Just to give you an update of my practice right now, we initially did a gradual rollout, bringing in our team members back on piecemeal over a period of three weeks.  And now, we’re back full-time – basically, with a new way of doing business.

Today, Dr. Victor Martel joins me as we talk about the possible changes and challenges that we, as dental care providers and business owners, need to consider as we’re preparing for the reopening of our offices.

In today’s episode, we discuss different topics including what he’s been doing during this pandemic and his plans moving forward. We also talk about the Implant Pathway and how we can use this downtime to learn more about implants. 

In today’s episode, Dr. Mark Costes talks about things related to the pandemic and how things are going to change going forward with our practices. Mark likes to call everything that’s happening right now as just a reset.

With a lot of offices shut down during this pandemic, being able to continue our dental practice has become a real challenge.  Telemedicine has been around for a while, but not so much for dentistry. Part of it is that we all have this notion that we have to have face-to-face interaction to make it work. But we’re finding out in this COVID-19 pandemic that’s not necessarily the case.

In today’s episode, I’m sharing with you an email that I got from Sally Hogshead. Sally Hogshead is an author, a speaker, and the CEO of How to Fascinate. Now she has a website and business basically centered around how you can learn how to fascinate others with who you are.

Today, I’m going over some good, confirmed Small Business Administration (SBA) information that you can use today (something that I received in my inbox). This is a direct email, which is official documentation or correspondence from them. 

In the face of this present pandemic, do you think dentistry is dead? There are some posts going around on social media saying that dentistry is dead. And I fully understand how this pandemic may be causing a lot of mental turmoil because of the uncertainty it brings to our practice and our business – but nobody knows anything at this point. We can't just bash our profession. It's easy to digress to this negative mindset. But it won't play well for any of us.

Nothing fancy here. Just my personal musings about dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stoicism has opened my eyes to a new way of thinking. I have been able to apply Stoic principles in my practice and my personal life. For those not familiar with Stoicism, it is a philosophy of personal ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world. Dr. Matthew Standridge is the person who introduced me to this philosophy. And this week, he is my guest! 

Dental professionals don’t always think of themselves as entrepreneurs. Let’s face it, not all dentists are entrepreneurs. Whether you are an entrepreneurial dentist or not, the risk for all dentists is not making a life outside of work. Today, Alistair MacDonald will help to enrich our minds, relationships, and share the meaning behind what it means to be a third rail entrepreneur. Alistair will share his entrepreneurial journey and some of the lessons he’s learned.

Are you considering selling your dental practice? Whether you are thinking about it or not, it is beneficial to know your options if that time comes.  This episode goes over some of the details including the risks and benefits of selling a private practice to Dental Service Organizations (DSOs) and to the private equity market.

This episode is filled with great information on the importance of taking a step back and ensuring your priorities, such as your health, are staying central to how you are living. Sometimes radical changes are necessary to achieve a level of self-care that is necessary for a good quality of life. 

This week it is my pleasure to speak with Duane Tinker and he has a very interesting background! Duane worked in the Texas law enforcement industry then transitioned to a dental office investigator. His challenge with transitioning to this role was learning the dental industry so he could do his job well. He dealt with areas such as investigating clinical complaints against practices, fraud, and people working outside the scope of their licensure. 

Voice search and voice optimization are growing trends. After getting an Amazon Echo over the holiday season, the idea of artificial intelligence and voice search became intriguing. We have these voice-activated Smart Home devices in our homes that can control security cameras, lights, and even the thermostat. Smart Home devices also have the ability to tell you sports scores or current news. There is a remarkable amount of information at our fingertips. 

Situational awareness is all about being aware of what is happening around you in terms of where you are, where you are supposed to be, and whether anyone or anything around you is a threat to your health and safety. 

As we end one year and begin a new one, I wanted to do something a little different this week on the show. After going over various topics, I settled on sharing my top ten list of software and apps I have used in my practice in 2019. Now these are not your typical oral surgery tools or products. In fact, most stray outside of the lane of dentistry. However, I've adopted, tweaked, and have used each of these products in my practice.

I will be the first to admit that I have difficulty maintaining focus when it comes to clinical and administrative tasks. Lately, I've been troubled by the distraction of the internet, because it is always there. It buzzes around in the background, when I should be trying to maintain focus between patients. I've made some attempts to find productivity applications that help me in this area. Recently, I’ve found an app that might just be the answer I’ve been looking for. 

Nothing is more frustrating than wasting time looking for what you need. My clinical team recently surprised me by creating a master inventory list for our office. They went through everything, reorganized and even recompiled our inventory numbers. Plus, what they did works in conjunction with our Sowingo. I must admit, it is great to have everything organized. 

I’m coming clean.  In this episode, I will discuss some recent patient situations I’ve been in where I didn’t feel I handled myself in the best way possible and how to cut ties when it has to be done. Communication is a key to good chairside manner. Sometimes, those lines of communication break down. It may be a significant other who tries to control the conversation instead of the patient.

What are you doing to generate internal referrals? If you haven’t really thought about internal referrals or the system you are using isn’t working as expected, you’re in luck! This week I am talking on the topic of internal referral systems. I'll be completely transparent with you, in the past I’ve primarily focused on external marketing or cold marketing, if you will. Sure, we’ve had regular referrals from patients, but unrelated to any internal referral system strategy we may or may not have

I've talked about burnout and how the dentistry profession can grind us down. It's a difficult profession. We oftentimes feel isolated and jaded. It can be a daily occurrence or more of an ebb and flow. I have learned how to become aware of when this is happening. I’ve also learned that one way to take a step back and relax is to have a hobby.

This week I am joined by a much-anticipated guest on the show. I welcome Dr. Bryan Stimmler. We share not only a love of dentistry but also a passion for the practice of the martial art Jiu-Jitsu. There are some wonderful similarities between practicing Jiu-Jitsu and living life… and we’ll discuss those in this episode.

This week I am taking a break from interview episodes and instead, I am flying solo. I wanted to talk about some lessons I recently learned while being a spectator at my son’s baseball game. Yes, baseball. You may be thinking, well, baseball to dentistry, that’s kind of a stretch. On the surface it seems like it.