Why can't struggling dental practices afford to market themselves? Because they get caught in a brutal loop. The commodity practice runs on thin margins and high volume, and every dollar coming in is already spoken for by payroll, technology payments, tuition, the mortgage, the lifestyle. There is nothing left to put toward marketing. And here is the cruel twist. To reach a better, higher-paying type of patient, you usually have to give up some income for a stretch while you build the new flow. A squeezed practice cannot stomach that gap, so it stays put, which keeps it squeezed. That is [...]