Dental Practice Heroes

Hosted by Dr. Paul Etchison

Business Health Fitness

Website RSS feed

Episodes

713

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

About the show

Where dentists learn how to cut clinical days while increasing profits - without sacrificing patient care, cutting corners, or cranking volume. We teach you how to grow a scalable practice through communication, leadership, and effective management. Hosted by Dr. Paul Etchison, author of two books on dental practice management, dental coach, and owner of a $6M collections group practice in the south suburbs of Chicago, we provide actionable advice for practice owners who want to intentionally create more time to enjoy their families, wealth, and deep personal fulfillment. If you want to build a scalable practice framework that no longer stresses, drains, or relies on you for every little thing, we will teach you how and share stories of other dentists who have done it!

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 28, 2026Episode 71529 min

The Hygienist You Can't Afford Might Be Costing You a Fortune

Hiring a hygienist feels like a risk. Not hiring one might be the bigger one. In this episode, the DPH coaches tackle the fears that keep you from making that hire. You'll learn the signs that tell you it's time to hire your first hygienist and when to add another, how to handle the pay gap with the rest of your team, and what happens to your practice once you finally make the jump. Topics discussed: 00:00 Introduction 01:51 Why doing your own hygiene is holding you back 05:35 The cost of a hygienist vs. the cost of waiting 07:27 The fear of taking the risk to hire a hygienist 09:33 Hiring your first hygienist in a startup 13:33 What to do when a new hygienist out-earns your team 17:31 The signs it’s time to add hygiene capacity 21:04 Why hiring more people makes growth less stressful This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique https://www.podcastboutique.com Use the same marketing company as Dr. Etch! Get your free demo with Relevance Marketing by Clicking Here If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company. Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

October 26, 2026Episode 71414 min

Why Your Team Resists Every Change You Make

Your team isn’t rolling their eyes because they hate improvement. They’re rolling their eyes because they’ve been trained to believe the next “new system” won’t last. When we stack rules on top of rules without follow-through, we accidentally create change fatigue, drain morale, and teach the team to wait and see which ideas survive. I walk through what’s really happening inside a dental practice when the owner brings back another script, another scheduling tweak, or another treatment presentation process. The real cost isn’t just missed compliance. It’s lost collaboration. When people feel like the finish line keeps moving and nothing gets measured, they stop offering ideas and stop investing energy. That’s how a strong dental office culture turns negative even with a capable staff. Then we shift to a better model of dental team leadership and practice management: I stop trying to provide all the answers and focus on clarity. We identify the problem, define the goal, and invite the team to build the “how” with clear guardrails. I also explain why follow-up is the make-or-break step for change management, and how assigning outcomes instead of tasks creates true ownership, emerging leaders, and more freedom for the practice owner. If you want a team that thinks, adapts, and owns results, hit play, subscribe, and share this with a dentist who’s stuck pushing every change alone. After you listen, leave a review and tell me what goal you want your team to own next. If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company. Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

October 21, 2026Episode 71337 min

The Missing Step Between Learning Implants and Actually Doing Lots of Them

You took an implant course and came home fired up. Six months later, you’re still referring those cases out. In this episode, Dr. Taher Dhoon, founder of Colorado Surgical Institute, shows you how to make your course pay off and keep your best team members in the process. Learn what your team should be doing before you ever leave, what to do as soon as you get home, and what to say when patients tell you they can’t afford treatment. Topics discussed: 00:00 Introduction 01:35 Finding the implant model that fits your practice and life 05:00 What stops dentists once they’re back from the course 07:25 Learning new procedures before you feel ready 10:19 What your team should do before you leave 15:19 How to avoid overspending on equipment and implants 17:14 How to get surgical reps without working for free 19:16 What to say when patients say they can’t afford treatment 24:52 Why you don’t need full arch to build a wealthy practice Explore hands-on training programs and mentorship opportunities at Colorado Surgical Institute: https://www.coloradosurgicalinstitute.com/ This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique https://www.podcastboutique.com Use the same marketing company as Dr. Etch! Get your free demo with Relevance Marketing by Clicking Here If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company. Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

October 19, 2026Episode 71230 min

Production Is Down. Now What?

By the time a problem shows up on your P&L, it’s been quietly building for months. In this episode, the DPH coaches share the numbers every practice should check weekly to catch problems while they’re still small. You’ll learn the four pillars that help you figure out what’s actually wrong, why a busy front desk can hide what’s slipping, and how to make your team part of the solution. Topics discussed: 00:00 Introduction 02:07 When production drops and you can’t pinpoint why 06:42 The first step to building a proactive practice 09:01 Turning your numbers into a story your team understands 12:21 Four pillars to assess before you fix anything 14:31 The weekly numbers even small practices should check 17:12 How to involve your team (and where teams go wrong) 19:21 The major treatment plan mistake that loses cases 21:29 Where to start when everything needs improvement This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique https://www.podcastboutique.com Use the same marketing company as Dr. Etch! Get your free demo with Relevance Marketing by Clicking Here If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company. Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

October 14, 2026Episode 71123 min

The $1.5M Trap that Can Break a Practice Owner

Your dental practice can be profitable and still feel like it’s slowly breaking you. That’s the reality for many solo dentists sitting in the $1.2M to $1.7M range: the schedule is packed, the team is busy, and yet problems keep slipping through the cracks. Patients fall off the follow-up list, insurance details get missed, the front desk feels underwater, and you end up being the only person who can “fix it” day after day. We walk through why that happens and why “we just need more systems” is usually a misdiagnosis. The real ceiling is owner capacity, communication flow, and leadership infrastructure. We share a practical sequence for dental practice management at this stage, starting with schedule optimization and block scheduling to increase production per clinical hour. The goal is to create protected CEO time without sacrificing revenue, so you can finally work on the business with energy instead of dread. From there, we dig into leadership development, culture protection, and why your best employees must shift from doing everything to teaching others through onboarding and standardized training. Then we tackle the associate dentist decision: how to know when you’re actually out of capacity, why waiting has real risk, and how the first associate can transform the practice from an owner-dependent job into a scalable business. If you’re at that $1.5M crossroads, take a hard look at your schedule and how much depends on you, then reach out at dentalpracticeheroes.com/strategy. Subscribe, share this with a dentist friend, and leave a review if you want more straight talk on building a profitable practice with a team you can depend on. If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company. Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

October 12, 2026Episode 71033 min

Think You’re Ready for an Associate? Look at These Numbers First

Bringing on an associate is supposed to buy back your time. So why do so many owners end up regretting the decision? Brian Hanks, dental accountant and author of How to Buy a Dental Practice , works with dentists at every stage of ownership and has noticed one blind spot that derails associateships. In this episode, he shares where many owners go wrong, the three numbers that signal your practice is ready for an associate, and the only reliable way to keep associates in your practice long term. Topics discussed: 00:00 Introduction 01:51 Where owners go wrong with associates 04:24 Which doctor patients belong to 06:37 The numbers that say you're ready for an associate 10:04 What happens when you hire an associate too early 11:53 The reality of keeping associates long-term 16:23 The biggest mistake dentists make becoming an owner 22:22 How often buying a practice really goes wrong 25:01 How adding a doctor raises the stakes of ownership Grab Brian’s book, How to Buy a Dental Practice , for just $10 and free shipping: SPECIAL URL FROM BRIAN Connect with Brian Hanks: https://www.dentalbuyeradvocates.com/ This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique https://www.podcastboutique.com Use the same marketing company as Dr. Etch! Get your free demo with Relevance Marketing by Clicking Here If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company. Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

October 7, 2026Episode 70911 min

Two Paths To A Dental Practice That Runs Without You

If you have been grinding to “improve the practice” but your days still feel the same, you are not alone and you are not lazy. We dig into a hard truth: you can spend an entire year fixing what is broken and still end up with almost the exact same dental practice, the same pressure, and the same dependence on you. The missing piece is not effort. It is the difference between problem solving and creation. We walk through the two paths to change. The first path is reactive problem solving with a proactive layer: something goes wrong, we fix it, then we build a small system so it does not repeat. It is necessary work, and it delivers an immediate payoff. But it will not automatically produce the practice you want. The second path is creation, and it only happens when we deliberately protect dentist CEO time and go looking for it. That is where we define what we actually want, then design the structure to match. You will hear concrete examples you can apply right away: reducing owner stress by building a leadership team, hitting production goals by designing a schedule template that supports targets, and creating consistent patient communication through all-team training instead of constant corrections. We close with a simple prompt you can use before every work session: “Am I fixing something or am I creating something?” If you want support mapping the next version of your practice, book a call at dentalpracticeheroes.com/slash strategy. Subscribe, share this with a practice owner who feels stuck, and leave a five-star review so more dentists can find the show. If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company. Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

October 5, 2026Episode 70813 min

When Your Strengths Create Dependence

Being the most capable person in your dental practice can feel like a superpower, right up until it becomes the reason everything still depends on you. I’m Dr. Paul Etchison, and I see this pattern constantly with dental practice owners: we’re great at hiring, interviewing, running meetings, resolving conflict, smoothing over upset patients, and handling the sensitive admin work, so we keep doing it. Then we look up one day overwhelmed, frustrated, and wondering why nobody takes initiative, even though we accidentally trained the team to wait for us. We dig into the competence trap and the real cost of “rescuing” the practice with our strengths. When we hold onto too many responsibilities, our team stops stretching, leadership never develops, and we lose the time needed for the work that actually changes the business: building systems, improving structure, spotting inefficiencies, and thinking like a true dental CEO. The turning point is a simple question that cuts through perfectionism and control: “Does this actually require me?” It’s a better filter than asking whether someone can do it as well as we can on day one. You’ll also get a practical delegation playbook: audit what you own (on paper), pick one meaningful responsibility to move away from yourself this week, and make it the last time you ever do it by creating training, documentation, or a quick video. If you want a dental practice that runs without you, this is how you start building autonomy, accountability, and scalable dental practice management. Subscribe, share this with a practice owner who needs it, and leave a review so more dentists can find the show. If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company. Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

September 30, 2026Episode 70714 min

Why You Still Haven’t Cut Back a Clinical Day

You can have a solid team, good new patient flow, and real culture momentum and still feel weirdly stuck. That’s the trap we dig into today: the belief that you should wait until you feel 100% ready before making a big move in your dental practice, like dropping from four clinical days to three. I share a recent coaching conversation with a practice owner who has all the ingredients to cut a day right now, yet keeps postponing it for “sometime this year,” and we unpack what’s really going on beneath that word. We break down why certainty is rarely a prerequisite for smart dental practice management. Fear is sneaky, and it often disguises itself as being responsible: “I’ll do it when the schedule is cleaner,” “when the systems are tighter,” “when savings are higher.” But those goalposts keep moving. The cost of waiting is not just lost production, it’s lost CEO time, lost energy, lost family time, and another year of operating the same way. Confidence doesn’t arrive first; it shows up after you commit, execute, and prove you can handle what comes up. Then we get tactical. I explain why putting a date in stone changes everything, how to plan backwards from that date, and why you should expect problems after the jump instead of treating them as evidence you made the wrong call. We also talk through the financial fear of losing production and why reducing clinical days can actually push better scheduling, delegation, assistant utilisation, and higher production per hour, while freeing up time to work on the business like a true CEO dentist. If you’re ready to stop living in “someday,” subscribe, share this with a practice owner who needs it, and leave a review. And if you want help picking a date and building the plan, book a strategy call at dentalpracticeheroes.com/strategy. If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company. Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

September 28, 2026Episode 70629 min

The Dangerous Part About Having a Good Practice

Your practice is finally in a good place. The schedule is full, the money is good, and you actually like your team. This episode is about what happens when this comfort turns into complacency. The DPH coaches explain why thinking "things are good" can be dangerous, the difference between healthy comfort and complacency, and how to tell if you're building the practice you actually want. Topics discussed: 00:00 Introduction 01:59 Why good practices stop trying to improve 06:12 Fixing problems vs. designing the practice you want 07:24 What happens when you stop innovating 10:17 The frustration and clarity exercise 11:32 How to tell if you’re comfortable or complacent 15:20 The one question every practice owner should answer 16:07 The future-you test for your practice 22:42 When to keep pushing and when to take a break This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique https://www.podcastboutique.com Use the same marketing company as Dr. Etch! Get your free demo with Relevance Marketing by Clicking Here If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company. Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

Is this your show?

Claim this listing to keep it up to date, reach guests who want to pitch you, and manage bookings with Guestify.

Claim this listing

More Business podcasts

Business Of Weather | Weather Intelligence For Improved Decision Making

BusinessTechnology

Domain Details Page

BusinessInvesting

The Bottom Line

Alexander Spencer

BusinessInterviews guests