Daily Dental Podcast

Today, Dr. Killeen explores James Clear’s idea of habit stacking and why it can make new systems much easier for dental teams to follow. The problem with most new systems is not that people do not care. It is that they are trying to remember a new behavior in the middle of an already busy day. The solution is to attach the new behavior to something the team already does automatically. “When X happens, we do Y.” By connecting new systems to existing habits, you reduce the need for willpower and make consistency much more natural.

Dr. Killeen tackles a common question from practice owners: when is it time to hire an associate? He explains why the answer has less to do with increasing production and more to do with capacity. An associate makes sense when your hygiene schedule is booked, your own schedule is consistently full, new patients are being pushed out, and you are regularly running out of time. Before hiring, you also need a plan for the capacity you are creating. If the extra time will allow you to do more dentistry or spend more time leading the business, great. If the schedule is not actually full yet, the better move may be to focus on filling the practice you already have.

In today's episode, Dr. Killeen explores the four most expensive words in dentistry: “Let’s get you scheduled.” Once a patient leaves the operatory, motivation can fade quickly, along with the treatment. He explains why same-day treatment can be one of the biggest opportunities for a practice to improve case acceptance and make better use of existing chair time. Making it work takes more than simply asking. The schedule needs some flexibility, the team needs to be prepared, and the doctor needs to make a clear offer: “I can do this today if you’ve got the time.” Dr. Killeen challenges you to track how often diagnosed single-tooth procedures are completed the same day, then make one small change to start moving the number.

Dr. Killeen walks through one of the most common questions practice owners face: whether to drop an insurance plan. Instead of making the decision out of frustration, he explains why it is important to look at the actual numbers, including the plan’s share of collections, fee differences, active patients, and how much patient attrition to expect. He also emphasizes the importance of what happens to the chair time you free up. Dropping a plan can make financial sense if you can replace that production with better-paying dentistry, but an empty schedule can quickly turn a seemingly smart decision into a costly one. The takeaway is simple: take the emotion out of the decision and let the numbers guide you.

Dr. Killeen pulls several lessons from Bob Iger’s The Ride of a Lifetime and applies them directly to dental practice leadership. From the importance of optimism and clear priorities to repairing relationships before asking for something, Iger’s approach offers practical lessons for leading a team. He also explores the role of courage and decency in leadership. Great leaders are willing to take meaningful risks while still treating people with respect, especially during difficult moments. The challenge for today is simple: choose three priorities for your practice and repeat them until your team knows them as well as you do.

Dr. Killeen shares the story of how Home Depot changed the hardware business by collapsing a complicated, multi-step process into one simple customer experience. He draws a parallel to dentistry, where new technology and smarter systems can turn procedures that once required multiple visits into a much simpler experience for the patient. The opportunity is not just about convenience. Removing steps can reduce costs, save time, improve scheduling, and create a better patient experience. Dr. Killeen challenges you to look at one procedure in your practice from the patient’s perspective and ask what you could do to eliminate one step or one visit.

The Hawthorne Effect is a simple idea that can make a major difference: you cannot improve what you do not track. Looking back at his (Dr. Killeen's) own goals, he found that the ones he actually accomplished were the ones he deliberately measured, while the ones he simply hoped to achieve were much easier to lose sight of. This is especially important in a dental practice, where small problems can go unnoticed for months before they become much harder to fix. Dr. Killeen explains why weekly tracking creates accountability and gives you a clearer picture of what is really happening. The challenge is simple: choose five numbers that matter most to your practice and track them every week for the next 12 weeks.

In this episode, Dr. Killeen uses an endurance racing lesson to explore why trying to change everything at once rarely works. You can start fast with a new system or idea, but if you burn through your energy and your team cannot sustain it, the change usually fades back to the way things were. Real change happens through repetition and patience. Instead of introducing five new systems at once, pick the most important one and commit to it for 30 days. Once it becomes a habit, build on it with the next one. Slow progress may not feel exciting at first, but over time those small changes compound into a stronger, more sustainable practice.

Dr. Killeen shares two stories that illustrate the difference between simply doing the work and understanding what you are building. Whether it is a cathedral or a dental practice, the bigger vision matters, but so does the discipline of laying one brick at a time. For practice owners, systemizing a practice can feel overwhelming, especially when you expect big changes to happen overnight. Dr. Killeen explains why the real progress comes from defining the end goal, then steadily building toward it one process at a time. Pick one process, write it down, improve it, and keep laying bricks.

Dr. Killeen explores the idea that being willing to be wrong can be a powerful advantage. Dentists and practice owners are used to being the person with the right answer, but what works in one practice may not work in another. Experience can create useful patterns, but it can also make us too confident in assumptions that have not been tested in our own practice. The goal is not to prove that your decision was right. It is to find out what is actually right. He challenges you to revisit a recent decision, look at the numbers, ask your team what they have noticed, and be willing to change course based on what you learn. The real skill is caring more about what’s right than who’s right.