Dental Practice Heroes Newsletter
Dr. Etchison will share tips, strategies, and give a summary of the DPH content and upcoming events for the month.
What Your Waiting Room Is Communicating
If your patient experience starts when they sit in the chair, you are starting too late. Long before you diagnose treatment or ask a patient to move forward, the waiting room experience is shaping trust in ways most offices do not even notice.
In the latest episode, I break down three simple wait...
Mar 12, 2026
dental-patient-experience
dental-practice-systems
patient-trust
waiting-room-experience
The Leadership Shift Your Front Desk Needs
A chaotic front desk does not stay at the front desk. It spills into your schedule, your collections, your case acceptance, and your stress level as the owner.
In this episode, Kiera Dent and I break down a common mistake owners make: rewarding activity instead of outcomes. A team can be busy all...
Mar 11, 2026
dental-practice-systems
front-desk-systems
practice-management
team-accountability
The Conversation That Actually Reduces Cancellations
You ever walk in on a Monday, feeling good, coffee in hand, and then the front desk starts listening to weekend voicemails? A few cancellations later, your schedule looks like Swiss cheese and your mood is gone. If this keeps happening in hygiene, it’s not just annoying, it's expensive.
Here’s th...
Mar 05, 2026
dental front desk training
dental scheduling systems
dental team communication
patient cancellations
Build or Buy? A Framework for Smart Ownership
If you’re debating startup versus acquisition, you’ve probably asked ten people and gotten ten very confident opinions. Startup owners warn you you’re buying someone else’s problems. Acquisition owners warn you startups are a slow grind. Meanwhile you’re thinking, I just want to make a smart deci...
Mar 03, 2026
dental growth strategy
dental leadership
practice ownership
startup vs acquisition
Wealth Is Freedom, Not Income
You ever notice how you can hit every financial milestone you once dreamed about and still not feel wealthy? The production is there. The income is there. The house, the vacations, the bank balance. And yet one bad month, one big case that falls through, or one team member quitting can make it al...
Feb 27, 2026
dental leadership
income vs freedom
wealth mindset
The Crossroads in Modern Dentistry
At the start of this episode I tell you it’s different, no technical breakdown, no five-step framework, no tactical takeaway, just a conversation. I meant it, but after listening back I realized that even without trying to teach, a few things came through so clearly that you can use them right aw...
Feb 25, 2026
associate vs owner
dental ownership
new dentist
The Pre-Collection Framework That Actually Sticks
Have you ever had a last-minute cancellation blow up three hours of your day, then you walk up to the front desk and say, “That’s it. We’re pre-collecting from now on”? You can feel the tension immediately. Your team looks at you like you just asked them to charge admission at the front door.
Tha...
Feb 19, 2026
collection-policy
patient-financial-policy
pre-collections
workshop-last-call
The Cost of Staying Comfortable
This podcast is for a certain type of practice owner. The one who wants a profitable, efficient practice but knows deep down they are capable of more and is tired of spinning their wheels. It is easy to blame staff, insurance, DSOs, interest rates, or the economy, but most practice owners are not...
Feb 17, 2026
ceo-mindset
leadership-shift
workshop-last-call
The Structure That Changes Owner Income
If you have ever felt busy as a practice owner, like you are putting in the hours and the energy but your lifestyle and paycheck do not reflect it, this one is for you. I lived that way for over five years, and looking back there are three things I would have done differently that would have comp...
Feb 12, 2026
block-scheduling
practice-growth
practice-systems
scaling-a-practice
Breaking Down AR Before It Breaks You
If you have ever opened your AR report and felt like it was written in a different language, you are not alone. Most practice owners do not have an AR problem, they have an AR diagnosis problem.
High AR is not one issue. It is usually multiple issues hiding inside one number. If you fix the wrong...
Feb 11, 2026
accounts-receivable
practice-metrics
practice-systems
revenue-cycle
How to Work Together Without Burning Out
If you have ever worked with your spouse in the practice, you already know the truth. It can either be your biggest advantage or the fastest way to drag practice stress straight into your marriage.
This week on the podcast, I sat down with Trent and Hope Neisen. He leads clinically as the doctor,...
Feb 06, 2026
dental-ownership
leadership-alignment
practice-structure
spouse-run-practice
How High-Performing Owners Plan Differently
Every January, we tell ourselves the same thing. This is the year we slow down. This is the year we fix the problems. This is the year the practice finally feels better to run. Then the schedule fills, the patients show up, and before you know it you are right back in reaction mode wondering how ...
Feb 03, 2026
dental-leadership
intentional-practice
owner-leverage
practice-goals