Podcast

Bulletproof Dental Practice

Business, Entrepreneurship, Management

A dental podcast about the business of dentistry, with practical advice on what it actually takes to grow a successful practice: marketing, patient enrollment, systems, team leadership, retention and referrals, and how to build wealth that doesn't depend on your clinical days.

But a great practice is only half of it. This show is also about finding fulfillment in dentistry again, and having the honest conversations most dentists only have behind closed doors: burnout, money, partnerships gone wrong, team drama, and the pressure nobody talks about.

Real strategies, real talk, and plenty of laughs along the way.

Hosted by Dr. Peter Boulden and Dr. Craig Spodak.

Entrepreneurship chart
#181
Episodes
461
Releases
Twice a week
Typical length
35 min
On air since
2016
Latest episode
17 hours ago

Episodes

461 episodes, newest first

  1. If AI Doesn't Recommend You, Patients Won't Find You

    Episode 466

    Show notes

    For decades, dental marketing meant playing the Google search game: stuffing keywords, chasing backlinks, and hoping your link landed on page one. But now, prospective patients are skipping the search engine and using conversational AI tools like ChatGPT for immediate answers - and that means there's a new set of rules to maximise your practice's visibility online.

    In this episode, Dr. Peter Boulden is joined by Michael Notbohm, founder of Dental Mentions, to break down the seismic shift from traditional SEO to Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). Michael explains why outdated marketing tricks no longer work in a landscape where AI evaluates practice authority, directory consistency, and sentiment in milliseconds. Because AI engines deliver answers directly inside a chat window, practice owners must learn how to get mentioned, cited, and recommended by the models patients actually use.

    Peter and Michael unpack why patient reviews have become the foundational code for AI, how ChatGPT's local data partnerships are reshaping discoverability, and why generic, AI-generated blog posts only hurt your online authority. They also examine the looming wave of autonomous AI agents - bots that will soon proactively price-shop, research, and call dental offices on behalf of patients - and why practices with vulnerable front desks risk getting overwhelmed if they don't adapt.

    The takeaway: patients aren't searching for your website anymore: they're asking AI for the answer, and your practice needs to be the recommendation.

    Get a free scan of your practice's AI visibility and book an opportunity report at https://www.google.com/search?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dentalmentions.comhttp://www.dentalmentions.com.

    Save the date: Join Peter and Michael at the Bulletproof AI Workshop in Atlanta on April 2–3 (strictly capped at 150 attendees). Got a story or a question for the guys? Call 561-933-5575. https://www.google.com/search?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulletproofmastermind.comhttps://bulletproofdentalpractice.com/

    www.bulletproofsummit.com

    41 min
  2. You Don't Need Marketing, You Need To Check Your P&L

    Episode 465

    Show notes

    Most practice owners look at an empty chair and immediately assume they have a marketing problem, but the real issue is usually hiding in a profit and loss statement that hasn't been updated in six months. Dentists are notorious for hyper-focusing on shaving points off their clinical supply bills to save money, all while flying completely blind on the massive, wealth-draining expenses that actually dictate their take-home pay.

    In this episode, Dr. Peter Boulden, Dr. Craig Spodak, and Ian de Jongh break down the true levers of practice overhead; they discuss why cutting costs is rarely the path to profitability, and why timely bookkeeping is the ultimate prerequisite for growth. Craig even drops a controversial take on why strict fee-for-service practices might consider taking insurance just to stop the bleeding.

    The guys also detail how to use AI as a fractional CFO, spotting trends and cash leaks you might not see on your own.

    The takeaway: stop trying to cost shrink your way to success and start mastering the math that actually runs your business.

    Grab a free copy of The Patient Experience book by signing up for the new weekly Bulletproof Brief newsletter at www.bulletproofdentalpractice.com.

    Save the date for the upcoming Bulletproof AI Workshop in Atlanta on April 2-3 2027.

    Got a story or a question for the guys? Call 561-933-5575. www.bulletproofmastermind.com www.bulletproofsummit.com

    30 min
  3. The Math of Going Multi-Location

    Episode 464

    Show notes

    There is a valid belief that a dentist collecting millions from just a few chairs means they've reached an elite solo production level, and finally won the game. But to a high-performing clinician carrying the weight of an entire practice on their shoulders, scaling up can feel less like building wealth and more like running yourself into the ground - especially when that clinician is an introvert.

    In this episode, Dr. Peter Boulden, Dr. Craig Spodak and Ian de Jongh unpack a My Story submission from Dr. Dixie Jernigan, an apex solo producer who grew an acquired practice from $1.2M to $4M in three years out of just five operatories. With a brand-new, 13-operatory flagship building opening a mile away and her first associate coming on board, Dixie faces two massive crossroads: should she keep her existing suite as an associate-run second location, and should she pull back her clinical schedule right away or keep grinding at the chair?

    On the business side, Peter and Craig make the case against keeping the original suite, while breaking down the real financial math of true scale; on the clinical side, they outline the shift that has to happen to help ensure success.

    Just because you have the grit and work ethic to run a multi-location empire doesn't mean it's the right move for your life. Audit your goals through the three currencies—time, money, and emotional freedom—and make sure your expansion is buying you a better life, not just more noise.

    Have a question or want to share your update? Email mystory@bulletproofdentalpractice.com or submit directly via the podcast page at www.bulletproofdentalpractice.com. Got a story or a question for the guys? Call 561-933-5575. www.bulletproofmastermind.com www.bulletproofsummit.com

    29 min
  4. $1M EBITDA: Mega Practice or Multiple Locations?

    Episode 463

    Show notes

    The natural impulse for a practice owner sitting on strong cash flow is to assume the next logical step is planting flags across town. But expanding your geographic footprint often introduces a brutal management tax that multiplyies operational headaches, dilutes culture, and duplicates overhead without necessarily putting more spendable cash in your pocket.

    In this Hotline episode, Dr. Peter Boulden, Dr. Craig Spodak and Ian de Jongh break down a call from Dr. John, an owner generating seven-figure EBITDA across two locations. He's at the crossroads of building two mega practices or acquiring additional offices across the region. Peter and Craig make the case for single-site leverage, explaining why maximizing your existing footprint is far simpler (and often far more profitable) than navigating the tricky operational leap from two offices to three.

    The guys weigh the real trade-offs: growing under one roof is far simpler than juggling multiple addresses, but putting all your eggs in one basket brings its own risks. Peter and Craig break down why owning your building beats paying a landlord every time, how to tell if you're expanding for a better lifestyle or just feeding your ego, and touch on their experience of managing dozens of chairs themselves.

    Before you commit to a third lease, audit your existing capacity and make sure the juice is worth the squeeze. Maximize the chairs you have, build an asset you control, and don't expand your footprint until your current walls force your hand.

    Want to share your update or answer Peter and Craig's follow-up questions? Email mystory@bulletproofdentalpractice.com. Got a story or a question for the guys? Call 561-933-5575. www.bulletproofmastermind.com www.bulletproofsummit.com

    32 min
  5. Feeling Lost With AI? Start Here

    Episode 462

    Show notes

    We continue to see dentists treating AI like a smarter search bar. They type in a question, get an answer, and move on, never realizing that the same technology could be organizing their files, working their inbox, researching on their behalf, and quietly handling the tasks that eat up their week. Meanwhile, websites, apps, and the old way of searching for anything are being rebuilt around AI agents rather than people. In this short episode, Dr. Peter Boulden, Dr. Craig Spodak, and Ian de Jongh make the case that this is the most transformative shift of our lifetimes, and that the gap between the people who lean in now and the people who wait is going to widen fast.

    Ian asks the question a lot of practice owners are quietly asking: for someone who is still trying to understand what AI even is, where do you actually start? Pete's answer is not a list of hacks. It starts with getting your own digital life in order, building a clean corpus of data that tools like Claude Code, GrokBot, and Instinct can work from, and learning to hand off everyday tasks to agents before you try to deploy anything in the practice.

    Craig also frames the bigger shift: the internet gave us the Information Age, and AI is ushering in the Processing Age, where the real value is in making sense of everything we already have.

    Got a story or a question for the guys? Call 561-933-5575. www.bulletproofmastermind.com www.bulletproofsummit.com

    21 min
  6. 350,000 Surveys: What Drives Five-Star Reviews?

    Episode 461

    Show notes

    What really earns a five-star review? Opencare CEO Cameron Howieson brings data from 350,000 patient surveys, and the answer isn't your equipment or the cookie bar in reception. It's your team.

    Dr. Peter Boulden and Ian de Jongh dig into how patients choose a practice and why they stay: how fast you respond (practices that reply within a minute book 89% of new patients, versus 69% after five minutes), why new patients are worth more than you think, and how AI can take admin off your team so they can focus on the human side of care.

    The takeaway: let technology open the front door, and let your people keep the back door closed.

    The Bulletproof Dental Podcast has partnered with Opencare, and is offering 50% off for life on an OpenCare membership - sign up at https://www.google.com/search?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.opencare.com%2Fbulletproofhttps://www.opencare.com/bulletproof.

    Got a story or a question for the guys? Call 561-933-5575. www.bulletproofmastermind.com www.bulletproofsummit.com

    48 min
  7. Rent or Own Your Practice Building?

    Episode 460

    Show notes

    Many dental practice owners suffer from a dangerous financial misconception: that signing a 10-year lease is the low-risk choice, without realizing it carries the same level of commitment as buying a commercial property. The only difference is that after a decade of writing rent checks, you haven't built equity for yourself - you've simply paid off the landlord's mortgage while sinking hundreds of thousands of dollars into non-transferable leasehold improvements.

    In this episode, Dr. Peter Boulden and Dr. Craig Spodak welcome back Chandler Wrightenberry from Live Oak Bank to expose the math behind commercial real estate, SBA lending, and why dentists remain notoriously averse to owning their own dirt. Chandler breaks down how Live Oak has funded over $3.5 billion in dental healthcare projects by leveraging SBA government guarantees, allowing practice owners carrying student loans, credit card debt, or personal mortgages to secure high-leverage financing for ground-up builds where traditional banks hesitate. Craig and Peter tackle the pervasive fear around interest rates, reveal a surprising stat about how today's volatility shouldn't impact a decision to buy, and how signing an $11,000 mortgage check is smarter than paying $5,000 in rent.

    The trio digs into real-life cautionary stories, from landlords possessing complete leverage over tenants who want to expand, to an extreme dispute that left a former tenant facing felony charges! This episode uncovers a lot of lesser known truths about commercial property buying, and even touches on its advantages in the AI era.

    If you want to stop funding your landlord's retirement and start building your own real estate moat, this episode is the perfect first step. Once you've had a listen and want to discuss your real estate plans further, you can book a 15-minute strategy call with Craig and Chandler by emailing: craig@bulletproofdentalpractice.com.

    37 min
  8. Selling Your Practice: What the Math Really Says

    Episode 459

    Show notes

    Dentistry has sold practice owners a seductive dream: grind it out for a decade, build up a million-dollar practice, sell out to a broker or DSO, and ride off into the sunset with a life-changing check. But when you strip away the selling hype and look at the actual balance sheet, the reality of a practice sale is often a brutal financial haircut. Practice owners regularly confuse top-line sticker price with spendable post-tax cash, mistakenly viewing an exit as their primary nest egg while trading away their most valuable wealth-generating asset.

    In this episode, Dr. Peter Boulden, Dr. Craig Spodak, and Ian de Jongh dissect the math behind the "Yield Rule" to reveal why cashing out doesn't yield the freedom most dentists expect. Peter walks through a real-world practice valuation and Craig highlights the underlying motives driving this exit rush: both of which reveal some hidden realities of selling a practice.

    The trio digs into the psychological traps that fuel artificial dissatisfaction—from comparing your practice to high-volume outliers to feeling envious of tech-bro patients while grinding in the operatory. Craig and Peter challenge the dangerous binary myth that you must either own a massive multi-location practice or sit helpless, arguing instead for wealth diversification, asset accumulation, and even the high-producing "LeBron James" associate strategy. Rather than treating your dental practice as a romanticized lottery ticket, the key is recognizing burnout signals early, building an operational ecosystem that runs without you, and compounding income outside your practice walls long before you consider stepping away.

    If you've been eyeing an exit simply to escape your daily routine, stop and do the real math before trading high-yielding cash flow for a check you're too afraid to spend. Take inventory of your numbers, fix what's broken in your business, and start building a life you don't need to sell.

    Got a story or a question for the guys? Call 561-933-5575. www.bulletproofmastermind.com www.bulletproofsummit.com

    20 min
  9. Why a $15M Dental Group Owner Isn't Selling (And Why You Shouldn't Either)

    Episode 458

    Show notes

    When Dr. Zachary Kingsberg first called the hotline (Episode 450), he said he'd only sell his five-practice group for a "stupid multiple" of 13x to 15x EBITDA. But after running the real math and realizing zero-interest-rate multiples are gone, Zach returns to the show for a conversation to unpack what the realities behind his itch to sell, and why it probably shouldn't be scratched just yet.

    Managing five high-volume Dallas practices while living in California, Zach doesn't work in the chair, doesn't lack cash flow, and can operate on just a few hours of visionary work a day. Yet, like many driven practice owners, he found himself contemplating an exit. Peter and Craig step in with a first-principles audit to break down why selling a cash flow engine often forces owners into a lifestyle haircut.

    If you've ever thought about cashing out, this episode will help you identify what you actually want out of the sale, and will do the math to work out whether it means trading cash flow for a bank balance you're too afraid to spend.

    Got a story or a question for the guys? Call 561-933-5575. www.bulletproofmastermind.com www.bulletproofsummit.com

    37 min
  10. Build a Practice You Don't Need to Escape | Dr. Richard Low

    Episode 457

    Show notes

    Dr. Richard Low started a podcast in his closet. Eight years later he was the CEO of 35 dental offices and the most miserable he had ever been. He walked away from eight figures to save his marriage and his mental health.

    In this episode, Richard joins Dr. Craig Spodak and Ian de Jongh to talk about what he would build instead. The answer isn't a number of offices. It starts with the question Craig keeps coming back to: what do you actually want your life to feel like? From there it gets practical: why a life that depends on a future exit is doomed to fail, why your first office should be profitable without you in it before you think about a second, and the difference between owning a practice and operating one.

    If you loved your last 12 months, don't change a thing. If you didn't, you can start over, and you won't be starting from the beginning.

    1 hr 10 min
  11. Associate to Owner: Burn the Boats

    Episode 456

    Show notes

    We got an email titled "Is Everything Going to Be Okay?"

    A Navy veteran producing over $1M a year as an associate is three months from opening a $2.9M startup in a building he bought. $20K a month in debt. Seven ops, with plans for 14. And he's lying awake wondering if he did the right thing.

    He asked Peter and Craig two questions: when do I quit my associate job, and is everything going to be okay?

    Craig's answer on the first is burn the boats. Pick a date, honour your commitment, and don't let the safe gig become a crutch.

    On the second, Peter and Craig break down what associates never see until they own: why half that debt payment is forced savings, why your taxes flip in your favour, why the fear is a data problem and not a courage problem, and why owning the business and the building puts him in a stronger position than he realises.

    If you're an associate thinking about going out on your own, this is the conversation to hear before you sign anything.

    35 min
  12. The 5-Point Fix for Unscheduled Treatment

    Episode 455

    Show notes

    More than half of diagnosed dental treatment walks out the door unscheduled. Most practices respond to low case acceptance by buying more new patients instead of fixing the leak.

    In this episode, Peter brings a 5-point fix for the treatment you've already diagnosed, from your treatment plan follow-up protocol to reducing friction to owning the money conversation. The through line: your software builds the list, but a personal text or 30-second video from the doctor beats every generic patient reactivation campaign. The practices that win are the ones willing to do what feels uncomfortable.

    The work is already diagnosed. Go get it!

    31 min
  13. Zombie DSOs and the Fear Merchants

    Episode 454

    Show notes

    Dentistry has become a target. From Hormozi-style marketers to practice brokers charging six figures for "scaling retreats," everyone suddenly wants a piece of the profession. In this episode, Dr. Peter Boulden, Dr. Craig Spodak, and Ian de Jongh unpack why dentists are easy prey, how to spot the warning signs of a predatory pitch, and why the same voices who screamed "sell now before the bubble pops" in 2023 are now selling solutions to the dentists who listened.

    They also dig into the rise of the zombie DSO: the 50 to 60 private equity backed groups that can no longer service their debt, can't recap, and never improved the practices they bought. What does this unwind mean for the doctors who rolled equity? And why does the market correction actually signal a powerful shift back toward independent ownership?

    Plus: why AI is becoming the great equalizer for the solo practitioner, the one moat DSOs still hold, and an open invitation to Brady Frank to come on the show and talk it out.

    If you've ever felt pressure to sell, this episode is your reminder: no one is coming to save you, and that's exactly why you're in a stronger position than you think.

    Only a handful of spots remain in the Bulletproof Mastermind. Apply at bulletproofmastermind.com.

    37 min
  14. Bulletproof Summit: "The Best One Yet"

    Episode 453

    Show notes

    Fresh off a sold-out Bulletproof Summit at The Phoenician in Scottsdale, Dr. Peter Boulden, Dr. Craig Spodak, and Ian de Jongh sit down to relive three days that left everyone running on fumes and full of purpose.

    In this episode: the world's first all-dental AI summit, Brian Harris delivering a main stage talk so inspiring Peter considered getting back in the chair, and the unplanned moment Dr. Richard Low was pulled on stage for a raw fireside chat that left the room in tears. The guys break down why a room split 50/50 between doctors and teams creates massive leverage, why every sponsor at Summit is one they actually use in their own practices, and why one attendee's viral clip said it best: "I'm at a dental conference and we haven't talked about teeth once."

    Bulletproof Summit 2027 lands in Orlando on the 10th anniversary, August 19-21, and 120 tickets are already gone with a 35-office waiting list from this year alone. Head to bulletproofsummit.com to secure your spot before it sells out. www.bulletproofsummit.com

    26 min
  15. If You're the Smartest in the Room, Leave

    Episode 452

    Show notes

    The fastest way to stall your growth is to be the most accomplished person in your circle. Peter and Craig are living the opposite this summer. Craig is recording from Aspen and Peter just got back from Baker's Bay, both dropped into rooms where they quickly realized they are a smallest fish in the pond, which is exactly where they want to be.

    Recorded the week of the sold-out Bulletproof Summit, the conversation starts with a question: why does dentistry attack its own? Post about expanding from ten to twenty operatories in a dental Facebook group and the comments call it a factory and a chop shop. Yet nobody calls the Cleveland Clinic a factory. Peter and Craig dig into where that hostility comes from, and why the bigger danger isn't the keyboard warriors, it's the current you're floating in without knowing it. As Peter admitted last episode, he spent a decade suffering and didn't know it, because everyone around him treated misery as par for the course.

    The way out is proximity. Leaders in peer groups grow more than twice as fast as comparable companies, and the guys unpack why: mirror neurons, borrowed belief, watching someone run the four minute mile and realizing you can too. They cover how to pick the right group and avoid the prescriptive ones that grind dentists down, why you should only take advice from people living the life you want, a practical tip for tapping the successful patients already in your chair, and why they've always refused to sell a virtual Summit ticket. The breakthrough was never the content. It's the room.

    30 min
  16. Leaving the Chair Without Quitting

    Episode 451

    Show notes

    Dr. Todd Christensen calls in from Minnesota with 20 operatories across two locations, a big remodel behind him, and a question he can't shake: at 45, how does he transition out of clinical dentistry and into the executive role without the guilt? His patients don't make it easy. When he tries to hand them to an associate, they tell him they would rather wait months for him than see anyone else.

    Peter and Craig push back on the question before they answer it. Todd says he wants out of the chair, but he also says he won't miss fillings, and those are two very different problems. Maybe he doesn't need to leave dentistry at all. Maybe he just needs to stop doing the procedures he hates. The real question is what he wants the next twenty years of his life to look like, and whether he's deciding from clarity or from burnout.

    Craig shares how his own exit happened: cutting back to Invisalign only, dropping from four days to three to two, until his CEO announced his retirement before he'd fully admitted it to himself. Peter lays out the practical playbook: cut the procedures you hate first, hand patients to your associates by positioning them as the experts, reduce your days gradually instead of going from a hundred to zero, and say what you actually want out loud instead of only in your head. And one warning for any owner stepping back: your presence in the practice may be the very thing stopping your team from growing.

    24 min
  17. Hotline Calls: When Is the Right Time to Sell?

    Episode 450

    Show notes

    "I'd only sell for a stupid multiple. Thirteen, fifteen X." A five-practice owner from Dallas calls the hotline with the question every group owner is quietly asking: when do I sell, and what's the highest multiple anyone has actually gotten? What follows is one of the most candid breakdowns of the DSO economy you'll hear anywhere. Zombie DSOs, zero interest rate policy, bridge loans at 18 percent, dilution that sellers never see coming, and why a headline multiple is not the same as a check. Peter and Craig make the case for a different scoreboard entirely: do the honest math, optimize for cash flow, and build a life you don't want to sell.

    Dr. Cary Brown returns with an update on his My Story journey from February: Google reviews doubled, revenue consistently up, and a self-graded report card that Peter and Craig immediately push back on. The real lesson isn't the tactics. It's the psychology of giving yourself credit and the power of consistency over intensity.

    Plus, a milestone to open the show: the Bulletproof Summit 2026 is officially sold out, and Craig records his final podcast from his current office before breaking ground on a 3,000 square foot expansion that takes his practice to 26 operatories. At 55, he's stepping on the gas again.

    Got a story or a question for the guys? Call 561-933-5575. https://www.bulletproofmastermind.com https://www.bulletproofsummit.com

    50 min
  18. You Don't Have to Do This Alone [Special Episode]

    Episode 449

    Show notes

    This episode is different. We asked members of our mastermind community to send in voice notes answering one question: what has this actually meant to you? Then Peter and Craig hit record and heard every message for the first time, reacting live. What came back was honest, unscripted, and at moments hard to get through.

    We share it because practice ownership does not have to be the lonely, white-knuckled grind so many of us were taught to accept. The burnout, the strained marriages, the lives lost to this profession, none of that is the price of admission. With the right room around you, the right partners, and a team that owns the mission with you, you can actually love this work and experience the fulfillment we all strive toward in life.

    That is why community is the difference between surviving dentistry and building a life inside it. Whether you find that with us or somewhere else, find it. You are not alone!

    https://www.bulletproofmastermind.com

    41 min
  19. Cialdini's 7 Principles, Ranked for Dentists

    Episode 448

    Show notes

    A year training under Dr. Robert Cialdini, the godfather of influence, changed Dr. Chris Phelps' entire business. In this episode, he shares why it can change yours too!

    After building four fee-for-service practices, Chris hit a wall every dentist knows. Patients weren't saying yes. Team members weren't following through. Associates weren't using the skills he'd paid to teach them. The problem wasn't clinical skill. It was human behavior, and once he understood how people actually make decisions, everything shifted.

    In this episode, Chris joins Peter and Ian to break down Cialdini's seven principles of persuasion and why they've become the most overlooked business skill in dentistry. They get into why logic alone never moves a patient, how the order you present treatment changes how many people say yes, and which single principle Chris says dentists botch the most, the one costing the profession billions.

    Peter shares how he built each principle into his own practice, from new-patient gifts to reviews to the simple shift of sitting beside patients instead of across from them.

    If you've ever heard "I'll think about it" and watched a case walk out the door, this one will change how you communicate for good.

    DESCRIPTION

    The Bulletproof Dental Podcast Episode: 448

    HOSTS: Dr. Peter Boulden and Ian de Jongh

    SPECIAL GUEST: Dr. Chris Phelps

    In this episode, Peter Boulden and Ian de Jongh sit down with Dr. Chris Phelps, one of the few dentists personally certified by Dr. Robert Cialdini in the science of influence and persuasion.

    Together they explore how behavioral science can transform case acceptance, leadership, patient communication, and practice growth. Chris shares the lessons he learned while rebuilding struggling practices during the financial crisis and explains how understanding human behavior became the catalyst for dramatically improving both patient outcomes and business performance.

    TAKEAWAYS

    • Patients make decisions emotionally before they justify them logically.
    • Communication is one of the most valuable skills a dentist can develop.
    • Presenting treatment from highest value to lowest value increases acceptance.
    • Authority and trust work together to influence patient decisions.
    • Commitment is one of the most powerful drivers of follow-through.
    • Too many treatment options often create decision paralysis.
    • Technology should support relationships, not replace them.
    • Social proof builds confidence and reduces uncertainty.
    • Small changes in language can significantly improve case acceptance.
    • Understanding behavioral science makes dentists better leaders and communicators.
    • Great patient experiences are built on trust, not persuasion tactics.
    • Success leaves clues across every industry.

    TIME STAMPS

    0:00 Podcast Intro 0:20 Welcome & guest intro, Dr. Christopher Phelps 1:51 Chris's backstory, building fee-for-service practices 3:53 Why dentists need to study influence & communication 11:05 Was it team leadership or patient-facing that drove Chris to Cialdini? 15:01 How case presentation order affects case acceptance 17:16 The power of giving one recommendation (authority principle) 20:42 People want to be told what to do, expertise + trust 22:00 Decision fatigue, 35,000 decisions per day 25:05 The 7 Cialdini principles explained 28:40 The commitment & consistency principle 31:19 Gun to your head: which principle matters most? 35:59 Peter applies the principles in his own practice 45:10 Preview of Chris's Bulletproof Summit workshop

    REFERENCES

    • Bulletproof Summit
    • Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

    50 min
  20. Hotline Call: The Hygienist Shortage Is Real

    Episode 447

    Show notes

    One caller. One problem almost every dentist is dealing with.

    Jesse is a new practice owner in a rural market. One hygienist is out on maternity leave, another is burning out from assisted hygiene, and after calling schools, searching job boards, and exhausting his options, he's asking the question every owner eventually asks: "What do I do now?"

    Peter and Craig explain why this isn't just bad luck. The hygiene shortage is real, but waiting for the perfect candidate isn't a strategy. They unpack why hygiene is becoming one of the strongest careers in healthcare, why most hiring ads blend into the sea of sameness, and how practices can market themselves to future team members the same way they market to new patients.

    Along the way, they discuss employee referral bonuses, recruiting videos made by your existing team, why total compensation beats hourly pay, hiring for the practice you want instead of the practice you have, and the difference between hiring great people and actually keeping them.

    Got a question for the Hotline? Call (561) 933-5575.

    DESCRIPTION

    The Bulletproof Dental Podcast Episode: 447

    HOSTS: Dr. Peter Boulden and Dr. Craig Spodak

    In this Bulletproof Hotline episode, Peter Boulden and Craig Spodak answer a listener question about one of the biggest challenges facing dentistry today: hiring hygienists.

    Drawing from their own experiences, they share practical recruiting strategies, discuss why the hygiene shortage isn't going away anytime soon, and explain how practice owners can build a culture that attracts—and retains—top talent.

    CONTACT US

    Want Peter and Craig to answer your question on the Bulletproof Hotline?

    Call and leave a message:

    (561) 933-5575

    Whether you're dealing with hiring, leadership, practice growth, or a challenge inside your business, your question could be featured on a future episode.

    TIME STAMPS

    00:02:04 - Listener Question: The Rural Hygiene Shortage

    00:04:44 - Why Hiring Hygienists Has Become So Difficult

    00:06:37 - Why Craig Is Bullish on the Future of Hygiene

    00:10:50 - Recruiting With Employee Testimonial Videos

    00:12:27 - Referral Bonuses That Actually Work

    00:13:32 - Marketing Your Practice to Potential Employees

    00:15:36 - Finding Hygienists Outside Traditional Job Boards

    00:16:43 - Why Total Compensation Matters More Than Hourly Pay

    00:17:54 - Always Be Hiring

    00:19:08 - Hire for the Practice You Want to Build

    00:20:15 - Becoming the Purple Cow in Hiring

    00:22:14 - Using Social Media to Attract Talent

    00:26:10 - Why Community Creates Better Hiring Ideas

    00:27:31 - Hiring Great People vs. Keeping Great People

    REFERENCES

    The Bullet Proof Summit

    27 min