Podcast appearances and mentions of Delta Dental

Host Jeremy C. Park interviews Missy Acosta, Senior Vice President, Brand Experience with Delta Dental of Tennessee, who highlights Tennessee's largest dental benefits carrier and their differentiation as a not-for-profit 501(c)4 with a mission of "Ensuring Healthy Smiles" and a focus on philanthropy and community investment. Missy talks about Delta Dental of Tennessee's charitable arm, The Smile180 Foundation, which was founded in 2014 with three philanthropic pillars: to increase access to dental care for underserved communities, support children's hospitals, and fund oral health education across Tennessee and beyond. Missy shares a number of examples how their support of charitable dental clinics, including Church Health and Christ Community Health Services in Memphis and Neighborhood Health and Interfaith Dental in Nashville are increasing access to dental care for underserved communities. She discusses why oral health is a top priority for children's hospitals, including St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, and explains why their support of oral health education covers everything from kids television programming to promote healthy habits to supporting colleges of dentistry in Tennessee to help equip the next generation of dentists and oral hygienists to be successful and to help address dental deserts across the state. Missy talks about how these efforts tie in with the Healthy Smiles Initiative, along with some of their other philanthropic efforts, including providing mouth guards to youth playing sports through various organizations and affiliations. Missy then highlights their fifth annual Kids Dental Day, scheduled for Friday, July 10 at First Horizon Park, home of the Nashville Sounds. More than 500 youth from various nonprofits in Middle Tennessee will be attending the fun, festival-like event where they will receive free dental screenings, cleanings, new socks and shoes through a partnership with Soles4Souls, new books through Book 'Em, snacks, and more. Over 100 volunteers will be coming out to support the kids and a number of organizations will be providing interactive games and experiences, like PBS Kids, American Red Cross, Adventure Science Center, American Heart Association, Schenk Photography, and the Colgate Bright Smiles Bright Futures Program. The dental organizations participating include Neighborhood Health, Meharry School of Dentistry, South College, LINKS INC., and Hope Smiles. Partners for the event include Nashville Sounds, cityCURRENT, Signature Transportation, United Way, Kroger, OneGen, Henry Schein, and Dunkin. Missy talks about why this annual event is so important in the community and how this can serve as inspiration for other companies to give back and get more involved in making a difference. Missy closes by inviting youth-serving organizations and volunteers who wish to serve to connect with KidsDentalDay.com to learn more and to plan ahead for next year. Visit www.KidsDentalDay.com to learn more about Kids Dental Day and visit https://deltadentaltn.com to learn more about Delta Dental of Tennessee.

Host Jeremy C. Park interviews Buddy Teaster, President and CEO of Soles4Souls, who discusses the organization's 20-year history, transformation, and global impact. Buddy shares how Soles4Souls began in 2006 responding to disasters like the tsunami in Southeast Asia and Hurricane Katrina, but faced significant challenges from 2011-2012 including leadership issues and financial problems that led to his appointment as CEO. Under his leadership, the organization has grown to serve over 130 countries, distribute 116 million pairs of shoes and clothing, keep 112 million pounds out of landfills, and is on track to create a billion dollars in economic impact by 2030. Jeremy and Buddy discuss leadership lessons from tough times and how organizations can build trust through transparency and clear values. Buddy explains how Soles4Souls, which has grown to about 100 employees after recently acquiring a European company, uses transparency to make difficult decisions and maintain trust among team members. Buddy explains the three main programs of Soles4Souls: 4Relief, 4Opportunity, and 4EveryKid. He describes how the organization responds to disasters and provides assistance to people in need globally under 4Relief, resells used items to create economic opportunities for entrepreneurs in under-resourced areas with 4Opportunity, and has distributed shoes to 550,000 homeless children across all 50 US states since launching the 4EveryKid program. Buddy shares that while he initially questioned the long-term impact of giving shoes to homeless children, the program has proven to be transformative for both the children and their communities. Buddy explains how the 4EveryKid program works through school liaisons under the federal McKinney-Vento program, which provides various services to homeless students, including shoes. He emphasizes that branded shoes are important for identity and confidence, noting that even though these children face stress and trauma, they still recognize the significance of popular brands like Nike and Adidas. Buddy highlights that while generic shoes could serve more children for the same budget, the program's focus on branded shoes helps maintain the dignity and confidence of the recipients. Buddy discusses Soles4Souls' approach to partnerships, emphasizing the importance of working with trusted local community partners rather than directly providing their shoes and clothing items. He explains how corporate partnerships benefit both companies and the organization, noting that Soles4Souls collected over 5.5 million pairs of shoes and 4.5 million pieces of apparel last year, with many items coming from companies seeking ethical solutions for excess inventory. Buddy highlights Bombas Socks as an example of a successful corporate partnership, providing 600,000 pairs of specialized socks annually, and mentions an upcoming Kids Dental Day event in July with Delta Dental of Tennessee and other partners. Buddy explains how the community can support Soles4Souls through donations of gently used shoes, clothes, and other items, as well as financial contributions to their 4EveryKid program which provides branded sneakers to children for $20 per pair. He emphasizes the high leverage of donations, noting that $100 could serve five children. When asked about one more thing people should know about Soles4Souls, Buddy highlights the importance of not throwing away usable items, as they represent opportunity for others in need. Buddy discusses the impact of Soles4Souls, highlighting how the organization enables people of all ages and backgrounds to participate in making a difference, including transforming lives through initiatives like shoe collection and distribution. He shares stories of generational transformation, such as entrepreneurs, mostly women, improving their lives and sending children to college. He emphasizes the importance of focusing on individual impacts to bring about global change and encouraged listeners to learn more about Soles4Souls through their website and social media platforms. Visit https://soles4souls.org to learn more and get involved with Soles4Souls. https://www.linkedin.com/company/soles4souls-inc-/ https://www.facebook.com/Soles4Souls/

Is your practice going out of network to make more money? Fantastic, but make sure you listen to this episode first. Kiera talks about all the numbers you absolutely need to know before you make the decision, and other, smaller considerations you could make instead. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners this is Kiera and today I am excited to chat with you about a pretty popular topic that people are always wanting to ask questions about they want to get to know like Kiera, I just want to go out of network. And I say, great, let's talk about it. Let's have a really good conversation about what going out of network actually means what it looks like for you and your practice and how we're able to support you on that.   So if you're new to the Dental A Team, welcome, I'm Kiera Dent. I love all things dentistry. My last name really is Dent and I believe that our job is to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. I think that we are so lucky and so blessed to be able to work in dentistry, to be able to serve and help so many patients. And so I hope that you just know that you're doing a great work out there, that you are changing lives, that you are benefiting so many people. And I am so glad that you've chosen to spend your time with Dental A Team.   If you love our podcast, please, like, please go leave us a review. Like, subscribe, share. It helps us out so much. You have no idea. Just like you want patients to leave you great reviews after you see them. Leaving us a great review for the podcast actually helps us reach more practices and that's our ultimate goal. And I do read them and I'm so grateful for your amazing reviews. So let's talk about going out of network. Going out of network, everybody wants to do it because they want to make money, right? Like I am getting these terrible reimbursement rates and so that's why I'm going to do it.   But what I want you to realize is when you go out of network, you actually become a marketing company. Okay, I hope you heard that. When you go out of network, you become a marketing company. And what that looks like is you now have to work to retain these patients. So when I help practices go out of network, like that's totally fine. You're allowed to do it, but let's make sure we look at the numbers. Let's make sure we do the math. How much is it going to cost for us to market to these new patients? How is it going to be for us to retain these new patients? How are we going to be able to actually get these patients to stay with us long-term?   Now we don't have the insurance clause that's keeping patients here. Also, if you don't know, insurance companies do often send letters to your patients telling them, hey, if you just go down to this other dentist, they're actually an in-network provider. I kid you not, you think that it's dirty, they're allowed to play dirty. So just so you know, when you do this, you start facing this huge uphill battle and I've had practices almost go belly up after going out of network. That's not to say that going out of network's wrong.   but I even have practices that are fee for service right now and they're like we just cannot drive new patients because trying to compete with people in network is so hard and I think about it like Let's just run the fees and I know you sit here and you dream about this grand day of like but Kiera if I was out of network I could get paid so much for a crown and I'm like, yes But then you're only doing like two crowns instead of 20 crowns So there is a volume game, which is not a wrong game to play But I just want you to like realize that you really have to drive your marketing. You have to be   top notch, you have to look to see how you're gonna drive patients to your practice. You have to beg, you will have an uptick in your spend on marketing when you go out of network as well. So it's not all flour, sunshine and gravy. And so sometimes I just look at like, what's the biggest pain point and could we maybe drop one or two insurance companies instead of dropping all of them. If you have more patients than you know what to do with and I'm talking you are booked out seven, eight, nine months to get your patients back in. It might be worth considering, could we drop one or two plans?   Or could we expand and add in more providers before we drop insurances? So look at our lowest paying reimbursables and see what if we just drop those and offer them our membership plan so they become these fee for service patients. But with the membership plan, they are more tethered to the practice, right? Because they're paying for this, they're going to be coming in two times a year. You have two opportunities to see them. I will tell you as a fee for service patient myself, I do not usually go in two times a year. And it's because I'm like, I gotta pay like 300 bucks. But when they have a membership plan,   They don't think like that. They're like, put my cleaning is free. Just like they think of with insurance. So when you're going out of network, really starting to think about all these possibilities of like, all right, what are we going to need to change to be able to drop? So when I have people looking at this, I think about number one, what is the cost to benefit ratio? And if we lost all these patients, let's pretend none of them come, let's go for our worst case scenario, would we be able to sustain? Do I have enough patients to be able to sustain that? And am I willing to do that? Some practices,   Totally, they're good to go. They're like, yes, Kiera, I'm just fine. I can absolutely 1000 % handle this. Other people are like, no, I can't. If I lost all those patients, we would not be able to sustain. So that's the first step before we go out of network. The second step is let's make sure we're prepared to go out of network and handle all those phone calls. And how are we going to save and maintain and retain these patients? Can we get them on membership plans? Third, what are you gonna do about the insurance companies that are calling your patients constantly?   When you out of network, you move into a marketing company. You are constantly striving to keep these patients with you, retain these patients, make sure that they're always there. They're no longer just coming to quote unquote automatically. And so I think about it like, let's run the opportunity cost for when we're going out of network to see, is this something I really want to do? do you want to do this? And I think so many people are like, okay, I'm going to just do this.   we're going to run, we're going to do, and then like, let's maybe do a little bit of prep work. And so there is out of network, like collection verbiage, there is an out of network plan. ⁓ There is all of this. And I just think like, when we go through it, you want to make sure that you are fully prepared financially, mentally, emotionally, as a team, we are locked and loaded and we are good to go. And so if you've looked at those numbers and you're set,   I really want you to think about how you're going to be a marketing company. And so when we look at this, thinking about how can I retain all these people? How can I make sure before I go and drop, like truly before you go and drop insurance, how can I make sure all these patients are going to continue to come back to us? Is it something that we can do of like, can I put into place and start reaching out membership plans? Can we work on our patient experience? Can we make sure like, what's gonna set us apart from the insurance company down the street?   I have a doctor and they are amazing and they are fee for service and they've been fee for service for years. I'm talking like they are so lucky. They've got the Taj Mahal of a practice. It's gorgeous. They've got state of the art technology. Their fees are really not that much higher, but they have like, could you not multiple practices? There's probably 10 around them that are all insurance driven and they're like, but our dentistry should speak for itself. And I'm like, I don't disagree with you, but when times get tighter, things get harder.   People are gonna look at this. guys, I have even, Kiera Dent, who knows dentistry, I have switched. I have a doctor who's fee for service. This is embarrassing. Me as a patient, I'm going to tell you. I have a dentist fee for service. I know they do great dentistry, but they're fee for service. My husband, he's got a great dentist who's got a great hygienist. They're in network with my husband's insurance. I was like, well, I'll just go to them for my cleanings. And if I ever have work that needs to get done, I'll go to the fee for service practice.   Even myself, because I'm just like, well, is it really worth the cost? Like, it's just a cleaning. Like I could just go to the other dentist and you might be like, no cure. But you got to think about the patient. I know you think your dentistry is amazing, but to that patient, a cleaning is a cleaning is a cleaning. Unless they love your hygienist or they love you, they love your front office. They love something about your practice so much that they're willing to pay almost like I pay $300 out of pocket versus insurance. pay $30 a month.   and I get to go have a great cleaning by this amazing hygienist. I also can look at my x-rays, but I think about it, this is where I say you've got to be a marketing company. What's going to make this person continually come to you and choose you every single year when the insurance companies are hitting them, the economy's hitting them, the price is hitting them, and they don't know if your filling is better than the dentist down the street that is closer to them, is in network with them, and they don't need to drive to you. How do you set yourself apart?   So ways that fee for service practice, like I'm telling you, I got the Taj Mahal. They're amazing. They're great. But even then they struggle. And so I think before we decide we wanna drop out of network, I really want you to just make sure, am I committed to being a marketing company? I'm doing the reels. I'm doing the social media. I'm putting like a freaking banner outside. I am asking for reviews and referrals. I'm making sure that we concier all of our patients. We're doing follows with them. Our doctors are giving them a call afterwards. Like I'm talking next level.   So I go to a fee for service chiropractor. She's amazing. She does a nerve and I have actually some like weird nerve things going on. And so I really love her. She's fee for service. But when I have like something that comes up in my life and I message her, it is an above and beyond over the top on her of like, absolutely care. I take care of yourself. I'm going to reappoint you. I'll reschedule you. It is a white glove service when I work with her. And so I'm willing to pay a premium. I also am able to get in on the weekends. If I need something from her, I message her and she's like, yep.   I, she can do house visits for me, but I think you have to realize like when people are paying out of pocket full price, just doing great dentistry is not enough for them. They are expecting great customer service, great experiences. Why should I be paying my money? And sometimes that's not even enough. And you can say, we've got say to the art this, we've got say to the art that. So what this practice we had to do for fever service, they get a tour every single time we walk them through, we have towels for them. We walk them to the front. They have a dedicated treatment coordinator.   There's somebody who's dedicated for phones. We have a dedicated concierge who sits in the front office who brings things for you. That's the welcoming and greeting who sits there and chit chats, who knows every single patient by name. That is the level of concierge service and marketing for these fee for service practices. If you've got competition around you. If you don't, podcast doesn't apply to you. But I think when most people are thinking about going out of network, they're just like, I'm going to go like screw it. Delta Dental, Aetna, I'm so sick of your freaking fees. I'm going to now be paid what I'm worth.   I don't disagree with you. You are worth that. But I also want to make sure that you're fully prepared to be that high level concierge doctor that has to do so much more to retain these patients. I have another doctor who went out of network, literally almost went bankrupt. ⁓ The practice is struggling. They don't have enough patients. They are constantly trying to recruit new patients. They're looking at it and they're looking to rejoin in network because everything is falling apart. Family's falling apart. Life has fallen apart. Profitability has fallen apart.   because they just did not realize how much effort it is to try to bring in new patients on your own. So one way you could look before you even go into it is look at your new patients and see how many new patients are we attracting just by reviews and referrals alone before I go out of network. And if I'm not bringing in a lot of people by reviews and referrals right now as the best dentist, they love me. I've got like this healthy cult following with them. If I don't have that, I might wanna work on that to see what are the patients who are fee for service   Why are they coming here? Ask them, ask people like, you can survey your patient base. Like what would you guys love? Like if you had to pay a little bit more for dentistry, what would it be? Are you more, because they don't know the difference of a great dentist and a not so great dentist. And I think that that's what people don't realize is our dentistry, as much as I wish that it was a differentiator for patients, it's not. They don't know if that filling in that crown is better than the dentist down the street who's in network. They have no idea.   What they're looking at is cost and even a great experience, they still might come down to cost. And I'm not here to say that it's all cost because I believe that people are willing to pay for great experiences. You look at why does Chick-fil-A do better than McDonald's? We look at why is Target oftentimes better than Walmart, but is it really? And who are you? And I don't think all patients come for cost. I think there is a lot of space in today's world to stand out of knowing their name, driving it, but we also have to be careful because   We are facing real people are like, how's the economy and is it impacting dentists? And I'm like, those who are doing regular dentistry, no, it's not. They're great. But those who are outside of that, so we're talking all on X cases, cosmetic cases, fee for service patients. If they don't have a loyal patient base right now, people are considering costs. They are considering what are we going to do? And I know that that's why you are also probably considering fee for service. What about fee for service? What about this? What about that?   those pieces I think are very much needing to be highlighted and addressed of, all right, if the economy is pushing dollars, what can we do to offset that? If I'm needing to increase our fees to offset dollars within our practice for profit margins, what else can we do for this? And I really think for you to look at when you're going out of network to say, is this something I'm willing to do? Is this something our practice is fully equipped with?   Are we getting enough reviews and referrals just by being a great practice today to go out of it? And am I willing to like up my ante, not just being a great dentist, because you dropped that network guys, they're going to like fly away to a practice that does accept them. And like I said, your insurance company is going to try to convince them because they get a lot more money when it goes through an in-network provider than an out-of-network provider. And they're going to, they hustle them. And so for you to just accept that you will be a marketer, you will be constantly looking for patients.   you'll be constantly trying to fill your books and is it something you want to do? And is that an additional piece you want to add to your already big to-do list or is it not? And you might be hearing like, Kiera's pro insurance. I'm not, we have a lot of offices that are out of network, but I will say my out of network ones, every single call, it is always a, do I get more new patients? How do we get patients? Unless you're in a really busy area, I have a few where like them cutting insurance was the best thing they could have done because they just were inundated with patients.   and it was like kind of pruning a tree and they needed to prune. So them dropping insurances strategically, they were okay if they lost every single patient, they would still be able to take care of their entire team. All the people, they even had like a dental office across the street moving. They're like, that's fine, take our patients. Like we are good with that. But I will say, if you are not prepared to do that, I might just add a pause for you before you go out of network. So thinking about going out of network, run your numbers to see, can we survive when we lost all the patients?   Number two, I want you to think about are we prepared to be a marketing company and what do we need to do to make sure people stay? Number three, look at our reviews and see how many of them and our referrals and our new patients, how many are coming from reviews and referrals of people referring us and would they continue to do so? Please like check your ego, pretend you are not this person. Will they continue to do so if you go out of network? Four, what can we proactively do to make patients want to stay here? Can we start adding some of these concierge pieces or is it like, hey, when we go out of network, we add these concierge pieces.   Can we get people more on membership plans? So when we go out of network, it doesn't hurt us as much because they're tethered to our practice already. I would be prepping and preparing you and this is what we do with our offices before they do it. Some offices still choose to go out of network and I say that's fine. But again, every choice has a consequence, whether positive or negative that you need to be aware of to make the best decisions. And I believe better insights, better knowledge result in better decisions. So if you need help going out of network, you're like, my gosh, these are things that I need help with.   please reach out before you do it. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. This is how we're able to help you. This is how we're able to just make sure that you've thought through all the pieces and then whatever path is best for you, we're able to guide you through it. And if you've already decided to go out and now we're kind like, shoot, I don't have all these things in place. Great. This is what we do. So reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. This is what we specialize in. This is what we're experts in and you can choose. It's like, it's a choose your own adventure.   Just make sure you know what the ending looks like for either opportunity so you choose the best decision for you, your practice, and your patients. And as always, thanks for listening, and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team

In this episode, Caitlin Walker, Manager at the Delta Dental Community Care Foundation, and Rebecca Cornille, Chief Dental Officer at Vista Community Clinic, join the podcast to discuss expanding oral health access across communities. They share insights on improving coverage for seniors, emphasizing prevention for youth, and the powerful impact of community partnerships in driving better dental health outcomes.

In this episode, Caitlin Walker, Manager at the Delta Dental Community Care Foundation, and Rebecca Cornille, Chief Dental Officer at Vista Community Clinic, join the podcast to discuss expanding oral health access across communities. They share insights on improving coverage for seniors, emphasizing prevention for youth, and the powerful impact of community partnerships in driving better dental health outcomes.

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Chapters 00:00 Gang Back Together 01:23 Mental Health Corner 01:39 Back Pain Diagnosis 07:09 Dental Insurance Racket 12:34 Post Surge Recovery 19:24 Surgery And Withdrawal 24:36 Sponsor One Skin 26:23 Terminal Widget Reveal 31:24 Widgets And Visualizations 34:51 Release Plans And Review 36:56 Universal Bundle Pricing 37:38 AI Boosts Mark II Sales 39:20 Leaving Oracle Behind 40:03 Ninety Hour Workweeks 41:55 NV Ultra Vaporware Woes 43:17 Missing Collaborators Online 45:09 Dan Peterson Secret App 46:23 The Pit TV Complaints 50:49 ER Nostalgia and Cast 54:01 Season Two and Other Shows 58:33 Gratitude App Picks 01:00:09 AI Tools and Claude Code 01:04:35 Bookshelves and Audiobooks 01:07:10 Wrap Up and Sleep Show Links TerminalWidget Marked 3 Bezel BookShelves Claude app Join the Conversation Merch! Come chat on Discord! Twitter/ovrtrd Instagram/ovrtrd Youtube Get the Newsletter Thanks! You’re downloading today’s show from CacheFly’s network BackBeat Media Podcast Network Transcript Projects and Pitt-falls Gang Back Together Christina: [00:00:00] What’s that? Do you see a podcast update in your feed? Well that’s because you’re back on, on Overtired and, uh, and I’m Christina Warren and I’m joined by, uh, Jeff Severns Guntzel and Brett Terpstra. What do you know? The whole gang is back together. Overtired, everybody what Jeff: Hi everybody. Brett: I need a, we need a party sound. We need a Christina: we do. We need a soundboard. We need a soundboard and we need a, a way to be like what Gangs all here. Some sort of a like a either a a we need a horn. That’s what we need. We need one of those. Those horns they play at at at football games. Jeff: would like that very much. Brett: or that like B. Christina: exactly. Jeff: yeah, Brett: That would really wake people up. Christina: It really would. And, and especially, um, all of us. ’cause I we’re recording this earlier than we ever do. Brett’s been up for a really long time and, uh, I think Jeff is probably like raring to go, but I’m like, I, well now Jeff: raring to go, but I’m warming [00:01:00] up. Christina: Yeah, I, I, I’ve been up since like five 30, so I’m okay too, but yeah. Brett: I wrote an entire shortcuts in shortcut intense interface for my new app this morning, and it’s actually working. I’ve never written for shortcuts before. Christina: Well, Ooh, we will, yeah, you gotta talk to us more about that ’cause I wanna hear more about that. Mental Health Corner Christina: Um, but first I think we should probably do, um, because it’s been a while since we’ve all been together, we should probably do a little bit of a mental health corner. Brett: yeah, Who wants to kick that off? Okay, fine. I will. Jeff: health. Mental health. Silence. Back Pain Diagnosis Brett: I, uh, I, I, my sleep has gotten a little worse than it was before when I told you it was bad. Um, I’m, now, I’m back down to like five hours a night and I just wake up at like 2:00 AM. And like I go to bed by eight or nine and I get up at [00:02:00] 2:00 AM every morning and I just cannot, for the life of me fall back asleep. And for like the first hour I’m up, I’m not even really awake. Um, I’m just kind of sitting on the couch staring at my computer and not be, not able to do anything After about an hour. Um. I, I, I’ll get some coffee, I’ll take my meds and like then it’s kind of like most people’s, like maybe 10:00 AM 11:00 AM um, by, by like 3:00 AM but it’s still wearing me down. Um, I got, so I’ve had back pain, um, for a while now. Uh, I can’t stand up for more than about five minutes and I can’t walk for more than three to five minutes, which has really put a dent in my, um, ability to exercise. And, um, so I finally got, I got an MRI [00:03:00] done, and they. Diagnose me with stenosis, which I think is kind of a, a broad term, but like a couple of the discs in my lower back have collapsed and, um, they, they, they think I can be treated with, uh, with shots and not surgery. Um, so I’m hoping, I’m hoping to get that figured out because, okay, so right now, uh, we, we always go on walks in the wildlife refuge, um, like the wetlands refuge near us, and I love it. We, we see so much cool stuff there and I hadn’t really been able to, but what I found was this little, it’s like. Folded up, it’s like two feet tall, uh, camp chair and it, it’s like a camp stool. And so I carry that with us while we walk and then like every three minutes I’ll like have to set it up on [00:04:00] the side of the trail sit. And if I sit for two minutes, the pain goes away, I can then walk again immediately. Um, but like after, after three to five minutes, like my back freezes up and I, like, I literally, I can’t move anymore. Um, so this little, uh, take carrying a chair and doing it in three minutes stints, um, has at least allowed me to get out and get some green time. But that’s kinda where I’m at. Jeff: What does this little chair look like? Uh Brett: It’s blue Jeff: huh. Brett: and it has four legs and it’s can canvas. Jeff: is it like an adorable little camp chair that you’re supposed to be able to like Brett: I think it’s a toddler’s ch camp chair. Jeff: Excellent. This is the detail I Brett: like, it’s smaller than my butt. Like I’m perching on it, but it’s enough to like get my back, uh, into feeling. Okay. And it’s not too heavy to like carry[00:05:00] Jeff: Show art, but the art, the art is you perching. Just to be really clear. Brett: Yes. My, my 280 pounds pound perched on a two foot camp stool, it’ll be great. Jeff: Wow. Well, I’m glad there’s something like some kind of thing Brett: Yeah, no, it’s actually really good. It’s really good to get the stenosis diagnosis and ’cause for a long time I just assumed because I gained weight, my, my back wouldn’t work anymore, which was depressing. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I’ve been this heavy before and I have not had this pain. And even after my first like 50 pound sudden weight gain, I didn’t have back pain. So it didn’t make sense that my body just couldn’t handle it, uh, like something else had to be going on. So it was actually much like any diagnosis, I think, um, other than, you know, terminal illness, but for like A [00:06:00] DHD or stenosis or any like mental health condition, it’s a relief to get a diagnosis and find out you weren’t crazy, you weren’t making things up. So yeah, I’m, I’m grateful. Christina: No, I completely like, can, can relate to that. ’cause when I, like with my back, well my cervical spine, um, it was kind of a similar thing. Obviously mine was more acute and it was a different scenario because I got, um, like the, you know, diagnosis relatively quickly, although it still felt like it took longer than, than I wanted it to, to, to get my MRIs and whatnot. Um, but it was similar to you. It was like kind of a relief to be like, oh, okay, so you have like a major problem. This isn’t just you being a wimp and, Brett: Yeah, exactly. Christina: exhilarating pain. Right. Like excruciating pain. Right. And, and just even having that, even knowing, okay, I don’t love that I have to go through [00:07:00] this whole thing. Um, I’m, I’m still like relieved to have a diagnosis and a plan forward. Dental Insurance Racket Brett: Oh, and also I, so I’m on state. Healthcare, and that includes, um, Delta Dental, but it’s this weird version of Delta Dental that nobody in my town accepts. Um, so I have to, I have to drive 45 minutes to get dental care and even then they can’t, he can’t do root canals or anything. And I needed two root canals and that would’ve involved driving two and a half hours or three hours and then going back to the 45 minute away place. And so what I did was I took the extra money I had saved outside of my, like, nest egg savings, but like my working savings. And I paid for a year of actual Delta Dental, um, and started going to a place [00:08:00] just really close to me and, um. It turns out that the best dental health insurance is still shit like it. I don’t know how much dental work you guys get done, but it is, Christina: it’s, it is crappy. Brett: it’s a, it’s, it’s a racket. And I actually watched a YouTube video on why dental insurance is a scam. And it like interviewed Dennis who actually take these like Delta Dental and the Medicaid dentists. Um, and it is truly a scam. And what I found, and this is much the same experience, uh, Christina talked about with her, um, MRII think it was that you did a cash pay. Um, I talked to the dentist and I said, do you have a cash paid discount? And he’s like, oh yeah. And basically. I can just pay cash and do everything for about 60% of the normal cost, and that is better than what [00:09:00] Delta does for me in most cases. Plus, I need so much work that my $2,000 cap with Delta is gone. Christina: Well, I was, I was gonna say like, so when I joined Microsoft, Microsoft used to have really good. Dental insurance, um, respectively speaking as, as good as it can be. But there were still, you know, caps on how much work would be done. But I found like a good person to go to. ’cause I had an incident, um, about a year after I moved to Seattle, maybe less than that, where um, I had to have an emergency root canal and like that sucked. Um, like I went into a normal dentist. She was like, this is what you need. And then I had to like, take an Uber, like over to a guy and see him like that day at like 5:00 PM and I’m like, you know, all like drugged up and, and getting the root canal. And that was not great. And I needed a lot of, of, of work done. Um, and so we split it over like she was a really good dentist and so we split it over. We were like, I was coming close to. The, the end of the calendar year. So she was like, okay, we’re gonna do all of this work and then we will start the next year [00:10:00] when things go forward. And like she knew how to play the system and was like a really good dentist. Well then Micro, then I went to GitHub. GitHub used, um, you know, uh, Delta Dental. And, and that can vary based on plan. Microsoft is apparently on them too. Google also had them on a slightly different plan, and it’s like you never know what you’re getting. And yeah, to your point, because if you need a lot of work done, if you have anything specialized, if you’re, you’re lucky if you get the right plan and you can see a provider in your area, great. But if you don’t, to your point, it is often, this is just fucked up. Like, especially if you’re having to pay out of pocket for it anyway. If it’s part of your employer, you know, benefits, maybe it’s a little different, but it’s like even then it can still wind up being less expensive to just pay the cash stuff than whatever your deductibles are, which have a cap anyway. And, and, and, and, and then, yeah, the, the, the way that the, the Medicaid or, or even insurance pricing works, stuff that they might charge you a very nominal fee for, for like a cleaning or whatever is, or a cavity fill [00:11:00] is gonna be, you know, they’re gonna bill insurance like three or four times that Brett: Right, exactly. So I pay, I pay like 800 bucks for a year of Delta, and that gives me basically $2,000 to work with, plus whatever price they can negotiate. Um, but like you said, like they, they bill three times. Um, so like what still comes out of my like $2,000 pot, um, is higher than I would’ve paid with Christina: If you just paid cash, if you just had an $800 budget, or if you got like, yeah, that’s the thing. Okay. This is an AI app that somebody should build. And I’m saying this hoping that maybe something the audience will, or maybe one of us could vibe code it, because this seems like this would be a relatively easy calculator to do with like certain providers if they, if they, you know, list their things where you could like run the costs and be like, okay, this is, I’m gonna put in this number. This is what my, you know, provider’s fees are. This is what my [00:12:00] insurance thing is. Um, Brett: what my cash pay Christina: this is what my cash pay is. Is it cheaper for me to spend $800 a year on Delta Dental or to just pay cash directly with my, my dentist? Brett: Yeah. Have you as I’ve, as I’ve said to people who have pitched ideas to me in the past, you’re talking about a spreadsheet? Christina: Yes. It is a spreadsheet to be completely out. Yes. But I can now use cloud code to, to to, to, you know, figure out the formula for me is the real thing. Brett: Yeah. There you go. All right. Who’s up? Post Surge Recovery Jeff: Dr. To, um, I can talk, uh, uh, I’m, I mean, I’m doing really well. Uh, I we’re a couple months past, or, you know, a couple months past the operation Metro surge stuff here in January and February, in a little bit of December, but really January. And that was, I’d never kind of experienced like a, a full [00:13:00] taxing of every single person and kind of person I knew and which was amazing. Um, and, uh, and it took a minute when things settled here, um, to, for everybody to kind of figure out what. How to just even enter into the world every day because everything had been driven by what was happening on a almost hourly to hourly basis for, for some time. And, um, and so I kind of moved through that, that period, which was like quite a sort of come down, uh, of adrenaline and, and amygdala sparking. Um, and, and have kind of smoothed a little bit. And, um, and I’m just doing well. I’m having a nice, a nice goal of it right now. Christina: Good. Great to hear. Brett: I, I guess that everything’s relative. Right? Jeff: Yeah. Everything’s relative. Yeah. Yeah. But I think I would call this a nice go of it, uh, even outside the context of comparing [00:14:00] to, to Operation Metro Surge. Brett: that’s, that’s, I, I’m happy for you. That’s awesome. Jeff: I think actually the last time I was on the podcast was with you, Christina, in January right after we had had a raid in our alley, which was even before the surge Christina: You before the big surge, even before Jeff: of an early start. Christina: I was gonna say even before, like I, I, I don’t even know if, if, if the, the, the murder had happened. Um, Jeff: not at all. In fact, we only had 100 extra ice agents here at the time and within a couple of weeks there’d be a woman in front of my house, uh, being pulled out of her car ’cause she was following ice agents and throwing me her phone as she gets tossed into a, into a fucking ice truck. And like it was just, everything happened so fast and so slowly all at the same time. And, and obviously there’s still all sorts of stuff going on, but it is indisputably not what it was in January and February. Brett: I was gonna ask you about that. ’cause like the total number of deportations is only slightly [00:15:00] lower right now than it was during the surge. Um, and they, they removed, they added like, what, 3000 agents and they removed like 800 of them. So, Jeff: they’ve removed way more than Brett: Hey, have they Jeff: oh, yeah. We’re down to, I haven’t, I don’t wanna say the numbers because I haven’t looked at them. We’re, we’re back down to like the high hundreds and we, our baseline is like 1 25. Brett: Okay. Jeff: Yeah. You can tell. Um, it’s, yeah, you can tell. And I, and I’ve been down to the WPO Federal building a a few times, um, which is where ICE was kind of headquartered and there’s just the level of activity there is very low. Um, they had some new vehicles come in at one point about a month ago, but mostly those are replacing rentals that they were using. So it wasn’t like people took it as kind of an indication that they were, you know, staffing up or suiting up again. But it was really just kind of replacing their, their really weird, like sort of duct tape together invasion. Um, it’s kinda like in Iraq when they decided they were gonna [00:16:00] actually armor the Humvees, it was kind of like a little bit of a switch of, of vehicles. Um. Yeah, it’s much different. And like, you know, all the people either in my life or in my community that were in hiding or not, I mean, for the most part, not in hiding anymore vulnerable folks and undocumented folks. And, um, so it’s like, it’s qualitatively and nervous, systemly different Brett: Yeah. Yeah. Jeff: for everybody and still sucks. And there’s still a risk and a threat and, and a horror. And a terror. Brett: Yeah, down here in southern Minnesota, I have not gotten a call to do a food delivery or a grocery delivery for, yeah, a couple months. Um, so yeah, I guess it really has calmed down across the state. Jeff: Yeah. Thank God. I mean, who knows what they’re up to that isn’t as visible, but thank God Brett: exactly. Jeff: over. So yeah, I, I mean it’s, and I actually just had my, my brother’s been in town and every time someone kind of comes to visit, they wanna like. You know, kind of hear or take in what the thing was and you start describing it again, and [00:17:00] now it just, I mean, it felt like a dream at the time. It just felt like, how could this be real? But you were just so in it, like every single person, like you said, Brett, like people were doing grocery deliveries or people were, you know, cooking food for the people that were kind of on the front lines, or you were following ice, or you were dispatching people to follow ice, whatever. It was like every. Single person I could think of as doing something. And uh, and, and so when you try to describe it now, when you look around, especially in my neighborhood where they were all over, um, it it, it seems like, was this, was this real, um, like, was it even real because like, I don’t know, like the end here. ’cause this could go on forever, but I don’t know if any of you saw the footage that went around of a high school called Roosevelt High School, where, uh, where Bovino showed up and there was all this crazy shit and the, the footage of this, um, went around the country and like it was, you know, reposted by freaking everybody that was my son’s school in my neighborhood. And, and so like, it was just this constant thing of like, bovino at my son’s school, binos at my gas station. Like, it was just [00:18:00] utterly insane. And now, and, and every street felt almost, you could feel ice on the streets. Like you would see ghost cars where they had taken people or whatever. You could like, feel ’em on the streets. And so you walk around, you walk around the same streets now, and it’s just birds and kids playing and you’re just like, did that, was that real? Brett: There, there was a tow truck driver that was interviewed who had taken it upon himself to tow those ghost cars for free back to their origin. Um, and just like leave them for people. Jeff: at least, or he would take them in and not charge if you came in for them. And it’s, and that’s just it. Everybody, everybody. It was incredible. It was incredible. Christina: It’s crazy. Jeff: Yeah. All Christina: I hope, I genuinely hope that they’ve lost interest and, and have moved on to other things. Brett: Like Seattle. Christina: yeah. Well, I mean, Seattle is obviously a very different situation and, and that had a, a longstanding, I think, impact. Um, and, and I, I, I. I’ve said this, I said this at the time, people who made that really bad were the [00:19:00] activists who came in outside the so-called activists and putting that in quotation marks who came in, who didn’t even live in the city and agitated things and made things way worse than, than they, than it should have been. Um, but yeah, but I hope that it’s like Seattle, that it just kind of falls like the, the government doesn’t come back and, and continue this, you know, reign of terror. Jeff: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Surgery And Withdrawal Christina: Um, well, I’ll, I’ll be quick. So I, I had surgery since I guess the last time I was on, Jeff: Sure did. Christina: that went well. Um, the surgery itself, I’m still in some pain, um, in my shoulder after the surgery, uh, which was not like you were fi fixing my cervical spine. But, um, they, uh, I guess however it worked, like I, I think as muscular, um, I, I’ve been going to to to PT for the last few weeks. Um, but I still having some, some shoulder pain. That’s, that’s getting better. Um, the hardest thing was actually some of the medication stuff. So [00:20:00] I, uh, gabapentin, um, I know it’s a lifesaver for a lot of people. I don’t have a good reaction to it. Like I’m one of those people. Like, it, it a, it makes me feel kind of loopy. I don’t like it. B it’s very difficult for me to sleep on it. Um, which, which is a problem and, you know, but, but the big thing is it just kind of makes me like, feel like I’m not kind of in my own head. Like I feel like, don’t know, like, um, altered on it. I, I would say. And so I went off they gabapentin and no one told me, and I am gonna put this as a PSA out there. ’cause I know a lot of people take it. Do not go off of that cold Turkey. Jeff: mm. Christina: They didn’t tell me that. Um, which someone should have, but no one told me that. And it can actually cause seizures if you do other things. But in my case, the real thing was that I had withdrawal. That was some of the worst withdrawal I’ve ever had. In my life ever. And, um, it like awful, like awful, awful, awful to the point that to go off the Gabapentin and they had me on like a, a decent dosage. It [00:21:00] took me a month because I had to keep going basically down like one pill like every week to step down. And, but I mean, I was getting, you know, like, like hot and cold sweats, you know, like feeling like my teeth were gnashing, you know, like nauseous, just like awful, awful stuff. So it took me, you know, a month to go off of that. I had to extend my medical leave in part because of the medication withdrawal stuff, because I was like, I can’t go back to work if I’m gonna be like, still dealing with, with medication bullshit. Um, so, um, that was actually, you know, in some ways like more, uh, of an issue than like recovering from the surgery itself, which was major. Like I, I tried to kind of downplay like what it was, but it was, it was major surgery and um. Um, I’m glad that it’s over. So, you know, onwards and upwards. I’m, I’ve been back at work for a couple weeks. Um, still kind of settling in on that, but, uh, but yeah. Brett: That [00:22:00] withdrawal sounds terrible. Usually you have to do opiates to get that kind of fun. Christina: Yeah, well that was the thing. I saw somebody on, I read it, which of course is anecdotal. I don’t usually look for this stuff, but sometimes you just wanna feel like, okay, is it, is it common for me to have this withdrawal or not? And somebody, and one of the subreddits was like, this was worse than coming off of heroin and I in a jail cell, and I should know because I’ve done that. And I was like, okay, I, I’m not going to equate it at that level, you know, for, for me. But it was definitely like that bad. It was, let me put it this way, it was bad enough that at first I thought. It was the opiate withdrawal because I, they gave me some, some oxy, um, um, contin. Um, and then the doctor was like, no, that’s not a high enough dosage. This is, you know, um, it, it, it probably was gabapentin and, and it, it. What pissed me off is that one of the physician’s assistants or whatever, when I’m telling like my doctor about this, I’m like, okay, if I need another nerve drug, then we need to find something [00:23:00] else. I can go on select so I can go on, you know, something else. But, but I, I clearly can’t stay on this. A, they kind of gaslit me because I’m a woman and obviously my pain and my symptoms can’t be real. So that’s like number one. And that’s just a fact. I don’t care if you’re a male or female doctor, they don’t take you seriously. I’ve complained about that before. Um, b like she had the nerves to say, she was like, well, you know, if the withdrawal is that bad, then why don’t you just stay on the medic medication? It’s not that it, it, it, it’s fine. I’m like, no, it’s not fine. It makes me feel altered. You’re telling me that it’s for nerve pain, that my nerve pain should be fixed if my nerve pain isn’t fixed and if I need something for nerve stuff, then that’s one thing and we could maybe look at an alternative, something that doesn’t make me feel loopy and lets me sleep. But if your suggestion is, oh, to avoid the bad withdrawal, just stay on the drug. I’m sorry, what the fuck are we doing? Um, and, and then the doctor’s like, well, you know, we get this all the time. We never see side effects. And then I looked it up, you know, in the actual drug literature and no, there are side effects exactly like the ones I experienced. So I was like, I recognize that. [00:24:00] I always am usually that like one percentile person who gets like the weird side effect. Like, that’s who I am. I get that. But Brett: crazy. I’ve, I’ve gone off of gabapentin. It sucks. I You’re not crazy at all. Christina: yeah. But, but it just, it just was frustrating to me that like the, the suggestions like, we’ll just stay on it. It’s like, no, like that’s, that’s, that’s not actually gonna be a thing anyway, but onward and upward. Jeff: Yeah. Wow. I’m glad you’re through that. Like Christina: Yeah, me too. Me too. Okay. Sponsor One Skin Christina: Well, I know we have some other topics we wanna get to, but before we do that, um, let’s take a moment to talk about our sponsor of today’s episode One Skin. So, um, you know, I, I’ve gone through a number of different things with my skincare routine over the years. Some have been more effective than other. Um, you know, um, my skin kind of goes back and forth between being too oily and too dry. I’m kind of in a dry [00:25:00] phase right now, and, um, there are tons of products out there that, that promise results. And then you, you get them in the, and they’re, they don’t necessarily work. So, uh, I wanna talk to you about One Skin, which was founded by scientists, and it’s dedicated to longevity. And, um, the, the brand is actually committed to being real science over marketing hype. And so, uh. What they wind up. Uh, what, how, how this works is that they use OSO uh, zero one, which is a proprietary peptide, which is designed to help deactivate the damaged cells that contribute to aging skin. And, um, I’ve been using one skin, um, for a little bit, and I, I’m, I’m liking it. I like how it makes my face feel. Um, I like, um, the fact that, uh, it’s. You know, what the peptides are supposed to do is help basically, uh, support collagen, uh, uh, of production and, and, and strengthening the skin barrier. Um, I’m not alone. There are over 10,005 star reviews and there’s validation from clinical studies and, and it’s making a name for itself in the skincare industry.[00:26:00] So if you are interested in trying one skin for yourself, you can get 15% off your order with the code Overtired at one skin.co/ Overtired. That’s 15% off at one skin. Do co slash Overtired and use that code Overtired. So thank you one skin for supporting our show and check them out. Brett: Awesome. Terminal Widget Reveal Brett: Do you guys, can I tell you about terminal widget? Jeff: Terminal widget. Yes. Set it up. Terminal widget. Brett Terpstra. What’s Brett: so I, I, I wanted, I had scripts running in the background and I wanted a quick way to check them and I thought it should be easy to put. Script output into a, like a widget on the desktop. And I could not find anything that actually worked. Like Shellfish has a widget, but it, it takes minutes to update and it’s flaky and, and the other apps out there [00:27:00] did not work for me. So I thought I would build my own. So I think I started it a month ago. Um, I built a, just something for, you can run a terminal command and update a progress bar or an image or, uh, like sparkline text or just straight up text output from your. Terminal, all kinds of charts and everything, and, and it updates instantly on your desktop, uh, with like a 0.5 to one second delay, uh, which I wasn’t able to find anywhere else. I had to like, use JSON payloads and like basically a cloud kit watcher, um, cloud kit because I did also port it to iOS. And, um, so I can run one command in my terminal or from a script in the background and have my iPhone and my desktop update with progress. Um, I am working [00:28:00] on a watch version of it that is not, I, I have it working in the app, but I wanna make it so it works as a complication. Um, that’s gonna take a little more doing, uh, but this morning and yesterday I spent working on. The Apple script and shortcuts interfaces for it. And I hate designing Apple Script dictionaries, uh, because there’s no, like, there’s no standard for like terminology and there’s no like golden way to do it. And I always end up messing it up even when I do have a plan. This time I think I actually succeeded in building out a dictionary that makes semantic sense and is somewhat. Predictable if you’ve ever written Apples script before, but I also added all of the widgets can be controlled from shortcuts. You just drag in like a chart widget into your shortcut and pass in like a value or like a, a chart of values. It can [00:29:00] do matrices and sign waves and, and line grass and bar charts, and it’s pretty nuts. You can check it out. It’s not available yet, but all of the documentation and all of the screenshots are at Terminal widget app. Um, and I am, I’m pretty impressed with myself and Christina: yeah. Brett: that’s what I’ve been working on while waiting for Mark III to make it through app store reviews so I can finally publish that. I, my latest rejection first, I got rejected, like a couple legitimate. Uh, concerns, but then I had a CLI that I wrote that was embedded in the app bundle and there was an option to create a sim link in your, in your terminal to use the CLI. And this was just a convenience method for like, you give it command line flags and it converts it into URL handlers and they rejected me for Christina: [00:30:00] I was gonna say, I was gonna say, they don’t let you do that. Like what I’ve seen with other apps do is usually there’s like a, um, in the app store is that usually you have to download a helper to install the CL. Brett: right. So what I did, uh, to get past the rejection was completely rip out the binary from the bundle. Uh, if you go to the install cli CLI tool menu item, it simply takes you to a webpage where there’s a, a notarized signed PKG file, or you can install from Homebrew, but it’s completely separate from the app store. And the last rejection said that I was requiring users to download an external app in order to use the app. Which is ridiculous on its face. Like it’s, it’s a convenience method. In no way do you need to download it. Um, there’s no requirement. In fact, it’s almost buried that you would even want it. Um, [00:31:00] and so I argued with the reviewer for a couple days ’cause they were replying like once a day. Um, and then they told me I had to go through a re uh, the appeal process. So I submitted an appeal at four 50 this morning. We’ll see how long that takes now. But in the meantime, terminal Widget is keeping me sane. I’m having a lot of fun with that. Widgets And Visualizations Jeff: I have some terminal widget questions. I’m looking at the site right now. Um, so talk to me about, um, talk to us about your, your initial use case, like was, which you’ve kind of described already, which is you just wanted to be able to check on these scripts Brett: Yeah. I just wanted a progress Jeff: But then Brett Terpstra kicks in ’cause like I just wanted a progress bar and now I’m looking at all the flags and everything else that you could have. You know, I’m curious like of all of the options that are in there, I want you to just share something that might not be intuitive or might not guess you can do. And then I’m curious of like if you have something you’re like, and what I [00:32:00] really want it to be able to do is. Brett: So you can pass it up to a hundred numbers, like a, a list of space or canvas, separated numbers that you can output from whatever script you’re developing. And you can have it, uh, output a sine wave or a um, uh, a waveform. I like the waveform visualization for it. And so you can get like pretty cool visualizations out of. Tabular data basically. And I also just added, um, tabular, like you can, you can give it a CSV file and it’ll generate a table for you. And it really only works well on like the large widget size. Um, but on both, on both iOS and Mac, uh, the tables look pretty good. Jeff: Nice. Christina: That’s awesome. I, I have a, I have a nerdy, uh, well, but less nerdy question. [00:33:00] Um, on the Terminal WIT app website, um, you have like a, a video of a, like, you know, showing off like, um, you know, your, your, your terminal app open and, um, the, the text being typed out. What did you use to create that? Did you use a remotion or did you use something else to generate that Brett: I scripted that, um, I, I wrote if there’s a helper Christina: charm or something? Brett: No, Christina: Okay. Brett: I, it’s a helper. It’s a helper script that it, it clears the screen and then it takes a table of commands and it types the command out with like a jitter delay. So it looks somewhat natural, like typing. And then it actually runs the command in the background. And then once the command’s finished, it clears the screen and does the same thing with the next one. Um, so I can just feed it like a, a, uh, a file with all the commands. I wanna run one per line. Um, and it just types them out and executes them. Jeff: That’s awesome. Christina: Cool. Brett: I know, [00:34:00] like I looked into like using like as, as as cinema. Um, and it just to get that kind of really. Smooth, rapid typing out of it, uh, without, you know, all the backspace and everything. I, it was, I found it difficult to program it to, to code it. And by the time I had it figured out, I figured I should just write my own script for it. Christina: Yeah. There’s, um, there, there’s a, a. Service called Remotion, which can do some of that sort of graphical work, which is what I thought you might’ve used at first. Um, charm has a thing called VHS, which is basically like a CLI home home recorder, which is pretty cool. Um, and I’ve used that before, but yeah, I was just kind of curious, um, what you did, but yeah, you just built your own. That’s awesome. Very cool. Release Plans And Review Christina: Um, now for your, your, when do you think like, because I, I noticed that you have like for for blog book and for terminal widget, you have like coming soon. Is that like, ’cause [00:35:00] you’re still kind of like working on stuff or, um, are you going through review hell with those as well? Brett: I haven’t even tried getting either of those reviewed. Um, blog book I is approved for test flight, um, and anyone who wants in on that can just contact me. It is getting the slowest development out of all my projects right now just because it is, it’s a more niche app that I don’t think is gonna make a ton of money. But, um, mark III is where most of my effort is going. Then I’m working on porting mark three’s, uh, store kit stuff into NV Ultra, and then I can focus on trying to usher terminal widget through app review. Um, I have a feeling that’s going to go very poorly and I may end up just releasing outside the app store, but because it has an iOS Christina: I was gonna say with the iOS component is the hard part. Brett: I kind of have to, so we’ll see what happens. Christina: Yeah. [00:36:00] ’cause I was gonna say, ’cause like, I mean I guess what you could do is if you did something for the iOS F would make it different though. Like if it’s just, ’cause I’m sure it has, it’s working out. It’s pretty much just remote instance that’s showing Brett: No, no, it’s got, it’s a, Christina: you, you built in your own terminal emulator into it. Brett: no, there’s no, no, no, no, no, no. There’s no terminal in this app at all. Like, you use it from whatever terminal or from shortcuts. Um, so it’s all native widgets on both. Christina: right. I was just saying in terms of the app store thing, like, I guess like if since there’s not a native terminal on, on iOS, it’s, I’m assuming that it’s, it’s a remote widget is what I was trying to get at. Brett: Essentially, yes. But if you write a shortcut on iOS that updates the widget, it updates both iOS and Mac os. So it is usable entirely. You could just buy it for iOS and, and it would be a functional app. Christina: okay. Okay. Universal Bundle Pricing Brett: But I do intend, I hope [00:37:00] to sell it as one universal bundle. So you pay like 9 99 and you get the iOS, the Mac, and the watch app without having to buy for every platform separately. Um, I just don’t see it being like such a valuable app that it’s worth making people go through that rigamarole. Christina: right. No, I was just trying to think. Brett: and everyone I’ve shown it to so far has been excited about it and the most common response I get is I will buy this as soon as I figure out what I would use it for. I’m like, yeah, okay. Jeff: Okay, fine. Awesome. AI Boosts Mark II Sales Jeff: And can you talk about how, because the whole world now works in markdown marked, has gotten a bump because I think that’s an amazing story. Brett: Well, yeah, it was. was a few months ago now, maybe six months. Um, my sales just started increasing and I was looking everywhere through all my traffic and all my logs [00:38:00] to figure out where this, where these people were coming from. Um, and it was eventually pointed out to me that if you ask any agent, any AI agent what you should use to view markdown, um, they would point you to Mark two. And it was now, for the last four months, five months, it’s been doing five times the sales year over year. What it was doing, Jeff: How close is it to the highest it ever was? Brett: um, the highest it ever was was actually when it was only 2 99. And Gruber wrote about it. Uh, back in this is like 2000. This was over a decade ago. And, um, back when, like one tweet from Gruber meant like success and that I made that year, I made almost a hundred thousand dollars on it.[00:39:00] Um, this is nowhere near that. This is doing like Jeff: But it’s a highly unexpected bump, right? Like in a delightful, delightful bump. Brett: yeah. It’s doing, it’s doing without even releasing Mark iii, I’m making about half of my former salary off of it. Jeff: Nice. I’m happy for you. Leaving Oracle Behind Brett: Also, uh, one year, um, in two days I’ll be one year out of Oracle and I quite happy about it. Jeff: that’s great. I was wondering about that, Brett: I don’t miss my corporate job. I miss, I miss some aspects, health insurance, paychecks, things like that. But Jeff: that aren’t at all about the content of the job, right? Brett: Well, like that stuff has never mattered all that much to me if I’m happy doing the work. And I really wasn’t happy doing the work. Christina: Well, that’s, that’s the thing. I’m glad that you’re, I’m glad things have been going well. I’m glad that, that the, the agents have, uh, been telling everybody about Mark two. Hopefully they will also tell them [00:40:00] about Mark three. Um. Ninety Hour Workweeks Brett: My, my dentist was doing was doing small talk with me, and he knows I’m a app developer and he asked me, so how many hours a week do you work? And I happen to know the answer because I had just read my timing app report for last week and I said, 90. And he said, oh wow. How much do you make? And he’s like, if you don’t mind me asking. So I told him and uh, it saying it out loud, it’s basically like 20 bucks an hour I get paid. And like, it’s not nothing, but once these apps are out and I can sit back and just make some passive income off of it, I will, I’ll be much Jeff: So it’s 90 because you’re, you’re developing multiple things right now and, and you love it. Brett: I’m pretty much, I’m pretty much on my machine all day except for like an hour for [00:41:00] like getting out, exercising, getting on my recumbent bicycle and an hour for eating. Um, Jeff: Is it time for you to get a trike? I’m serious. Brett: I don’t, I don’t know, I, I actually want to try just getting back on a regular bicycle. Jeff: Hmm. Brett: Um, but I, yeah, like a recumbent tricycle, that’d be pretty awesome. Jeff: dad uses him. He actually just converted one to an to an E-bike. Plus it’s hot now ’cause of DTF St. Louis. Christina: right. Jeff: Awesome. Uh, is that it for your app development because wow, that’s like, uh, quite a, quite a deal. You got anything else in the cooker? Brett: Well, like we talked about blog book. Right? Jeff: Yep. Brett: Okay. Yeah, that’s, that’s what I got. Jeff: Nice. Brett: that’s my big ones. NV Ultra Vaporware Woes Brett: NV Ultra is, um, literally only waiting on me to [00:42:00] get Mark three out and then NV Ultra will be out. And it is well passed a time when it would’ve been a smash hit. Um, when, when Nv, when NVL first started dying before, uh, before something like obsidian really Christina: I was gonna say, if sitting is unfortunately Brett: yeah, they obsidian and five or six other apps have really eaten up market share for, uh, NV Ultra. But it would be nice just to get it published. I have been talking about a replacement for NV for over a decade, and Jeff: Am I gonna get sued if I say this is not your fault. Brett: It’s, it’s not my fault, like none of them have been my fault. Like they’ve all fallen through on me. Um, but I think people don’t believe me anymore when I say it’s coming. In fact, it, in fact, if you ask an AI agent, they will tell you that MB Ultra is vaporware.[00:43:00] Christina: Well, Jeff: a lot ai. Christina: I mean, look at this point, even though yeah, it’s been in beta and you’ve had other things going on. I mean, like it, you know, again, it wasn’t your fault, but, but, but you know, we’ve all been in those situations where you’re like, it’s coming, it’s coming. Or this thing is like, at a certain point you’re like, okay. Like Brett: Yeah. Missing Collaborators Online Brett: Well that there was Bit Writer Christina: TechMate too. Brett: Bit Writer was one that preceded NV Ultra and I was working on that with David Halter, who was a co contributor on VT and. He disappeared. I don’t know if he died or what, but about years ago he just stopped replying to emails, disappeared off of Slack, disappeared from the internet. Just I, and I don’t ha I don’t know his next of kin. I don’t have anyone I can like ask, Hey, whatever happened to David. So if you’re out there, if you’re listening, I’d love to hear from you just to know you’re alive. Just to, just to [00:44:00] check in. Um, I’ve actually had a few people disappear over the last couple months that ha it’s been disconcert when, when you’re used to hearing from someone at least, you know, once a week even. But some of these people were like every day, um, I. Jeff: from them, meaning seeing them somewhere or corresponding or. Brett: Uh, online. These are, these are people I only know online. So like seeing them on Macedon or Facebook or getting emails or text messages from them. Um, a couple of them were in their eighties or nineties, and so it’s not, Jeff: That might be your problem. Brett: it, it’s not out of the realm of the possibility that they have passed on. Um, but some of them were younger than me and one of them has come back after two weeks of messaging, like every other day, like, Hey, are you okay? Haven’t heard from you. Um, finally they’re like, oh, yeah, I’m here. [00:45:00] And offered no explanation for where they’d been or why they went silent, but I didn’t pry either. So. Dan Peterson Secret App Jeff: What is your project with Dan Peterson? That’s on our, our list. Brett: I don’t know if I’m allowed to say a lot about it, but I’ve been working. Dan Peterson is one, the original designer of one password and worked with them for like 20 years before he struck out on his own. And we’ve teamed up, we’re working on a couple things, but one is a a, an IO iOS app that he has put in. I, I don’t even know how many hours into the design of it, like 3D modeling, spline rendering, and um, and then we ported it into an iOS interface. And it is gorgeous. It, it will it when, when it gets to market, which we’re hoping to have it in [00:46:00] testate in time for Max stock in July. Um, it’ll be the best looking app I’ve ever been a part of. It’s gonna be so cool. Jeff: Nice. Christina: That’s awesome. Jeff: Busy time. Brett: Yeah. Jeff: It’s Christina: That’s awesome. Jeff: What else do we got? I mean, Brett, you showed up with a big list. The Pit TV Complaints Christina: I was gonna, is anybody watching anything? Uh, good on TV or rewatching anything? Jeff: I have a serious complaint to put into the world, so I’ve avoided the pit for a long time. Uh, just ’cause I’m, I don’t, I’m not a huge like yeah, Brett: drama. Jeff: it is great. Except are there two separate writing teams for the stars and staff and the people that come in as patients? Because the writing for the people that come in patients is. Awful. They acting sometimes too. Sometimes there’s some people that sell it. I’m only through season one, uh, but I was like, I have been yelling at the tv, uh, about this [00:47:00] for some time. Um, besides also yelling at the TV for the point at which, um, our young friend with a w as a last name Whitaker, who, uh, gets blood all over his face and then they don’t actually immediately clean it up. Um, uh, so I yell at the screen and I like the show, but I yell. I haven’t had a TV show that I’m like, oh, for fuck’s sake now. I mean, I can handle that in The Walking Dead. I can handle that in that kind of movie. But in the ER thing I’m like, come on, you can’t get a writer to handle the patients. I don’t understand. You’ve got an incredible cast, like an incredible cast. Brett: It’s actually all ad-libbed. Jeff: all ad-libs, like the clown. There’s a clown, I won’t give it up, but there’s a, there’s a clown that has been through a mass event and he’s in the, uh, he’s in the ER with his clown makeup on still, and some blood going down his face and at some point he looks around and he goes, what a circus. I just think they, I think, I don’t understand. This confuses me very much [00:48:00] in TV shows when you’re like, okay, you’ve got a great writing team, but clearly you have a separate writing team that is doing just this little job that is actually quite important. So that’s my complaint about the pit. Otherwise, I like it quite a bit. I’m very excited to start season two, probably this weekend. Christina: it’s a good season. It’s a good season. So, yeah, ’cause, because, because I, I, I, um, it, it ended last week and I’m, I’m a big fan of the pit. I will say this, the pit fandom is insane and not in a good way. Like these are people who don’t understand how to watch television shows and don’t understand. Like how television shows work, and, and then also become very entitled about like, how, like their vision of the characters and things should be on a level. Like the last time I’ve seen it, it it’s the same, it’s similar with heated rivalry, but it’s somehow worse because this isn’t like a genre show like that. It’s like low quality for like, you know, middle aged like white women, um, in the suburbs. Um, who, who just like to see two, two hockey players. [00:49:00] You know? Fuck. Um, like, like the pit is actually like, I’m not gonna call it Prestige TV because it’s not er level, but it’s a very good show and it’s extremely well acted. And I think the writing, um, I, I think make a good point about the, uh, the patients not getting as good of storylines as the doctors. But, um, Jeff: no. I don’t need storylines. I Christina: no, I I mean the Jeff: words they Christina: Yeah. Yeah. No, that, that’s, that, that, that that’s what I mean, like, like that, that, that, that I, I, I hear, I hear your Jeff: Because where there’s a patient storyline, those are almost exclusively great. Christina: Yeah, it, so you’re more talking about like, like, like the kind of the background characters, like, kind of like the, the, the one-offs. Yeah, I think, I think that’s fair. Well, a lot of the writing staff and like executive producers are doctors or people who have like, you know, worked, um, extensively in healthcare. And so I, I, I wonder if like, that’s kind of part of it, um, where Brett: they’re really good at writing the doctor’s parts. They’re not so good at Jeff: so good. Oh my God, so Christina: so good at doing the doctor’s parts and, and the procedures. Like they wanna be medically [00:50:00] accurate and like they really, they really are committed to that. There are, um, there are a couple of, I’m trying to think, um, the, the Whitaker thing, I think that was just, I enjoyed that myself. Like the fact that he’s always getting blood Jeff: Oh, I loved the bit, I just couldn’t believe that. I couldn’t believe that through quite, you know, a couple of different bits after that. The blood’s still on his face. I’m like, there has to be a protocol to get blood off your face. Christina: No, there definitely has to be, but I mean, part also one of the running gags first season two. And, and sorry for spoilers, for anyone who hasn’t watched the pit Jeff: Wait, I’m gonna close my ears. Okay. Go ahead. Wave when you’re done. Christina: Rob Robbie can’t pee. And, uh, this wasn’t a real spoiler, but like, but one of the things is like, you know, Robbie’s never able to like, go to the bathroom. Like he can never find a way to pee. So Jeff: I’m back. Brett: you’re safe now. Jeff: I’m back. Christina: you, you’re safe. And I didn’t spoil anything. I was ER Nostalgia and Cast Jeff: The other thing I’ll say about the pit that surprised I did not watch ER and not ’cause out of bad attitude. Uh, it was just a point in my life when I wasn’t watching a lot of tv. Um, I also didn’t realize until I was [00:51:00] like five episodes in that Noah Wiley was a big character in er. I think that’s really cool. Um, Christina: Okay. Okay. I, I understand you weren’t watching TV then, but how did you not realize that Noah Wiley was Jeff: I didn’t know Noah Wiley’s name. Like I, this is just not, I don’t hold names of people. I, you know, I also, on the albums, I love that. I don’t remember song, I don’t know song titles half the time. Um, so I don’t mind You can, you can be very disappointed and express it. And I will accept it. I will receive it. Christina: No, I’m just shocked Jeff: to be better. Christina: because I, I mean, ’cause because I was like 10 years old when ER came out and like, I don’t know, like they were like, that was the number one show on television Jeff: Totally. And I mean, Clooney, come on. I know Clooney. Christina: course Clooney, but, but like, but it was Clooney. It was, but but like the, the, the, the, the original, it was Clooney, it was uh, uh, Sherry Stringfeld, it was um, um, uh, Eric Lesal. It was Juliana Margolis, it was Noah Wiley, and it was Anthony Edwards. So like, Jeff: Oh, my favorite Timber Christina: and I was gonna say ironically going into when er came out, like the, the name was Anthony [00:52:00] Edwards, like, he was like number one on the call sheet, right? Like Clooney I think was like four. Um, and, and then, and then Clooney because he’s a good guy, like blew the fuck up and then still did them a solid and did like a full freaking five years on that show, Jeff: Yeah, which is awesome. Christina: he did not, David, David Caruso, it like David Caruso, who famously like had one, you know, big season of NYPD Blue fucks off to go do a movie career. The movie career implodes, there’s a clause in his contract because A, b, C was so furious about how the way he quit NYPD Blue, that they were like, okay, well you can’t do any television for x number of years. And then his movie career dies and then he has to like come like hat in hand to like CSI Miami. Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. Well I love the pit and this thing that surprised me is the thing I always stayed away from is like I can handle gore in almost every context except real life. And so like I can do all the gore of the Walking Dead. I can do all the gore of Game of Thrones or something, but like, I was like, I don’t know if I want, [00:53:00] yeah. Gore. I love it. I mean, I love it. ’cause I’m fascinated. I’m just fascinated. I’m like, oh, that’s what it looks like when you do that. Like, right. Like you just snip the fingertip off. That’s what it looks like when you do that. Like, Christina: no, Jeff: the first Christina: they show some of the stuff, Jeff: yeah, the first half. I did this every time I covered my face whenever it was like that. And then all of a sudden I could handle it. And I was like, this is fascinating. This is totally Christina: What episode are you, are you up to? How many do you Jeff: I actually, I only have 15 left. I have the last episode left. Um, and unfortunately, like we’ve had, like my brother’s, not unfortunately, my brother’s been, we had stuff every night until late for like three or four days. And I’m so ready to watch that thing. And now, now my wife’s going outta town, so I’m not sure we’ll even see it for another week. It’s making me crazy. Brett: are you watching it together? And you have to wait for her. Jeff: Yeah. Well, and we, and, and sometimes it’s easy for us to find a show together and sometimes there’s just a long dry spell. And so it’s also just like nice. It’s just nice to have a show together always. Um, and so it’s the combination of like, that’s just nice to do and I’m right at the end and I’m just ready to Christina: And you just wanna do that together? [00:54:00] Yeah, no, it makes sense. Season Two and Other Shows Christina: Um, I, I’m, I’m curious to see what you’ll think of season two. Um, I, I, um, it’s, it’s different in some ways. It doesn’t have like the, the, I’m not spoiling anything, but like, it doesn’t have like a big like, catalyzing event, like, like season one does. Um, but I still think it’s, it’s really good TV and, uh, yeah, definitely one of my favorite shows, um, hacks is Back for its final season. That’s definitely one of my favorite Brett: That Jeff: I never Brett: good. I, I finished season one. Um, I think there’s three seasons or is there more? Christina: This, it is now in its fifth season. Yeah. Brett: Okay. Yeah. I, I finished season one and then kind of forgot about it, and then I just saw some trailers for the new season and thought, oh, I should get back into this. It looks, it looks like it, it, it looks like it did well, um, Christina: No, I mean, shrinking. Yeah. Brett: I was gonna say, the new season of shrinking is really good too. Christina: Yeah, it is. Yeah. Um, well, well, uh, bill Lawrence is, is, uh, who created that and he created Scrubs and Spin City and [00:55:00] some other things. Like he’s, he’s really, really, um, good. He also did Rooster, which is now on HBO Max. Um, but, oh, the Scrubs Revival. Speaking of, of new shows, I don’t know if it’s gonna get like renewed because it hasn’t been renewed yet. And so I’m a little bit concerned that it hasn’t been renewed yet, and I only did nine episodes for the first season. But the, the Scrubs reboot, revival, whatever you wanna call it, and I say this is somebody who was a huge scrub fan. I, I don’t consider the, the final season to be scrubs like that. It is not part of Canon to me. Like, I feel like that, that, that wasn’t it, but I thought they actually did an amazing job, um, with the, with the reboot. Like I actually. And, and it was hard for them too because John c McGinley is on Rooster and, um, uh, Judy Reyes is on, um, uh, high Potential. And, um, so, you know, the only like, you know, main characters from the original that they have back in every single episode [00:56:00] are, um, uh, Elliot, JD and Turk. Um, but, uh, and then, and then you see, you know, kind of like, like Carla just isn’t in the office sometimes, but she has some guest appearances. Um, but they actually managed to, to do this, they managed to do like a next generation type of story, but still focused on like the main characters you love, but still kind of bring in like new younger doctors in like a way that I’m genuinely really impressed with how they did it. And, and like it kept the heart and kind of the, the feel of the original, like I, it, it was, I was very, very impressed that they were able to recapture. What made that show so good, um, for, its, I guess they’re calling it its 10th season, but, um, I, I really hope that it comes back because that’s a really good show. Brett: Speaking of reboots, um, they’re rebooting, um, Malcolm in the middle, Jeff: I Christina: Yes, they did. [00:57:00] Yeah. They did a four episode thing. Brett: but what I saw an, I saw Hot ones versus with, um, uh, Frankie Muni and whatever. How Christina: Yeah. Brian Cranston. Who, Brian Cranston. Who, who was, who was the, the father of, of, of Mel King on the pit. Brett: Oh, there you go. Jeff: is so cool. I love her so much. Brett: but anyway, they’re talking about why Dewey wouldn’t come back and basically he was like, I haven’t acted since I was nine. He’s like, he is busy. He is got a life Christina: He’s in grad school, like he went to Harvard and stuff like, like, he’s like, uh, I, which I, I love. And I’m like, okay. You know, I mean, I would’ve loved to see Joey too, but I don’t blame him for being like, no. Brett: Yeah. Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. Brett: neither, neither did the other actors, I don’t think. I think, uh, it, it wasn’t necessary to Christina: no, I was gonna say he wasn’t because Brett: the Yeah, Christina: mean, look, they were able to do Fuller House without the Olson [00:58:00] twins who were a much bigger part of that show Jeff: Fuller Christina: ever was. And, and I, I, I’m not even like defending Fuller house. Like it was, it was fine. It was whatever. But like, even that, you were like, there were enough characters where you’re like, okay, so, so Michelle isn’t here. And that would’ve been weird, to be honest. I don’t think that, like I know that everybody would’ve loved having the cameo, but it’s like, how in the hell are you gonna have the Olson twins, like as adults, even in a cameo on Fuller House without just completely taking you out of the whole thing. You know what I mean? Brett: Yeah. Christina: Like, it just, it just wouldn’t be possible. But Gratitude App Picks Brett: we try to fit in a gude before Jeff: Should we grab, Christina: yeah. Let’s do a gratitude. Brett: Um, I can kick it off. I got one I’m excited about. Um, found this app called Bezel. Um, I needed to do iOS screenshots and I needed to do iOS recordings, and I played around with using Screen flow and screen Studio and Camtasia, and I didn’t like [00:59:00] any of the ways that they recorded iOS movies. And then I found Bezel and I mean, c So screen recording built into iOS, in my opinion, is better than any of the like screen casting apps can do. Um, but bezel, if you, if you hard co hardwire your phone to your computer and turn on screen, mirroring it can record. Perfect. Um. iOS recordings, and it’s really good at just taking screenshots with a single key key command. You get a screenshot with a bezel like the outline of the phone and a desktop background behind it. So I can just hit command S as I like, move through my phone, uh, and then my right hand on my phone, my left hand on my keyboard, and I can get a dozen iOS screenshots in five minutes, and they’re ready to go, like ready to [01:00:00] publish. It’s really nice. Jeff: That’s really awesome. I’m gonna try that. Christina: Same, same. Do you have one Brett, or do you want me to, or uh, Jeff do or do you want me to go. AI Tools and Claude Code Jeff: Uh, I’m happy to go. Um, so this is, this is, uh, an easy one in a way, but I, I wanna be specific about what’s been so useful. So I’ve been using cloud code and vs code forever. I mean for the last, I’d say two or three months. ’cause I’ve got really, really deep into using cloud code actually for qualitative work. Um, but also a totally bananas project I built that has both a. Physical component and a heavy duty code component, which I’ll talk about sometime. Um, but, um, I, and I’ve used the desktop app for cowork and for like just the standard chat and I’ve loved that, but I never used it for cloud code until this latest update, which added like a really amazing interface for cloud code. Um, which is kind of my gratitude is that tab of the desktop app, which like, when you open it up, it gives you like just an awesome little like, work summary of like comedy sessions [01:01:00] you’ve had, how many total tokens you’ve used, like overall the last 30 days, the last seven days, what your peak hour is your longest streak. It has the like GitHub, like little chart that fills in. Um, and, uh, and, and that’s like been really cool to see. Um, and you can also see your usage of various models. It’s just a nice little thing that pops up. And then when you’re actually working, it’s really amazing because you can pull up these sidebars that have like diffs or like a preview or you can just get a terminal open in there. Um, and I have. I have loved that. I still like feel more at home in the VS.

Lindquist Dental Clinic for Children has been a Tacoma institution since 1936. Even so- Move to Tacoma Podast host Marguerite Martin admits on-mic she didn’t fully understand what they do until she sat down with Executive Director Carolyn McDougal-Weyrick at dinner this winter. Turns out a lot of Tacoma doesn’t know either. Lindquist sees kids from birth to their 21st birthday, takes essentially every insurance including Apple Health, Medicaid, Molina, Coordinated Care, Delta Dental, and TRICARE, and doesn’t turn anyone away for inability to pay. They see over 24,000 patient visits a year out of their Parkland location at 131st and Pacific, and they still have room to grow. Dr. Stephens walks through what makes the clinic different: six dentists, specialty services like oral surgery and endodontics on site, and a general anesthesia program she personally runs for kids ages 3 to 8 who need significant work done. Instead of six appointments, parents taking off work six times, and a kid who learns to dread the dentist, it’s one 90-minute visit. The kids wake up with their princess crowns intact and still want to come back. For income-qualifying military families on TRICARE Dental, Lindquist is the only place in the area that can waive the out-of-pocket and deductible costs entirely, which matters a lot when a family has four or five kids and a $1,300 annual cap per child. The conversation gets into something that many Tacoma area nonprofits are struggling with. Federal cuts to the programs that serve the most vulnerable people in our community. Medicaid cuts went into effect July 1, 2025, and Lindquist is facing roughly a $280,000 shortfall from what they expected. But Lindquist has a plan. They’re not cutting services, they’re growing their private-insurance patient base. Because when a family with insurance comes through the door, it directly supports the half-million dollars a year in uncompensated care the clinic provides. They just finished a $1M renovation funded entirely by designated facility grants and donor dollars, so the space is freshly renovated. 15 new chairs, digital nomad x-rays, a surgical suite. Come as you are, bring the kid you’ve been putting off bringing, and if you’ve got private insurance, know that showing up helps your neighbors and is part of how this model stays alive. The post Lindquist Dental: Where No Child is Turned Away Due to Inability to Pay appeared first on Move to Tacoma.

Re-releasing a DAT listener favorite! Kiera is joined by Brad from Kleer to talk about the perks of membership plans over dental insurance, why a membership plan can create consistent revenue for your practice during uncertain times, and how to even start putting together such a plan. Kleer, by the way, helps roll out membership plans effectively and successfully to uninsured patients Kiera and Brad also touch on why patients may be hesitant to sign up for a membership plan and dental practice resistance, and how to overcome each. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today we are bringing you something so special. I am so excited because this is one of our most popular episodes from the archives. Whether you're hearing this for the first time or catching it again, I am so excited because it's jam packed with a ton of takeaways that you can start using right now in your practice. We have released thousands, literally thousands of episodes. And I wanted to start bringing a few of these amazing episodes back for you. So I hope you enjoy. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time.   on the Dental A Team podcast.   speaker-0 (00:32) And you guys, I am so excited to welcome back one of my dear friends, someone that I just respect. I respect their company a ton. And right now, I think it's super relevant for everybody out there because we all know dental insurance is not the greatest. It's shifting. It's changing. It's unpredictable times. So I'm so jazzed to be bringing on Brad. He's with Kleer. Brad, how are you today? How are you, Kiera? I'm doing really well, thanks. So. ⁓   speaker-1 (00:53) Good night, how are   speaker-0 (00:57) Brad, I said real quickly, Kleer. didn't give any thing behind it. People who have listened to the podcast have definitely heard me talk before about Kleer for membership programs. So just for those who don't know, let's just have you kind of share what Kleer is, how they can connect with you. And then we're going to dive into it. always like, I hate at the end where it was like, and by the way, if you want to hang out with Brad, so I'm just going to give you guys Brad's info, what Kleer is about, and we're going to dive into how to like really make a predictable income.   in unpredictable times. get ready, but Brad, how can people connect with you? What is Kleer all about? Let's just give our listeners a little bit of background on you guys.   speaker-1 (01:33) Yeah, so Kleer got started in 2018. And so this is now our fourth year in dentistry and having our software available. And basically what we do is we work with dentists and office managers to help implement and stand up and easily manage their own membership plans, something that's scalable that ⁓ can be successful for their practices.   Like, should I go for membership plans as well? ⁓ Or do you feel like most of the airplanes kind of knows that?   speaker-0 (02:05) Like let's just at least I mean if you haven't heard of membership plans guys now is the time to get on board with membership plans because I just did a podcast the other day where we were talking about how tis the season for dropping insurance plans like it is becoming rampant people are realizing with inflation what insurance plans are reimbursing that it's really not sustainable and so a lot of people are shifting dropping insurance plans and I think membership plans are the number one way to go which is why I wanted Kleer to get on the podcast today to talk to you guys about it   as a great solution to a problem that if you're not experiencing it, you will be experiencing it. I don't think it's a matter of if, it's a matter of when your practice will experience it. So yeah, dive into membership plans just so people understand if you haven't heard of a membership plan yet.   speaker-1 (02:50) Yeah, so membership plans are basically like an alternate coverage options for your primarily uninsured patients. Because like real quick background research is a lot of our data shows us that uninsured patients, they come in less frequently, and they accept a lot less treatment compared to their insured counterparts. So what can we do to provide some type of coverage option that doesn't have the red tape and restrictions that insurance traditional insurance has?   And this is where with membership plans, these practices can create their own care plans and offer them directly to the patients at a monthly or annual subscription. So like what's included with the membership plan, we see that pricing is anywhere typically between like say $260 a year all the way up to like $380 a year. It can go higher or lower, but what the patient's paying for when they're paying for that 260 to 380,   they are getting access to their hygiene and preventative care. And in addition to that, they'll get say a 10, 20 % discount off other procedures. So like I said, the practices have full autonomy. There's no more third party that's really meddling with that relationship and dictating the fees and the treatment protocol. Practices are in full control. They offer a dressing to the patient. So it's a really good patient retention tool.   Patients appreciate the benefits that they're now receiving directly from the practice. And we actually see that the membership plan patients are more profitable than the other patients that still remain without coverage. And like over the past two years, like Carrie, you know that a lot of practices have been implementing membership plans, but the pandemic has really acted as like a catalyst during that time because   a lot of practices and practice owners who are very cognizant of their patients want some type of coverage option, some type of alternate that they can offer to their patients, whether they're going through financial hardships, they refer load, whatever it is. ⁓ But yeah, that's essentially what membership plans 101, if you will. That's what they are. We help practices automate processes with our platform.   and make sure that it's easy to manage and implement and be successful.   speaker-0 (05:14) Which I love and Brad, it's funny because for those of you who heard my and Brad's podcast, gosh, it's probably been over a year now. Um, but we talked about me as a fee for service patient and we literally did, like, I was a case study because I wasn't going to sign up for my six month cleaning. Um, because like I work with hundreds of dentists for me to get a cleaning. It's pretty simple to do. I'm on the road often. I really do. Like offices are super nice to me. I can get a cleaning at any practice I go to.   But Brad, we like it was a case study where I signed up for the membership program at my dental practice and I literally scheduled my six month cleaning because it was quote unquote free. And so I am a literally a walking in testament that membership plans do work even for somebody who's been in the dental field. And I think I'm pretty savvy when it comes to what people are doing. But just, mean, they got me and it made sense. And something I feel people don't realize is one, a lot of offices right now   I've been seeing and Brad, I'm curious from your guys's research, which is why I love Kleer. guys research things so much. So you're very data driven from the research rather than just feelings. And I've been seeing from a lot of our practices that the topics are, how can we drop insurance plans? And I'm always like, the first question I ask is, okay, perfect. Do you have a membership plan in place? Because as soon as you drop this insurance, I don't think practices realize that patient becomes a free agent. They are no longer tied to you.   They're going to go somewhere with insurance or if you can get them on a membership plan, they're no longer a free agent patient. They're now tied to you in some way. But guys, like if I'm a fee for service patient, I am literally a free agent walking around and I can go to whatever practice I want to go to. I'm going to choose an office based on location, their responsiveness to me, their cleanliness, if I like their dentist or not, how their billing is, but I'm not tied to that practice. And so without these membership plans, I think a lot of practices don't realize   that you can drop insurance plans and get patients to stay and retain and even become higher paying patients than they were before by implementing a membership plan. So that's what I've seen. I'm sure you guys have data on it. Anything that you guys have found Brad in conjunction with that or things you guys have seen on your side.   speaker-1 (07:28) Yeah, it's pretty funny. And I touched on how the pandemic has acted as this catalyst. But now the dust has kind of settled after two years. People are understanding how to adapt and how to behave when it comes to COVID-19. But what's really interesting is there's all different types of reasons why practices are implementing these membership plans. Because every practice is different and their priorities are different. So one that you mentioned that's a huge one right now is that they want   membership plans in place when they're planning on dropping one, a couple, or several PPO's because they want to leverage the membership plan as a patient retention tool. But we're seeing other reasons too. It's like, I mean, you said so yourself, you were a case study. We're seeing that more and more. Like you heard it throughout the past like six months, the great resignation. It's been, they've been talking about it since like September, October of 2021, but   We're seeing that there are more people that are starting small businesses. There are more people that are retiring from their jobs earlier than anticipated. And there's more gig economy workers out there now that we're seeing these larger tech companies like Uber, ⁓ Lyft, whatnot, all these gig economy jobs are in place. And we're slowly seeing that the amount of uninsured when it comes to dental benefits in the marketplace or in the United States.   it's growing more and more, what almost feels like day after day. ⁓ So you definitely want to make sure that like when it comes to your retirees, a lot of them have primarily had some type of dental coverage their whole lives and they'll be looking for it as soon as they retire and lose it. So you want something in place for them, for yourself, someone that's a younger business owner, perhaps a millennial, ⁓ those are the types of people that are used to monthly subscriptions.   So you want something in place for them, like who doesn't want coverage? So millennials fit the bill. And then lastly, like you said, a lot of practices are starting to really overcome that fear of dropping insurances because we know it's kind of been this necessary evil, if you will, but a lot of practices, they've wanted to do it. They've been a bit hesitant, but now you're seeing a lot of them are.   starting to do that and they're being pretty methodical with their approach. I guess long story short with dropping the PPOs, you definitely just want to make sure no matter what you're going to lose patients, but what can we do to mitigate that number? And that's where a lot of practices have them in place.   speaker-0 (10:09) Right, I think it's something that is not hard to set up. You guys make it very easy to do it. You manage it. Because I think so many practices get scared of that, like, ugh, how am going to manage this? And that's honestly why I love you guys as a company. I think you guys have amazing values. guys, I've helped with your team so they know dental. They're super innovative. You guys are very, cognitive of learning the dental lingo, understanding the ledgers and how to make it make sense and set it up in a simple, easy way.   But Brad, there's something else that membership plans are starting to get a lot of accolades for, and that is creating consistent revenue in inconsistent times, which honestly I've watched a lot of my offices, like they go up and down and they're riding these waves of, ⁓ like in January, was cancellation after cancellation after cancellation because of the Omnicron variant. I was guilty of that. got it too. Like it was just, it was crazy. so people had like,   January's it just tanked when in traditional times that wasn't the case. I know September historically is called suck timber It's not a great month. It tends to just be harder But yeah, I know membership plans are really getting like I said these accolades for creating more consistent revenue And that's something I know you guys have been working on So can you kind of touch and explain how a membership plan can create this consistent revenue? When to me I'm like Brad, it's like 200 bucks a month like not even a month like a year   How can I create some consistent revenue when I'm used to producing five, 12, $20,000 a day? How can this actually create some consistent revenue for me?   speaker-1 (11:41) Yeah, well, there's all types of businesses, whether it is health care or not, deal with ebbs and flows, or they deal with some type of seasonality. So if you just think of ourselves as consumers, I have about probably six different subscriptions, maybe more. And a lot of those business executives know exactly what they're doing. They understand that.   You know what? It's better to just have this recurring revenue, whether they're charging me month over month or year over year. They know that I am a loyal consumer to their brand and we'll just use like Netflix as an example. That's why so many different businesses, if you go out there and you're on the Internet or you're just walking from store to store as a shopper, like everywhere now is offering some type of membership loyalty program, rewards program, you name it. It's almost harder to find a business that's not doing it.   And basically like why not dentistry? And right now that's what the membership plans are doing. You're getting all of these patients to subscribe to practice where month over month, year over year, you know that you have this predictable revenue stream coming into your practices doors and into your bank account. So no matter what, like God forbid there's another ⁓ variant that shuts things down, I doubt it happens, but.   I think the real thing right now is you're starting to see, it's very topical, it's inflation. A lot of people are dealing with financial hardships. You're seeing that all these borrowing rates and interest rates are going to increase. So like, what can the practices do to offer something that seems very empathetic to your patients? You know they don't have coverage. Let's create these care plans and offer it to them. And at the same time,   If you see that some of your patients are starting to scale back or push out patient visits because they might be having a tough month financially, this is where no matter what, with having a bunch, whether it's dozens, whether it's hundreds, thousands, whatever, of patients on your membership plan is a better business model for your practice.   speaker-0 (13:52) Mm-hmm. think it's a something that I didn't realize until I created a membership if you will I used to do when we first started the consulting company. I was a one Visit and I would bill you after I traveled to your practice and I would send you to the penny the travel and I was almost going broke like complete transparency because it was such like I was always delayed on my revenue coming through and   I had a lot of smarter people than myself say, Kiera, you really should switch out to where they just pay monthly, like figure out what your costs are, have them pay monthly. It's easier for the client. They're not getting hit with these huge costs right away. And it's going to be much easier for them. And I will say as a business, it became so much easier for me, like good months, bad months, high months, low months. It's a more consistent revenue stream. And so I think for practices, I had an office and they're a really like adorable office. It's a husband and wife.   duo there, Volt Dentist, and the husband was all pro a membership fee. He was like, this is gonna be great. We're gonna be able to, it's going to be awesome for our patients. It's gonna create consistent revenue for us. And the wife was adamant. This is so much work, probably because she knew she was going to have to set it up. Husband's like, this will be great. Wife's like, I don't wanna do this. They ended up setting it up. And it was crazy because last year she told me, she's like, Kiera, it's crazy how much money is actually coming off of these membership plans month over month over month.   and we're able to have more retention of our patients. So that's ⁓ a testimonial of a practice that saw the benefits of it. A lot of practices will set these up in separate bank accounts. So it also can become, if you're not needing that cash, a lot of offices were using it to rebuild their stashes of ⁓ emergency funds and rainy day funds and practice growth funds because the membership fees were doing that. So again, I mean,   What? How much is Netflix, Brad? You've got that subscription. Do you even know how much your subscription is?   speaker-1 (15:49) I think like $12.99 or something.   speaker-0 (15:51) Right, I don't even know and that's what I think so cool is because it's 200 to 350 375 They're very low monthly fees that people forget about them It's really not that much and they're still coming to the dentist So I think that that's a very smart logical plan and truth be told like for me as a small business owner for Millennials, I know my sisters my brothers. They don't want to go spend two three hundred dollars to go to the dentist But if it was only fifteen dollars a month   they get their two quote unquote free cleanings, which are actually free on a membership plan. It's not dependent on a insurance plan. Why would they not do it? So it's really, I think, taking the, like there's no reason not to do it. It's just, it makes logical sense. And I think you guys are eliminating a lot of the objections through this that's going to retain patients coming to your practice every six months on a much more consistent basis. So I'm all for, I think offices should do it.   ⁓ But Brad, I know people are always hesitant. So what are some of the objections you guys get as to why, like, patients don't want to sign up for it or why offices might not want to implement this? Because I hear like, it's just too much work. But honestly, you guys make it very easy. So like, that's eliminated. But what are some of the objections you guys hear so we can help the listeners realize like, this is a true awesome, like, it's not a necessary evil. It's a necessary goodness.   Like there's no evil to it. feels so good. What are some of the objections you hear the concerns offices have that we can mitigate for them?   speaker-1 (17:18) really good question. on the patient, I'll answer the patient question first, just because it was the first one that you brought up. But believe it or not, the biggest pushback that we see from patients has nothing to do with like their actual experience once they sign up for the membership plan. A lot of it are patients giving the office feedback that they're looking for the catch because they think that the offer is too good to be true. So that is like always, not always.   but we hear it consistently from some of our practices. They're like, our patients see it as such a good deal that they feel like that they're gonna get the short end of the sticks somehow. But I think like everything that we're looking at in our economy, it's just like, it's all value driven and it's all consumer experience. So like best user experience possible. And if we're just like comparing a membership plan to traditional insurance or a traditional discount plan,   whatever it may be, there are restrictions, there's maximums, there's waiting periods, a lot of red tape for these patients. And that is what the membership plans are essentially removing. mean, who knows what their patients need more than the actual practitioners and the actual front office teams within these dental practices? No one. mean, they know what's best for their patients. And that's the beauty about the membership plan.   the patient, they need four crowns, whatever it may be, they can say, hey, is this possible? The doctor can say, of course, like there's no waiting periods. We can get this as soon as you are ready to get this done. So that's really where that seamless process for the patient and that better experience for the patient comes into play. And they perceive more value in your practice as well. So that is the patient question is it's too good to be true.   But we do, our success team and support team do help practices overcome that objection. But on the dentist side or on the office manager side, there's some resistance with maybe some high-end or fee-for-service practices that look at the membership plan and say, like, I don't want to cannibalize my cash-paying patients. Like, they're supposed to be paying me 100 % out of pocket. They're supposed to be my most profitable patients.   et cetera, et cetera, why would I want to give them a discount through the membership plan? And there's several reasons why. I mean, the biggest glaring ⁓ solution for that is that we see that the membership plan patients are generating twice as much revenue. So that's hygiene revenue, treatment acceptance revenue, and then overall production. They're generating twice as much, and that's extremely consistent across all of our customers. So that is first and foremost,   ⁓ Another reason why is because you definitely want to build the patient loyalty like what you mentioned earlier that you were a free agent, you definitely want to make sure that you're retaining those patients. And like if you go and check out, say like, I hate to mention names, like names here, but if you go to Delta Dental's website, and you see their homepage, they're actually proactively marketing to individuals, small business owners, retirees. So the last thing you want   are those fee for service patients to go and look for individual insurance plans where you're probably getting the worst reimbursement possible.   speaker-0 (20:49) That was a politically nice way to say that.   speaker-1 (20:56) And then the last thing is a lot of the practices, like I get it. Like you think that the members that these uninsured patients are coming in consistently, but honestly our data and what we've seen from our prospects, like it just is very consistent where the average uninsured patient really does come in once every two years and they accept 50 to 75 % less treatment than insured counterparts. And on top of that,   a lot of practices, they'll just give out like these arbitrary discounts to cash paying patients, 5%, 10%, 15%, we've seen up to 20%. So based upon the data we've been collecting, the fee that they collect ultimately from the average uninsured patient is lower than the membership plan patients. you know, I understand it seems very counterintuitive of, you know, this patient might pay me a hundred percent out of pocket.   And if I give them the membership plan, I'm giving them a 10 % discount, I'm losing that money. But you kind of just have to trust the process and a lot of the data that we've been putting out there is it's extremely consistent and it shows that you will ultimately double your revenue and your patients will have the best experience possible and see more value in your practice with the membership.   speaker-0 (22:15) Well, and I love Brad one of reasons I love our podcast is one. just like you I like your company but the second one is I feel like I really get to be a walking testimonial for membership plans like in my practice that I ran that we were doing 365 a month like it was insanity in a five-up practice Guys, I like close the bulk of my cases with membership plans because there was no waiting period There was no deductible there was there was nothing I really could just give these patients an amazing discount and like you said Brad   A lot of patients or practices are terrified to give these discounts, but myself, I'm literally a walking advertisement of what it's like to be in a practice and offer a membership plan. But then on the patient side, remember, so the practice that I was going to, I didn't love their membership model. was like, you could join like silver gold or platinum or whatever. And I thought I'm not going to have much work done. Honestly, if I need work done, I work with hundreds of dentists. Well, it turns out I had a filling chip and it was driving me nuts and it was   Just bothering me and I wasn't going on the road for a week. So I thought, well, I'll just like go to the practice. So they were upgrading me to a higher membership fee, but I literally didn't pay out of pocket for the filling. I upgraded my membership to get a discount on my treatment. like just that mindset, I'm a fee for service patient. I'm a, and again, I hope offices are really gathering fee for service. Patients are not loyal to you. Yes, they like you, but just think of them as free agents. They can go anywhere at any time.   If you are too far away or they don't like your front desk or the way it was scheduled, they didn't like there's nothing that tethers them to you at all. So with this membership plan, they're going to come in for two cleanings. So two opportunities for exams, better patient care, most likely you'll probably diagnose something on them. You give them a discount for me seeing that filling at what 350 I think was the filling. Maybe it was 500. I just was like,   shocked. been a long time since I paid for dentistry. Thank you to everyone who's given me free dentistry my whole life. Like, whoa! ⁓ But the fact that I got a 10 % discount on my filling, even though that's $35 on 350, I did the filling same day. Whereas if there's no decay, just smooth it, I don't really need this filling fixed, I could probably get by. But because I had a discount, because I had a loyalty program, if you will, I did the treatment. So   Kiera Dent, who I think is one of the strongest dental advocates out there, knows their ploy, knows what they're doing, knows the membership plans, knows all these things. I talked to Brad, I know Claire, I've worked with you guys for so long, and even myself, with that small discount, I did more treatment, I didn't go on the road, it was convenient, and I was tethered to my practice. So I really feel that offices, again, like I said earlier, this isn't an if, it's a when, and I think for us in our consulting company,   We have a checkbox of making sure our practices have membership programs in their practices. That like, I don't care if you're fee for service. I don't care if you're a DSO. I don't care if you are corporate. I don't care if you are a solo practice because membership fees, I am such a believer in them. I'm a believer that it's better for the patient. I don't believe that dental insurance serves the patient. I think it serves somebody else. Whereas membership fees, really do believe in membership plans serve the patient. There's no deductible. There's no waiting period. Like,   It's so cheap to get those fillings or those cleanings done. We had unlimited x-rays. thought that that just sounded better. And honestly, nobody ever took advantage of us. And then we did like, you could do 10 or 20 % off of treatment. So it really, to me, I like, I people to dump their insurance plans on their own, like canceling when it was open enrollment in November, because the membership plan just makes sense if you explain it to patients. So Brad, I just love that you guys do.   this. I love that Kleer is such an easy path for getting a membership plan because I think sometimes it can feel daunting of how do I do this? How do I track it? How do I make sure I'm compliant for my state? You guys also have like brochures and flyers and so much information for the patients that I feel you guys are a plug and play solution for membership plans that for practices who want to get started, which all of you like to me, if you're a Dental A Team listener, it's not an option. Like just do it. Just sign up for a membership.   Plan program. So Brad, how does it work? So let's say I'm in office, I've listened to the podcast and I've said, okay, you've convinced me, I'm gonna take my fee for service practice and I'm gonna turn it into a membership. I feel like you're stabbing me in the heart, but I don't want my patients being free agents. I heard Kiera, I'm gonna try this. How do people even start? What is the process to start a membership program?   speaker-1 (26:50) Yeah, so I mean, the first thing that they can do is they can visit our website that just Kleer it's Kleer.com ⁓ or they can shoot me an email. It's just Brad@Kleer.com And the first step is just sitting through a demo that typically takes about like 30 minutes. And that's just where someone walks you through all the intricacies of the software, our success team, all the processes that we have in place to make sure they're successful.   And then as soon as they've seen the demonstration and they want to move forward, there's really just two calls. The first is our onboarding, what we call the fee consultation. That's where we help design the plan. So we configure the plans. We set the pricing, ⁓ set the fee schedule, all that good stuff. And then the next call is really the training call. And then they're ready to launch. So it's funny. We talked to a lot of prospects and they think that it's going to be a burden.   to get this going, I mean, that's essentially why you're outsourcing it. A lot of teams, we understand they might be struggling with turnover, but at least with Kleer, this is providing some type of consistency, some type of rock, regardless of new employees or losing employees. ⁓ But as soon as they're up and running, ⁓ it's honestly just, it depends on the team's availability. ⁓ And then we can get them going, we'll launch your plans.   We have some move within a week ⁓ of after the demo. And then once they're launched, patients can sign up and they're ready to go. It's that easy.   speaker-0 (28:27) That's awesome because I will just put it out there. I was an office manager. I was a front office. I listened to a lot of content and I heard a lot of great ideas and there is a difference between like knowledge and execution and execution will trump knowledge every single day of the week. So you can sit here and hear this, but getting it executed, implemented and utilized I think is the biggest piece. So I'll just pose a question. Like we've talked about this quite a bit on the podcast and I'm going to say choose your heart.   or choose your own adventure here, but I think choose your heart is a smarter one. Is it harder for you to constantly call insurances and get an insurance breakdown? Like just tell me how much time that actually takes versus calling Kleer and having a 30 minute demo and having it signed up and getting your patients to transfer away from insurance plans. To me, like if I could give up and never have to call another insurance verification program ever again in my life, I would switch to a membership plan immediately because on membership plans,   You don't have breakdowns. You don't have to go and figure out what the insurance is estimated to pay. You don't have to fight claims. You literally sign them up. They pay you monthly or in full and you give them a discount. And it is that simple. So I would just say, I love Kleer. think you guys, there are cheaper membership programs out there. However, I think you guys have the best customer success and the best patient experience as far as the portal goes and making it easy.   that I like, yeah, you guys can go find a cheaper membership program. I'm not going to beat around the bush. I hear it from a lot of clients like, but Claire was so expensive. And I'm like, you're right. But the patient experience is top notch. And that's what your patients are going to complain about. If it's not top notch and it's not easy for them, they're going to drop the membership program because it's not easy. Like think of the apps that you just give up because they're just dumb and junky and you can't handle it. Like I'm ready to dump TD Ameritrade as my investing company. I'm so sick of their freaking app.   Like if you ask me one more time to transfer and have to give you all my information, like I'm quitting Vanguard is like leaps and bounds better. So just thinking of the two differences. So Brad, I am just grateful for you guys. And I truly am like petitioning you guys, like get your dang memberships in play. Insurance droppings happening. Inflation is going up. You've got to find a way to retain these patients. And I think membership plans are the solution plus residual income in uncertain times. So Brad, super jazz guys reach out Brad again. How do they get in touch if they want to talk to you?   speaker-1 (30:46) If they want to reach out to me, just shoot me an email. It's Brad@Kleer.com and I will get back to you ASAP.   Kiera Dent (30:55) I hope you all loved today's episode as much as I did. It is crazy to think that this many episodes have been released since we started the Dental A Team Podcast. And I started looking to say, my goodness, our listeners need to be reminded of some of the things they may have learned a year ago or two years ago or five years ago, because so many things in our practices weren't relevant back then when we heard them, but they are relevant today. And I would be doing you a huge disservice if I didn't re-release some of these episodes for you to remember, to refine.   to optimize and really truly if you ever need a topic or you're like, my gosh, I wonder if the Dental A Team has anything like this, go onto our website, TheDentalATeam.com, click on our podcast tab and you can literally search any topic. So whether it's overhead or hiring or firing or team morale or engagement or case acceptance or hygiene or associate onboarding or whatever it is, we have so many episodes for you. And so I am going to intentionally be   re-releasing some of the top best episodes for you, pulling back some of the ones that I needed to remember, some of the things that I feel for you to really, really relearn right now and to re-remember, or if it's the first time, welcome. I'm so happy you're listening to it, but I hope you truly enjoyed today's episode. I hope that you share this with somebody. I hope that you go and implement today because we only have one day. We only get today. And so making today the best that it possibly can be. If we can help you in any way, shape or form, reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com.   And as always, thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

Alan's Soap https://AlansSoaps.com/ToddHonor John's memory and the legacy he created for Ian and Alan with Alan's Artisan Soaps “John's Favorites” bundle.  Get one bar of each of his favorites for only $28.99. Bulwark Capital https://KnowYourRiskPodcast.comBe confident in your portfolio with Bulwark! Schedule your free Know Your Risk Portfolio review. Go to KnowYourRiskPodcast.com today. Renue Healthcare https://Renue.Healthcare/ToddYour journey to a better life starts at Renue Healthcare. Visit https://Renue.Healthcare/Todd Bonefrog https://BonefrogCoffee.com/ToddGet the new limited release, The Sisterhood, created to honor the extraordinary women behind the heroes. Use code TODD at checkout to receive 10% off your first purchase and 15% on subscriptions.LISTEN and SUBSCRIBE at:The Todd Herman Show - Podcast - Apple PodcastsThe Todd Herman Show | Podcast on SpotifyWATCH and SUBSCRIBE at: Todd Herman - The Todd Herman Show - YouTubeEpisode  Links:Teenagers are sharing photos of their AP U.S. Government textbooks, and the sheer amount of indoctrination is wildly disturbing.POV: You hate Trump so much you quit your job the second you found out your boss voted for him… Then a dude offers you a cheap room because ‘you're hot and young'… but wait — HE voted Trump too?! So you nope out and proudly announce: ‘I got a fucking job living in my CAR now!' Ma'am… Trump didn't evict you. Your brain worms did. This is the most expensive political tantrum since 2016. Congrats, you played yourself harder than a TikTok filterDeranged liberal woman wants people to cheat on and divorce their spouse/partner if they support President Trump. These people are completely lostNot a Trump issue… American logs into her federal student aid account so we can see her actual loans and payments- She took out a $49,548.74 loan- She's made 120 payments, paying $25,558.36- Her current balance is $50,121.33 So after paying $25,558.36, she now owes more than she took outNot a Trump issue… Delta Dental is considered a nonprofit but the CEO skyrocketed her pay from $4.5 million per year all the way to $48 million over 4 years. That's $1 million dollars per month pay for one employee as a nonprofitNot a Trump issue… Horrifying: Dr Suzanne Humphries exposes what DTaP, Polio & Hib 'Vaccines' do to babies. The shots cause the activation of 33 allergy genes & 66 asthma genes plus the upregulation of 67 cancer genes & 25 immunological genesNot a Trump issue… Democrat spokesperson Hasan Piker goes off on a Vietnamese refugee who escaped communism:“Old enough to count, old enough to mount.” Old footage of far-left influencer Hasan Piker expressing his views on young girls has resurfaced and gone viral following a rise in his popularity with mainstream Democrats.

This episode of Northeast Delta Dental Radio features host Tom Raffio interviewing Kraig Emery, founder of the Kalahan K. Emery Memorial Fund and New Hampshire's SUDC ambassador. Kraig shares the heartbreaking story of losing his healthy 2.5-year-old son Kalahan to Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) in March 2001. He emphasizes the importance of not withdrawing during grief, seeking counseling when ready, and allowing yourself to experience all emotions. The interview promotes an upcoming Run for Kalahan 5k on March 14th at Delta Dental to raise awareness and funds for SUDC research during SUDC Awareness Month. Race signups are linked here; https://runsignup.com/Race/NH/Concord/RunForKalihan5kMarchThAm    

Chances are, your accounts receivable (AR) is not dialed in. Kiera provides very tactical, specific tips on how to get your AR cleaned up and start bringing in money you've already earned. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today is a very important topic But one the people like my rat rat rat, but guess what my rat rat rat is gonna make you a lot of money So I hope you're excited for it. So we'll take that rat rat rat into kaching Because it's dentistry party done and we're just gonna like help you out. I hope you guys enjoy hanging out with me This is my like nerdy geeky side that definitely loves and obsesses of being able to help you guys and it's been so fun I'm working with some people and teaching them about this and   getting them excited on how they can fix their AR ⁓ is something that just like really, really lights my fire because doctors, you do the freaking dentistry, get paid for it. Can I get an amen out there? Like seriously, you do the dentistry and AR and making sure you're paid is something that I am so obsessed about. So, and this doesn't mean doctors, have to do it yourself. So I want us to get into the AR like the womp, womp, womp, it's annoying, but guess what? These are billing tips that work that are gonna make you a lot of money for work that you've already done.   This is like people like, Kiera, how can I make more money and not do more work? And I'm like, just take the money, the what you've already done. it's crazy. lot of people come in and like, Kiera, you're really going to be able to like, ⁓ give us an ROI on your consulting. And I'm like, time. Why? Because I know your AR is out of control. have yet to meet a practice that has perfect AR. And if you are the practice email me, I'm going to give you a freaking shirt and we don't get out done on a team shirts anymore. So yeah, you should definitely email us. ⁓ there are a couple of practices out there.   But most the time, AR is something that is not dialed in. It does not have a plan. And this is something that is going to be very tactical for you. So first step is AR. What is AR? It's the accounts receivable. Okay. And there's two parts to it. AR has the patient portion and the insurance portion. Okay. So when we do dentistry, we need to make sure we collect money and we bill insurance and then we make sure that we get paid for that. Now, insurance is such a sneaky little game and I get so annoyed by it I love to teach people this.   So we need to have it where there's like a few processes that make AR really good. So we're gonna break it down very simply. Number one, good information in means good clean claims going out. I'm always like, we send clean claims. Clean claims mean, clean claims, clean claims. Clean claims, clean claims. ⁓ Clean claims. I'm gonna giggle saying it. I can hear the little jingle in my voice. Clean claims means that we...   have the correct information. So I've got the patient's name, the date of birth, the insurance information. That's all correct. I've got the group number and please for the love of everything, holy, do not make a million group numbers. Do not do that. Make sure AR are so messy and your insurance box is so messy. We just have it. We also need to have fee schedules that are up to date every single year. Please do that. We need to attach it. We do not want write-offs. So what this means, ⁓ also another like, it's not a pet peeve. It's just like,   Oh, I'm sorry. You need to like listen to the podcast and implement this. Stop reporting to me your fees in gross numbers and do it in net. So many times I get on calls with people and they're like, Kiera, we produced like 2 million, but we collected one. And I'm like, ouch. And they're like, well, like our net was like, you know, 1.2. I'm like, so tell me you produce 1.2. Let's live in real land numbers, not the 2 million. Cause you're always going to be mad at me. They're like, well, I produced 2 million, but I'm only making a million. Well, yeah.   Because guess what? You didn't really produce two million. I know you want to say you did, but guess what? Insurance is what really is paying you. So we've got to do that. And I know you don't want to, but when you will do this and you attach the correct fee schedules to it, you are actually going be able to predict your numbers better and your money and your finances are going to get better on your personal side too. So hear me out. It was the worst day. was worse than Christmas getting a lump of coal. I took our production and it dropped us by 30%. And guess what? My goals are to produce 20 grand in a five out practice per day. You want to know how hard that was? I was like, I'm never going to make it.   But guess what? Because I was reporting in real numbers, me even as a TC and an O.M. we were able to schedule more correctly and get us to the actual 15 grand of true 15, 20 grand per day of true production that we were collecting. How much do think my business grew? ⁓ a lot because we were actually producing incorrect numbers, not inflated numbers. So clean claims. We're back to that clean claims mean we've got correct information. We've got the correct ⁓ all of the information is correct.   We've got our insurance verification done and we've got the fee schedules attached. So then when I'm giving an estimate, I'm estimating to the best of my ability. We do not send pre-Ds. I call them pre-denials. You can have your own opinion, but I really truly do not like pre-denials. They take time, they waste energy. And to me, guess what? I got the best information. I'm a thousand dollars. I'm an insurance coupon. I need to be a dang good treatment coordinator that's able to communicate this. And if the patient owes money, guess what? We've got to be really good at communicating that too. This is our best estimate.   I'm gonna do my absolute best. We called your insurance company. I've got the best insurance verification. This is the absolute best I can get today. We're gonna take care of that. And on the flip side, hey, worst case scenario is you're gonna owe this much out of pocket. Tell them that. Then they're not mad at you when you call them. like, hey, insurance didn't pay as much as we thought. But remember, worst case scenario, this is what it is. And I can work with you to get that collected, okay? So then from there, we make sure we have correct documentation as well. We need to attach the correct narratives.   ⁓ insurance or excuse me, x-rays, intra-orals, whatever we need to get that paid. Insurance companies are obsessed with not paying for you, but it's because they play the game. So just figure out the rules of the game. We have our fee schedules in there. We send the correct documentation and we send it out every day and we check to make sure none of these claims get stuck in our claim sender. Okay, so we wanna make sure it goes through the clearing house. It doesn't get stuck there. I feel like that's like the post office for claims. We send it through and we make sure all of them get pushed through to the insurance company.   and then we follow up. And now this is where I need owners of each of them. So we need somebody to make sure that all of our intake process is correct. We need someone to make sure that our, what we send out in our claims is correct. And we tell the clinical team what we need for every single claim. And then from there, we have one person who owns our billing department. AR needs to have a clear owner. Who is our billing person that works on this every single day? Yes, you heard me. Because the goal is to get our claims paid within 30 days. You can do it. It's doable, but you gotta have a process.   So that person then their job is I recommend we run the AR list at the beginning of every single month. Then we put it into an Excel spreadsheet or however you want to do it. I found that it's easiest in Excel and then we have it color coded. And I like it to be broken down so that way the biller, their goal is to get through every single patient. Yes. And I have seen 2,500 patients, 7,500 patients. Like it is amazing how many like line items we can get. Hopefully you're more like the 500 to 700 patients on that AR list.   Then what we do from there is we've got patient portion and insurance portion. And what we want to do is we want to actually get this really, really dialed in to where we are collecting at time of service, the patient portion. My hope is that your patient portion that's due is very minimal. And the only time we have a patient portion due is because insurance didn't pay as much as we expected them to. So we got to go collect. We've already collected the money before they go out. Please, for the love of everything, holy do not let your patients just be like, I'll pay you with an insurance pays. Absolutely not.   collect the money today. It is much easier to collect today and give a refund than it is to go chase money. I'd rather you get paid today, wait on insurance. That's fine. But be like, hey, we call your insurance. We estimate really, really well. This is how much we're going to collect today. And then, hey, if it's good news, great. We're going to be able to get you a refund. And if it's not, then great. We're not going to have to call you and ask for as much in the future. So this is what we're estimating. This is our best estimate. We've called your insurance company. We've done everything we possibly can to make sure it's the best we can. And I guarantee you, we're going to take great care of you.   Collect the money. Then when it comes in, what I like for the biller to do is to look, what did this insurance company actually pay? And then go update your fee schedule to the true numbers, because fee schedules are just very generic, but for your area and your zip code, we actually like, if insurance billers will go through and look at that and be like, on a crown, Delta Dental actually pays $758. You're like, yeah, right here, it's like 500. Okay, so $558, but we had 500 in there.   Go update that so then we collect more accurately throughout the year. If we are really disciplined in this and our insurance biller will do this, your billing gets so much tighter and we have less money in our AR. Then we go through it, we go through every single claim. Now if your insurance is a lot in the AR, because we haven't worked it, you're gonna wanna work with the top pieces first. The most expensive, the biggest accounts, and I work insurance ones, and then I work patient ones. And I also am looking at the 90 days, and then the 60 days, and then the 30 days.   And then the zero, don't even like zero to 30. don't even touch that 30 to 60. Yes. 60 to 90. Yes. Over 90 for sure. I'm going to hit that. So you can sort your listing Excel of the biggest account balances. And we're going to call the insurance. We're going to call the patients because you feel like you made like a lot of progress. Also, we can look down at the bottom. Another thing too, is sometimes there's like $5, $10. If your insurance list is really big and your AR is really large, sometimes I recommend writing like below $10. Now this is your money. It's not mine. So you do what you want to do with it.   Sometimes I do recommend writing that off, but before we do it, we're to want to send statements to everybody, see if we can collect any of that. Then we have a set date where we're just going to write it off and call it bad debt. We're going to fix our processes moving forward. But if you will do this and you follow it and everybody follows it every single week, every single month, your AR is going to get cleaned up. So people are like, but it's so hard. And we have like one person who owns it. And I say like Tuesdays and Thursdays are insurance and Monday, Wednesday, Fridays are patients. And we call our patients and we do our insurance.   and we clean it up and we get the correct fee schedules and we make sure that we're following up consistently. We're hearing, excuse me, what they say on the ⁓ claims. We're hearing what they are denying. Also, just because it's on a claim and they on an EOB and they say, you need to write this off. We do need to be really smart on insurance and we don't just say, we wrote it off. Absolutely not. We double check, we verify why was it written off? What were the reasons for it? Can we resubmit it? Can we get this paid? Is this a patient portion that needs to be paid?   Do not just write it off because the EOB says it was written off. So we do not do that. Then what I also recommend is we often wait till the end of the month. We talk to our billers and they didn't get through all their AR. Office managers should be meeting every single week with their billing coordinator and the biller needs to be reporting. Here's how much AR I've completed. This is where I'm at. This is my plan for the next week. I'm going to get through every single patient this month. Also, we do not just send statements out. People love to do this. I'm very pro.   We call first, we text and then we send a statement. Why not just call them right then and there and be like, hey, Kiera, great news. We got insurance paid, we owe this amount and I can take card when you're ready and get that all cleared up for you. Send them a text with the payment link. Here you go, this is the balance and they will pay it. Send them a statement that has a QR code to pay online. You guys stop having them write checks and send it to the practice. Make it easy, talk to your payment processor. I love Moola for this. They make it so easy for patients to pay and their fees are so low. So if you need it, tell Moola, The Dental A Team, sent you.   They're incredible and they're a great processor for you. But this is where it has to be. And I'm really big on what we need to have our goals be. So I like to make this simple. Our over 90 should be no more. All of our collective AR should be no more than one month's worth of collection. So if you're producing 100,000, there should be no more than 100,000 sitting in AR. you've got more than that, let's fix   the way I like the goals to be is I like it to be it's no more than 15 % is in our 30 to 60. And the reason why is because that's going to be pretty big. Now zero to 30, I don't worry about, but it's 15 % or less in our 30 to 60. Then it's 10 % or less in our 60 to 90 and less than 5 % over in our over 90. We want to make sure that it follows that. So that way you guys are able to, but great. And those are very generic and you can get those lower. The only thing that usually impacts are over 90 are usually payment plans and also ortho.   So if you have those in there, there are ways that we can discuss with you on how to get those out to clean up your AR, but you've got to have this structured. We've got to have this to where people are following it. And we need to get this in every single week and like truly work with our billers. And if offices will follow this, you guys, this is something that is not hard, but it does take discipline and discipline does equal freedom. And doctors, had a doctor and she was just like, Kiera, I'm not making any money. And I was like,   I don't understand because you have so much money in AR and your production's so great, but we're not collecting the money. So step one is we collect. Now, if your AR is also like ballooned out of control, we can fix it and we collect money when they check in and we make sure we collect on the checkout. So this way we're catching both sides of when patients are in the practice. And some people are weird about that. And I'm like, why are you weird about that? We know they have a balance and we're gonna collect it when they check in. Think about going to the doctor's office. So like perfect, they collect money as soon as you check in every single time.   It's not weird for people to do that in healthcare. So let's collect on the intake and let's collect on the outtake when we're giving the treatment plans. These two areas are gonna fix AR and people are like, that's so hard. And I'm like, I would much rather collect money when they're in the practice rather than needing to call them. Also, another mode of thought is I don't ever give more than 1 % of collections in refund checks every single month. So refunds and credits can get really ballooned people are like freaked out about that. Cause maybe like collected too much, which is like,   High five, good. I'm not saying over collect, like, hey, insurance paid more like that's a win. But before we give those refund checks out, those are the ones I'm gonna call first to see, do they have unscheduled treatment? Like, hey, great news, your insurance paid more than we thought. Let's get you scheduled, let's use that credit for this treatment. So it's a great way to fill your schedule too. But hey, if there's a true credit on the account, let's just start writing 1%. So if we're producing 100,000, what's 1 %? You got it, a thousand bucks, okay?   So 1 % of that, we're gonna then write those refund checks back for that month. This way it doesn't hurt your overhead of time. Now watch because there are certain state laws that do require you to give refunds sooner than that. So check your state laws and make sure like whatever it is. There are some new ones that have just come out. So be sure to check that so you're compliant with your state laws. If there's nothing about it, 1 % is usually a pretty good frame of mind. So that was a quick down and dirty and I hope you enjoyed it. But really taking it from clean claims, you're welcome.   to fee schedules being entered in, to submitting claims and making sure they go through, to following up on our insurance, making sure that we're tracking that so everybody knows where our claims are at, what things are going on with that. And then from there, we're gonna make sure that we have ⁓ every single week check in with our biller. And billers know we want 15 % in our 30 to 60, 60 to 90 is 10%, over 90 is no more than 5%, no more than one month's worth of collections total in our AR, and giving back 1 % refunds.   You guys, this is something I obsessed about. This is something we work with billers on. I have a practice in Oklahoma that we worked with. They had 2,700 line items of this and we just worked with our team and we cleaned and we cleaned it and it took us about two years and we were able to get them back into perfect collections, perfect processes. It took a while, but discipline, dedication and setting these things into place now are going to protect you and prevent this from happening in the future. Also, there are some great AI companies that you can use.   ⁓ Lassie is a great one that I've heard of. There's a few new ones coming up on the market. So if you need help with it, insurance verification, you can outsource. We have a lot of resources. So if you need any email Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And if you're like, I need help, I'm drowning, I'm not making money. Let's talk. Profit production guys. it's the way we get more profit. We either increase our production, decrease our spending or increase our collections. Those are the three levers. So whatever those three we need to work on. And sometimes it's so hard because you're like,   But like I'm doing dentistry all day long, Carrie, I have time. You're right. You're supposed to be the dentist and the CEO. Let us train your team for you. That's what we love to do. Work with you and your team. So reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Commit to being profitable this year. Commit to getting your AR in place. Commit to following these billing tactics. You guys, it is not hard, but it does require discipline. And we're happy to help you set it up. We're happy to follow through. We're happy to show you how to have the conversations. We're happy to show your team how to do this. We're happy to build KPI scorecards so you can watch it and utilizing analytics for it. So it's never daunting and scary.   It's disciplined dedication and dedicated time to make sure this happens. And usually team members get scared and it feels daunting. So it's kind of like the laundry. just like keep letting it pile up, but doctors, this is your hard earned money. And I don't believe it should be like laundry that piles up. It'd be, should be something that we are actively engaged in fixing and working through to make sure that you're getting paid what you need to be paid. So reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

Podcast Summary (Show Notes Style)In this episode, Jordon Comstock talks with Dan from Elevation Association about why dental insurance—especially Delta Dental—is becoming a bigger threat to independent practices, and how practices can successfully transition to fee-for-service without destroying their schedule.Dan explains that Delta is making aggressive moves, including owning dental practices, which gives insurers more control locally and reduces their reliance on independent offices. He also warns dentists not to assume associations will protect them, arguing the industry landscape is shifting fast.The conversation then turns practical: Dan breaks down what it really takes to exit PPOs strategically. The key is preparation—especially having a patient membership / benefit plan in place before going out of network, so patients can move “laterally” into the practice's own plan. He emphasizes aligning the entire team around the mission, using incentives when appropriate, and building strong patient communication to counter misleading insurer letters that make patients think they “can't” stay with the practice.Dan shares that the transition isn't instant—it can take about a year to stabilize, with the first quarter or two feeling messy as hygiene schedules fluctuate and patients test the financial impact. The practices that win dedicate staff to proactive recall/outreach, driven by real data (they use Dental Intel), to refill the schedule and reduce attrition.The episode closes with the payoff: the move is described as freeing and energizing, with fewer write-offs, more control, and the ability to slow down while improving focus and profitability—especially when practices don't try to do it alone and instead leverage coaching, tools, and a clear plan.TL;DR (30 seconds)Delta is tightening control (even buying practices), so dentists need a strategy to regain power: prep your team + track key KPIs + build a membership plan first + over-communicate + run recall/outreach, and expect a ~12-month stabilization period after the PPO exit. The result: less write-off pain and way more freedom.

Smiles that matter for healthier futures Barb Kozuh is executive director of the Delta Dental Foundation of Arizona, based in Scottsdale. She brings real heart to the work of expanding access to oral health care across our communities. She talks about why oral health is about so much more than smiles — it's about dignity, opportunity, and how investing in people and partnerships can truly change lives.

Tom Raffio interviews Shane Baron, Manager of Corporate Services at Northeast Delta Dental.

Host Jeremy C. Park talks with cityCURRENT Nashville Market President, Kelly Meyers, who highlights cityCURRENT and the organization's mission and efforts to connect businesses with the community to power the GOOD through events, media, and philanthropy.During the interview, Kelly talks about the partners and programs in Nashville, discussing their approach to relationship building and community engagement to help businesses both grow and make a difference. Kelly shares insights on the importance of building trust through community involvement and philanthropy, emphasizing that giving back creates valuable opportunities to create purpose-driven relationships and trust, enhance leadership skills, build a culture of teamwork and caring, and more.She highlights some meaningful events from 2025, including presentations by Tom Koulopoulos on AI and Juan Bendaña on confidence. Looking ahead to 2026, Kelly outlines upcoming events such as the signature speaker series event in Nashville on February 6, hosted by KCS, and featuring Brink Fidler, founder of Defend Systems and former law enforcement veterans, who will be sharing security measures and practical techniques to save lives. Kelly also highlights the annual Kids Dental Day with Delta Dental of Tennessee and the Nashville Sounds, along with a shoe distribution at a local school later this year.Kelly wraps up by encouraging business and community leaders to get engaged with cityCURRENT by attending upcoming events, being a guest on the positive media, or participating in volunteer experiences, like the shoe distributions.Visit www.cityCURRENT.com to learn more and get involved.

November 27, 2025 ~ Margaret Trimer, VP, Community Partnerships, Delta Dental joins Paul W Smith ahead of America's Thanksgiving Parade. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

CISA orders feds to patch OIM Delta Dental of Virginia incurs data breach Systems down at postal operator in Ukraine Huge thanks to our episode sponsor, KnowBe4 Cybersecurity isn't just a tech problem—it's a human one.   That's why KnowBe4's Human Risk Management platform allows you to measure, quantify and actually reduce human risk across your organization.   With AI-powered risk scoring, automated coaching and reporting, HRM+ helps you surface your highest risk users and reduce the risk of data breaches and cyberattacks proactively. Ready to move from awareness to action? Request a demo of HRM+ today at knowbe4.com.

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Send us a textIn this episode, we pull back the curtain on Delta Dental's latest effort to “train” HR departments on how to talk about their plans. On the surface, it looks like education—but behind the scenes, it's strategic messaging designed to make employees hear only the positives and none of the truth about coverage limitations, provider restrictions, and patient choice.We explore how these trainings teach HR professionals to polish the Delta Dental brand while avoiding the real issues—like low reimbursements, restrictive contracts, and the control Delta exerts over provider care. By shaping the message at the HR level, Delta ensures employees stay loyal to their network and blind to what's really happening behind the smile.Tune in as we decode Delta Dental's playbook and show how employers can empower their teams with facts, not spin.Support the show

In this “Leaders in Healthcare” edition of Lessons in Leadership, Steve Adubato and Mary Gamba are joined by Opeyemi O. Oluwole, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer, Hackensack Meridian Health, about the rapidly evolving healthcare marketing landscape, AI and trust and leadership. Then, Steve talk with Paul Di Maio, President & CEO, Delta Dental of NJ; Dr. … Continue reading Lessons in Leadership: Opeyemi Oluwole / Paul Di Maio, Dr. Nellista Bess and Yana Zaydel

Send us a textTracy takes our listeners into a deep dive on how third-party payers are discouraging their clients to see out-of-network dentists. In this episode, we expose the truth behind Delta Dental's latest campaign targeting HR departments. Their message? Convince employees that going “out of network” will cost them more. The reality? It costs Delta control. We break down the misleading talking points, reveal what the data actually shows, and explain how this manipulation keeps both employers and employees in the dark—while protecting Delta's profit margins, not patient care.Support the show

Nov. 7, 2025 ~ Margaret Trimer, vice president of strategic partnerships at Delta Dental, and Dave Massaron, chief economic development real estate officer at General Motors, join JR Morning to discuss their partnerships with the Parade Company. Delta Dental also has a new float this year. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Kiera shows listeners multiple places in life where there's likely opportunity for more balance, freedom, play, and ease by: Maximizing the hours you already work. Protecting your time like a CEO. Empowering your team to own their roles. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera and I am so excited because I love this topic and I hate this topic and it's such a great one and all of you are gonna be so excited about it and it's work-life balance without sacrificing production. Yep, you better believe that it is true and I'm here to show you today how you can do this.   but I really hate this terminology of work-life balance. So if you're new to the Dental A Team, welcome, hello. I'm so excited to have you here. If you've been here with us for a long time, high five, hugs. I'm so grateful you've been a part of this journey and I'm so excited to share with you tips, tricks. ⁓ And again, remember, sometimes the greatest form of learning is remembering what you already know. So these might be tips that you've heard before, but hopefully today it hits you differently because no man who's walked through a river is ever the same man because he...   is not the same man and the river is not the same river. So you today, you're not the same person, you're not the same practice, you're not the same scenario. So wherever you are, I'm super excited for you to figure out how to get this like balance and bliss in your life. And I hope you're ready for it. So the reality is like, I used to feel, and I don't know where this came from, like, why do we feel that we always have to like grind like our nose to the brim? Like we have to work so hard and we have to just grind so hard to get to success.   that like you just hate your life. Like why is it, why is it this like busyness and this exhaustiveness and this tired to be successful? Like why, where? And so I do believe that you can have balance and performance that can coexist, that you can be productive and balanced. And so the reality is we're going to walk through some of these pieces for you to help you see where could I maybe strike a little more balance, a little more freedom, a little more play, a little more ease in my life.   And that's maybe the better term of like work-life balance is more ease. It's more flow. It's more, I think just intentional. And how can I do that? So you guys, I love this. think that you should be something that I'm really passionate about is work and life. I'm very passionate about you being the best version of yourself in your life. That way you can show up as the best version of yourself for work. do not believe, Tiff and I talk about this all the time. Like outside of Dental A Team public's eye.   all the time about how work and life are not separate. It's like we think about these two halves and it's like, no, it's one. You're one person. You're going through this and it's like, well, here's half of me that's work. Here's half of me that's life. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no. How can I, Kiera, be the best version of myself that like feels balanced or ease or flow or calm or any of those things? Cause balance to me, don't love. Balance feels like I've got to like have my weight in front of me be equal.   ⁓ But flow to me is like a river flows and sometimes it's faster and sometimes it's slower and all of that's correct. And so this is something where for you to be the best version of yourself, for you to still be productive at the office while being the best version of you, ⁓ I think is what today's podcast will be about. So this is something where it's like, if you feel you are stretched thin or overwhelmed or you don't know how to produce without overworking and if you stop or slow down and get off the hamster, well, you're afraid that it's all gonna crash and burn. Well, hi, I'm Kiera.   I'm your personal therapist today ⁓ and I'm here to help you realize that that's not the reality, that there's a better, easier way to do it. And I'm here to give you a couple of quick steps that hopefully will take you through that ⁓ because I was there, I've seen offices do it and we've helped offices, hundreds, like literally hundreds and thousands of offices get out of that hamster will.   and into the flow that they were looking for. Tiff said it once and she was like, imagine Phoenix traffic. If you've never been to Phoenix, we'll do Chicago traffic, we'll do Texas traffic. Like you name it, big city traffic. She's like, just imagine if you're sitting there and this is like your life and you're sitting there and you're in this bumper to bumper traffic. And then all of a sudden you see that like better than even like an HOV or carpool lane. Like there's just like the way it strikes me like a lucky charm. Like it's like, ah, like the angels are singing. It's this gold path over there or like the yellow brick road. And you're like,   say, well, like I could get out of this nonsense over onto that lane. And like everybody, there's no traffic. There's no slowing down. It is just this easy breezy, like truly like, hope you guys can visualize this like golden path road with gold light over it. And everybody on that road is just so happy. And yet you're sitting here hating your life because you're sitting in all this nonsense traffic. Well, that's kind of hopefully how this feels of like, let's teach you how to get over into that.   that lane that you didn't even know existed today and give you some tangible tips to that. So number one is going to be maximize the hours that you already work. So let's have it like, ⁓ we did this awesome thing ⁓ at a conference and ⁓ we're talking about this and this is so fascinating to me, okay? So in a given week, there's 24 hours in a day. Yes, everybody following? And there's seven hours or seven days in a week, okay?   So if we take that, I love some good numbers, I love some good math. So 24 hours in a day, and we have seven days in a week, that's 168 hours, all right, in a given week, okay? So now, let's say I'm gonna be really generous to you. We know, let's say, let's just, mean, Dennis, let's give you, like, we're gonna work 40 hours in a week. You might say I work more than that, that's okay. I'm just gonna subtract 40 right now, okay? So that leaves us with 128 hours in a week.   Now you're like, well, Kiera, we also have to sleep. I got you. I'm going to be real generous and I'm going to give you eight hours of sleep times seven days. That's 56 hours. None of you are out there probably sleeping eight hours. As you should be prioritizing this, I do not want to be scrimping on sleep because I think sleep is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. So we have 128 hours after the 40 hour work week. We've got 56 hours of sleep minus 128. That leaves us with 72 freaking hours a week. And my question is, what are you doing with those hours?   Now you might say, Carrie works 60 hours. Fantastic, you still have 52 hours if you're working a 60 hour work week, which I hope and pray you're not working 60 hours. So let's get it to where maybe I don't wanna be working even 40 hours and I would prefer to even work 30 hours. Well then if I gave you 30 hours, you're up to 82 hours a week of extra time. And people are like, Carrie, I don't have time, I don't have time. 72 hours, 72 in a week outside of sleeping and work.   Now you're like, well, I've got to make dinner and I've got the kids fine go for it, but there's still so many hours. And I, when I heard this, I was like, yeah, what am I doing with those 72 hours? Like, all right. So maybe I could do like an hour of workout every day. All right. So like, let me just put out like seven hours there. Like, okay, 72. Let's just take this down 72 minus seven hours. All right. I'm down to 65 hours. Well, you know, I've got to like, hang out with my kids. Like we're at soccer, we're at camp. Like that takes, okay. Count it up. How many hours? Like drive time and all of that.   Let's give you like, okay, shoot, you're at 15 hours a week, which honestly, I guarantee you're not putting 15 hours of soccer and camp and all that in a given week. Maybe you are, but honestly, that's a lot. That's like two full days of work plus some extra time. So if we're at that, you're still at 50 hours and we're not scrimping sleep. We're not scrimping work. We're not scrimping kid time. We gave you an hour of workout every single day.   something to think about. So in this step one, to be able to have this balance or flow or best version of you is to maximize the hours you already have. So ⁓ me and Chad GPT, I named her Wanda. I hang out with Wanda all the time and I'm like, all right, you're the most brilliant scheduler of all time. You're the most productive business coach. Like you teach me how to maximize my time. And Wanda gives me some really good things. And it was interesting because I started looking like I realized   that I was spending an extra 30 minutes going to the gym every single day with how far away it was. And I was like, all right, well then that actually adds up. What if I just bought a home gym? Like there are solutions. What if I got weights, free weights? have my personal trainer. She could create some. So I go to the gym X amount of days and I work from home X amount of days. Could that help out? Like that would give me some time back in there. And so it's really like, how can you maximize the hours that you already have in your life to then maybe have a bit more fun?   Like I don't want all scheduled. I want fun. I want to hang out with Jason. I want to be able to like you guys I used to not watch TV at all because I felt like it was an absolute waste of time because I wasn't making money and I wasn't doing something productive. Literally I was like, nope, this is an absolute waste of time. And I'm like, but I like to watch a show and laugh with my husband. I like to be able to go hot tibbing at night with my husband. I love to go for walks with my husband. I love to go hiking. I love to spend time with my parents and I want to do it.   without guilt. It's like being able to like eat all the ice cream that you could ever want to eat without gaining any weight or whatever your favorite thing is that you're like, I just wish I could eat all that, not worry about the calories. Well, this is how you can have un like guilt free time for yourself, guilt free time with family, guilt free time with friends, because we have like, you break it down. I guarantee you, we're still going to find hours for you. So how can we better use it? And then what's awesome is when I work with offices, I'm like, sweet.   You only working four days a week? Fantastic, let's go for it. Let me do 32 hours a week. Beautiful. And you know what's crazy is I usually can help them produce the same as they were producing in five days and four days and then they're able to get a whole day back in their world. Or they're like, I have nowhere I could ever put admin time in. And I'm like, sweet, challenge accepted. How much time do you want? Two hours a week, three hours a week? Great, I'm gonna block it on Wednesdays from eight to 12.   I'm taking four hours out and I'm gonna show you how we can build a schedule that will produce more than you're making right now and give you the four hours of admin time so you don't have to take this home with you. So we block schedule, we prioritize, we put things in place. You literally like, we eliminate gaps, we're proactive, we ⁓ maximize our time and our schedule, we have our morning huddles to align our teams, everybody chart preps, we look through what we need to have. We're all doing the pieces and we're maximizing our time that we already have. Front office team members, seriously like.   Don't insurance verify every single person like in order call Delta Dental and get all of them done and then all your MetLife's and all your Etna's so we're not spending time like wastefully and you can maximize this and I will tell you when doctors shift like this and teams shift like this, we're talking 10, 20, 30, 40, a hundred grand extra a month that we're able to squeeze in the juice with no extra time. Usually even less time. I don't want more hours. I don't want more work for teams. I want less work and more efficiency.   So that way you have guilt free time with family. You have guilt free time on vacations. You have fun being able to take off and not stress about it. So this is where it's like, let's maximize the hour. So the call to action on this is, I want you to audit your current schedule at work and figure out where are we losing production and time and how can we just like, literally I'm talking on one change. Kind of like with FedEx or with, I don't remember what airline it was, but FedEx drivers found out if they took right hand turns at stoplights in the US, they can actually cut down the hours and cut down the routes and actually get more time and.   more efficient packages delivered to all the people. That's the type of like small little shift that we're looking for. Just one little change and then look at it in your personal life. Are we scrolling in doomsday scrolling? Are we spending time? I don't know, audit your day, but it's wild when I'm like, I gave you so much time and there's still 50 hours in a day, like a week. What are you doing there? Like, Kiera, I go to church. Great, put it in there. Kiera, I do community service. Great, put it in there.   I'm not kidding. When you look at it, it's because we're not efficient with our time and we don't schedule our time. And I want you to have breaks in there where there's nothing time in there too. But what's wild is when you do this, you'll realize there's so much more time. And if you're effective and efficient with this, you'll see that you actually can get more done with less time, less energy, and be more happy and have that flow, that work-life balance just by maximizing the hours you already have. Next up, number two is protect your time like a CEO. I want you to be so rock solid on this because we have to have like CEO time.   So this is what I was talking about. You've got to protect your admin working CEO time like a boss. And you've got to actually do high productive work there. So for me, it's called Deep Work Time. It's by Cal Newport. You can read the book. I'm like absolutely non-negotiable. This is when I'm working on the business. And it's wild because I'm always like, there's so many screaming problems that come at you, but you have to say no. Discipline equals freedom here. You've got to stick to your cutoff time. I'm out the door at 5.30. Go, leave, be done.   We don't need to constantly run over because what we do is we teach ourselves that what we say of our boundaries or what we say of our commitments don't matter. Stop lying to yourself and start protecting your time. Start putting you first. Like if you say, I'm gonna be out at 530, be out at 530. If you say, I'm gonna go to dinner, go to dinner. If you say, I'm gonna work out, work out, but don't go lofty, go small. Start small, train yourself that you can trust yourself and then get bigger and better and better. And what's wild is when offices do this, when doctors like,   Truly, my most elite doctors do this. The ones that produce the most have the best family time. And I'm talking like, there's a doctor that I know. He told me, said, Kiera, we've done a lot. They own six practices. He's got like crazy amounts of success. They're going for it. ⁓ Tons of kids, amazing relationship with his spouse. And he said, Kiera, my year working with you was the most transformational, inspirational year of my entire life. And I take that as one of the biggest compliments because this person was so efficient and effective.   And yet we were able to find ways to fix their time, maximize their time, buy back their time, protect their time, make sure all the things that they want to do as a human and as a business owner, they were able to get there. This doctor is celebrating their first day out of the chair and being a true CEO. It didn't happen overnight, but these are things of like, you have better clarity, you're better as a business owner, you're better as a spouse, you're better as a mother, father, you have more time to work out for yourself, but it's like...   being very disciplined, this is the secret. People are like, Kiera, what's the secret? This is it. They protect their time and they act like the CEO that they are. And then number three is your team, empower them, help them to be like truly owning their role. So you've got to set up and have it to where there's clear roles and definitions of what each person does. They have their KPI and their number that they own and you train them to lead and come with solutions. I have a three solution rule. If you've got a problem, you've got to create at least three solutions for it, one of which can't cost money.   So that way they're coming with solutions, they're thinking of solutions. They're empowered so things don't come to me. ⁓ There's the book with the one minute manager, I think. ⁓ It's about the monkeys on your back. I think about this all the time. How many times do my team members come to me and put their monkey and their problem on my back? And I'm like, yeah, give it to me. I've got it. I'll just solve the problems because I'm Wonder Woman over here. But you told me you actually want to stress free. You want more work life balance, but you don't want to cut your production. We'll start empowering your team to actually be the team that they're meant to be. And team members rise up.   Rise up, solve the problems. This is for you. Like we have a culture of ownership. Ownership is one of our core values. And honestly, I shout that core value out so hard every single week on our core value shout outs because I want our team to know that that's one of the top things that I look for. Our team members that own their role, own their KPI, find the solutions. Because guess what? Then I'm able to do my job and my job as a CEO. Your job as a CEO. And I also want to be an amazing wife. I want to be an amazing sister. I want to be an amazing family member.   I wanna do all those things. I wanna show the best for myself. I wanna work out. I wanna be this amazingly fit, ripped, super energetic, 95 year old woman in my life with cotton candy, pink hair. Like that's the vision of Kiera in the future. What's your vision of the future and how do you do this? And what's wild about this is when you empower your team members, you give them clarity of what they need to do, team members now can focus on what they need to do and they can be more efficient in their time. Tiff and I talk all the time about how she's the efficiency queen and how like,   I hope she never dies before me. And if she does, it will say efficiency queen on her headstone because literally we're able to do so much more with less time because we have the team using it. So doctors before you even, and office managers before you even think about putting something in your calendar, ask yourself, am I really the best person who needs to do this task? Or can someone else do it just as good, if not better than I can and delegate it out.   I look at my calendar all the time and I'm like, that could go to Tiff, this could go to Britt, this could go to Shelbi, this could go to this person. Like all these people are better, more equipped and have the time to do it. And then they should do the same thing with their schedules as well. So when you have this, I want you all, every single team member to look at our schedules and see, is this something that a team member could own? Is this really who should be doing it? Are our lines clean? Do we have clear job descriptions, clear KPIs? This way it's not all happening for me. So when you look at this, you see the flow of number one, I'm using the time I already have.   Number two, I'm thinking like a CEO and I'm actually maximizing the hours working on the business. And then number three, I have a team that's fully capable. They're not dependent on me. You have, we broke down the math. guys, the math is there. What are you doing with your time? This is how you have guilt free fun. Like I want you to just think like eating like a big giant scoop of your favorite dessert or whatever your favorite thing is. You're, you're, you're indulgent. And I want you to think of that as your time. Like I'm just taking this big old scoop of like   delicious ice cream, no calories, guilt free of your lifetime, of the time that you get to have your life. Your life is all mixed up of so many pieces. You've got work, you've got family, you've got schedules, you've got appointments. This is how you have guilt free time. This is how you're able to have that flow. This is how you're able to have the balance or whatever it is for you. It's not passive, it's built. It's not passive, it's built. And you would honestly do this while growing your business.   while like all the different things that you're doing, you can have this. And this is something I'm obsessed about. We did this at our last mastermind and it was so fun for me to like show them like, what are we doing with our time and how can we better maximize, squeeze the juice out and have more guilt free fun time of whatever we want to do. This is how you have hobbies. This is how you expand as a human. This is how you read books for fun. This is how you get gardening or biking or surfing or whatever it is that you want. This is how you get more time with your family, more time for yourself is by actually doing these three things. So   You honestly became a practice owner for freedom. It's my hunch. You wanted to run the business how you wanted. You want to have things with the team. And so let's make sure that you're not fatigued out, that you're burnt out, but you actually get that freedom that you wanted when you built the practice. Like let's get you there. That's the ultimate goal. Let's help you see where you could like maximize your time. Let's help your team maximize their time because sometimes we don't even know what we could be doing better because we're just, this is all we know. So let's be smarter. Let's reach up.   Let's ask for the help and let's get the freedom and the fun and the joy that we know we're meant to have. So this is where we're at. This is where I want you to just realize like, where am I at? You're at a crossroad. Do you want to continue down the path you're going or do you want to get into that fast lane over there that you're sitting in bumper to bumper traffic and you're like, there actually is that magical, glorious, gold paid route. Like honestly, I hope our marketing team like, please marketing team make this Vividial.   Put it on social media. There is like literally I see like all the lines like we got like ten lines of traffic We're sitting there and then it's like ⁓ like the angels are singing over there Like are you gonna continue to sit in this bumper to bumper bag? Yep I'm gonna just keep doing it my way or are you going to venture over? Navigate through the traffic across ten lanes of traffic to get over to that magical Lane that can be yours the questions yours the forks in the road literally we're in a road like that was a great analogy unintended   The forks in the road, like you are here, you're at a pivotal spot, the door is open, you can choose to do it differently. Let's do it. You deserve it. Reach out, hello, at the W-H-U dot com or stay in bumper to bumper traffic. Both are fine. There's no judgment on either side. I just want to let you know that that magical lane is incredible. Life over there is happy. Life over there is not stressed. Life over there still does with issues, but life over there deals with issues in stride.   Life over there has a team that's able to run the practice whether you're there or not. Life over there empowers their leaders. Life over there allows you to have a life on your terms. Life over there allows you to show up for your family the way you want. Life over there allows you to work out the way you want. Life over there has you sleeping better. Life over there has you not stress out every single day of every single hour. Life over there truly is flying through traffic because there's another lane over there. And I hope you choose you and I hope you choose the easier path.   and reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com if we can help you, because I'd love to. And this is literally what we do is help you get into the fast lane, get into the easier path. It's not overnight. It's not a diet pill, but it is sustainable. It is long-term. And our job is to teach you to fish, to teach your practice to fish so you are forever self-sustaining. And hopefully you're like that client I told you that said your year with Dentalyteen is the most transformational year or years of your life.   and I would love you to be a part of it. So reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team podcast.  

Dr. Tiffany Green is a pediatric dentist from the Jackson, Mississippi area. We have a great lunchtime conversation regarding a variety of topics including:- Why dropping Delta Dental was the right move for her practice- How her love for running keeps her sharp as a pediatric dentist- Why DSOs are struggling- Dr. Green's experience and appreciation for Invisalign First, and how she incorporates ortho into her practice

A visit to the dentist is about more than clean teeth; it's about whole health and wellness. Arkansas ranks poorly in oral health and has one of the lowest utilization rates for dental services in the country, but there are ongoing efforts to better understand and overcome barriers to care. In one of its latest initiatives, the Delta Dental of Arkansas Foundation partnered with the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute to gather new data and on-the-ground community perspectives on oral health in Arkansas. To learn more about that project and what they learned, we're joined on this episode of the Wonks at Work podcast by Dr. Sharon Lanier, executive director of the Delta Dental of Arkansas Foundation.

Dr. Bicuspid Editor-in-Chief Kevin Henry joins me to discuss some crazy current events! A California dentist has been sentenced to 75 years to life in state prison after what prosecutors called a “reign of terror.” The man's crimes included multiple sexual assaults against five female patients and an extern, with victims ranging in age from 19 to 73. Prosecutors said he treated the women “as his playthings,” committing the assaults while they were under anesthesia and alone in his office. What broke the case open was the courage of a dental assistant, who secretly filmed one of the assaults, exposing the abuse and ending years of unchecked violence. The conversation examines how this could happen inside a dental practice where patients should feel safest and the red flags that every dental professional must recognize. From patient safety and sedation oversight to the ethics of working alone with anesthetized patients, this disturbing story forces the industry to confront hard truths about accountability and protection. Our discussion continues into the state of the dental profession today. A new Delta Dental study shows preventive care has finally returned to pre-pandemic levels, but capacity hasn't caught up. Hygienist shortages continue to strain practices, and legislative moves across states like licensure compacts and the rise of oral preventive assistants aim to fill the gaps. There's also a sharp look at data trends: claims show a rise in occlusal guards and fillings, signaling more stress-related wear and tear, and new fraud triggers are catching the attention of insurers. Teresa and Kevin unpack how AI, remote admin roles, and shifting workforce models are reshaping the business of dentistry and what every practice owner needs to know to adapt.

Change is never easy, but every bold decision shapes the story of your entrepreneurial journey—just ask Dr. Jessica Pushee, who returns to share the honest highs and lows of her first year running a dental practice in Foxboro, Massachusetts. From the start, Dr. Pushee made gutsy moves, including staying out of network with a major insurance company, Delta Dental. She pulls back the curtain on how these choices have both tested her resolve and ultimately benefited her business, underscoring the delicate art of balancing uncompromising care with savvy operations.In this candid interview, Dr. Pushee opens up about her transformation from a hands-on micromanager to an empowering leader committed to supporting her team. She recounts pivotal learning moments, like the fallout from missed consent forms, that sparked essential changes in her workflow and culture. You'll also hear her best and worst ideas for patient acquisition, from the surprisingly powerful impact of cozy office details to the hard lessons learned from ineffective advertising spends. Dr. Pushee's reflections culminate in her top advice for practice owners: focus less on obsessing over numbers and more on nurturing your team, because happy staff means happier patients (and sustainable growth.)What You'll Learn in This Episode:The real effects of opting out of insurance networks on a new dental practiceHow owning mistakes can lead to better systems and a stronger team cultureStrategies for delegating effectively and letting your staff grow from experiencePractical tips for creating a welcoming environment that delights patientsWhich marketing experiments failed and what consistently drives new referralsWhy investing in your team's needs pays off in patient satisfaction and retentionThe benefits of shifting from financial obsession to purposeful leadershipHit play now to discover Dr. Pushee's hard-won wisdom on building a practice (and a culture) that truly lasts.‍Sponsors:‍Net32: Founded by a dentist, for dentists. Net32 is the leading online marketplace for dental supplies, helping dental and medical professionals save on high-quality products for over 25 years. Start saving today at: net32.com/dentalmarketerGuest: Dr. Jessica PusheePractice Name: Charm DentalCheck out Jessica's Media:‍Website: dentistinfoxboro.comInstagram: instagram.com/charmdentalmaFacebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560009046083‍Host: Michael AriasJoin my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society‍Love the Podcast? Let Us Know How We're Doing on Apple Podcasts!

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Host Jeremy C. Park talks with Missy Acosta, Senior Vice President of Brand Experience for Delta Dental of Tennessee, and Adam English, General Manager and Chief Operating Officer with the Nashville Sounds, who highlight the origins and evolution of the annual Kids Dental Day, which has grown over the last four years to include a number of partnerships providing shoe and book distributions and a variety of educational activities that serve hundreds of kids across Middle Tennessee at First Horizon Park baseball stadium.In 2022, the Nashville Sounds partnered with Delta Dental of Tennessee to create Kids Dental Day as a way to foster a day of fun and provide dental care and other related services to kids in need. Over the years, the event has expanded greatly thanks to a number of partnerships with organizations like cityCURRENT, Samaritan's Feet, Kroger, Higginbotham Insurance, Meharry Medical College, Neighborhood Health, Hope Smiles, Book'em, Nashville PBS, American Heart Association, the Adventure Science Center, Henry Schein, Dunkin' Donuts, and more. As a result, the event has evolved from providing simple dental screenings to a comprehensive day of care including dental check-ups and cleanings, a shoe distribution, new books, and tons of fun educational activities designed to help prepare the kids for the new school year ahead.During the interview, Missy and Adam talk about how the event has grown significantly over four years, the power of collaborating with multiple partners and services, including participation from dental students, local businesses, and community organizations, and what the event means to the kids served. They discuss plans to further expand the event's reach and impact by adding more partners and services, while emphasizing the importance of long-term commitment and advance planning for logistics and participation.Visit www.KidsDentalDay.com to learn more about the annual Kids Dental Day and how your nonprofit or company can get involved.Visit https://deltadentaltn.com to learn more about Delta Dental of Tennessee. You can also visit https://deltadentaltn.com/kids-dental... for Kids Dental Day.Visit www.NashvilleSounds.com or https://www.milb.com/nashville for more information about the Nashville Sounds and their season and game schedule.

Host Jeremy C. Park talks with Jeff Ballard, President and CEO of Delta Dental of Tennessee, who highlights the state's largest independent dental benefits carrier, covering 1.5 million residents, and discusses their vision coverage, their recent recognition with the Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Ethics, and how they reinvest profits back into Tennessee communities as a nonprofit. Delta Dental operates the largest dental network in both Tennessee and the United States, offering special benefits and new services for small employers, while also maintaining strong ethical practices recognized by the Better Business Bureau. Through its Smile180 Foundation, Delta Dental of Tennessee has donated over $75 million to community oral health initiatives since 2015, and the company has big plans to celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2026 while continuing its focus on community service and oral health care.Delta Dental of Tennessee's ImpactDelta Dental of Tennessee, led by President and CEO Jeff Ballard, is the largest independent dental insurance company in Tennessee, covering 1.5 million residents. About six years ago, the company expanded their benefits offering to include vision insurance, now serving 100,000 people. As a not-for-profit organization, Delta Dental reinvests its profits back into Tennessee, having contributed $4 million last year. The company maintains the largest dental network in both Tennessee and the United States, with 90% of state dentists in its network and 200,000 dentists nationwide, ensuring access to dental care across the country.Delta Dental's New Benefits and ExpansionJeff discusses Delta Dental of Tennessee's special needs benefit, which was implemented three years ago to provide extra time and sensitivity visits for patients in need. He also mentioned their new office in Nashville's Medical Center, which has brought new energy to the company. Jeff further explains that they are rolling out new benefits to small employers, offering significant savings through their network for preventive services.Delta Dental of Tennessee's BBB Torch Award for EthicsJeff and Jeremy discuss Delta Dental of Tennessee's recent BBB Torch Award for Ethics in the large company category. Jeff explains that the award represents their long-standing partnership with the BBB and their commitment to ethical business practices. He highlights that the award is their first under his management team, demonstrating their dedication to integrity and trustworthiness. Jeremy asks about the small actions that contribute to such powerful outcomes, and Jeff emphasizes the importance of making ethical decisions as CEO, referring to their company values and the impact of leadership on the organization's culture.Delta Dental of Tennessee's Community Oral Health InitiativesAlong with its corporate foundation, Smile180, Delta Dental of Tennessee focuses on community reinvestment as part of its mission of "ensuring healthy smiles." Since 2015, the Smile180 Foundation has contributed over $75 million in oral health education, scholarships, and support for underserved communities, including charitable dental clinics and children's hospitals. The company has initiated various community programs, including toothbrush distributions, mouth guard initiatives, an annual Kids Dental Day and Shoe Distribution, and special healthcare screenings for the Special Olympics. Looking ahead, Delta Dental of Tennessee plans to celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2026 with community events and a birthday party, while maintaining its commitment to oral health care and community service.Visit https://deltadentaltn.com to learn more about Delta Dental of Tennessee.

In this Ask Farnoosh episode, Farnoosh kicks things off with a personal story tied to her recent TODAY Show appearance, where she talked about “finance-proofing” your relationship. Reflecting on her own early money talks with husband Tim (over margaritas at their favorite tequila bar), she lays out the keys to financial transparency in couples — from shared goals to individual autonomy.Next, Farnoosh unpacks several top money headlines:Tariff Rebate Checks? A proposed bill would send $600 checks to Americans, redistributing billions in collected tariff revenue. Supporters call it a timely relief, while critics question whether it's a sustainable solution.Housing Market Reset: As pandemic-era price surges deflate in places like Austin, buyers may finally have leverage — but high mortgage rates remain a hurdle.AI and the Return of In-Person Job Interviews: Companies like Google are bringing back face-to-face interviews to combat AI cheating in virtual screenings.The Tooth Fairy's Budget Cuts: Delta Dental reports a 14% drop in the average payout for lost teeth — a sign of tighter household budgets.In the mailbag, Farnoosh answers three timely listener questions:How to Prep for a Recession and a Weak Dollar: Farnoosh recommends beefing up emergency savings, diversifying investments, considering inflation hedges like TIPS or gold, and reducing high-interest debt. Flexibility is key.Juggling a Mortgage and Child Care Costs: She reframes child care as a career investment, suggests alternatives like nanny shares or Dependent Care FSAs, and advises delaying large home upgrades until expenses ease.Will My Teen's Job Hurt Financial Aid?: Unlikely, says Farnoosh. The FAFSA allows students to earn about $7,600 before aid is impacted. Still, she warns that assets in a teen's name can carry more weight than income.Farnoosh closes with a reminder that applications for her mentorship program close this Sunday — an opportunity for listeners looking to build a sustainable, personal brand. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

GDP Script/ Top Stories for July 3rd Publish Date: July 3rd From the BG AD Group Studio Welcome to the Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast. Today is Thursday, July 3rd and Happy birthday to Tom Cruise I’m Peyton Spurlock and here are your top stories presented by KIA Mall of Georgia. Corps of Engineers reopening seven more Lake Lanier parks NAACP accuses Gwinnett DA of mishandling shooting case, wants AG to reopen case Gwinnett Stripers partner with TeamSmile to provide free dental exams for local underserved children Plus, Leah McGrath from Ingles Markets on sodas All of this and more is coming up on the Gwinnett Daily Post podcast, and if you are looking for community news, we encourage you to listen daily and subscribe! Break 1: 07.14.22 KIA MOG STORY 1: Corps of Engineers reopening seven more Lake Lanier parks The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has partnered with Forsyth and Hall counties to reopen nearly all nine previously closed parks on Lake Lanier for the Fourth of July weekend. Six parks will operate under one-year agreements with the counties, while Burton Mill Park will temporarily open for the holiday weekend. This collaboration aims to provide recreational access while addressing staffing shortages that initially threatened to close 21 parks. Only two parks, Van Pugh North and South, will remain closed as hiring efforts continue to support long-term operations. STORY 2: NAACP accuses Gwinnett DA of mishandling shooting case, wants AG to reopen case A dispute has arisen over the Gwinnett DA's decision not to prosecute Alejandro Querales Morales, who shot Jalyne Evans-Jones through his door after she and her husband asked him to lower his music in August 2023. Evans-Jones, who survived with permanent injuries, and the NAACP claim the case was mishandled, citing lack of investigation and communication. The DA’s office argued there wasn’t enough evidence, pointing to a witness who claimed Evans-Jones' husband had a gun. The NAACP is urging Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr to reopen the case, alleging misconduct, though Carr’s office stated it lacks jurisdiction. Evans-Jones and her husband have also filed a civil lawsuit. STORY 3: Gwinnett Stripers partner with TeamSmile to provide free dental exams for local underserved children Underserved children in Gwinnett County will receive free dental exams and oral health education on July 8, thanks to a partnership between the Gwinnett Stripers, TeamSmile, Delta Dental, and Sun Life U.S. Held at Cooray Field, the event will feature pro athletes, mascots, and entertainment to create a fun atmosphere. Children with dental issues will be referred to TeamSmile’s Dental Home Project for long-term care. Since 2007, TeamSmile has provided over $22 million in free dental care to more than 60,000 children nationwide. We have opportunities for sponsors to get great engagement on these shows. Call 770.874.3200 for more info. We’ll be right back Break 2: STORY 4: State audit of state program for kids produced mixed results A state audit of the Georgia Family Connection Partnership, which received $30 million in funding for fiscal year 2024, revealed mixed results in improving child well-being indicators. While the program positively impacted high school graduation and teen birth rates, it showed no evidence of improvement in child abuse, low birthweight babies, or child poverty. Auditors criticized the program's decentralized model for limiting measurable impact and disagreed with the partnership’s claim that results were "promising." Established in 1991, the initiative aims to address Georgia's historically low child well-being rankings but faces challenges in demonstrating consistent statewide outcomes. STORY 5: Police: Mercedes SUV was stolen while being transported out of state Gwinnett County police are searching for a stolen 2025 matte gray Mercedes GLS with distinctive 24-inch Forgiato wheels. The SUV was last seen on June 6 when a subcontractor picked it up from a Snellville home to transport it out of state, but it never arrived. Police are seeking public assistance and encourage anyone with information to contact detectives or Crime Stoppers, which offers cash rewards for tips leading to an arrest and indictment. Break 3: And now here is Leah McGrath from Ingles Markets on sodas We’ll have closing comments after this Break 4: Ingles Markets 8 Signoff – Thanks again for hanging out with us on today’s Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast. If you enjoy these shows, we encourage you to check out our other offerings, like the Cherokee Tribune Ledger Podcast, the Marietta Daily Journal, or the Community Podcast for Rockdale Newton and Morgan Counties. Read more about all our stories and get other great content at www.gwinnettdailypost.com Did you know over 50% of Americans listen to podcasts weekly? Giving you important news about our community and telling great stories are what we do. Make sure you join us for our next episode and be sure to share this podcast on social media with your friends and family. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home Briefing and be sure to like, follow, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Produced by the BG Podcast Network Show Sponsors: www.ingles-markets.com www.kiamallofga.com #NewsPodcast #CurrentEvents #TopHeadlines #BreakingNews #PodcastDiscussion #PodcastNews #InDepthAnalysis #NewsAnalysis #PodcastTrending #WorldNews #LocalNews #GlobalNews #PodcastInsights #NewsBrief #PodcastUpdate #NewsRoundup #WeeklyNews #DailyNews #PodcastInterviews #HotTopics #PodcastOpinions #InvestigativeJournalism #BehindTheHeadlines #PodcastMedia #NewsStories #PodcastReports #JournalismMatters #PodcastPerspectives #NewsCommentary #PodcastListeners #NewsPodcastCommunity #NewsSource #PodcastCuration #WorldAffairs #PodcastUpdates #AudioNews #PodcastJournalism #EmergingStories #NewsFlash #PodcastConversations See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Unlocking better insurance reimbursements isn't about luck—it's about knowing the rules of the PPO game and playing to win!In this episode, we sit down with Dana Moss, an expert in PPO insurance allowables, to reveal the negotiation secrets that empowered her (and countless dental practices) to dramatically boost revenue. Dana's hands-on approach, honed over two decades of successfully managing and negotiating on behalf of dental offices, proves that with the right tactics, dentists can finally take control of their income streams.From demystifying negotiation timelines with major players like Delta Dental and MetLife, to understanding how to use percentile data and savvy step-by-step processes, Dana guides you through the strategies that work in today's PPO landscape. This conversation is packed with advice—covering fee balancing, building genuine relationships with insurance reps, and handling stalled negotiations—along with practical guidance on how even small practices can take a DIY approach. If maximizing PPO revenue and navigating insurance with confidence are your goals, this episode is your roadmap!What You'll Learn in This Episode:Why negotiating PPO allowables is non-negotiable for increased practice revenueHow to strategically time and approach negotiations with major PPOsProven tactics for fee balancing and setting competitive office feesHow percentile data can inform smarter out-of-network UCR feesStep-by-step processes for successful, organized negotiationHandling pushback: what to do when insurance companies refuseThe right (and wrong) way to leverage your network participationBuilding strong relationships with insurance reps for better outcomesDIY negotiation resources and tips for practices of every sizeKey principles for long-term, profitable PPO participationListen now and discover how you can take charge of your practice's PPO negotiations for lasting financial growth.‍‍Sponsors:‍CareStack: Modern, Secure, Cloud-Based Dental Software for Growing Your Practice! With state-of-the-art features including Online Appointments, Integrated Payments, Text Reminders and more. Click the link here for a special offer: thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/carestack‍Guest: Dana MossBusiness Name: PPO Dental ConsultingCheck out Dana's Media:‍Website: ppodentalconsulting.comEmail: dana@ppodentalconsulting.com‍Want the PPO Negotiation Kickstart Kit? Send this episode to 1 friend, screenshot it, and send it to Michael at: @thedentalmarketer, michael@thedentalmarketer.site, or in our Facebook group!‍Love the Podcast? Let Us Know How We're Doing on Apple Podcasts!‍Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society‍Please don't forget to share with us on Instagram when you are listening to the podcast AND if you are really wanting to show us love, then please leave a 5 star review on iTunes! [Click here to leave a review on iTunes]‍p.s. Some links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with these products/companies, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money unless you feel you need them or that they will help you with your goals.‍

 Mount Washington Auto Road Delta Dental Mount Washington Road Race Steve Smith closing up shop Hiker assisted off of Mount Washington  Hiker Assisted off Cannon Mountain New Detail on the Father - Daughter fatalities on Mount Katahdin  

Stu Brereton from Delta Dental of CT joins us at the Travelers Championship to discuss Dental Health and their involvement in the tournament.

In Who Moved My Cheese?, Dr. Spencer Johnson uses a simple allegory involving four characters (Sniff, Scurry, Hem, and Haw) who navigate a maze in search of “cheese” — a metaphor for what we want in life, such as a job, relationship, or health. The story centers on how each character reacts when the cheese is moved, reflecting the need to adapt to change.This narrative is eerily applicable to the current state of dental insurance — particularly how companies like Delta Dental operate. Dentists and patients alike are characters in this real-life maze, constantly trying to locate the “cheese” of quality oral health care. But the challenge is that insurers aren't just moving the cheese; they're changing the maze itself. The rules are always shifting: what procedures are covered, reimbursement rates, required pre-authorizations, and even what counts as “necessary” care.For providers committed to delivering the best, most advanced care, this inconsistency is not just frustrating — it's professionally and ethically compromising.Support the show

Kiera is joined by Dr. Christy Moore of Moore Smiles to talk about how Dr. Moore has maintained her passion for dentistry over the decades, including providing solid leadership for your team, keeping an amazing culture, and branching out to services like Botox. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:01) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today I have such a special guest. I love this woman so much. She has been a client of ours. She's been a dear friend of mine. This woman just makes you want to be a better human. And she's an incredible dentist, has some really fun ideas. I want her to come on and just share like a super unique way she runs her practice and just let you guys know this woman who I've just been so lucky to know for so long. Welcome to the show, Christy Moore. How are you today, Christy?   Dr.Christy Moore (00:27) I'm doing great, Kara. Thank you so much for that introduction. How about yourself?   Kiera Dent (00:30) Yeah,   I'm doing really, really well. It's been a podcast full day, but it's been fun. You're my last podcast of the day. So always an exciting thing. But Christy, you're such an incredible human. I feel like the world needs more Christy's. So I feel like you should tell them a little bit about who you are, where you're practicing, a little bit about your journey to practice ownership. And then like I said, she's doing something so special that so many offices are trying to do that can't do it successfully and Christy, you've done it. So.   Dr.Christy Moore (00:45) Thank you.   Kiera Dent (00:57) Just kind of tell everybody, like, how did you get into dentistry? What's kind of your path to where we are today?   Dr.Christy Moore (01:03) Yeah, so I actually started in dentistry all the way back in 1995, which was quite a few years ago. I started out as a dental assistant and then went to high-teen school, work, yeah.   Kiera Dent (01:13) That's why I like you. I had no clue you   were a dentalist. This is why we connect, Christy, all right? It says so much about you now. I get it, I understand.   Dr.Christy Moore (01:18) Yeah.   So I did, I did hygiene for about 10 years and then I went to dental school. I got out of dental school in 2012 and knew that I wanted to own my own practice and came out of the gate purchasing a practice from a previous Dr. Moore, no relation. We still kind of get people wanting to know like if that's my dad or my uncle, there's no relation whatsoever. But it came out in 2012, bought my own practice and started, started right out of the gate being an owner at that point.   Kiera Dent (01:52) That's incredible. And do you regret it? Because so many students straight out of school are like, ah, like, I don't think I'm ready. most of them are like, no, just buy. Are you so glad you bought right from the get go? Or do wish you would have like done an associate ship if you could do it all over again?   Dr.Christy Moore (02:06) I'm glad that I bought straight out of the gate. I kind of had an idea of like how I wanted to run the practice. I think being in dentistry for a few years before I even went to dental school, I knew what I liked, I knew what I didn't like. So being able to just start out and then own my own practice and then kind of build it from there was kind of nice.   You know, I didn't go in and change things immediately that the previous owner had been there for 40 years And so like I kind of slowly started implementing things and changing things like he didn't even have Computers so, you know you come out there's they were still scheduling on the little piece of you know The book we had to like erase it and all that stuff So ⁓ it we didn't have internet in the building, you know, and I come from like having internet. Yes. Yes 2012   Kiera Dent (02:50) 2012?   Dr.Christy Moore (02:53) So it was an event to get things up to par. But I'm so glad that I did it that way because the team that I lost team members, of course, but then the team members that stuck it out with me, like I still have one to this day. And she's one of my ride or dies and just levered her dead.   Kiera Dent (03:04) course.   That's amazing. I think that that's something like, I can't imagine. I mean, this is a true definition of a sleeping practice, Christy. Like I tell everybody, like, you want to buy a sleeping practice, like paper charts. I've never had anybody with no internet. And when I first started assisting, so let's think it would have been in 2003. So that's when I first heard we had a paper book and they like erased it, but that was 2003. I mean, you were multi-years post that and still   Dr.Christy Moore (03:35) Mm-hmm.   yeah.   Kiera Dent (03:41) Yeah, and I remember like erasing, like Terry was her name up front, it was my first office. They had the like suction, we're gonna spit in it. I thought it was disgusting, but I'm like, sweet, now don't have to worry about the UV light. I have no way to suction as an assistant, so that was kind of handy for me, but also disgusting. But I remember like, erase it out. I'm like, this seems so archaic, but YOLO. So here we go. Wow, okay. So then you bought the practice in 2012, no nothing.   Dr.Christy Moore (04:00) Yes. Yes.   Kiera Dent (04:09) kind of walk me through your practice journey. Like where did you go? Like how many team members? What was kind of the, I mean, you basically had like nothing but up from where you started. So that was a positive, like internet, paper charts. So kind of walk me through, you started there, where are you now today? What does your practice kind of look like? And then I'm gonna ask another question. I just wanna like get to that. Then I have.   Dr.Christy Moore (04:21) Yes, yes.   Yeah, so when I started out, I bought the practice and we had two hygienists, an assistant and a lady up front. And when I came in and told them that we were gonna go, yeah.   Kiera Dent (04:40) I wanted to die. You're like, I'm   gonna take away your paper and pencil and she's like, what? ⁓   Dr.Christy Moore (04:45) yeah, she quit immediately. Like I told her we were   going to get the computers and she turned in her notice. So yeah, that was immediate. So that was like the first change I had to overcome. So that was kind of interesting. ⁓ But yeah, so every, it was always funny because every time we had a change, things just got better. Things got better each time, you know, and like even like one of the hygienists that I had.   Kiera Dent (04:51) believe it.   Yeah.   Dr.Christy Moore (05:09) I told them we were gonna get digital x-rays, know, because we still had the old school x-rays for a while. When we went and got the digital x-rays, she prayed that Jesus would come back because she didn't want to have to do the training. I was like, seriously? Like you prayed that so that we didn't have to do the training? But yeah, there's people, people don't really like change, I found out. So.   Kiera Dent (05:19) What?   you   No, not at all.   Wow. I used to pray, I remember telling a dentist, I had a really strict dentist on our x-rays and I remember saying like, I hope I can make it into heaven if I can't pass x-rays off with you. Like I had a lot of sass as an assistant and that was what I was praying for Jesus for, but not to not have to learn it. Cause honestly, man, cause in dental school, like assisting school, I learned on film, like, which is so...   Dr.Christy Moore (05:42) haha   Yeah.   Mm-hmm.   Kiera Dent (05:54) embarrassing because I don't feel like I'm really that old but like truly I did. I remember taking the x-rays on Dexter and then when I went to a practice and it had digital I'm like hallelujah you can actually see where your misplacement of your x-ray machine is. I'm like this is so much faster like rather than waiting for it to come through then you're like oh shoot we cone cut and I had no clue like I can't imagine why anybody would be stressed to learn that because I'm like it was so much easier than film. So much easier.   Dr.Christy Moore (06:01) yeah.   Yes.   Yeah.   Yes, yes,   absolutely. But that was the thing, like I think that you were a better, you know, x-ray taker before because you did not want to have to wait, you know, five minutes and then retake it and made another one. So you're like, okay, I want to make sure that I know how to do this and do this efficiently so that I don't have to take it again.   Kiera Dent (06:39) mean, maybe that is why, because I was the one who actually trained a lot of the Midwestern students on radiology. They were having the doctors teach it and I was like, listen, guys, I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but I know you're not good at this and I'm actually really good at this. So why don't I teach these doctors how to like crush their FMX rather than you like, I'm like, you cone cut left and right guys. Like again, nothing personal. I'm just really good at this. So, but yeah, maybe that's why, cause I did learn on film originally and then went to.   Dr.Christy Moore (06:59) Yes.   Kiera Dent (07:06) by digital, but okay. So you go through this, you have an assistant praying for Jesus to come such an afternoon. Just go, okay. Now, now where are you at, Christy? Where's, where's life on the practice for you?   Dr.Christy Moore (07:12) Yes, yes.   So now   we ⁓ practice in Sweetwater, Tennessee. So it's a small rural town. I have no idea how many people are there, but it's not a whole lot. But it's funny because now we have three doctors. I think we have four assistants. We have four hygienists, a treatment coordinator, an office manager, and an insurance coordinator, and two girls up front.   Kiera Dent (07:43) So, and she has internet and likes computers. So we're good on that. That's incredible. You went from two to four and are you working on a second location? I feel like I've heard from Tiffany, like there's a mix with your friend, but like, is there a second location, just a solo location? What's kind of your plan with   Dr.Christy Moore (07:47) Yes. Yes.   It's a solo location, but I do have a friend that I went to dental school with and she actually is working in an office that's really just kind of down the street from me. And so we've been, I've been helping her quite a bit with that because she didn't really want to like, you know, run the practice or anything like that. And so I was like, well, I'll help you all that I can. So that's what we're kind of doing there, but it's an endo practice and I do not want to do endo at all.   Kiera Dent (08:26) You're like,   you will say good friends, you do your thing, I'll do my thing. And yeah. Exactly. And I know Tip just loves you. She loves coming to you. I know something that you have highlighted for me, like just in my time knowing you is one, you're always so positive and you're so fun. You make me laugh. But I think about your Christmas parties, like your holiday parties with your team. It's like sleepover at Christy's house, which.   Dr.Christy Moore (08:30) Yeah, I'll refer all my endopations to you.   Kiera Dent (08:48) Most doctors would never do that. And I just love you like, yeah, they love it. They come over, we do party, we have a slumber party, which I just think says a lot about you. So I'm curious, Christy, like something I think you do really well. Don't worry, there is a teaser. I want you guys to hear something she does really special, but I think you also do incredible for culture. What would you say to like owner doctors going from where you were to where you are today, having the culture that you built? What are some of the tips that you think you've done specifically as the owner and with your team?   to have this amazing culture that you run, Christy. Like you just have a fun culture that's amazing.   Dr.Christy Moore (09:20) ⁓ I think that my biggest thing is that I just try to treat people and treat my team the way I would want to be treated. You know, I was a team member for so long that that's all that I really knew. And sometimes I think it kind of came back and bit me a little bit just because I did allow things to go on a little bit longer in the beginning. But ⁓ I think treating people the way that I wanted to be treated has just been my motto for everything. The same way it was like dental stuff. Like I do for people in their mouth what I would want done.   in my mouth, you know? So I think if you kind of live by those rules, then how can you go wrong?   Kiera Dent (09:57) No, I agree with you. And Christy, this is just like your Southern hospitality. I'm always like, I want to go to Sweetwater and just have you be my dentist and work for you. Like just an amazing place that you do. I think kudos to you for doing that. I have a question. If you were to go back to 2012, you're buying this practice, what would be like the one, two or three, I'll allow it to three, things that you would tell yourself to get into place or things to know? Because I think so many owners are maybe where you were in 2012. Again, I have Wi-Fi.   probably have at least a computer in the practice. But you know, you never know. I'm always shocked at what I, I walked into this office, he's elite, you know him, he's in our group. And I walked into his practice, I've been coaching for a while, like this man is doing really, really well in his practice. And I walked in and I was like, you have paper charts? Like you didn't bother to tell me for a year that this was maybe an issue? And he was like, no, it's fine. And I'm like, it is not fine. Like, what are you doing?   Dr.Christy Moore (10:45) you   It is not fine.   Kiera Dent (10:51) like let's get you updated real quick. Kudos to him. I don't think usually doctors are that open to changing and he did so like mad kudos to him. I was like, Christy, I'll tell you off podcast air who this was and you will be shocked to like, wait, what? He's so like up to date on things. And I was like, okay, here we are. But if you could tell yourself back in 2012, what are like one, two or three things that you feel would just be good tips of advice for someone buying a practice or taking over a team or the growth you've had in the last 13 years?   to get to the level that you are, because you're still happy, you still love dentistry, you still enjoy it, like there's still sparkle in your eye, don't, like every time you come to our calls, I don't feel like Christy's like dead on the ground, like she hates her life. Like I know you have moments of that, but I still think you're very happy. So what would be some things you would tell yourself going back into that back in 2012?   Dr.Christy Moore (11:39) I think one of the biggest things, this is like no plug for the DLAA team or anything like that, but ⁓ I did not get a coach until about three years out of practice. ⁓ So I had practiced three years, I really wasn't growing, I really wasn't like going backwards, but I really wasn't growing or anything like that. And so at that point, that's when I actually brought on a coach. And I didn't bring on a coach because I was seeking one out. I had one just kind of show up at the office. And then it's like, he's...   He's here, you know, like I can't like say, she's busy because, you know, he's sitting out in the reception room, like waiting for me. And so like, but it was one of the best things that I did. It was hard just because, you know, they offer advice that works for, you know, like a generalized, you know, group of dentists. ⁓ And so being able to take some of that advice, but also being able to put my own spin on it.   ⁓ helped me out and I probably probably listening to the coaches a little bit more than what I did because they did allow grace for me to like drag my feet a little bit, you know, because there was things that had to be done that I didn't really want to do. ⁓ I'm you know, I've been on the disc profile for every, you know, so I'm definitely an IS. So I don't like to rock the boat and I like to have a good time. So like having tough conversations is one of the things that I do not like to do.   Kiera Dent (12:56) Yes you are.   Dr.Christy Moore (13:05) ⁓ So the other thing that I think that I would probably do is like make sure that I'm reading more books, learning how to be a leader and how to have those conversations, how to have it in a way that it's not like, I'm being the bad guy or I'm having to, you know, like be mean to somebody, but actually being able just to talk to them and just a conversation. And I've heard you say this a million times, it's a conversation, not a confrontation. And just knowing that because being clear is kind and I...   not always as clear as what I needed to be. I just wanted everybody to have fun and like me and so I let things go that probably shouldn't have been able to continue. So that's probably the two biggest things is just working on myself as a leader and you know bringing somebody in to help me a little bit earlier. I'm glad that I did bring somebody in at three years ⁓ just because like I knew I didn't know what I didn't know.   And I was like, well, I I think I need to be growing a little bit more than what I am, you being right out of dental school. So bringing somebody in, was definitely something I'm glad I did. I just wish I would have done it a little bit sooner.   Kiera Dent (14:17) Sure. And Christy, I'll take all the plugs. Like, of course, the Dental A Team, like, yeah, having a coach is always a good thing. We love you as a client. And Tip, I know I really just watched you grow. And I do think that having someone teach you what you don't know. And mean, Christy, you came in with a lot of experience. So even like dentists who weren't assistants, weren't hygienists, I mean, you already came with a pretty good dental pedigree chart to you ⁓ to have that. agree. And even for me, I'm like, I coach businesses and yet having a coach, having someone guide me that's been there, done that, done that successfully, I think.   Dr.Christy Moore (14:20) Ha   Kiera Dent (14:47) is so helpful and I agree the leadership piece it's like well you did four years of dental school to learn how to get that prep get that crown it's like well let's also do at least that amount of time to be leaders and leadership is not like something you you end up at you get your degree it's a forever journey so it's like all right here we are let's settle in like this is what we elected to do but Christy I do and Tiff will say that she's watched you grow a lot which is really fun for us to see you grow and evolve too ⁓ but   Dr.Christy Moore (15:01) No. Yeah.   Kiera Dent (15:15) I've teased this out a couple of times. Christy has the Botox practice. Like they, she actually has done it. She's cracked the code. So many offices are like, no, I only have Botox in here to do my own face. So Christy, I want to talk about this because I've been jonesing to talk about this. I secretly want to know too, but how on earth have you cracked the code to get Botox to be a profitable portion, a big piece of your practice? ⁓ Because I think like everybody wants to do this and no one knows how to do it. Like literally, I think you are my first office to ever.   actually have it be successful. So Christy, take us away on Botox. I know people, I'm I've been waiting to drop this because I'm like, it's going to be so great. No one knows how to do this other than Christy Moore. So let's let it rip.   Dr.Christy Moore (15:57) Well, the thing too is like anybody can do it. Like if I can do it in Sweetwater, Tennessee, like anybody can do this anywhere. Actually, I started with the first course that I ever took was probably, I think it was like 2016 or something like that. And the only reason I took the course was because I had the girls in the office wanted me to do it and a couple of patients. Yeah. And so I went and took the course and while I was at the course, I ended up signing up for the TMD course like the next day. Like that wasn't even on the plan.   Kiera Dent (16:15) Yep. ⁓   Dr.Christy Moore (16:26) but I went ahead and signed up for that. And that was like a true passion for me just because I was like, wow, like this does more than just, you know, helps with wrinkles. This can actually help patients. This is problems that they're having when they come in the office. And so like I did that part and then I come back to work and it's like, okay, now what? You know, so like one of the things that I started doing was I was like, okay, girls, you got to get in the chair. We're going to do some, we're going to do some Botox on you, you know? And so that was kind of how it started. We, did the team members.   Kiera Dent (16:51) Yeah.   Dr.Christy Moore (16:54) I had a few steady patients that would come in, but it really didn't go quick. It was a slow going thing at first. ⁓ And then I started talking to patients about TMD issues, clenching and grinding, they're coming in with headaches. Men typically don't have pain associated with it, but a lot of women do. And so I would say, well, you know what? What's really helped me is that I can go in here and treat your masseters.   and with some Botox there and then that can help you quit clenching and it helps with headaches. I'm going over that and then their next thing out of their mouth is, well, if you can do my massagers, can you help my face too? And I'm like, oh, well, actually, yes, we can. We can help you out there. And then it just kind of get a little bit more, a few more patients, word of mouth. And it really wasn't until probably about two or three years ago.   you know, we just doing more and more people. And then I brought in a marketing person who's actually my daughter and she's my treatment coordinator as well. And she's just really put it out there on social media. And she got these PowerPoints together and this is what we play. Like it's in the reception room, it's in all the treatment rooms. And it's just like what can be done, what all we offer. And so from 2016 to now,   Like we've moved from just doing like Botox, but we kind of do like all the stuff. You know, we do filler, we do threads, we do smooth threads, we do lifting threads, we do micro-needling. And then we recently just got a laser as well. So, you know, that's one of the things that just kind of getting the word out and letting people know is the biggest hurdle. And that was probably the biggest thing that helped us for sure about getting the word out. Now we have people...   that call in and like we just recently had a guy call in and he wanted to a coupon. I want to know if we had coupons for the wife because he wanted to give her a gift certificate for a Botox. He found us online. So just getting the word out there is probably the hardest thing, but it's the best thing to do. treating your team members because they're walking advertisements. And who better to practice on than your team members because   Kiera Dent (18:55) Thank   Dr.Christy Moore (19:11) You know, if you mess up, which you can, you know, they're more forgiving and then you get, you know, the next time around you get another little chance to do it a little bit better. And then you're like, okay, now you're learning. So not only are you getting advertisement out there, but you're learning as you go too. And I've done like all kinds of training. And I don't just go with one person. Like I've done like several different.   I've done faces, I've done metastatics, I've done the AAFE, I did a couple of different individual people because I feel like if you can learn from everybody and take a little bit from everybody and then you bring it in and make it your own and I think that's kind what we've done at our little office.   Kiera Dent (19:56) I love it, Christy. Okay, let's talk about it. A few things I've noticed is you guys have a big Botox sign in your practice. I think it's hot pink. Is this really true? I'm pretty sure. I thought about you, right? Okay, so.   Dr.Christy Moore (20:05) Mm-hmm Yeah, we have a slideshow   and it's got it's got all the talks it's got everything on there. Yeah The neon sign Yeah   Kiera Dent (20:13) Yeah, so one thing is, it's neon. That's what I'm saying.   It's like a tube neon, Botox across her wall sign that I'm like, okay, number one, yes. This is what I'm talking about. When you wanna market something and people are like, I can't get Botox. I'm like, well, nobody even knows that you even do it. So, Christy, you're like loud and bold about it. It's a hot pink sign that I remember. I saw people under it. I've seen it on your social. But one of the things, like how else?   Dr.Christy Moore (20:23) Says less talks about it. Yeah.   yeah.   Kiera Dent (20:42) I also love that you talked about you treatment plan it in. Like you as a dentist are treatment planning this Botox and looking at their masseter muscles, just like anything else. I feel like you've done a really good job of pulling that into just even do it clinically, not just aesthetically, which I think that's also really great. But what would you say if I'm a new dentist? And I also love these to have taken it from so many people because I did have someone give me Botox and I full blown got a halo.   Like it was so thick, it was so heavy. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I've never, like, I need my eyebrows off my eyes. Like get that up. It feels terrible. So I'm glad to hear that you're like just constantly going, but what would you say? Okay, new dentist, I just took the course. I'm super excited. I think one, it bold. Two, do the masseters. Cause that's a very easy way to start treatment planning and talking about it for word of mouth. But what else would you say to do? Like, I mean, you got the whole PowerPoint. So.   What would you say would be avenue one, two or three to really grow this to get it as a big portion of my practice?   Dr.Christy Moore (21:39) Working on friends and family, working on your team, that's the number one thing. And then just getting it out there on social media. Having your team, even if you're doing injections on them, videoing that, getting out there and doing stuff. like Laken, she makes me do things that is uncomfortable for me. And so she's like, oh, you'll be fine. You're gonna get out here and you're gonna do it. She did like a...   a Facebook live where I'm doing filler and she asked me a question and I don't answer her and she's like, what? was like, well, maybe I didn't know the answer. So if I don't know the answer, I'm just not gonna answer you. And she's like, well, it's okay. I'm just doing filler words here. We're just trying to make the conversation go. And I'm like, okay. But getting out there and just letting people know, that is the biggest thing. It's new to our practice. It's, let's.   do specials, like we've done Botox parties. ⁓ We did like a Sips and Scans and Botox. We've done kind of all types of little things where we've actually give people discounts just to get them in. We've actually gone out and gave ⁓ like little coupons out to like the different salons in the area, just trying to get the word out there any way that we can to let people know, hey, we're doing this. Who's gonna know your face better than anybody than a dentist? I mean, we have like a whole semester on just   head and neck anatomy. And so like that's, it's just the thing that they're like, I didn't know a dentist could do that. And you know, and it's like, well, yeah, like we're probably really good at doing it. You know, just because we do know the muscles, we do know everything as far as like this works this way, this works that way, you know, making sure that you're treating the patient, not just the face, like making sure that we're, cause I do have people come in and they're like, well I want some Botox up here.   Kiera Dent (23:15) Thank   Dr.Christy Moore (23:33) And it may be like older ladies and like they've already got the hooded eyelids. And I'm like, honey, I can't do a lot of Botox up there. Like I can take away your wrinkles, but if I do that, like you're not gonna be able to hold your eyelids up. So it's gonna make it harder for you to see. When they're like, oh, well, I don't want that. So just kind of knowing your anatomy, knowing what muscles do what, and then not being afraid to go in and just try it. Just get in there and do it. It's not.   Even if you think you've messed somebody up, I mean, it's what, three months? So it's not anything that you can't recover from. And then patients are very forgiving. They're very understanding. ⁓ In my time of doing it, I've had two people that I've actually give a little crooked smile to. And both of them are like, it's okay. Don't worry about it. And I feel horrible. And they're like, no, it's okay. It'll be better. It's not really that noticeable. And I'm like,   Kiera Dent (24:06) Exactly.   Dr.Christy Moore (24:31) I notice it, you know? So I'm just doing it because people, want it. They don't want to go anywhere else. They want you to be able to do it. And if you can do it, then why not? You know? So I think that just not being afraid just to try it and do it and just, even if you're scared, like do it scared. Like I heard, I seen that the other day and it was like, you I'm nervous every time I get up and speak in front of somebody and they're like, well, how do you do it? He said, I just get up and do it scared. I'm like, that's...   Kiera Dent (24:42) Mm-hmm.   Dr.Christy Moore (25:00) That's so interesting because a lot of people, they're like, well, I'm scared. I'm not going to do it. And so if you don't do it, you're never going to not get scared or not get you. You got to get comfortable. You got to be comfortable being uncomfortable. And that's the only way to do it is just to get in there and do it.   Kiera Dent (25:17) I agree. Christy, I love that. And I love that you just talked about, like, I think something that you did differently is you decided this would be a portion of your practice. It's not just for the ladies in the practice. You're like, no, we're going to have this as a portion. We're going to make this like it's a full procedure in our office. I'm not just doing it for like our team. And I think that that's something where you went in with that attitude. I think there's a huge passion that you have on it, but I agree. think there are girls like, Kiera, who does your Botox? I'm like, the dentist. And they're like, what?   Dr.Christy Moore (25:45) Mm-hmm.   Kiera Dent (25:46) And I'm like, yeah.   Dr.Christy Moore (25:46) Yeah.   Kiera Dent (25:47) And I also love dentists because I went to a dentist versus an esthetician versus an MD. I've gone through three different people. The esthetician gave me the most amount of Botox. That's the one where I got the hood. Like, believe it or not, she's the one who gave it to me. And like, the amount of Botox she put in me was incredible. Then I went to an MD who was doing it. And he also like it was a lot like my face was frozen solid, frozen, frozen. And I'm like, all right, so we're like,   he did bro-tox, which that's a good phrase. I think that if you wanted to target the men, he called it bro-tox for the men, which I that was super clever. But my husband even like, he could not move his face at all. So it was a little, in my opinion, excessive. But dentists I feel are more conservative on the botox level. You don't tend to go quite as much as the estheticians or the MDs, which I appreciate. ⁓ Like you said, you know the muscles, you know the anatomy super well. And I think like, go for it, have it as a portion.   Dr.Christy Moore (26:21) Mm-hmm.   Kiera Dent (26:43) So with your numbers, because Christy, I know you know your numbers, like what percentage of your practice does Botox bring in? Do you know that? I could be putting you on the spot. So maybe I'm like, you're taught her and I'm asking you questions you don't.   Dr.Christy Moore (26:53) Yeah,   I'm not really 100 % sure to be honest with you. I would say it's at least probably at least 10%. You know, I would like for it to be more. And that's one of my goals is to get that side of the business to be, you know, grow and be more because like for me, like as a dentist, we hear all the time, you know, I hate the dentist. Oh, no offense, but I hate the dentist. Are you going to stick that needle in my mouth? Are you going to stick that in my guns? You know, I've never had one person ever say,   Kiera Dent (27:01) I think so too.   Dr.Christy Moore (27:23) I hate my injector. You know, are you going to stick that needle in my face? Like, no, they love you. They want the, and they, they, they will pay money for it. You don't have to worry about insurance, you know, when you're doing that part. So I would definitely like for that to be more like, if I can have my whole day just doing like the aesthetic stuff, like that would be my ideal day, you know, because that's, it's, it's almost like, it's like a masterpiece. You know, you've got, you've got this canvas and you're not changing people. You're just enhancing what they already have.   Kiera Dent (27:43) was amazing.   Dr.Christy Moore (27:53) You know, like I don't want to go in, my goal is that when somebody leaves the practice that they don't actually look like they've had Botox or they don't look like they've had filler. I want them to look fresh, not frozen, like you said. And so like, you know, that goes back to like knowing the muscles, watching the patient, treating the actual patient instead of like the cookie cutter, you know, oh, well, to treat the glabella, you know, you need, you know, 20 to 24 units, you know, to treat the frontalis, you need 20 to 24 units, you know.   It's like, okay, well, they pull really hard here, but they don't really pull hard here. So let's treat it this way, you know? And so, like, so, cause each one of them are like FDA approved for a certain amount, you know? And that, and that's like the standard, but everybody's different. And so that's my, you know, I just want to make sure that I treat the patients, treat the patient the way the patient needs to be treated.   Kiera Dent (28:30) Yeah.   Amen. And I love that about Christy and I think like, okay, I just did some math. So let's say you have a million dollar practice 10 % that's 100 grand pulling in, which I know Christy, your practice is not the million dollar practice. You guys can do the math, you can figure it out. But like if it's 10 % think about that, that's an extra hundred thousand. The overhead on it's pretty minimal. It's a great piece. Like you said, you're able to do these extra pieces. And you're right, there's no insurance. People pay top dollar to stay looking young. It's incredible. Like   Dr.Christy Moore (29:11) the   Kiera Dent (29:12) ⁓ I also was thinking of there's people all around here and they're called like the injection queen or they're like, so it's like really on their social media. It's not just their dentistry piece, but it's this whole portion of aesthetics that people then are coming for it because they want to look good. I saw an office at dental practice and they literally have a Botox membership plan. And I was like, that is freaking clever. Yeah, tell us about it. Okay, tell more about this. How does it work and do people really sign up for it? Cause I think it's so smart.   Dr.Christy Moore (29:32) We have that. Yeah.   Absolutely,   absolutely they sign up for it. And so I, of course, I don't try to reinvent the wheel. I got it from somebody else, but it's basically a membership plan. They pay for 20 units for the year. So it's 20 units for four times throughout the year. If they don't use it, they lose it. But once they pay for that, so their initial upfront payment is probably a little bit more, but it ends up saving them about $300 throughout the year.   Kiera Dent (29:58) Mm-hmm.   Dr.Christy Moore (30:07) but it actually like they pre-play for 20 units each time. so, you know, so it's just, and then they get a discount on the actual dollar amount that they actually get. So, you know, like if you have somebody that typically gets 50 units, then they only have to pay for 30 units each time that they come in.   So it actually, and I tell them, they're like, ⁓ that's a whole lot better, because then my husband don't ask questions on, it's less, that's less about. And I'm like, yeah, absolutely. And I've had people actually even put money in, pay throughout that just so that they have it. And that's when I was like, well, why don't we do a membership plan? That makes it a whole lot easier. And also I wanted to reward my patients that have been loyal, that have been coming in. Times are changing, and so prices go up.   Kiera Dent (30:46) yet.   Dr.Christy Moore (30:56) And so like I didn't really want to have to like increase my price just because, know, you know, I've been doing it for a while. I've really not changed my price and I didn't want to have to change my price. So my people that have been coming in and loyal to me, I wanted to be able to give them, give back to them and give, you know, give them the opportunity to keep it at the price that I was doing it for. And so that's kind that was one of the other, you know, benefits for me is so that I could actually give back to those people that trusted me with their face.   when I was still learning and stuff. ⁓ And so it's worked out really well. I don't know how many people we have on it now, but we get people like just about every day when they come in, we'll have at least like one or two a week that'll sign up on the membership plan.   Kiera Dent (31:41) which is so smart because Botox is like better than profies. Like they have to come in every three months rather than every six months. ⁓ It is something where I'm not gonna lie. Like my husband, it was random. He did tell me, I got it done. And a couple of days later, he didn't know. Cause I get it on the road, Christy. I'm one of those, I mean, I work with a lot of dentists. So when I'm traveling around, I get my face frozen and I came home and my husband's like, gosh, Kiera, you look a lot better. Like what, did you change your hair? And I was like,   Dr.Christy Moore (31:45) Mm-hmm.   Kiera Dent (32:09) No, my face just looks younger and you can definitely tell and I appreciate that. And when you get that reinforcement, you're like, yes, I'm going to keep up with this and I want to. And it's the only like proactive preventative way right now. Like there's biohacking on all the levels, but just having that as a piece for it. And so I think it's just an awesome, awesome thing to do. I love the membership plan. I love that you're growing it. Like this is where I saying, like you have cracked the code on how to do it. And I was like, I've got to dig into this. And I want people to hear because   Dr.Christy Moore (32:16) Yes.   Kiera Dent (32:37) I think Christy, it also keeps your excitement for dentistry alive. I think you get passionate because it's a new passion project. It's fun for you. It's something different. I love that you said like, I want you looking fresh, not frozen. It made me giggle. like, you want me to still look alive rather than dead in my coffin? Like, God, I agree. That's how I want to feel too. So thank you. ⁓ But any other thoughts you have of practices wanting to put in Botox or anything else about your practice? Because this is like   Dr.Christy Moore (32:44) Mm-hmm.   Yes.   Kiera Dent (33:02) the nuts and bolts of what I want to talk about tonight. So any last thoughts you have around it, because I truly appreciate you just coming on and sharing what you're doing in your practice.   Dr.Christy Moore (33:11) I think the biggest thing is just, you you just have to do it. You know, like I said before, if you're scared to do it, just do it scared. You know, after so many times, it's not as scary anymore. Like we actually have ⁓ in our schedule, like we have blocks for like our tox patients for them to come in. And so, you know, those may get filled, they may not get filled. But when they get filled, like it's always like, it's usually an extra anywhere between 500 to $1,000.   for just a little extra that doesn't really take me that long. Like I come in and I look and I'm like, okay, this is what we're gonna do. The girls draw it up, they have it already. I come back in, the face is clean, the photos are taken. We did injections and then the patient's out the door. And so it's basically like a hygiene check for me. So I'm in and out quick. But the patients have been in there with a team member, so they feel like they're getting heard.   Kiera Dent (34:00) Mm-hmm.   Dr.Christy Moore (34:09) They know all of their concerns are being addressed. so, you know, just having a team there that supports you and believes in you. And like once they believe in you, then, you know, then that's how the patients start believing in you.   Kiera Dent (34:22) Awesome, Christy. I love that so much. I'm like, gosh, doctors, when you're complaining to us about your Delta Dental ⁓ exam pricing, well, maybe throw a little bit of those botox ones. Like you said, I'm like, $500 exam versus my $30 exam feels a little bit more fun, a little more fun for you. But Christy, kudos to it. And all of you listening, I hope you just took notes. You realize like you can add these as portions of your practice and not just like a small sliver, but a true like 10 % of your practice bringing that in.   having it be a big portion of it. And like you said, giving back to people. I prefer a dentist to do my Botox over an esthetician or an MD. And that's me personally, who's gone to several different people, people who are the best, people who are over that. And I mean, Botox are paying $10 to $12 a unit with Botox or Disport. That's a pretty good gig all the way around. And I just think it's a fun thing. So Christy, thanks for being in our life. These are the things, the way I found out was in our doctor mastermind. We have our doctor only, and I was like.   Christy's doing Botox, I'm gonna put it on the podcast and talk about this more. So this is fun stuff to also have you as a client, to have you in our life, to have you in our world. You just bring a wealth of goodness, Christy. So thanks for being on the podcast. I know it's the end of your day, so thanks for coming. Yeah, of course, super happy to have you. Of course. And for all of you listening, go figure out how to put Botox in your schedule. Go figure out how to do this. Do it scared, whatever it is for you, do it scared. If we can help in any way, reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening. We'll catch you next time.   Dr.Christy Moore (35:28) Well, thank you.   Thank you.   Kiera Dent (35:47) The Dental A Team podcast.  

In this episode, Sarah Chavarria, CEO of Delta Dental of California and Affiliates, discusses the growing link between oral and overall health, the future of digital-forward care, and strategies to expand access to underserved populations. She also shares what excites her most about the evolving dental landscape and the leadership needed to drive meaningful change.

In this episode, Sarah Chavarria, CEO of Delta Dental of California and Affiliates, discusses the growing link between oral and overall health, the future of digital-forward care, and strategies to expand access to underserved populations. She also shares what excites her most about the evolving dental landscape and the leadership needed to drive meaningful change.

In this episode of the STEMulating Conversations, we welcome Missy Acosta, Senior Vice President of Brand Experience at Delta Dental of Tennessee.  Missy is a a purpose-driven leader with a career rooted in storytelling, strategy, and service across several industries/  She shares how her belief in the power of a healthy smile goes far beyond oral health—it's a tool for building confidence, From leading brand initiatives at Delta Dental to garnering Legislative support to address oral health in the State, to serving on nonprofit board , Missy discusses how she blends creativity with compassion, and why true leadership is about creating impact—and doing it with a smile. From early career influences to the leaders who challenged and uplifted her, Missy also acknowledges how mentorship has fueled her growth and deepened her commitment to leading with purpose.   

In this week's episode of Go Gaddis Real Estate Radio, we're bringing a mix of market insight, neighborhood charm, and a little whimsy to your Saturday morning! Join Cleve Gaddis, your Metro Atlanta real estate expert, as we take a closer look at local trends and national conversations shaping the housing market.

Steve Layman visits with Delta Dental of Tennessee Senior Vice President, Brand Experience Missy Acosta to celebrate the longstanding partnership between Belmont Athletics and Delta Dental of Tennessee. Layman and Acosta discuss the importance of wearing mouthguards during sport competition as Delta Dental is a leading advocate for Youth Sports Safety Month during April. Acosta praised Belmont coaches, such as Casey Alexander and Bart Brooks, as being generous partners to amplify the Delta Dental message, and the synergy between the Belmont University and Delta Dental missions. Layman and Acosta also discussed Delta Dental's far-reaching presence on the Belmont campus, including the lobby of the Crockett Center for Athletic Excellence, and basketball gameday in the Curb Event Center. For instance, Delta Dental mascot Marshall Molar is friends with Belmont mascot, Bruiser, and that has led to wonderful memories for children and families. The pair also highlight new initiatives for Delta Dental of Tennessee in the months to come.

In this episode of the Wise Decision Maker Show, Dr. Gleb Tsipursky speaks to Greg Donaca, CEO of Delta Dental of Idaho, about how to get stakeholder support for Gen AI adoption.You can learn about Delta Dental of Idaho at https://www.deltadentalid.com/

In this episode of Lessons in Leadership, Steve Adubato and Mary Gamba talk with Patrice Ventura, VP of Talent Development, Human Resources, Hackensack Meridian Health, about the role talent development and organizational effectiveness play in organizations. Then, Steve is joined by Karim Bennis, COO, Delta Dental of New Jersey and Connecticut, to talk about being … Continue reading Lessons in Leadership: Patrice Ventura and Karim Bennis

Dr. Andrew Lusk is a pediatric dentist from West Virginia. He started a practice almost two years ago, and he comes on the show to talk about life as a West Virginia practice owner. In our discussion, we talk about:- Should pediatric dentists work on Fridays?- Why it's tough to fight Delta Dental, and why using umbrella insurance plans worked for him- Using minimally invasive treatment options to help his patients- Why it's tough being a business owner with cash flow and income inconsistencies

The "Hygienist Inspired" chairside recruitment program launched this week – a partnership between ADHA and the Foundations of Delta Dental. Three incredible dedicated Advisory Committee members share their dental hygiene journeys with host, Matt Crespin, and explain how this initiative builds diversity in dental hygiene and addresses workforce shortages while improving access to care in underserved communities. Learn about becoming a Hygienist Inspired Ally in this movement and how dental hygienists can inspire future professionals through direct chairside conversations and person connections. Matt shares the latest ADHA news from a busy start to 2025. Guests: Marlyce James, MEd, RDH, CDA, FADHA; Richard Robinson, BS, RDH; Ryan D. Rutar, RDH, MAM, FADHA, MAADH (Hygienist Inspired Advisory Committee) Host: Matt Crespin, MPH, RDH, FADHA   www.adha.org/HygienistInspired www.adha.org/Newsroom  

In this very special, 200th episode of Lessons in Leadership, Steve Adubato and Mary Gamba talk about their journey from a hosting an audio podcast to a video series airing on a variety of broadcast and digital outlets. Then, Steve is joined once again by Dennis Wilson, President & CEO (Retired), Special Advisor, Delta Dental … Continue reading Lessons in Leadership: 200th Episode and Dennis Wilson and Paul Di Maio

I just saw an article stating the “Washington State Dental Association (WSDA) is coming for Delta Dental of Washington (DDOW).” The name of the article is called, “Putting patient Care First: Fixing Washington's Broken Dental Benefits System.” They stated that it's “the battle over dental benefits.” Well, they got it partially correct.When I read the article to this point, I started to get a little bit excited. I began to think that they finally got it. They understood that DDOW is coming between the dentist's ability to deliver quality dentistry to their patients. I began to think that WSDA finally understood what was meant by the term LEPAT (least expensive professionally accepted treatment) and how dentists could offer MEPAT (more expensive professionally accepted treatment) dental services without interference from DDOW. I was disappointed when my eyes passed to the next sentence.Support the show

10 - 22 - 24 DELTA DENTAL PARK + WHAT'S SOMETHING YOU REFUSE TO CALL BY ITS NEW NAME by Maine's Coast 93.1

Kiera reviews the September book club selection: Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins. She compares the Die with Zero method with profit-first, talks about applying this mindset in her own life, and how to enjoy life richly. Find the full book club rundown here! Episode resources: Reach out to Kiera Tune Into DAT's Monthly Webinar Practice Momentum Group Consulting Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Become Dental A-Team Platinum! Review the podcast Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:01.346) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and it is book club time. And this is one of my favorite books and I am so excited and I hope you read it with me. And if you didn't, hey, well, here's your opportunity to read the book club. I will give you a synopsis and hopefully I make this so intriguing and so exciting that you definitely want to go read it. So this book is called Die With Zero and you better believe that it is gonna trip your minds up. So if you're a prophet first person, if you don't even know what the heck I'm talking about,   Well, welcome, because this is the book club all about fulfillment. As always, thank you guys so much for being podcast listeners. Please do me a solid and go leave a review today. Go leave those five stars. Share this with someone that you know might be considering how are they generating the revenue in their practice? How are they? What's their fulfillment life plan? But share this podcast because my goal is to get this podcast into the hands of every dental practice to be able to positively impact and inspire offices to be the best leaders.   the best teams to serve their patients at the highest level and truly be able to give back on a level that we as far outside of our, our wildest dreams and to do it with ease. This podcast was made for people just like you who don't just understand you, but are you I've sat in your shoes. I am a business owner. I come to the table with expertise and understanding and humility and love and compassion and no judgment. And I just ask that you guys share this with a dentist who right now could benefit from having that.   positive impact in their life. An office manager who might be struggling with their team or maybe someone who's thriving. Share in a Facebook group, share in a group that you're a part of. Go in there. You guys, I had an office reach out and they're like, Kiera, we're struggling. We're dropping Delta Dental and we need some verbiage. And I popped onto our website and I went to our podcast and I typed in insurance dropping verbiage. And there's three incredible podcasts. So truly anything you guys might be struggling with or wanting to know more about, I guarantee you in our almost thousands of episodes.   you will be able to find that. And if you can't find it, email me Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. Our team truly lives to serve you and they want to make your life easy. So reach out. We love you guys. So the broadcast today is Die With Zero. You guys, I'm so excited and I can't wait to talk about this. So Die With Zero, it's funny, my brother, I actually called him. My brother is in business and finance and I said, know, Rhett, that's his name.   Kiera Dent (02:27.468) I said, Rhett, I have a question for you. This was a couple, gosh, this was probably a year ago. said, if you had an opportunity to grow your business to insane heights, would you do that? Or would you kind of like chill and coast? My brother's super brilliant. He's an MBA. He works for a really large company. His job is to go in and inspire teams and to help them out. And he's also efficiency, which means he also fires people. And my brother is someone that I think is one of the most incredible people.   Like I truly look up to him. He's two years younger than me. And I said, Rhett, what would you do? And Rhett told me, said, Kiera, you know, if I had an opportunity to serve and to give, I would make my business as big as I could possibly make it. Okay. Fast forward a year, Rhett came to me and he said, Kiera, I've actually been thinking about that conversation. And I read a book called Die With Zero. Have you read it? And I said, you better freaking believe I've read it. Let's talk about it. And he said, I actually think I've changed my mind on your business or business ideas in general. He said,   I actually think I would find what fulfills you versus slaying away for your entire life. He said, die with zero definitely gave me a different perspective. And I thought, I love this because die with zero. actually think I was talking to my husband about this morning before I got onto podcasts. And I think die with zero is such a mind trip because it's contrary to what we've been taught all of our lives. We've been taught, go to work, save for retirement, get your retirement at 65.   And then go and live this glamorous retirement life. there's profit first with Mike McAllux, which I'm obsessed with profit first. And I remember when I did a book club with our team on profit first, one of our team members, she's like, I cannot handle die with zeros mentality because profit first is talking to us about building the profit and saving and building this whole piece. And I was zero is talking about like living in the moment. So I'm here to say, I actually don't know which camp I sit in.   I actually think there's beauty in both of them. But this Die with Zero, Getting All You Can From Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins. So if you haven't read it, I strongly encourage you to read it. It's going to be incredible for you. But Die with Zero, I'm just gonna give you guys a couple little quick synopsis of some of the points in the book so we can book club on it. So there's 10 points that they have in here. Number one is maximize positive life experiences. Number two, invest in experiences early.   Kiera Dent (04:50.456) Three, aim to die with zero money. Four, use all available planning tools. Five, give money to kids in charity early. Don't live life on autopilot. Seven, plan in terms of seasons. Eight, no one to stop. And nine, take big risks early, not later. Okay, so lots of things in here, but really he said, gosh, I'll read you guys this quote from him.   He said, if you spend hours and hours of your life acquiring money and then die without spending all of that money, then you've needlessly wasted too many precious hours of your life. There's just no way to get those hours back. If you die with 1 million left, that's 1 million of experiences you didn't have. And if you die with 50 ,000 left, well, that's 50 ,000 of experiences you didn't have. No way is that optimal. The question we must answer is how to make the most of our finite time on earth. Ooh, like I love it.   Because that's, think, I think that's the question. And so when we look at these 10 aspects of it, again, like I'm saying, I don't think my perfect camp is here, but I think like my conversation with my brother was very much one of, right? Like we all think of the fear, like what happens if we run out of money? My conversations with Ryan Isaac of Dentist Advisors, he's my financial advisor, there are always conversations around, well, Ryan, like how do I know I'll have enough money to make it to me being?   97 years old with my cotton candy pink hair and I'm living the most fulfilling life as well. And so this whole principle, my mom and I were talking, my grandma, she just turned, I believe she just turned 90 and I talked to my mom and my grandma has like, she's done well. Her mom, so my great grandma passed away and there was this like very large fortune that was left. And I talked to my mom and I said, mom, grandma's not gonna be alive for that much longer.   and she fell and she slipped and she fell and she broke some vertebrae and some ribs. This is a 90 year old woman and my grandma is still so afraid of money and this woman has more than enough money. She's definitely not gonna be dying with zero. And I talked to my mom about this because there's also this piece of my mom, maybe there's these weird pieces of it, then she'll get an inheritance from her mom. But I talked to her about this book and I said, mom.   Kiera Dent (07:06.35) Grandma, like what if you could actually live this incredible world with her where you made her last decade of her life the best decade of her entire life? Where she's doing all the experiences. But what's crazy about it is my grandma is now 90. And that to me, I think is the premise of this book of like, why did my grandma wait until she was 90?   And who knows if she'll even be able to do it. But in the book, I remember there was like a definition of the ideal optimal life is we want to make it too. So if I plan to pass away, I hope I make it to a hundred, maybe 130, but let's just say I pass away at 97, which feels a little creepy right now to me to like put a death date on me. but the hope is that like, I'm living my fullest, most richest life all the way up until like 96 with my health and all this. And then in my last year, my money and my health kind of like,   nose dive and I go out of this world fully rich in life experiences and really living to the fullest. Now my other grandma, she's my adopted grandma and she is, I believe she just turned 96 actually and she's been able to paint and she goes on trips and she hangs out with her elderly group. Her husband passed away, my gosh, like at least 20 years ago.   But my adopted grandma, she is very vibrant and I'm looking at her and at 96 she's still walking up and downstairs and yes she's had a knee replacement and there's some things going on with her eyes, but she paints china and has like very world -renowned china painter. She teaches, she has a kiln in her house. I wish I would have taken lessons from her when I lived with her and I never took advantage of that. She reads, but just recently probably within the last, I don't know, three years   she stopped traveling, but up until then she was traveling. And I think about her and I have no idea where her financial state is, but I think about her and I'm like, that's the life that I want to be living where I'm healthy and I'm taking care of my health and I'm able to do all the things that I love doing until like my last, like hopefully six months of my life. And then like at that point we're gone. And that's what I think Bill Perkins whole point in all of this book is, which is why I love it is thinking differently of not a saving until we're out of money or saving until we're at this certain space because   Kiera Dent (09:15.95) He talked about in the book of like going to Italy, maybe when we're 40, but like if we could have gotten in our 20s, we're younger, we're more vibrant, and we have longer time for the investment of that experience in our life rather than less time with those experiences and talking about how, yes, we're always trying to save money and yes, we need money to survive. I'm not here to discredit that for one second, but is there a balance between the amount of money that we need and the life experiences that we're able to maximize? So that's why he's saying maximize our positive life experiences.   Are we spending money on experiences rather than just saving money? Now, this is where the mind trip is because we still need money to be able to survive. And so how are we able to maybe accomplish both? And that's really what I think I'm obsessed with with this book club. And I hope you guys are geeking on it with me and I hope I'm challenging your beliefs as well. But he said, expect invest in experiences earlier because that allows you to have that longer term ROI on life experiences. Like if you were to even think back on the last 10 years of your life, what are some of the highlights?   Gosh, like the last 10 years of my life, like I'm just gonna do my 30s for you. Jason graduated pharmacy school. We have hit all seven continents, which I'm obsessed with going to. We went to Bora Bora. We've been able to buy our first home. We've gone through IVF together. I love, love, love being able to travel with my parents. We were able to go with his parents and my parents, both to Hawaii. We surprised them with a trip to Hawaii. guys, really did not cost me hardly anything. took...   like very inexpensive flights, I bought them early, but it was one of the most incredible experiences to do that with my parents. Traveling with Jason, because Jason's philosophy was, we're not gonna travel until we retire. And my philosophy was, when we retire, we're gonna be old and it's gonna be a lot different to travel. Like, I wanna travel while I'm young and I can still hike up a mountain. And it's crazy, because even within our 30s, my knees and my hips actually are a lot different than they were when I turned 30. And so Jason and I, just traveled to Tokyo.   This is the life of not having children. People are like, how do you travel so much? Well, one, traveling gives me life. And two, I just, truly do believe in this, like living and having life experiences now rather than later. I remember Jason and I were in pharmacy school. I was, I am not joking. I was making $12 an hour while we were in pharmacy school. We were at that point, $65 ,000 in debt for his pharmacy school. We had no help from either of our parents.   Kiera Dent (11:36.59) We didn't have scholarships. I'm making literally $12 an hour. This was not that long ago. It was 2016, 2017, 2018. I was working at the dental college, so I did get some great health benefits that way because of it. We lived close enough that we rode our bikes every single day to and from school. And Jason told me that we were too poor that we couldn't travel. And I said, excuse me, no. So I remember every month.   like when the end of our bills would come, I would literally look around my house for anything that had a tag on it that we hadn't used yet that I could go return to the store to make our ends meet. Like this is CuraDense real life. We did not turn the AC on. We were in Arizona. We kept our house at 80 degrees, sometimes even up to 85 degrees. We slept with the fan on at night, not the AC. We're talking it's 117 degrees outside.   We decided to make sacrifices to be able to put, would put, think 20 to $25 a month away in my travel fund. I put it in a high yield savings account, so something like Ally, and I just started putting money away. Every single month I was like, okay, here's our expenses, this is where we can be, this is how we can cut costs, because I'm so adamant that we're gonna be able to travel, and I just started putting money away, like as much money as I could put away. Anytime I got a raise, I didn't live on that raise. I literally just put that money straight into our savings account.   And while we were in pharmacy school, you guys, I'm not kidding, I'm making 12. I was able to get up to 14 and I ended leaving that job at $18 an hour my last year there. But I was able to pay for me and Jason to go to Ireland and then we also were able to go to Paris with my brother who had just come home from his mission to Paris with my parents. Jason was a little nervous about that. But that came from me literally like discipline, putting money into my savings account every single month.   scrapping down like we really, I price matched, I took my little like ads from the grocery store to Walmart, thank goodness they were price matching at that time. It was the best when our cereal was on sale. But I was so committed that even in pharmacy school, I wasn't gonna go into debt for it more. So our debt was only for Jason's loans. But I also wanted to make sure I was having life experiences. I went and scrapped and I did a little window washing business.   Kiera Dent (13:51.958) I did a natural dog food business with my friend. I helped her out to get extra cash and all of that money, I just kept putting that into our savings account because for me, that was something of life experiences that I wanna have. I will never regret going to Ireland with Jason and I will never regret going to Paris with my brother and my parents. Those are some of the best highlights of our life that Jason and I have, but again, that's my life. This is Kiera's life, this isn't your life, but I wanna let you know, like for me, it was so important that Jason and I traveled while we were young.   I mean, I remember landing at midnight where jet lagged and we're both, he's hitting class kudos to him. I don't know how he did pharmacy school. And I'm going right back to work because those were the cheapest tickets that we could find. We heard about a website called Scott's Cheap Travel. We were able to get tickets round trip to Copenhagen for 250 bucks. Like when you want to do something, there's a million ways for you to do it inexpensively if you want. And so,   The reason I love this is because some people, like I was reading up articles about this book and some people were saying like, this is only for like entrepreneurs or this is only for the high wealthy. But I thought like, no, I was making $12 an hour and we were in pharmacy school and we're still able to find the way because making those early experiences, that was fuel and energy. And Jason and I still to this day talk about those experiences. And so.   But then like, then there's the flip side, right? So then we started to get more responsibilities. We think about having kids, we buy a house and then you start to think of like, Whoa, well, how much money do I need for the future? And that's what Bill Perkins talked about in here of like, when you're younger, doing some of these experiences cheaper, we'll actually have more life experience and fuel and energy that gives you to then you don't need as much money per se during that time. And also, I mean, Jason and I, we scrapped it down. lived on protein bars going all around Ireland. Like I will today stay, never eat special K.   these like strawberry protein bars. We ate so many of them and Jason and I giggle anytime we see him in the grocery store like, you want those? No, me neither. That's what we lived on. Like we went to Ireland, we were not living amazing. We were in the tiniest little car eating these like protein bars. I remember writing in my journal one day on our trip. I said, the angels saying today our hotel had breakfast that we didn't know about. So we didn't have to eat protein bars today. But the things that like those are experiences. And that's like, I think the reason I love this book is because it's   Kiera Dent (16:05.998) To me, it's talking about, I think if you merge, die with zero and profit first together about life experiences, but also preparing for the future. I think that there's beauty in that life because we're living this rich life. We're living all these things and die with zero, I think really makes you question what you want to do. So one of his pieces where he says, plan in terms of season. So if you were to look at your, like again, pretend I'm going to die when I'm 97. I hope I make a hundred. Today I'm 38.   If I look at all my life segments, so maybe from 38 to 40, what do want to do? From my 40 to 50, what do want to do? Maybe 40 to 45, 45 to 50, 50 to 60, 60 to 70, 70 to 80, 80 to 90, 90 to 100. He talks about looking at those seasons and what are the experiences that you want to be having during that time of your life. Jason and have built vision boards where we literally have like at 36, we want to do this, 37, we want to do this, by 40, we want to do this.   We haven't gone like clear up to 90 and what that looks like. But in this book, he talks about that because then we live, we're planning our life in seasons, understanding that maybe our health won't be as optimal when we're older. But that's what he also talks about is like, why are we waiting and spending money when we're like older and rather than spending money on our health now, but we're saving all of our money to get to retirement, but we're not taking care of our health today. And I think that that's like the whole mindset around this book is   Really truly planning and living on these life experiences and aiming to die with zero money. Like how cool will it be for my grandma? To have life experiences in her last decade of her life But yet how much greater would it have been if she would have spent this money earlier? Maybe spent more time with her grandkids. Maybe spent different things But like I think there's the fear and that's I think the fear of dying with zero is but what if I run out of money? What if I live longer than I planned for?   I guess we just get innovative and he does talk about that in there of how you can plan that out a little bit better. But then like when he talks about giving money to kids and charity earlier on, he said like how much better is it like pretend my parents are going to get a payout in their gosh probably 70s from my grandma but how much greater if she would have given that money to my parents in their 30s when they could have used that money for a down payment on a house or   Kiera Dent (18:20.396) Jason and were so like in debt and if my parents were gonna have money, I don't plan for my parents or Jason's parents to have any money. I keep telling them like, I want you to die with zero. I want you to live life to the fullest. That's gonna make you the most fulfilled. But just think if you're going to have extra money in surplus, give it to those people earlier on potentially as a way for them to have more life experiences earlier on as well. So, so many crazy fun things in here. But again, I love the perspective of.   I think my greatest takeaway from it is living with life. And like he said, I will repeat the last part of my favorite quote from the book where he said, finding it here, the question we must all answer is how to make the most of our finite time on earth. And that's really what I think I want to leave you guys with. I definitely encourage you to go read it. There's so much in there. And there's so many pieces about basically really trying to get our health and our lifestyle and our experiences to get the greatest ROI, just like we do with our dollars.   Again, I'm not saying if you're a huge spender, I don't think that this is the model for you. You're already living high. And maybe your job is to listen to Profit First a little more and put some more savings in there. If you're someone who's just always saving and never having those experiences, I think this would be an incredible book for you. And if you're someone like myself who's in the middle of sometimes I spend and sometimes I save, but for me, I want to end my years.   having the life where I had the most experiences. I work because I love to say yes to things that I want to go to and do. That doesn't mean I have to have millions. That doesn't mean I have to have thousands. That means I need to plan my life in seasons and plan what I want to do and really know what lights me up and what fires me up and to experience those things. Maybe it's just spending time with your family while they're here. Maybe it's, I don't know, there's so many pieces, but I love planning out the seasons of your life. So.   I encourage you guys to read it. If you read it and you loved it, I'd love to hear from you. If you read it and you hated it, I'd love to hear from you. Because I love to hear the different sides of this book because I think it does charge. But like my brother, how interesting in one year he said, go and build and slay and do all these things. And the next year he was like, actually have more life experiences and do more fun things so you do die with zero. For me, yes, I want to take care of future generations. We don't have children. I would love to have children.   Kiera Dent (20:36.898) but I have a ton of nieces and nephews that will be my legacy. And so even though, yes, I want to leave a legacy for them, I guarantee you, I would rather make memories with them than leave them a check. I mean, and I think there's a way to do both, but I also know for me, I'd rather spend so much time with my parents and my grandparents than having an inheritance from them. That makes me so emotional because I just think about, I love my parents so much and I don't know how much time I have with them.   And I would hands down rather go on trips to Maui with my parents or trips to wherever we go or spending time with them, making memories with them rather than them leaving me an inheritance. Like that's my job and my responsibility to figure out how to take care of my life, not expect my parents to leave it. Again, that's my own perception. Everyone has their own, but I think most of us would probably fall in my bucket. We'd rather have more time and more memories with those that we love rather than.   them leaving us a check. Now again, you might have people that you don't like and you'd rather them just leave you a check. But I think that's the whole premise of the book, which is why I absolutely loved it. And I hope you guys read it. I hope you loved it. And if you don't, I'm not offended. Please send me because I want to just give you guys things that make and challenge your perceptions and beliefs. So with that, that was our book club for this month. I hope you loved it. Next month, I hope you read it. It's called, let's see, the next one is going to be   The Power of Fun, How to Feel Alive Again by Katherine Price. So be sure to join us next month. I think this one's fun. It's got confetti on the front cover of it, which is why I picked it, because I believe life should be fun, if you can't tell. But definitely, The Power of Fun, going and enjoying that, How to Feel Alive Again with Katherine Price. So I hope you join us next month. As always, if there's a way that we can help you look at your business, this is what I actually am obsessed with doing, is looking at your business and your practice and...   helping you figure out what do you want your life experiences to be and what do we need your business to produce and to create while creating the most incredible experience for your team and your patients. So that way you can die with zero or die with whatever you want, but that you've lived the most fulfilled and rich life. And that's really what I do for our doctors in our consulting. And I'd love for you to be a part of that. So reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.