Dental Drills Bits

A Dentaltown post started a bigger conversation: A dentist wanted to bring back a former dental assistant, but a current front office employee didn't want her back. Then someone argued that the assistant was more important because she directly contributed to production.

So, who is more valuable to the practice?

In this episode, Dana and Sandy talk about what really makes someone valuable to a dental practice, what to consider before bringing back a former employee, and why front office vs. back office conflict is often a symptom of a bigger issue.

They also discuss why patients can feel tension between team members, how unclear systems create conflict, and why practice owners need to address problems instead of hoping they work themselves out.

In This Episode:

• Should you rehire a former dental employee?

• What should you do when a current employee objects?

• Is the front office less important because they don't directly produce dentistry?

• Why reference checks still matter

• Front office vs. back office conflict

• How systems and unclear responsibilities create tension

• Why patients notice when your team isn't getting along

• How team members can better demonstrate their value

• The role of training, communication and accountability

Key Takeaways:

The front office can't do its job without the clinical team, and the clinical team can't operate effectively without patients being scheduled, communicated with, checked out, followed up with and financially taken care of.

Before rehiring someone, find out why they left and listen when current team members raise concerns.

And when there's ongoing tension between the front and back office, don't assume it's simply a personality problem. Look at your systems, responsibilities, training and communication.

Your patients don't see a front office and a back office. They see your practice.

Thank You to Our Sponsor: Identity Dental Marketing

Identity Dental Marketing helps dental practices build stronger brands and smarter marketing strategies designed for long-term growth.

Learn more about Identity Dental Marketing and how they help dental practices stand out in competitive markets.

https://identitydental.com/

📲 Join the Conversation!

Have you ever rehired a former employee? Did it work out—or did the same problems come back with them?

And where does your practice struggle most: communication between the front and back, unclear responsibilities, or addressing conflict before it gets bigger?

Join the conversation in the Dental Drill Bits Facebook Group. We'd love to hear what's happening in your practice.

🎧 Subscribe to Dental Drill Bits

Follow Dental Drill Bits for practical conversations about dental practice management, team training, systems, leadership and practice growth.

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AI is changing how patients search for dentists, but simply creating more content isn't enough. As AI-generated content floods the internet, credibility, expertise, and proof may matter more than ever.

In this episode of Dental Drill Bits, Dana Pardue and Sandy Pardue welcome Grace Rizza, founder and CEO of Identity Dental Marketing, back to the show for a conversation about how AI is changing dental marketing, search visibility, content creation, and the way patients discover and evaluate dental practices.

Grace explains why using AI effectively isn't as simple as asking ChatGPT to write a few blogs or social posts. The technology can make marketing faster and more efficient, but the expertise behind the prompts, strategy, quality control, and execution still matters. AI can produce content in seconds, but that doesn't mean the content is original, accurate, optimized, or capable of moving the needle for your practice.

The conversation then turns to AEO, or Answer Engine Optimization, and what dental practices need to understand as patients increasingly use AI platforms to find information and make decisions. Grace explains how AEO builds on many of the same foundations as SEO, while placing greater importance on context, credibility, proof, and a practice's broader digital footprint.

What happens when a patient isn't simply searching for a "dentist near me," but asking AI to help them find a dentist who understands dental anxiety, performs cosmetic dentistry, or offers a specific type of care?

Your website can say you're an expert, but patients and AI platforms are looking for evidence to support those claims. Before-and-after photos, patient testimonials, reviews across multiple platforms, strong service content, and third-party credibility can all help reinforce what makes your practice worth recommending.

Dana, Sandy, and Grace also explore an important part of the AI conversation: the more technology we have, the more valuable real human expertise and connection can become. Automation can handle repetitive work and make businesses more efficient, but it shouldn't replace the people responsible for building trust, understanding patients, and delivering the experience your marketing promises.

In this episode:

• How AI is changing the way patients discover dental practices • What AEO is and how it works alongside SEO • Why credibility, proof, and your digital footprint matter more than ever • How to use AI without creating generic content or losing your brand voice • Why brand positioning gives patients a reason to choose your practice • Where automation can improve efficiency without replacing human connection

The takeaway?

The tools are changing, but the objective isn't.

Your practice still needs to generate interest, build credibility, become visible in the market you want to serve, and give the right patients a reason to choose you.

AI, SEO, AEO, content, reviews, and digital marketing shouldn't operate as separate strategies. They work together to create the evidence and visibility that help patients, and increasingly AI platforms, understand who you are, what you do well, and why your practice may be the right fit.

But getting discovered is only the beginning.

As Grace explains, never replace quality with automation. Technology and quality can coexist when practices are intentional about how they use it.

Marketing can create the exposure. AI can help patients discover you. Your people and patient experience still have to deliver on the promise.

Learn more about Identity Dental Marketing

Visit IdentityDental.com to learn more about Identity Dental Marketing and marketing strategies designed specifically for dental practices.

Practices that need greater clarity around their positioning can also work directly with Grace to identify their unique selling proposition, clarify what makes their practice different, and build the strategic foundation needed before moving into marketing execution.

Dental Drill Bits with Dana Pardue and Sandy Pardue brings you practical strategies for building a stronger, more productive and profitable dental practice.

What if employees got a bonus simply for showing up?

In this episode of Dental Drill Bits, Dana and Sandy tackle a surprisingly controversial question: Should reliable attendance be rewarded, or is showing up on time simply part of the job?

Sandy shares an attendance incentive she has used in dental practices for years involving ping-pong balls, cash rewards, and one simple qualification: reliability. But the conversation goes much deeper than bonuses.

Because an attendance incentive won't fix a practice that hasn't clearly defined its expectations.

Dana and Sandy discuss the importance of work-hour policies, PTO and time-off procedures, defining what "on time" actually means, and creating a culture where team members understand that their presence matters. They also explore when occasional absences become an attendance problem and why the behavior of leaders and long-term employees can quickly influence the rest of the team.

In This Episode:

• Sandy's ping-pong attendance incentive and why it works
• PTO, attendance problems, and clear policies
• How workplace culture affects reliability
• Why rewards should never replace accountability

Key Takeaways:

The goal isn't perfect attendance at all costs. It's reliability.

Employees need to know what's expected, how to request time off, what "on time" means, and how to communicate when life happens.

And while you're addressing the employee you can't count on, don't forget to recognize the ones you can.

You can't hold people accountable for a standard you haven't clearly defined or trained.

📲 Join the Conversation!

Would you offer an attendance incentive in your practice?

Or do you believe showing up reliably is simply part of the job?

Join the conversation in the Dental Drill Bits Facebook Group. We'd love to hear what's working in your practice and may feature your experience in a future episode.

Getting more dental leads isn't always the answer. The real goal is attracting the right patients and giving them a reason to choose your practice.

In this episode of Dental Drill Bits, Dana Pardue and Sandy Pardue welcome Grace Rizza, founder and CEO of Identity Dental Marketing, for a conversation about what dental marketing looks like as AI, automation, Google Ads, Meta advertising, and patient expectations continue to change.

Grace explains why effective marketing can't be one-size-fits-all. A startup practice looking for patient volume needs a very different strategy than a fee-for-service practice looking for a small number of high-value restorative or cosmetic patients. The process can be consistent, but the strategy has to reflect the practice, its goals, its strengths, and what patients in that market actually want.

The conversation then turns to lead quality. Cheap leads can become expensive when your team spends time chasing patients who aren't a good fit, don't show up, or never become long-term patients. Grace and Sandy discuss why marketing has to connect with what happens inside the practice, from answering the phone and following up with leads to appointment availability and the patient experience.

Grace also breaks down how Google Ads and Meta can work together. Google captures high-intent patients actively searching for a dentist, while Meta can help retarget and nurture people who visited the website but weren't ready to schedule. When those efforts work together, practices have a better opportunity to get more value from every marketing dollar.

In this episode: • Why dental marketing should be built around the individual practice • The difference between a consistent process and cookie-cutter marketing • Why more leads aren't necessarily better leads • How poor-fit leads can contribute to broken appointments and team burnout • Why your marketing has to give patients a reason to choose you • How Google Ads and Meta advertising can work together • How automated lead nurturing keeps potential patients engaged • The difference between automation and AI • How AI chatbots and knowledge bases may change dental marketing • Why AI should handle the mundane instead of replacing human connection • Where AI receptionists can help and where the human team still matters • Why your brand, patient experience, and marketing strategy have to align

The takeaway? Technology can help your practice communicate faster, follow up more consistently, and get more from your marketing, but it can't replace what makes patients choose and stay with a practice.

As Grace explains, automation should replace the mundane so your people can operate at a higher level. Sandy reinforces that patients can get dental procedures anywhere. The relationships and experience your team creates are what make your practice different.

Marketing can get their attention. Automation can keep the conversation moving. But your practice still has to give patients a reason to choose you.

Learn more about Identity Dental Marketing

Visit IdentityDental.com to learn more about Identity Dental Marketing and schedule a complimentary marketing planning session with Grace's team.

Practices looking for a deeper business and brand positioning strategy can also schedule a consultation directly with Grace to evaluate their market, competition, opportunities, and what makes their practice truly marketable.

Dental Drill Bits with Dana Pardue and Sandy Pardue brings you practical strategies for building a stronger, more productive and profitable dental practice.

Every dental practice has probably had one.

They're great at their job. Patients love them. They've been there forever. Maybe they even make the doctor's life easier.

But behind the scenes, they gossip, intimidate coworkers, ignore rules, create drama, or make new employees feel like they'll never quite belong.

In this episode of Dental Drill Bits, Dana Pardue and Sandy Pardue tackle a difficult question: What is that "indispensable" employee actually costing your practice?

Dana and Sandy discuss why practice owners often tolerate bad behavior from high performers, how resentment spreads when rules aren't applied equally, and why your best employees may quietly leave rather than continue working in a toxic environment.

In this episode:

• When high performers become a liability
• How toxic employees drive good people away
• Favoritism, cliques, and broken trust
• Handling complaints without creating gossip
• When bad behavior crosses a legal line

Practice owners often ask, "What happens if I lose this employee?"

Maybe there's a better question:

Who am I going to lose if I keep tolerating this employee?

Because your best employees are watching what you address, what you ignore, and whether the same standards really apply to everyone.

In This Episode

• How to recognize when your practice is truly understaffed
• The hidden financial impact of not having enough of the right people
• Sandy's collections-per-full-time-equivalent metric for evaluating staffing
• Why attitude, intelligence, and coachability can matter more than dental experience
• How poor hiring and retention decisions can ultimately cost you your best employees

Key Takeaways:

The goal isn't to have the smallest team possible.

It's to have the right people, in the right roles, with enough capacity to execute the systems that make your practice successful.

If you're focused only on the cost of adding another employee, ask a different question:

What is it costing your practice not to have enough of the right people?

📲 Join the Conversation! *]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" data-turn-id= "request-WEB:2f0b811b-53fa-40f2-82df-e70d643f5c53-4" data-turn-id-container= "request-WEB:2f0b811b-53fa-40f2-82df-e70d643f5c53-4" data-testid= "conversation-turn-10" data-turn="assistant">

Where is your biggest staffing challenge right now?

Finding the right people? Having enough capacity? Keeping your best employees? Or knowing when it's time to let someone go?

Join the conversation in the Dental Drill Bits Facebook Group. We'd love to hear what's happening in your practice and may feature your experience in a future episode.

🎟️ Front Desk Pro Live

Front Desk Pro Live is coming to Dallas on September 18!

Don't let the name fool you. This one-day, in-person training is designed for the entire team and dives into communication, patient objections, phone skills, collections, reactivation, unscheduled treatment, and the overall patient experience.

Use promo code Secret Sauce when registering.

You hired good people. You gave them a job description. Maybe you even told them to "go sit next to Jessica" for a few days.

But did you actually train them?

In the final episode of our Systems. Staff. Training. series, Dana and Sandy tackle the training gap inside dental practices and why expecting employees to "just know" how to do their jobs can be an expensive mistake.

Today's dental team is expected to do far more than answer phones and schedule appointments. They're handling insurance conversations, money, patient objections, unscheduled treatment, technology, scheduling, handoffs, and the overall patient experience. Those are sophisticated skills, and they have to be taught, practiced, and reinforced.

Sandy shares why written protocols, role-playing, repetition, and consistent expectations matter, plus the story of one dental assistant who was given the right training and transformed into an exceptional office manager.

They also discuss the overwhelming amount of continuing education available in dentistry. More training isn't always better. Your CE should align with your practice philosophy, reinforce your systems, address an actual skills gap, and give your team something you're prepared to implement when you get home.

In This Episode:

• Why "go sit next to Jessica" is not a training program
• The hidden cost of assuming employees "should already know"
• Why training needs written protocols and consistent systems
• How role-playing and repetition build confidence

Key Takeaways:

• Why your hiring process may be costing you great hygienists
• The biggest mistake practices make during hygienist interviews
• Why licensed professionals want to meet the doctor early in the hiring process
• How to remove unnecessary hiring roadblocks and move faster with confidence

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors:

📣 Identity Dental Marketing – Strategic, ethical, brand-aligned marketing that works.

📊 Practice by Numbers – A unified platform that brings performance, workflows, and insights into one system—creating accountability without pressure and helping practices make smarter, data-driven decisions.

📲 Join the Conversation! *]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" data-turn-id= "request-WEB:2f0b811b-53fa-40f2-82df-e70d643f5c53-4" data-turn-id-container= "request-WEB:2f0b811b-53fa-40f2-82df-e70d643f5c53-4" data-testid= "conversation-turn-10" data-turn="assistant">

Have you ever lost a great hygienist during the hiring process?

What's one change you could make this week to remove a roadblock for your next candidate?

Join the conversation in the Dental Drill Bits Facebook Group. We'd love to hear what's working in your practice—and what hiring lessons you've learned along the way.

Upcoming Event

Front Desk Pro In-Person Seminar 📍 September 18, 2026 – Dallas, Texas

🎟️ Promo Code for $100 Off Tuition: SecretSauce

Technology can help your dental practice do more—but it shouldn't replace the human experience that keeps patients coming back.

In Part 2 of our conversation with Cory Pinegar, CEO of REACH, Dana Pardue and Sandy Pardue continue the discussion about the future of the dental team, beginning with the balance between automation, AI, and personal connection.

Cory explains why technology should amplify good people rather than eliminate them and why some responsibilities are perfect candidates for automation while others still require empathy, communication, and human judgment.

The conversation then turns to another major challenge: visibility. How do you know whether your front office is actually succeeding?

Cory shares how REACH establishes clear expectations and measures outcomes so practices and team members can see what success looks like. From there, the discussion gets into some of the biggest opportunities practices routinely struggle to address—missed calls, overdue recare, outstanding insurance, unscheduled treatment, and patient conversion.

In this episode: • How to balance AI and automation with the human patient experience • Why technology should amplify good employees rather than replace them • How clear expectations improve team performance • Why measuring outcomes creates better accountability and coaching • How REACH tracks performance and defines success • Which administrative responsibilities can be supported remotely • Why recare and unscheduled treatment often get pushed aside • The revenue impact of unanswered incoming calls • How AI-powered tools can support call coaching and insurance follow-up • Why continuous training matters long after onboarding • What Cory believes will differentiate the highest-performing dental practices of the future

The takeaway? Growth may already be sitting inside your practice.

Missed calls. Overdue patients. Unscheduled treatment. Insurance follow-up. Better conversion.

The opportunity is there—but practices need the people, systems, visibility, and capacity to act on it.

Learn more about REACH

Visit getreach.co to learn more and schedule a conversation directly with a member of the REACH team.

You can also connect directly with Cory Pinegar on LinkedIn or Facebook.

Part 1 is available now. Start there for our conversation about staffing, remote team integration, training, technology, and creating more capacity for your dental team.

Dental Drill Bits with Dana Pardue and Sandy Pardue brings you practical strategies for building a stronger, more productive and profitable dental practice.

What if your staffing problem isn't simply about finding more people?

In Part 1 of this special two-part Dental Drill Bits conversation, Dana Pardue and Sandy Pardue sit down with Cory Pinegar, CEO of REACH, to explore how dental practices can rethink staffing, training, technology, and the way work gets done.

Cory shares the story behind REACH and explains why practices often have more than a hiring problem. Missed calls, inconsistent follow-up, turnover, limited training, and too many competing responsibilities at the front desk can all create bottlenecks that affect growth and profitability.

The conversation also addresses a concern many dental teams have as remote staffing and AI become more common: Is technology here to replace people? Instead, Dana, Sandy, and Cory discuss how the right support can free team members to focus more of their time on patients, relationships, communication, and the work that requires human judgment.

In this episode: • Why dental practices may need to rethink the traditional staffing model • The connection between missed opportunities, staffing, and profitability • Why simply adding another employee may not solve the real problem • How REACH integrates remote team members into the dental practice • Why remote team members can participate in morning huddles and practice communication • How culture fit, communication style, and soft skills influence hiring • Why AI and outsourcing should support great employees rather than diminish their role • How creating capacity allows your in-office team to focus on higher-value work • Why traditional dental training often falls short • How REACH builds customized, competency-based training around each role

Part 1 lays the foundation for a bigger conversation about how people, systems, and technology can work together inside a modern dental practice.

Part 2 is available now, where we go deeper into AI, the human patient experience, performance tracking, accountability, missed calls, recare, unscheduled treatment, and the opportunities already sitting inside many practices.

Learn more about REACH

Visit getreach.co to learn more and schedule a conversation with a member of the REACH team.

You can also connect directly with Cory Pinegar on LinkedIn or Facebook.

Dental Drill Bits with Dana Pardue and Sandy Pardue brings you practical strategies for building a stronger, more productive and profitable dental practice.

What does your staff really cost your dental practice? The answer goes far beyond payroll.

In the Staff portion of our Systems. Staff. Training. series, Sandy and Dana look at staffing as a business investment. Being understaffed can mean missed calls, unfinished follow-up, rushed patient interactions, neglected recall, and opportunities that quietly slip through the cracks. Sometimes what looks like a performance problem is really a capacity problem.

This conversation digs into the real ROI of having enough of the right people, why dental experience shouldn't automatically determine who gets hired, and how desperation can lead practices into costly hiring decisions.

Sandy also shares one of her favorite quality-control metrics for evaluating staffing: collections per full-time-equivalent team member. It gives practice owners another way to look beyond payroll and ask whether their staffing is actually supporting the production and growth of the practice.

And finding great people is only half the equation. Sandy and Dana discuss what happens when practices hold onto the wrong employees too long, how that affects high performers, and why strong systems and documentation make turnover much less disruptive.

In This Episode

• How to recognize when your practice is truly understaffed
• The hidden financial impact of not having enough of the right people
• Sandy's collections-per-full-time-equivalent metric for evaluating staffing
• Why attitude, intelligence, and coachability can matter more than dental experience
• How poor hiring and retention decisions can ultimately cost you your best employees

Key Takeaways:

The goal isn't to have the smallest team possible.

It's to have the right people, in the right roles, with enough capacity to execute the systems that make your practice successful.

If you're focused only on the cost of adding another employee, ask a different question:

What is it costing your practice not to have enough of the right people?

📲 Join the Conversation! *]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" data-turn-id= "request-WEB:2f0b811b-53fa-40f2-82df-e70d643f5c53-4" data-turn-id-container= "request-WEB:2f0b811b-53fa-40f2-82df-e70d643f5c53-4" data-testid= "conversation-turn-10" data-turn="assistant">

Where is your biggest staffing challenge right now?

Finding the right people? Having enough capacity? Keeping your best employees? Or knowing when it's time to let someone go?

Join the conversation in the Dental Drill Bits Facebook Group. We'd love to hear what's happening in your practice and may feature your experience in a future episode.

🎟️ Front Desk Pro Live

Front Desk Pro Live is coming to Dallas on September 18!

Don't let the name fool you. This one-day, in-person training is designed for the entire team and dives into communication, patient objections, phone skills, collections, reactivation, unscheduled treatment, and the overall patient experience.

Use promo code Secret Sauce when registering.

What does your staff really cost your dental practice? The answer goes far beyond payroll.

In the Staff portion of our Systems. Staff. Training. series, Sandy and Dana look at staffing as a business investment. Being understaffed can mean missed calls, unfinished follow-up, rushed patient interactions, neglected recall, and opportunities that quietly slip through the cracks. Sometimes what looks like a performance problem is really a capacity problem.

This conversation digs into the real ROI of having enough of the right people, why dental experience shouldn't automatically determine who gets hired, and how desperation can lead practices into costly hiring decisions.

Sandy also shares one of her favorite quality-control metrics for evaluating staffing: collections per full-time-equivalent team member. It gives practice owners another way to look beyond payroll and ask whether their staffing is actually supporting the production and growth of the practice.

And finding great people is only half the equation. Sandy and Dana discuss what happens when practices hold onto the wrong employees too long, how that affects high performers, and why strong systems and documentation make turnover much less disruptive.

In This Episode

• How to recognize when your practice is truly understaffed
• The hidden financial impact of not having enough of the right people
• Sandy's collections-per-full-time-equivalent metric for evaluating staffing
• Why attitude, intelligence, and coachability can matter more than dental experience
• How poor hiring and retention decisions can ultimately cost you your best employees

Key Takeaways:

The goal isn't to have the smallest team possible.

It's to have the right people, in the right roles, with enough capacity to execute the systems that make your practice successful.

If you're focused only on the cost of adding another employee, ask a different question:

What is it costing your practice not to have enough of the right people?

📲 Join the Conversation!

Where is your biggest staffing challenge right now?

Finding the right people? Having enough capacity? Keeping your best employees? Or knowing when it's time to let someone go?

Join the conversation in the Dental Drill Bits Facebook Group. We'd love to hear what's happening in your practice and may feature your experience in a future episode.

🎟️ Front Desk Pro Live

Front Desk Pro Live is coming to Dallas on September 18!

Don't let the name fool you. This one-day, in-person training is designed for the entire team and dives into communication, patient objections, phone skills, collections, reactivation, unscheduled treatment, and the overall patient experience.

Use promo code Secret Sauce when registering.