for...

Dr. Reza Ardalan is a pediatric dentist from Port St. Lucie, Florida and the owner of Ardalan Pediatric Dentistry. He joins us on the podcast today to tell us about his practice story and his journey to become a well-known personality on TikTok as a pediatric dentist. Some of the things we discuss in this episode: - How Dr. Reza managed his $470k in student loan debt - The importance of CE and expanding your skillset - Growth of a pediatric office and when it's time to buy real estate,...

Dr. Debra Cohen is a pediatric dentist from New Jersey. She practices at Riverfront Pediatric Dentistry with Dr. Eyal Simchi. After seeing some of the recent cases on iPedo that Dr. Cohen had posted showing impressive before and after radiographs using LSTR, margin elevation, and Hall crowns, I decided it would be an interesting episode to have her on the show to discuss these techniques. Dr. Cohen talks about how at their practice, they try to use focus on positive patient experiences and...

Dr. Richard Marn is a dual board-certified physician in anesthesiology and pediatric anesthesiology. He trained at NYU and Johns Hopkins Hospital, and was on Mt. Sinai Hospital faculty as one of their pediatric anesthesiologists for 11 years. He works in New York providing pediatric in-office sedations for pediatric dentists and oral surgeons through his company New York Medical Anesthesia. Dr. Marn is also unique because his wife Dr. Jessica Marn is a fellow pediatric dentist!  Drs....

Dr. Jon Lindblom is a pediatric dentist and practice owner from Bartlesville, Oklahoma. He's been a practice owner for 10+ years in his small hometown in Oklahoma, and enjoys the benefits of practicing in a busy and uncompetitive environment that a small town has to offer. He's a firm believer in reinvesting and becoming involved in your local community (he donated $50,000 to sponsor and build a disk golf course for his practice). We discuss what his practice is like, and also how he uses...

Dr. Gerardo Martinez is a pediatric dentist who practices out of Milford, Delaware. After spending time in California, Florida, and Texas, Dr. Martinez decided to start a practice in rural Delaware. We discuss a whole range of topics on this podcast, including the differences in patient populations he has treated throughout the country. He believes the future of pediatric dentistry is bright, and he discusses how much need still exists in the more remote areas like Delaware. Dr. Martinez has...

Dr. Johnny Johnson is a pediatric dentist from Florida who joins us on the podcast today. Dr. Johnson practiced full time as a pediatric dentist until a bicycle accident in 2002. Over the next 6-7 years he continued to practice while undergoing multiple surgeries on his wrist. He eventually hung up the handpiece when his wrist needed to be totally fused. We spend some time talking about disability insurance and what that journey looked like for Dr. Johnson. Dr. Johnson now spends his time...

Let’s be honest, 99% of our patient encounters are awesome and end with happy kids and happy parents. But then there’s that 1% of the time when things don’t go as planned and you end up with angry parents. We've all gotten those unwarranted one-star reviews, so now it’s time to share them to remind each other that you just can’t make everybody happy. This episode took a lot of time to put together, so thank you to all the anonymous pediatric dentists who took the time to share their stories!

Dr. Aaron Bumann is a pediatric dentist practicing in the Kansas City, Missouri area. He's is an active member of the Missouri Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and has been the leading voice advocating for improvements to our state Medicaid to provide better access to dental care for kids. Dr. Bumann and I talk about his background and what his practice is like in the Kansas City area. We talk about the benefits of being an associate dentist, and how you can create a healthy professional work...

Even with a broad interest in practice ownership, giant student debt is negatively influencing future practice ownership. This was the summarized conclusion from a recent cross-sectional study in the AAPD journal evaluating practice ownership intentions and educational debt. On today's solo episode, I wanted to do a quick review of this article and share my thoughts. I receive inquiries several times a week from young pediatric dentists who express interest in starting a practice. I can tell...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 -...

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...

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...