Dental Practice Advice|Dental Practice Success Archives

Surviving an Impossible Situation in Your Practice

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

What does it actually take to get through an impossible situation in my practice? There is a line from Anthony Greenbank I come back to often. To live through an impossible situation you don't need the reflexes of a Grand Prix driver, the muscles of Hercules, or the mind of Einstein. You simply need to know what to do. That is the whole thing. When your practice feels like it is sinking, the instinct is to believe you need to be smarter or more talented or born with some gift you missed. You don't. You need the next right action, clearly [...]

Surviving an Impossible Situation in Your Practicejames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Most Important Priorities in Your Dental Practice

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

How do I figure out what's most important in my dental practice? Picture a sinking ship with a couple hundred people aboard and only three life jackets. In that moment you stop confusing important with most important real fast. Almost everything in a practice looks important. New equipment, a slicker website, another CE course, a prettier reception desk. But only a few things actually move bigger cases through your door and out the chair as accepted treatment. The trap is that you only learn the difference when you're already at the edge, near burnout or near bankruptcy, with no room left [...]

Most Important Priorities in Your Dental Practicejames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Why Reading Dental Business Books Changes Nothing

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Why does reading more dental business books never seem to change my results? Because reading and learning, by themselves, are just a nice way to spend time. You can finish every book in the world on growing a practice and still change nothing, because data isn't the missing piece. Most dentists I meet aren't short on information, they're drowning in it. What they lack is a plan and a path that fits them, so the information turns into action. I'd rather take everything you already have, pull the wisdom out of it, and convert it into results. One elegant idea you [...]

Why Reading Dental Business Books Changes Nothingjames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Spouse Doesn’t Support Your Practice Growth Plans?

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

My spouse doesn't support me investing in coaching for my practice. What should I do? First, get clear on what support actually means. Does your spouse support how you run the practice right now? Is it giving both of you the lifestyle you want, and I do not just mean money, I mean time together and time for yourself? Most of the time when a spouse pushes back, it is because the business turned into a draining machine that eats every evening and weekend. They are not against you growing. They are against losing you to the work. So bring them [...]

Spouse Doesn’t Support Your Practice Growth Plans?james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Waiting Until Ready Is Killing Your Dental Practice

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Why do I keep waiting until I'm more organized before changing my dental practice? You will wait forever, and here is the honest reason why. Right now you have no incentive to get organized, so you don't. If being organized were going to fix things on its own, you'd already be there. The waiting is the barrier, not the disorganization. I tell dentists the road to someday leads straight to the town of nowhere. Most people who finally commit to fixing their marketing and case acceptance show up overwhelmed, off track, and behind, and they still get results because the commitment [...]

Waiting Until Ready Is Killing Your Dental Practicejames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Telling the Truth About Your Practice Drives Growth

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Does telling the truth about my practice really drive growth? It's the only thing that does. All progress starts by telling the truth, and most dentists never get past the warm fuzzy version of where their practice actually stands. This isn't a touchy-feely exercise. It's three blunt questions. Where are you right now, where do you actually want to go, and how are you going to get there? Answer those honestly and something shifts. You get awareness, and awareness is what lets you build a real plan instead of a wish. The trap is that we lie to ourselves about case [...]

Telling the Truth About Your Practice Drives Growthjames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Writing Down Goals Changes How Your Practice Grows

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Why does writing down my dental practice goals actually work? Because your brain is wired straight to your writing hand, and it takes seriously whatever you commit to paper. People live up to what they write down. That's not motivational fluff, it's just how the mind treats a goal once it becomes concrete, measurable, and especially once it carries a deadline. I know plenty of dentists hate forms and planning. They think writing is busywork. But there's a difference between writing for its own sake and writing that maps directly onto where you're trying to take the practice. Every goal you [...]

Writing Down Goals Changes How Your Practice Growsjames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Short-Term Pain vs Long-Term Suffering in Practice

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Should I choose short-term or long-term pain when fixing my practice? Short, every time. One of my mentors put it plainly. There are two kinds of suffering, long-term and short-term, and you get to pick. Most dentists pick long without realizing it. They grind for years at marketing or case acceptance that simply does not work, hoping effort alone will save it. That's long-term suffering, and it's the expensive kind. The short version is brutal but quick. You look honestly at what's broken, you face the thing that has to change, and you change it now. Think of it like a [...]

Short-Term Pain vs Long-Term Suffering in Practicejames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Should Dentists Worry About Income Privacy With Peers?

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Should I worry about other dentists knowing how much money I make? No, and I'll tell you the part that surprises people: nobody really cares. When dentists get into a room together, some make more and some make less, and everyone figures out fast that they're on completely separate tracks. Money stops being a scoreboard and starts being what it actually is, a means to build new capabilities and new opportunities. The fear of being judged on your numbers is almost entirely in your head. Worse, that fear keeps a lot of dentists from ever getting honest help, because they'd rather [...]

Should Dentists Worry About Income Privacy With Peers?james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Going It Alone as a Dentist: When It Backfires

james2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

Can I grow my big-case dentistry skills entirely on my own? Plenty of dentists can, and some genuinely should. Not everyone needs outside structure to get where they want to go. But before you plant your flag on going it alone, ask yourself one honest question: are you actually getting the cases and the case acceptance you want, in the timeframe you want? If the answer is yes, carry on, you have nothing to prove to me. If the answer is no, then the do-it-myself instinct is costing you years. The most common thing I hear from doctors is, why didn't [...]

Going It Alone as a Dentist: When It Backfiresjames2026-06-18T00:00:00-04:00

12 Next