Podcasts about life smiles

Second part from 37 things I stole from people smarter than me.

We just reached Episode #100! Woohoo! Gary wanted to do something very special for our awesome listeners to show our appreciation to you for being with us & supporting us throughout. We know that It’s every dentist’s dream to be 100% FFS. But many dentists are afraid. Afraid to lose existing patients & think it wouldn’t work in their town. In this episode, Gary decided to interview Dr. Tracey Hughes. Dr. Hughes is one of Gary’s coaching clients who have successfully resigned from all PPO plans & is 6 months into her journey being 100% Fee-For-Service. Just like all of us, her practice too was shut down for more than 30days but has now re-opened and continuing their Fee-For-Service journey. Highlights: Introduction to today’s topic > 00:55 Introduction about our special guest: Dr. Tracey Hughes > 1:31 Tracey’s experience in going out of network, especially about how she resigned from Delta which represented 51% of her patients > 4:00 Tracey talks about the experience in her practice during the first three months being completely out of network > 7.38 Tracey talks about a fun side story that took place when her practice re-opened after COVID-19 > 4:11 Tracey explains how they are a strong relationship-driven practice & how it helps when you are Fee-For-Service > 20:39 About the after photo’s displayed in the practice and how it helps in the ‘new patient experience’ aspect > 22:40 Resources SPIN NOW LEARN MORE SCHEDULE A MEETING WITH GARY Transcript Gary:  Welcome to an another addition to the Less Insurance Dependance Podcast. This is a very exciting episode for us because its episode number 100. What? Yeah, its episode number 100! So I wanted to do something very special for episode 100. And I wanted to actually do an interview. Now those of you who are faithful listeners of the Less Insurance Dependence Podcast will know that normally its just Naren and myself and we share information that will help you successfully reduce your insurance dependence. But, I kinda thought it would be super cool to have a guest on the 100th episode. And let me introduce her, her name is Dr. Tracey Hughes. First of all, hey Tracey how are you? Tracey:  Hi Gary! Thank you so much for having me, I’m doing great! Gary:  Oh, its my privilege to have you. Now let me explain to our listeners why I wanted Tracey to be on episode 100. She is a client of mine and she has also successfully navigated insurance in her practice and is now completely free for service. Its great! You know if I can share a little bit of history. In December of 2019, Tracey resigned from the last PPO plan that she was on. And the last one was Delta— Tracey:  A big one Gary:  —A big one. By the way, it represented Delta about 51 per cent of her patients. So this was not a light hearted decision. Is that a fair statement Tracey? Tracey:  That’s quite a fair statement. I was quite nervous about that actually… Gary:  You were...Rightfully so, 51 per cent of your patients were on Delta PPO. Well, she successfully resigned in December. And I’m gonna let her talk a little bit about what’s happened since. Ofcourse this year’s been different for all of us. But she had January, February, and about half of March out of network. And then like so many offices she was shut down, like all of us. She’s in Louisville, Colorado. She was able to re-open around the middle of May. In fact, I think it was May 18th. Does that sound right? Tracey:  Yes, that’s exactly right. Gary:  I only remember because it was two weeks later than us. My life smiles practice opened up May 4th and Colorado was a little bit behind us based on the numbers and you were able to successfully re-open on May 18th. Since then, you’ve had about half of May, all of June, all of July, and now all of August. Tracey:  Right...All of August...Last day of August today. Gary:  The last day, as we’re recording it is the last day of August. You know, now we have your practice, you know somewhere around six months of experience being out of network. Tracey, can you talk a little bit about your decision to resign from Delta, because I imagine there are many of our listeners thinking “gosh that sounds like me! About half of my patients have Delta, I’m not sure whether I could ever go out of network”. So would you share a little bit about your thought process? And then maybe we’ll talk about what’s happened. Tracey:  Right. I had been in-network with Delta essentially my whole dental career and I’ve been in Dentistry owned practices for about 20 years...and it just got incredibly difficult. Delta got incredibly difficult to work with. I really felt the financial strain. I think my average write off with Delta dental patients was 40% - 42% every procedure I do I had to discount my fee by 42%. And I tell you what, I was feeling it. I just didn’t have enough at the end of the month. Sometimes, it was very month to month and the strain financially of having to discount my fees was almost suffocating. I really really felt the strain of having to discount those fees and the extra work on the back end of having to track down these past-due claims and all the effort that my team members will have to put into it. There was a lot of stress and pressure on my team members, having to keep up with all the hoops we would have to go through just to get the check. Gary:  Tracey, I appreciate you for many reasons, you’re an amazing dentist… Tracey: Thank you. Gary: ...you’re clinical skills are absolutely amazing. But one of the reasons I really appreciate you is because of your integrity and I’m gonna tie this specifically into your practice. And you had one standard of care, whether the patient was a fee for service patient or a Delta patient. Correct? Tracey: That’s accurate. Gary: So you weren’t using different labs if it was a Delta patient, you weren't using like folding chairs, I’m being facetious— Gary: You have a beautiful office...absolutely beautiful… Tracey: Thank you. Gary: And your patients receive one standard of care, there’s no compromise there. So the person that was getting short changed while you were in network was you. Tracey: Right. Gary:  You were the one that was taken out a 40 to 42 percent of a cut on your fees. Tracey:  Right. And it was even above the bare minimum so I would maybe say I’m doing 10 units and the maximum was 1500 dollars and I would still have to discount all 10 units, which was really really difficult. Gary:  You know that’s one of the things that really irritates me about PPO plans. According to their contract, they can set your fees on uncovered services on services that they don’t cover at all. And they have in most states, in most PPO contracts, they have the right to set your fees whether they provide any coverage at all, which seems to me just fundamentally wrong. I mean if they don’t do service like if they don’t have any coverage for implants they shouldn’t be able to dictate your fees. However, that’s not how the PPO plans work, they use it as a lever, to adversely affect dentists and frankly, it’s one of those irritants that I feel are very unfair. Tracey, talk a little bit about what happened, as the holidays completed, we had to give a 30-day notice to Delta. All of a sudden, now here we are at the beginning of the New Year, and you’re out of network. Because there’s a fun side story about your daughter. But before we get into that talk about what happened in January February and March. Tracey:  Well, right from the start of the New Year actually it was quite exhilarating to really receive 100% of my fee for treatment. The patients were very understanding for the most part. We took several months to talk to our patients in person—thanks to your coaching Gary—my team became extremely well-trained and confident in their ability to talk to patients and explain why we were going out of network and I think that was a huge key point to our success. And as we went through the New Year and eliminated the Delta dental contract and started seeing patients it was really refreshing to see how understanding our loyal patients were. They said, ‘oh, that’s easy...You’re gonna submit the claim and the cheque will still come to me within 7-10 business days...Oh, no problem. Sometimes they needed to be reminded and they would say, ‘whoa wait, you’re not taking my insurance anymore..’ and we would just remind them how easy the process was and they were like ‘oh, that’s no big deal’. So for the most part they got it, sure I had a few people leave...um, not nearly as many as I thought so I was very happy with the patient retention. Gary:  What was my message to you? I’ll put you on the spot here Tracey— Tracey: Oh boy (laughs) Gary:  When you were thinking of going out of network and I said Tracey you’re going to lose some, there’s no getting around that if a patient only comes to you because you’re in-network, you know you may lose some. But I remember sharing with you and I said, ‘Tracey, you’re going to lose fewer than you might think’. Gary: And that became rather prophetic. Yes? Tracey: Yes, that was true, very much so. Gary:  I have vivid memories of getting text messages from you, after the first of the year you know saying ‘woohoo I’m free for service, I’m actually getting my full fee. You don’t know how liberating this feels!’ Tracey:  Its very true and I have absolutely no regrets. And I would do it all over again. And my biggest regret—oh, okay—I just said that I have no regrets, I do have a regret. I regret that I didn’t do it sooner. That’s my regret. Gary:  You don’t know how good that makes me feel Tracey. Especially for our listeners. You know, one thing that might be useful for them to know, you’re in Louisville Colorado. Tracey: Right. Gary:  Which is a suburban...Well, there’s parts of Louisville that are semi-rural still. But I would characterize it as very much a blue-collar community, is that accurate? Tracey: Yeah, I would say so. Gary: You certainly have a mix of patience like we do in Life Smiles. Tracey: We do Gary:  You have some executives that are patients of yours. You're not far from Boulder and you have some highly educated people associated with the University of Colorado. Tracey: That’s true. Gary:  Most of your patients are really just great, solid, middle class.  Tracey: They are. That’s true. Gary: So it’s not like majority of your patients are affluent. They’re working-class folks.  Tracey: They are. They very much are. Gary:  Which is very eerily similar to my own practice. We’re in Phoenix kind of our sweet spot is, right in the middle blue-collar, working-class folks and we love em. Tracey:  Yeah, and they’re very loyal people as well. They like to return the loyalty and I think, the willingness for them to stay and come back, even though we made these changes is very apparent. Gary:  How did that feel to you on an emotional level when you know the patient has made a conscious decision to stay with you. Even though it would be easier for them to go to a networked dentist. How did that feel to you emotionally? Tracey:  Well, it really warms my heart. My philosophy in practice is relationship dentistry; to create relationships with people. And we work very very hard to do that. And we see one patient at a time in our practice. We write down little notes, and when they come back, ‘oh, did you have your have your grand-baby join your family this year?’ and we kind of carry on the conversation. So, it’s very personal. And to have them being somewhat hesitant, you can see the wheels turning a little bit when we first talked with them about the changes that we were implementing. And then now we’re to the point where we’re actually going through the second appointment and re-care with them. And it’s like ‘oh its no big deal’, and they just really get it.  Gary:  Especially when you explain to them that, although we aren’t contracted with Delta you can still use your benefits here. You know, a point that I’ve made throughout this podcast is although reducing insurance dependence we’re still gonna be patient-friendly and insurance friendly. Now, the words that the patient might use, maybe not so much to you Tracey, but maybe to a team member is, ‘so you’re not taking my insurance anymore?’ Which isn’t accurate. Tracey: Yeah Gary:  Your team really had great verbal responses. “Oh no, no, we will be happy to do...we’re gonna go bat for you like we always have. We’re gonna use every dollar of benefit that you have and we’ll still file your claims. We’ll do everything we’ve done before, we’re just not gonna be contracted with it.” Tracey:  And that was a big part of it. ‘Oh, I don’t have to do the paperwork, absolutely not we’ll submit the claim electronically for you. I think that’s a big part of it too. People don’t wanna have to do the paperwork. So we still advocate for the patient, to do that for them, to be patient-friendly. Gary:  Right. Now, I’m privy to a side story, that happened when you re-opened. And your daughter, your 16 years old daughter… Tracey: Just turned 16 Gary:  Just turned 16, deserves massive compliments. Would you fill in our listeners to that side story? Tracey:  I would love to, its a fun story. I’m very proud of my daughter.  Gary: As you should be Tracey:  When I called my team to come back on May 18th, for a respectful reason my office administrator decided not to return to work, so I was short-handed at the front, coming back after being closed and figuring out all these new protocols and a little bit of higher stress because of that, and I threw my daughter into the front office administrator position. She’d never had a job, a little bit of an awkward 15-year-old in their communication. Hardly every talks on the telephone— Gary:  Wait, an awkward 15 turning 16 years old? Gary: Remember I raised four of them.  Tracey:  Right. Right…Communication skills, well I thought, well let’s just have her answer the phone and help out. And the fact that we were not in-network with Delta dental anymore or contracted with any insurances really helps streamline the efficiency of the front office. And I truly believe the fact that I was out of network wit hall networks allowed me to really come back, open the office and take the bull by the horns and really move forward successfully. And she was able to talk to patients about insurance, she was able to process payments, didn’t have to deal with all that back end following up on outstanding claims, she was able to spend her time doing what was most important. Which was establishing relationships with patients? It really made the role of an office administrator easy, that a 15 just turning 16-year-old girl came right in and...Honestly, she was probably one of my best friend’s office administrators that I’ve worked with. Now she’s back to school and I miss her and we’re training somebody else. But again training new employees without having all the restraints of the insurance is so much easier, streamlined, and efficient. Gary:  Well, and you’re being very soft-spoken about how incredible your daughter was. But I will simply report that she did incredibly well completely belied her age or experience. She was all about taking care of patients. She was all about letting people know how appreciated they are in your practice. And she gets an A++ on my report card and the data shows, the numbers show that she did extremely well. You know, I don’t think that would’ve happened if you would have lost your office administrator and still been involved...You know one time you had many plans in the practice. Can you imagine, forget her age for a minute, but anyone stepping in with no dental experience and having to navigate all the land mines of insurance? Tracey: No way. Gary:  No, she did incredibly well. So hats off to Cambie she did incredibly well. Now she got some of your value systems for sure and she may have been paying attention at home when we weren’t quite sure whether she’d been paying attention. She might have been paying attention, a little bit. Tracey: She might have  Gary: But she did incredibly well and really the success story has simply continued because now you’re in the stage as you mentioned where you’re now seeing patients returning for the next visit in hygiene. And you’re just seeing loyalty, appreciation. They are letting you know, they are voting with your feet. They are letting you know “Dr. Hughes, I’m not going anywhere else”. I would never leave your practice, I’m a patient for life. Sometimes they also use those words, but I’d rather watch their behavior. Because their behavior is, they’re with you. Tracey:  They are, they definitely have developed trust and confidence in our practice and we’ve even had a patient that was...So we allowed patients, if they seemed hesitant at all to go through this process we said ‘you know what we really understand, this is a new territory we’re treading into and we really want you to be able to try this out. Before you make any decision to leave our practice and stay with us as an outer network provider. There were a handful of patients that we would sort of trying this on. And if they were Delta as you know, the cheque would have to go to the patient. So these patients that we had long term relationships with we allowed them to go ahead and have the check assigned to the patient. We would carry the balance and we would follow up with them or they would call us and say, ‘you know I got my cheque, just as you said within 7 to 10 business days. No problem’. And they were comfortable with it then we collected their balance with a credit card. I had one patient who didn’t have such a great reimbursement out of network and he had already found a new plan with another company that had better out of network benefits. So he was so loyal, he didn’t wanna go somewhere else where maybe Delta would pay 100% he found an out of network plan, but out of network sometimes pays pretty good, it pays 100% of our fee, and he had already switched. Gary:  I mean, talk about loyalty. A patient literally on their own finding an insurance policy, that pays better out of network because they don’t wanna go anywhere else. It just warms my heart, you know to hear those stories. Tracey, we’re kind of coming to the finish line here, um one of the points that I’ve made, you know repeatedly to our listeners here on this podcast is that... a couple of things. One if you are going to be successful going out of network, one of the strongest things you can do is build the relationship-driven part of your practice. And in many ways, I think your practice is a model, relationship-driven practice. I don’t know how to ask you this question without setting you up...But would you agree? Tracey:  yeah, I agree. Its actually on the front door. That’s kind of our tagline as relationship dentistry, but yeah its really really hard. Gary:  It is at the front door. (laughs) Says relationship dentistry… Tracey: Yeah. I work very hard for that, and that’s the way I want to practice. Definitely patient loyalty in return for that is very very high. Patients want to come to us, they don’t want to go to another office and not everybody does, you can’t be everybody's dentist. Some people are more insurance-driven and that’s fine. But that opens the door for more of these patients. But we developed a relationship very early on with the initial phone call. And I like to call and welcome the patient personally. We have little things that, people like—the paraffin hand dip, the TV on the ceiling—but I think more to it is that we just take time for the patient. We see one patient as a time as I mentioned earlier. And I can really get to know the patient and they come back because of that. Gary: You know, I’ll talk about a couple of other things, as we wrap up here, the point I wanna make is that you give your patients many reasons to come to you, other than you’re on their insurance. You give them many reasons. Tracey: Right. I hope so. Gary:  You do. It’s a full list, it’s a very rich list of things that you provide. Technology, you have state of the art technology in your practice. One of the things I love about your office is that the way you have some really beautiful after photos of your patients. That’s something that you’ve really kind f taken it to an awesome level. You ask the patient to sign the after photo and write a short note. Tracey: Right Gary: Those photos are…You can’t help but be drawn to those photos. And you can’t help but read what they have to say. Every one of them has glowing praise of their beautiful smile. Tracey:  It is, and my assistant makes sure as she’s bringing the patient back that she does a tour and she stops and pauses and says, please take time to read these or take a look at these if you’d like to take your time after your appointments. So as they’re coming back up from the treatment room to the consulting room they take time to look at those photos and to read what the patients have written. Gary: Yeah, yeah...You know there are so many reasons for people to choose your office. Well Tracey, thank you...You know Dr. Omar Reed shared with me that um, sometimes people need to know that it’s been done before. Dr. Reed used to use the quote ‘if it’s been done before it must be possible.’ I’m sure you’ve heard that. Tracey: I take that one to heart actually. Gary:  Omar probably said that one time when you were at his courses...But Omar often said that ‘if it’s done before, it must be possible’. I wanted our listeners to hear from you. Hear from this 100th episode. You’ve done it, its possible, you’re in a highly competitive area. I mean it’s not like there aren’t other dental choices… Tracey: Very much so Gary:  Everywhere...You’ve done extremely well and I’ll repeat what you said earlier, you said your only regret is that you didn’t do it sooner. Tracey: That’s true. Gary:  So I just want to thank you. I treasure our coaching relationship, I’ve loved working with your team. Really when we do team meetings, their pens are smoking taking notes. And I know they’re going to apply the information that they learn. But you’re also a wonderful leader in providing them the leadership, the encouragement, and the resources to do their job well. So let me take a minute and say thanks to you Tracey, and thanks for being a voice here on the podcast. Our first interview in 100 episodes and thanks for being like a lighthouse that points the way. And nothing would make me happier than the listeners of this episode to think ‘wait a minute, if Dr. Hughes can do this, I think I can do it too.’ I’m inspired, I’m encouraged. Tracey: That’s very true. Gary: Thank you, Tracey, for being that guiding light.  Tracey:  Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate all your help and coaching to get us to this point. Its something I’ve been wanting to do for many many years. So thank you so much. Gary:  Oh, it’s mutual. Want to take a minute and thank our listeners of the Less Insurance Dependence Podcast, we love what we do here. Couldn’t do it without you, three things you can do to support our work; number one you can tell a colleague about the Less Insurance Dependence Podcast, there might be some dentists out there that haven’t discovered podcasts yet. Hey, let them know about Podcasts and let them know about the Less Insurance Dependence Podcast. The second thing you can do is, you can jump on iTunes and write us a review, help more dentists find us. And the third thing you can do is to hit the subscribe button. You can so that on iTunes or Google Play or whatever your podcast directory of choices. Just hit subscribe and every Thursday when we upload a new episode it’ll be automatically uploaded for your listening convenience. On that note let me simply  thank you for the privilege of your time and tell you I will look forward to connect with you n the next Less Insurance Dependance Podcast. Thanks so much.

Gary believes that nearly every dentist would love to resign from PPO Plans but only very few of them actually do. "Why is that?" In Gary’s 40+ years of coaching 2,200+ dental practices, he discovered the 5 most common reasons why dentists don’t resign from PPO’s. In this episode, Gary and Naren talk about these 5 reasons in-depth while also sharing suggestions on how you can overcome each one of them. Highlights: Introduction to today’s topic > 00:51 About the number one dental podcast: The Thriving Dentist Show > 01:10 Reason #1 - The Dentist doesn’t actually know the financial impact of being in-network with dental insurance > 07:09 Reason #2 - The dentist doesn’t know how to market to patients without insurance > 08:47 Reason #3 - The dentist doesn’t have any role models to inspire them > 09:38 Reason #4 - Lack of support from team members > 10:53 Reason #5 - Dentists feel like it can’t be done in their city or town > 13:22 Resources DOWNLOAD The PPO Write Off Calculator FIND WRITEOFF AMOUNT SCHEDULE A FREE MEETING SUBSCRIBE WRITE A REVIEW NOW Transcript Naren: This is the Less Insurance Dependence podcast with my good friend Gary Takacs and myself, Naren Arulrajah.  Gary: We appreciate your listenership, we appreciate your time we appreciate your intention to reduce insurance dependency in your practice. Our goal is to provide information to you that will allow you to successfully reduce insurance dependency in your practice and make this your best year yet. Thank you. Naren: Welcome to another episode of the Less Insurance Dependence podcast, I am Naren your podcast cohost – today we have an exciting topic. The topic is The 5 Biggest Reasons Dentists Don’t Resign from PPO Plans. Before we jump into the episode I have a quick announcement – many of you know that Gary is the pod-father, he is the very first one in dentistry to start podcasting, and that podcasts called the Thriving Dentist Show. You can access it by going to the website the thriving dentist. com, now a couple of trivia points – number one it is your first podcast that was every launched in dentistry – number two it is listened to in more than one hundred and eighty five countries across the globe and the farm ad is also very interesting, every week without fail Gary goes through a topic that is based on the question he gets either from his clients or from him many many many fans all across the globe and for example the latest topic was – this s the last episode we published and as we are publishing this, it is called the one metric you must know if you are a PPO practice – so if you love listening to the Less Insurance Dependence you are going to love the thriving dentist show that is four hundred and forty eight episodes that are already live and by the time you listen to this we have already crossed four hundred and fifty episodes, so binge listen to it if you want or just listen to one or two episodes that you like so that is just our invitation to you to go check out the thriving dentist show and lets jump in – Gary how are you doing today? Gary: Hey Naren I am doing great – thanks for talking about the thriving dentist who we know we get new listeners every week that find the Less Insurance Dependence podcast and it occurred to us  that some may not know that we have another pod act called the thriving dentist show and we know that if they loved the  Less Insurance Dependence show that they are going to love the thriving dentist show, now they are different but they go hand in hand because they both help develop a thriving practice Naren: Yeah, the way I see it they get to listen to their number one coach on the planet when it comes to the business and people side of dentistry and it is free you know and they can listen to it anytime they want – so that is two big benefits! So feel free to check it out any time you want. Gary: we will be sure to put a link in the show notes so if you are driving don’t take your hands off the wheel, but when you are stationary got to the show notes – right here in the Less Insurance dependence if you scroll down you will see al ink and it will take you directly to the thriving dentist show - or you can fund it on iTunes or Google Play. And we have a fun topic for today - The 5 Biggest Reasons Dentists Don’t Resign from PPO Plans. It is interesting because I believe that nearly every dentist would like to resign from PPO plans but very few of them actually do – so why is that? I sort of started asking this question a couple of years ago – well why not? And I discovered some commonalities – so there was some common thread so I actually identified 5, 5 of the biggest reasons – there are more than that, but I will bet that every one of our listeners will identify with either one or more of these reasons, because it is these reasons that are blocking you from taking action, so there is some kind of fun here Naren. I’m going to identify the 5 Biggest Reasons and then I am going to suggest how to overcome each one  Naren: Awesome Gary: And I think maybe this will inspire our listeners our doctors to identify their own reasons and you know and maybe they will recognize and say they wait a minute that is me! That’s what I was thinking! And that is why I am frozen. Naren have you ever set out to do something and whatever it is whatever realm it is kind of just frozen because you did not know where to start or you did not know how to overcome some hurdle you saw? Has that ever happened to you? That happens to me every week  Naren: I mean absolutely – I will give you a personal example. Early on in my career I did my own taxes and I hit you know those details and numbers and just hated it – I just liked big ideas and the 10,000 foot – I mean every bill and every dollar – and twenty-four cents so what I would do is I would ignore it ignore it and then finally when something bad is going to happen – I wake up and realize – I do not need to do this – I can hire someone who can do this and take care of me. Gary: Right Naren: And version one was we just took all these papers and gave it to them, but now we found a  better firm that just lets us automatically upload things – so it is all in the cloud and it Is connected to our bank we do not upload anything it just magically everything shows up and the only thing we have to do is kind of categorize and make sure it is in the right bucket so it is the same situation but my mindset and maybe the approach that changed and all of a sudden no big deal – it was handled. I don’t know if that is a good example but – Gary: that is a great example – oftentimes, when we are handling something we hit, the big hurdle Naren: Yeah  Gary: and the big hurdle just stops us and in this hurdle, you are going to find out how to burst through each one of those hurdles and take some action on reducing your PPO involvements. So kind of fun, can I dive right in? We have 5 of them Naren: Yes Gary: I have numbered them one to five and they are not numbered in importance – they are of equal importance but I will number them so that there is some structure to the podcast. So number one – remember that these are the five biggest reasons dentist don’t resign from PPO plans. Number one - the dentist does not actually know the financial impact of actually being in network. Now think abbot that for a minute Naren. Naren: Yep Gary: They don’t know and I think this is a big one – because if they truly knew it would be perhaps the most inspiring information they could have as to why they should be out of network, so let’s list each one of these and come back to suggest solutions – so before I go to number two though I think what is common is I think the dentist knows that PPO participation has a negative effect but they just don’t know how bad, how much Naren: Yeah Gary: You know it is like I know I shouldn’t eat this but you plug it in Naren: Yeah McDonalds Gary: Yeah fast food – I know I should not eat this I know that but they don’t really know how bad it is  Naren: Right Gary: And if they knew how bad it is they would say no no I am not good to do that  Naren: Right Gary: So number one the dentist doesn’t actually know Naren: Gary really quick – is it okay if we include that podcast episode that you did? Gary: Yeah that is what I am going to- you got ahead of me Naren that was the solution Naren: Oh okay never mind okay keep going  Gary: We are going to help them understand what happens in their practice including the PPO write off calculator so they can know what that actually is. I’ll come back to that Naren: Perfect Gary: Okay number 2 - the dentist doesn’t know how to successfully market to get patients other than being on an insurance plan  Naren: Right Gary: The practice is infected with PPO plans which means the vast majority of ways in which the patient chooses them is that they are on the plan and as a result of all of that activity coming in they have never really been inspired to market any other way to attract patients other than the ones on their plan so they do not know how to market Naren: Right Gary: And there is a good solution for that one – each one of these have a solution which is I hope you are interpreting this as good news. Number 3 – the dentist doesn’t really have any role models to motivate and inspired them to let them know that this can be done – you know if the entire world that you live in and all your dental colleagues are in dentistry network then you might kind of resign to the fact that – well I guess that is just the way this is  Naren: Right Gary: Apparently nobody is out of network – I mean they kind of are the kind of unicorns do they really exist? Naren: That is a saying isn’t it – you are the five most people you spend time with  Gary: Yes you become the 5 people you spend the most time with an if most dentist statistically are your colleagues are going to be PPO providers if that is the world that they travel in – they network in then that is all they see and pretty soon it becomes kind of a self- perpetuating process – well I guess that is just how it is and you kind of resign well as much as I would like to do that I really think it is actually kind of wishful thinking g I can’t do that, so that is reason number 3. Reason number 4 – lack of support from their team members, the talk to their office manager and their office manager goes oh no no doctor we could never do that, if we do that we would lose all of our patients and the doctor just got confirmation of a fear that he or she has. Can you imagine that Naren?  Naren: Yeah Gary: Going to your office manager and saying Linda I am thinking about resigning from Po plans what do you think, oh no no no doctor we will lose all of our patients – right oh okay never mind Naren: Just give up exactly Gary: And I am not faulting the tam member there- the only experience she has in dentistry is with the PPO practice and so the lenses that she looks through, I believe her heart  is in the right place, but it is  - she is not informed and she does not have an experience base outside of that and I don’t believe she is trying to torpedo the dentist I believe that she is genuinely concerned for the dentist which is fair but imagine if it were that blunt oh no doctor no doctor we would really lose all of our patients – that would really, if the doctor was kind of fragile on thinking about whether I can do this or not and they get that from a trusted team member that’s going to kind of heavily hit the brakes you won’t tap the breaks  Naren: Right Gary: You are going to hit it as hard as you can Naren: Right Gary: And no I am not being disparaging to a team member who holds that perspective that is a fair perspective Naren: Absolutely and again then again that is all they know so I mean like we went to school in Chicago and my school IIT is outside of Chicago was in the south side of Chicago where there are a lot of projects and t is very sad because most of these buildings have bullet holes and if you are growing up in an environment where this is everything you see and this is everything you know it is hard to kind of you know escape that  Gary: Yeah it is really a cycle that is hard to break Naren: Yeah Gary: Yeah that cycle outside of Chicago is a terrible cycle for many but also the cycle of PPO plans is something that is hard to break through – the reason number 4 – lack of support from team members and reason number 5 – they think thy can’t do it in their town or their city or their area I don’t think I will be able to I adjust don’t think I will be able to do it here and you lug in the reasons why and it becomes irrational – I think this can be done somewhere but I do not think I could do it here. So those are the 5, so those are not arbitrary those come up after me asking that question from thousands of dentists, doctor what stops you from resigning from a PPO plan and those are the 5 common answers, so let’s go through and find a solution for each one. Naren: Right perfect so let’s jump in Gary let’s give the solutions Gary: right so let’s go back o number 1 – actually know the financial impact of being in network.  You know we mentioned at the top of the show of the other podcast we do called the thriving dentist show. We did an episode recently about the one metric that dental insurance companies don’t want you to know and it is all about essentially covering up what the discounts are what the adjustments are so you don’t know the impact of that. So what I would like to do is put a link to that episode in the show notes and that’s our thriving dentist show link, and while we do that, in that episode we talk abbot PPO insurance plan calculator to calculate exactly what your adjustments and discounts are from PPo plans and we will put a link to that calculator in the show notes here as well and the reason why – if I can just know the top off it, the reason why dentists don’t know is – nine out of ten dentists enter their adjusted fees into their practice management software – no the actual fees but the adjusted fees and that is on the guidance of their dental insurance practice management – their practice management software – so whether it is Dentrix eagelsoft open dental or soft dent, whatever software they use nine out of ten dentists enter their contracted fees not their UCR fees. Naren: Right Gary: And they don’t know as a result they never know, you know I ran through this exercise earlier this week with a potential client and this was a nice strong practice and I asked him do you know what your write offs are – your insurance write offs? And he said Gary I don’t know I entered my fees I followed the advice of Dentrix and I entered my contracted fees. I asked him if he would be interested in knowing he said yeah and I went through the calculator with him and we discovered that this office had over 400,00 dollars a year in insurance write offs  - 400,000 if you, let’s use 400,00 as a round off but it was actually more than that, but 400,00 divided by 12 a month is 33,333 dollars a month so I told this doctor – doc you are spending 33,333 dollars a month on marketing and he said no no Gary I think you are looking at the wrong this on my profit and loss statement, I know I spend money on marketing but I am not spending that much. We were on a zoom meeting like this and he can see my face and I can see his face in the video. So I said doc look at my face in the video and I said doc you are spending and I used air quotes and I said doc you are spending 33,333 dollars a month on marketing and when I did that the light bulb went off in his head – and he said oh my gosh I am paying that. The reason why I say you are spending that much on marketing is because the insurance comp any is providing you with patients  Naren: Right Gary: And as soon as I said that to him it was literally like the flood gates of understanding were opened to him. That’s why I said the number one reason is that they don’t know the financial impact to participate in the plan. When I tell you that – did you realize that you are spending 33,333 dollars a month on marketing? Instantly they think wait a minute there is a better way – I may be doing that now but I am not going to do that in the future. Naren: Right makes sense because they don’t know like you know out of sight out of mind 0 you don’t realize it because they don’t know and it doesn’t hurt you and you don’t see it Gary: You don’t know Naren: Yeah Gary: And know they know, you know that would be a good quote to accompany this episode when we know better we do better. Naren: I love that quote – yeah. Gary: You two when we know better we do that – and that is just a specific example, of hat quote and that can apply in may avenues of our life but certainly it applies to this area making decisions right, okay he second one – the dentist doesn’t know how to market for patients other than being on the dental insurance plan. And I am just going to be very direct – follow my lead just do what I do. We are an EKWA client – EKWA is your company Naren. My practice - Life Smiles is a paying EKWA client and it’s the best marketing return on investment that I have ever got on my 13 years of ownership of my life smiles dental care. We are one of your platinum clients  Naren: Yes Gary: And we play 1200 dollars a month for all inclusive comprehensive services, it ids a flat fee and it is all inclusive, it doesn’t go up it is fixed and it provides us with 80 new patients a month and every one of those are choosing us for other reason – other reasons hat were influencing them to choose up – and just do what we do on that one – what a great way to instantly get on the oath to mastering marketing in your practice. Naren: Right and you spend 1.8% compared to the 38% that you used to spend  Gary: I mean think about that – if I analyze that – the doctor who is spending 33,333 dollars a month if he was to go with EKWA he is now going to spend 14,400 a year? Naren: Yes If I get my math right, let’s call it 15 just to round that up – so let’s spend 15,000 dollars a year instead of 400, and get t the added benefit of having his patients choosing him for other reasons on their plan – Gary: Right So there you go, okay – role number 3 – no real role models to inspire the dentist to break free and move from insurance. Here I would like to invite our listeners I can be your role model. Naren: We were just talking to a client of yours recently Gary – he first was our client and he then became your client – he has been listening to you to two years now since your launched the Less Insurance Dependence show and he literally told me that every day I am surrounded any someone who really knows what he is doing had done it before and is part of the community he is part of the I love dentistry Facebook group so he gets positive reinforcement every day along with the other 5500 members. So I believe you have created tribe of people – you know I love that quote – if it has been done before it must be possible something- Gary: I was about to; say doctor reed taught me that one. I believe it came from somewhere else but I always give him credit because that is where I learned it from – it has been done before so it must be possible and let me go a step further Naren. On the thriving dentist show I am owing to put a link in the show notes her of three dentist who have done fee for service practices and they are youg dentist who have successfully created fee for service practices – we are going to put a link to those 3 in the show notes here so they can listen to these again because it is not just me but others who have done this Naren: Right Gary: It is very cool ND these are awesome young dentist – and it gets better I had to think about it, all 3 started a fee for service practice from scratch in a highly competitive area by the way what do you think all three of these dentist heard as they announced their plan to their dental friends?  Naren: Yeah not possible  Gary: You cant do that that’s not – don’t you realize how competitive it is?  Naren: Yeah Gary: And all three of these docs seemed to have the same kind of temperament that I do – I love it when people tell l me I cannot do something.  Naren: Right Gary: Sometimes I think my wife does that to me because she knows exactly how it triggers me in a positive way Naren: exactly Gary: She knows something you know literally at the core done at the cellular level I can go yeah just watch. So how cool is that – they can have 4 mentors and 4 different voices different areas different perspectives – all showing them that it can be done. Naren: Right Gary: Number 4 lack of support from team members – here’s what I want you to do on that one doctor start talking to your team members about what is in it for them – as you work to resign from PPO plans – think about that. Think about Linda the office manager – think about what she said, oh doc you can’t do that. Think about this is what would our life be like as my office manager if we didn’t have people from the PPO plans? Start talking to them about what is in it for them – and I don’t mean a one bullet point conversation – multiple bullet points. Doctor if you feel like a hamster in treadmill as a dentist providing care in a PPO practice how do you think your team members feel? They are also hamsters on a treadmill Naren: Right Gary: And you know how you feel how patients say I don’t want to come if they don’t have my insurance and imagine how your team members feel when thy – your team members want to help people and the truth is when you are in network you are not able to help people as fully as you can, start talking to them about these things. Naren: The other thing you taught me Gary was you didn’t make your podcast – this one no insurance you said less insurance dependence right so one step at a time, one foot in front of the other – it is not over whelming but if I tell you need to do a full minute mile tomorrow you are going to say forget it, but if I tell you les go for a 7 minute I don’t know what your response would be  Gary: You experienced that! Naren: Yeah  Gary: Use the process that we can follow Naren: Exactly  Gary: It is baby steps that I cn do that Naren: Yeah Gary: I can do that –  Naren: It is like driving at night all you can see is the next hundred meters but that all you need. Gary: Yes that’s all you need to start – yeah that s a great point so we want you to provide you some information to your team members so that they can support you in this. Number 5 they think they cannot do it in their town. Well I would like to answer that right now – we have been successful as a coach, I have been successful as a coach with dentists in every type of location environment big cities suburban locations big towns smaller towns small tons, rural remote and every kind of practice environment has been successful. Hers how I want you to think about this – how many patients do you need to have a great practice? Really again it all depends on your goals your size as so on but I think that any of our listeners would agree that somewhere between 1500 and 2000 active patients would make a really good practice –  Naren: Right Gary: And you can find those people in every kind of location and you can find people who don’t have insurance because when they don’t have insurance they don’t ask you two questions – one are you in network? And two when you resent treatment they don’t ask you to cover by insurance  Naren: Right Gary: And three groups of people you can find think of them as silos of people – one would be retirees – retires wouldn’t have insurance –typically another group would be the other end of the age spectrum – millennial, people who in their 20s and 30s – they have not reached the point in their careers where they have accorded benefits and then the third group which is kind of  a catch all group and is kind of a big group is the gig economy workers – gig economy workers are independent workers they are freelance workers, independent contractors – Uber drivers, lift  drivers, freelance workers Etsy shop owners BnB owners and that group is expanding so I ask myself are those people – we found those people in every type of location , and If you are in an area that is highly corporate maybe you are in an area like Huston or a city like Chicago that is highly corporate – ask your self could I find myself patients who are retirees millennial and gig workers and every time the answer is oh yea and those groups of people are much larger than you think when you start to circulate in those areas, it’s like that comment about buying a new care that is a red car what happens? We start to see red cars everywhere. Naren: Exactly Gary: And when you start trying to attract retirees you think here is all the places I can find retirees in my community  Naren: Right Gary: And so there is the 5 ways, the 5 biggest reason and then the counteract to all of those is how to overcome each one f those well Naren I hope this has been inspiring for our listener to overcome what I hope have been the hurdles for them and I hope that this inspires them to take action and to continue down that path just to successfully reduce insurance dependence – we are in the middle of creating our grass roots movement and I am so encouraged by the results we are seeing  you know it’s all about helping the dentist – it is about providing personal professional and financial satisfaction and perhaps the most strategic thing you could do to achieve those ends is to successfully reduce insurance dependence  Naren: Absolutely Gary and going back to what I said at the beginning of the podcast – if you are a fan of the less insurance dependence show you are going to be a fan of the thriving dentist who and we are going to put in a link and we want to give away some swag so do us a favor go to the thriving dentist show – you can listen to one episode, 5 episodes or even 50 you can binge listen if you want and then write us a review so if you write a review of r the thriving dentist show and you do I in the next week or two we are going to pick a winner and you are going to get swag – so you will get a thriving dentist swag Gary: And we have some cool swag Naren I have to admit we’ve got some very cool swag so yeah jump on tunes and write us a review and get some fun swag to go along for it and if you write us a review for less insurance dependence we will send you a less insurance dependence swag so we will pick on the winner each week. Naren: Well thanks so much for listening I look forward to the next less insurance dependence podcast.

In this week’s episode, Gary Takacs talks about the benefits of assisted hygiene & provides the listeners with secret tips that will help make it work in their dental practice. Gary is a huge advocate of hygiene driven practices. There are a lot of different hygiene models but in this episode, he talks about the assisted hygiene model. Assisted hygiene practice requires assistance. There are a few conditions that you need to be clear about before you hire an assistant and Gary will explain how he implements these conditions when he hires a hygiene assistant into Life Smiles. Having an assisted hygiene model is a useful practice enhancement, if you have the right circumstances and the right situation. Below are the 4 KPIs that help you make good hygiene models in practice. ⅓ of total office production coming from hygiene. Daily production goal $12000 per day per hygienist 92% or more hygiene appointments should be filled every month 85% or more of your patients should be involved in active re-care. He stresses the fact that having a good assisted hygiene model will motivate the practice to get serious about involving their patients in recare, and it's like a gift that keeps giving.

In this episode Gary and Naren discuss teeth whitening in the dental practice. Included are 4 tips that have been practiced and proven by Gary’s own dental practice, Life Smiles! Although teeth whitening is not covered by insurance, it’s a service that you can offer that will make your patients happy to smile and even consider other cosmetic services to improve their smile. Highlights: Introduction to topic > 00:54 Learn about the revamped MBA programs > 01:06 Learn about the coaching program  > 02:05 How to provide and communicate to patients about services that are not covered by insurance > 02:50 Did you know that 85% out of 6,000 people want whiter teeth? >03:44 4 tips to dramatically grow their whitening appointments > 07:23 Tip One: Shade match > 08:16 The 3 forms of whitening offered at Life Smiles > 09:48 Tip Two: Value pricing > 12:27 Tip Three: Offer lifetime whitening > 15:19 Tip Four: Develop the culture of getting started now > 19:44 A five-star review from MBA attendee > 23:42 Resources REGISTER NOW REGISTER NOW READ REVIEWS DOWNLOAD GRAB THE FREEBIE! × Fill out my Wufoo form! No spam. We promise

In today’s Thriving Dentist Podcast show, Gary and his co-host Naren Arulrajah discuss seasonality in practice and how you can avoid a negative season, be proactive and not have any down cycles or future Sucktembers in your practice.  00:36 > Introduction to the episode  02:30 > The snowball effect on Social Media  03:06 > The mindset and how it can spread to team members  05:09 > The many excuses of ‘why’ certain months are not going to be good  07:25 > The Myth: September is ALWAYS bad  10:50 > The many low seasons in a dental practice  13:22 > Proactive marketing in preparation for low seasons  18:49 > The 2009 outbreak of failed practices  25:06 > The can-do vs can’t-do mindset  26:29 > Same day dentistry opportunities  34:17 > Patients with insurance benefits  37:20 > Getting the fundamentals right  37:47 > What is marketing?  40:14 > Getting people to know you on Google  43:55 > What does Google look for?  46:05 > Getting people to trust you  47:20 > Dr. Robert Cialdini and the 6 Principles    Resources: Free Marketing Strategy Review Meeting:    Stay Tuned for the ‘Google EAT’ episode on the Less Insurance Dependence Podcast, which will be live on 31st October 2019:   Life Smiles:   Get Less Insurance Dependent with Gary Takacs   Connect with Naren Arulrajah Website:   Email:   The mindset in the practice is absolutely set by the dentist. The mindset the dentist has will trickle down to the team members in the practice. -Gary Takacs To be seen on Google, you have to do what Google wants and comply to Google’s algorithms and standards. -Naren Arulrajah

In today’s Thriving Dentist Podcast show, Gary and his co-host Naren discuss what a Thriving Practice looks like from a patient, owner, and a team member's point of view. They further discuss the ten elements in Gary’s practice, Life Smiles Dental Care. 0.45 > Introduction to episode 3.15 > What does a thriving practice look like? 3.20 > A thriving practice from different perspectives 8.17 > A Thriving practice from an owners point of view 8.40 > TGIM – Thank Goodness it is Monday 09.53 > Financial Independence – Work because you want to, not because you have to! 11.21 > A thriving practice from a team member’s point of view 15.28 > The Importance of being a relationship driven practice 21.53 > The Importance of being a hygiene driven practice 24.08 > What does a hygiene driven practice mean? 26.28 > The Importance of being a less insurance dependent Practice. 26.42> The backstory of Life Smiles 28.40 > The Importance of having a comprehensive done for you marketing plan in your practice. Done for you marketing helps you consistently attract quality patients. 34.40 > The importance of having a three day doctor week 35.36 > How to have a good work life balance 38.22 > The importance of having  24 business systems in your practice 40.18 > The importance of having remarkable new patient experience 45.58 > The importance of having a high performance team. The doctor and team members are all moving together to achieve a commonly defined set of goals and objectives. 49.06 > The importance of having a Co discovery process to increase case acceptance. Spending time with patients to co-discover solutions for dental problems. 55.39 > Recap of the ten elements of a Thriving Practice   Resources Rate where your practice currently stands in terms of the 10 elements of a Thriving Practice.   Episode #397 – CoDiscovery; What is it? When to Use it? Why to Use it? with Dr. Paul Henny   Life Smiles:     Get Less Insurance Dependent with Gary Takacs Link to the Less Insurance Dependence Podcast:     Connect with Naren Arulrajah Website:   Email:  

In this episode Gary and Naren discuss the birth of the first dental podcast and how it came to be, new chapters, new formats and work-life balance. Highlights: Gary’s new chapter and helping more dentists < 6:07 The birth of the first dental podcast - Thriving Dentist Show < 6:56 The Pivot - a Thriving Dentist make-over < 9:10 Core element of Life Smiles - 3 day work week < 11:47 The new format breakdown < 13:09 How to talk to your patients about going out of network < 17:25 Contact Naren: Naren@ekwa.com Thriving Dentist Podcast Show: https://www.thrivingdentist.com/podcast-show/ Less Insurance Dependence Episode #17 - How to communicate to your existing patients that you are going out of network: https://www.lessinsurancedependence.com/how-to-communicate-to-your-existing-patients-that-you-are-going-out-of-network/ Download Transcript Sign up to Access Transcript × Fill out my Wufoo form! No spam. We promise To understand the marketing & matrix in your practice, Schedule A Free Marketing Strategy Meeting with Ekwa   Are you a can-do dentist or can't do dentist? Join our tribe, share your thoughts  

In this episode, Naren and Gary discuss the topic of sedation dentistry and the importance of choosing the right services for your practice. Highlights: Introduction The story of Life Smiles > 1:28 Adding services to your practice > 2:22 Fear of dentistry > 5:26 Simple level of sedation > 6:46 The significance of sedation > 11:41 Training and the cost of sedation > 19:32 Get your Google reviews in place with the help of Digital Marketing Be a pat of this FREE unique 3-minute Dental Insurance Survey Watch replay of the FREE webinar to learn How Life Smiles Dental Care Attracts 65+ Quality New Patients EVERY Month via Digital Marketing Listen to this Thriving Dentist podcast episode to learn the exact strategies used by Life Smiles to attract 65 quality new patients every month via Digital Marketing

In this episode, Naren and Gary discuss reviews and how important they are for your practice. You’ll hear good information and great tips on getting consistent reviews and how to ask for them. Highlights: Introduction The NBA championship Reviews > 2:45 Goal: Become the most reviewed dentist in your community > 3:38 Dr. Robert Cialdini and the basics > 5:05 Google 3 Pack > 7:45 How to ask a patient for a review > 12:53 Elements to consistent reviews > 16:53 Definition of marketing > 20:28 Grow my reviews > 21:45 Get your Google reviews in place with the help of Digital Marketing Listen to this Thriving Dentist podcast episode to learn the exact strategies used by Life Smiles to attract 65 quality new patients every month via Digital Marketing Be a pat of this FREE unique 3-minute Dental Insurance Survey Join a community that lives & loves dentistry

In this episode Naren and Gary discuss the importance of having a team that believes a 100% in their doctor and his or her practice vision. Highlights: Introduction Wealth > 2:00 Leveraging appreciation and gratitude > 3:00 Decreasing the PPO’s > 5:00 Showing appreciation > 12:39 Catch your team members doing positive things > 14:14 Should you praise individually? > 16:00 Watch replay of the FREE webinar to learn how Life Smiles attract 65 quality new patients every month Listen to this Thriving Dentist podcast episode to learn the exact strategies used by Life Smiles to attract 65 quality new patients every month via Digital Marketing Be a pat of this FREE unique 3-minute Dental Insurance Survey Join a community that lives & loves dentistry Get your Digital Marketing in place with the help of Digital Marketing experts

In this episode Naren and Gary discuss the 5,000 pound gorilla in PPO plans and what it means for you and dealing with insurance plans. Highlights: Introduction Recap on the webinar Sneak preview of unwanted coming attractions > 3:59 15%.... What? > 5:02 Pulling you into PPO > 15:49 Get your ducks in a row > 18:08 1,000 patients > 20:00 Watch replay of the FREE webinar to learn how Life Smiles attract 65 quality new patients every month Listen to this Thriving Dentist podcast episode to learn the exact strategies used by Life Smiles to attract 65 quality new patients every month via Digital Marketing Be a pat of this FREE unique 3-minute Dental Insurance Survey Join a community that lives & loves dentistry Get your Digital Marketing in place with the help of Digital Marketing experts

Key Points at a Glance Gary Takacs, Founder of the Thriving Practice Academy, in conversation with Naren Arulrajah Has beennick named the ‘PodFather’ Started in the dental profession in 1980 Started the Thriving Practice Academy in 1989 Hosts the Thriving Dentist Podcast Show Not a practicing dentist, but owns a dental practice – Life Smiles […] The post Thriving Your Way to Financial Freedom in Your Dental Practice with Gary Takacs appeared first on Growing Dentist Podcast Show.

Last year I had the pleasure of attending the Voices of Dentistry Podcasting Summit, and was delighted to sit down and spend some time with the one and only Gary Takacs. Gary is a seasoned podcaster, consultant, educator, and all around great guy! To date, he has consulted over 2,200 dental offices, and has interviewed over 250 guests on his podcast; I guess you can say he’s a someone who knows what successful dental professionals looks like! I wanted to pick Gary’s brain about what questions a person should ask themselves when they are faced with choosing a dentist and dental office.  Needless to say, Gary sees enough dentists to know what it takes in making a good choice when looking for a dental home that fits your needs. He recommends that you ask yourself the following questions after you visit the office for your initial exam: Did the doctor ask what my interests and concerns were, and did the office listen to my wants and needs? Ask yourself, “are they interested in my goals for my oral health, or are they interested in their goals for my oral health”? It would be nice to hear the office gather information by asking something like “what brings you here today?” Did you feel like you were getting the attention of the staff instead of a feeling like a number? What was the interaction between the dentist and the other team members like? Does the staff seem gracious to be there, and are the team members supportive to one another? Do they seem to want to be around each other?  If you can feel the tension in the air, that may be a clue to keep looking. We begin our conversation by talking about the importance of putting yourself (if you are a clinician) in a position of being fearful so that you can see from the mind/eyes of the patient.  And, with each new patient exam recognize the courage it took for that patient to simply come and visit your office. He explains that fear is real.  It may be irrational, but it is real.  Gary shares a story of how his office Life Smiles helped a patient overcome fear in such a way that helped her get on the path of oral health. We talk about oral-systemics, and how Gary interviewed Dr's Bradley Bale and Tom Larkin earlier that weekend at the Voices of Dentistry Podcasting Summit. Dr. Bale recently published findings in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) proving that periodontal disease is a contributing cause of cardiovascular disease. He gives a great analogy to smoking in the 60’s. In the 60’s it was “thought” that smoking perhaps was linked to lung cancer, now we know that it’s a cause. Gary (like me), is a true believer in the Oral Systemic connection which is what makes him so excited about the profession of dentistry and how it has the ability to change lives! He goes on to say you have to be an advocate for yourself and take action for yourself if you feel that you are not being taken care of.  It’s okay to say, I just don’t think that we are a good fit in order to find someone that fits your needs and wants. Another good way to find a dentist is ask likeminded friends. Make sure to ask them who they see and what they have learned from them? It’s not enough if their dentist is just a “nice guy”. Look at the office website. Is content updated regularly? Do they have an active Facebook page? What is the interaction with patients, and what are the existing patients saying about the office? What type of new technology do they have? Are they investing in tools that help you get and stay healthy? Are they helping you identify the link between the health of your gums and the rest of your body? Do they offer any testing to help you understand your risks? These are the things you want to pay attention to if you are looking for an office to put your trust in when it comes to the oral health of yourself and your family. Gary and I twist and turn through some very cool stories about dentistry and he talks about the dentist in a faraway land that get to listen to his podcast as a way of learning about becoming a better dentist. Prior to finding his podcast, he was travelling for 2 days to attend a continuing education course! What a great way to make an impact on the world!! Gary was gracious enough give some amazing insights about dentistry in general through his colorful story telling. A true master at his craft, Gary’s positivity and message made interviewing him a moment I won’t soon forget, and I hope you enjoy it too! It’s not an episode that should be missed, and I hope it helps you find the dentist of your dreams and desires! Thank you, Gary, for taking the time to sit down with me, and thank you for helping empower our listeners in making a great decision when choosing a dental office to call home! Links to topics discussed: Gary interviews Bradley Bale MD & Tom Larkin DDS on Integration of Medicine and Dentistry Whoopy Goldberg talks gum disease she was suffering with that could have been prevented.  Life Smiles Dental Care  - Phoenix, AZ, Scottsdale, AZ Dr Kim Kutsch – managing cavities and genetics Carifree 3D cone beam technology vs x-rays  Connect with Gary: Life Smiles Dental Care  - Phoenix, AZ, Scottsdale, AZ Gary's website The Thriving Dentist Podcast Gary’s Favorite Quote: “Change is difficult. However, the alternative is absolute obsolescence.”