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 opportunity...
Apr 25, 2023•55 min
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 along...
Apr 11, 2023•51 min
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 yea...
Mar 28, 2023•59 min
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 using iT...
Mar 21, 2023•53 min
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, build, an...
Mar 07, 2023•1 hr 8 min
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 avoid...
Feb 21, 2023•58 min
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. Richard and ...
Feb 07, 2023•59 min
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 oral s...
Jan 24, 2023•1 hr 3 min
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 a u...
Jan 10, 2023•1 hr 6 min
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 advoca...
Dec 27, 2022•56 min
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!...
Dec 13, 2022•38 min
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 envi...
Dec 06, 2022•57 min
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 you...
Nov 29, 2022•38 min
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 d...
Nov 22, 2022•57 min
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.
Nov 15, 2022•47 min
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 d...
Nov 08, 2022•1 hr 7 min
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 top...
Oct 25, 2022•55 min
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 f...
Oct 18, 2022•1 hr 7 min
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 - Giv...
Oct 04, 2022•1 hr 1 min
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 ca...
Sep 27, 2022•37 min
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 comp...
Sep 20, 2022•56 min
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. Hap...
Sep 17, 2022•46 min
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 ...
Sep 06, 2022•56 min
In response to the recent popular episode with Dr. Roy Shelburne, I decided to reach out directly to my local state Medicaid office to talk to somebody about how criminal medicaid cases are handled. Although I wasn't able to convince any members of the department to join me on the podcast directly, I was able to take and share notes from the conversation. There was a lot of listener feedback with confusion about how a dentist could end up in prison over simple billing and coding errors. I was ab...
Aug 30, 2022•28 min
Shawn Johnson is the vice president of business development at Treloar and Heisel, a premier provider of financial and insurance services to dental and medical professionals. He joins us to discuss topics relating to protecting both your practice and yourself. We walk through different stages in the career path of a typical pediatric dentist and review what systems and insurances should be in place to protect yourself from all of the curveballs life throws at us. Some of the topics include: - Wh...
Aug 23, 2022•1 hr 5 min
Dr. David Knight is a pediatric dentist and the owner of Knight Pediatric Dentistry in Woodbury, Minnesota. He opened his practice almost three years ago, shortly before the COVID shutdown caused him to close his doors for a period of time. David and his wife also had their first baby during this time period. Now three years later, his practice is thriving and booking out for months. When Dr. Knight opened his office, he initially did not see Medicaid, given that Minnesota had some of the lowest...
Aug 16, 2022•50 min
Dr. Roy Shelburne joins us on this episode to tell his incredible story about being arrested for Medicaid fraud. After years of running a busy and successful practice in Virginia, Dr. Shelburne received a phone call that the FBI had raided his office. All of his personal assets were seized, and he was tried and found guilty of medicaid fraud. He served 19 months in prison, and now spends his time consulting dentists on how to prevent this from happening to them. This was an eye-opening conversat...
Aug 09, 2022•1 hr 5 min
On this solo episode, I review 5 new tools/materials/pieces of equipment that I've purchased in my practice over the last year. I break down the good and the bad of these products, and how listeners can consider using them in their practice. We should always be trying new products and technologies to constantly try to deliver dentistry better, faster, and cheaper. The products I review are: 1. Dukal throat packs 2. Optrasculpt composite sponge 3. Mosquito diamond bur 4. Zyris anterior isolite sy...
Aug 02, 2022•26 min
Lilly Cortes-Pona is a dental practice consultant and coach who specializes in pediatric practices. Her company writes the practice management newsletter for the AAPD, and she works with practice owners all over the country to help them lead, connect, and profit. In our discussion, we go through common barriers and issues that pediatric dentists face at each stepping stone in their career, from early practice owner all the way to multi-doc, multi-office practices. In this podcast we discuss: - C...
Jul 26, 2022•1 hr 9 min
Wes Lyon is a CPA, CFP, and CEO of McGill and Lyon Dental Advisors. His company, McGill and Hill Group, publishes the McGill Advisory, which is a monthly newsletter to dentists updating the latest events and tips for financial planning, investing, taxes, and practice ownership topics. I became familiar with this newsletter at the office of my previous employer, and based on recommendations of some older and wiser pediatric dentists, I recently subscribed. I personally have found it very helpful ...
Jul 19, 2022•1 hr 7 min
