DEO's Growth Secrets for Dental Organizations

What if you followed your employee handbook perfectly and still got hit with a legal claim?

Leslie Espinola and Brooke Young kick off DEO's new HR series with a real client story every practice owner needs to hear. After a workplace complaint was investigated and resolved, a key team member's performance dropped fast. The owners followed every step of their warning process, and 45 days after letting that employee go, a $500,000 retaliation claim landed on their desk. Brooke shares why treating every employee fairly, kindly, and consistently is your best defense, and how EPLI coverage can protect you when doing everything right isn't enough. If you have a team, this is the conversation to hear before you ever need it.

Ready to join DEO members who have already solved the challenges you are facing today? ✨ Schedule your free Growth Accelerator Call and take the first step toward becoming a DEO member 👉 https://deodentalgroup.com/interest/

What would you do differently if you had to start over with your dental practice?

Emmett Scott sits down with Dr. Steve Broughton, CEO of Light Dental Studios, who started with a small dental practice in a converted mobile home and spent 30 years growing to 32 locations. In the early days, he lived on a fraction of what he earned, stayed in the chair, and built a 30-year relationship with his bank. As his team grew, he learned that blaming others gets you nowhere and that loyal people will take you further than talented ones. He also shares why he fires slowly, turns down doctors with big egos, and holds his leadership training on Friday nights. If you're in the chair five days a week trying to hold it all together, this conversation will show you where lasting growth really starts.

Ready to join DEO members who have already solved the challenges you are facing today? ✨ Schedule your free Growth Accelerator Call and take the first step toward becoming a DEO member 👉 https://deodentalgroup.com/interest/

How much are you paying your team in overtime just to finish clinical notes at the end of the day?

Kendall Hussein sits down with Daniel Bessonov, CEO and founder of Avora, an AI documentation and case acceptance platform used by more than a thousand clinicians. Daniel explains what ambient documentation actually means and how practices are saving 40 to 45 hours a month by getting notes, charting, and treatment plans into their PMS automatically. He also gets honest about the features his own team refused to build, and why your hygienist matters more than any feature list when you are picking a vendor. If there is an AI contract sitting in your inbox right now, listen to this one first.

Learn more about Avora or connect with their team 👇

🔗 getavora.ai

🎁 Avora is part of DEO's Cost Savings Club. DEO Members can submit an interest form in the DEO App to get access.

💡 Running your practice shouldn't feel like survival mode. Join DEO's Growth Secrets Newsletter, the daily email with real tips on growth and profitability. 👉 Subscribe Now: https://deodentalgroup.com/newsletter/

Today's episode is sponsored by Avora, a partner of the DEO.

What if your Google Business Profile already brings in more new patients than your website and ads combined?

Jordin McEntire sits down with Bill Donato, co-founder of dentalmarketing.com, to unpack why just three specific signals control 70% of a dental practice's Google ranking. Bill breaks down why a Google Business Profile alone can out-convert a website and paid ads combined, and the exact numbers you should be checking on your own dashboard. He also shares how the right AI-written content can help a practice climb to the top of local search results. If you've ever wondered whether your marketing dollars are actually working, this episode shows you exactly where to look first.

Get your free marketing analysis from Bill Donato and the dentalmarketing.com team 👇

https://wizard.dentalmarketing.com/your-dental-practice

💡 Running your practice shouldn't feel like survival mode. Join DEO's Growth Secrets Newsletter, the daily email with real tips on growth and profitability👉 Subscribe Now: https://deodentalgroup.com/newsletter/

Today's episode is sponsored by dentalmarketing.com, a partner of the DEO.

What if your body is willing to sacrifice your teeth just to protect everything else?

Brooke Young sits down with Dr. Rachaele Carver, a biologic dentist in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, to unpack how she diagnoses oral disease by looking well beyond the tooth. Dr. Carver breaks down why fluoride isn't the fix conventional dentistry claims it is, how gut health and toxicity quietly drive decay and gum disease, and why she tests for both before she ever picks up a drill. That same conviction is what built a practice patients now travel hours to visit. If you've ever wondered whether decay is about more than sugar and brushing, this episode will change how you look at every chart.

Ready to join DEO members who have already solved the challenges you are facing today?

✨ Schedule your free Growth Accelerator Call and take the first step toward becoming a DEO member 👉 https://deodentalgroup.com/interest/

What if the practice you've spent years growing isn't actually worth what you think it is to a buyer? Jordin McEntire sits down with Brannon Moncrief, CEO of McLerran & Associates, to unpack what's really happening in today's private equity and DSO market. Brannon breaks down why crossing $3 million in revenue changes your options, what buyers actually screen for before they'll bid, and how EBITDA multiples are trading today. He also delivers a hard warning on roll-ups, exposing how these pitches quietly enrich the organizer while owners wait years for an exit that may never come. If you're a few years out from a sale, this episode will change how you plan for it.

📞 Connect with Brannon Moncrief

🔗 Website: www.dentaltransitions.com

📧 Email: [email protected]

📱 Call/Text: (512) 660-8505

🎓 Brannon's team is hosting a 2-day M&A Summit in Austin on October 29–30, covering practice value and exit planning, with a discount for DEO members.

🔗 Summit Info: McLerranSummit.com

💡 Running your practice shouldn't feel like survival mode.

Join DEO's Growth Secrets Newsletter, the daily email with real tips on growth and profitability.

👉 Subscribe Now: https://deodentalgroup.com/newsletter/

Today's episode is sponsored by McLerran & Associates, a partner of the DEO.

What if the secret to filling your hygiene schedule isn't chasing new patients, it's calling your existing ones?

In this episode, Kendall sits down with Greg Brooks, Managing Director at Global Strategic, to talk through how remote staffing is helping practices fix one of their biggest blind spots: hygiene reactivation. Greg breaks down why local teams struggle to keep up with consistent outreach, how a dedicated remote team can turn a 3 to 5% rebooking rate into 45 to 50%, and why that shift ripples into treatment acceptance too. He also gets honest about where offshore staffing goes wrong when practices skip the onboarding and communication piece that makes it actually work.

📞 Connect with Greg Brooks

🔗 Website: http://www.globalstrategic.com/

📲 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-strategic/

💡 Running your practice shouldn't feel like survival mode.

Join DEO's Growth Secrets Newsletter, the daily email with real tips on growth and profitability.

👉 Subscribe Now: https://deodentalgroup.com/newsletter/

Today's episode is sponsored by Global Strategic, a partner of the DEO.

What if the reason you're still buried in emails has nothing to do with how many hours are in your day?

Jordin McEntire sits down with Jackie Brown, Global Head of HR at SupportDDS, who spent years working alongside doctors at a DSO with 75 practices and 200 clinicians. She kept seeing the same thing play out. Owners were still managing their own schedules, still answering their own emails, long after they'd outgrown that job. Jackie explains why she built the Executive Excellence Academy to train executive assistants who think ahead of problems instead of just reacting to them, and why SupportDDS holds turnover down to 6.2% when the industry average runs far higher. She breaks down what real support actually looks like, from protecting an owner's priorities to running daily check-ins that keep the whole day on track, and what changes for a practice once that kind of support is finally in place.

🔗Learn more about SupportDDS: supportdds.com

📲Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/showcase/supportdds

🔗Interested in the Executive Excellence Academy? Learn more here: https://eea.zimworx.com/

💡 Running your practice shouldn't feel like survival mode.

Join DEO's Growth Secrets Newsletter, the daily email with real tips on growth and profitability 👉 Subscribe Now: https://deodentalgroup.com/newsletter/

Today's episode is sponsored by SupportDDS, a partner of the DEO.

Your front desk didn't sign up to be an insurance department. So why are they buried in one?

Kendall sits down with Louis Chan and Vere Whittome, co-founders of Kaylie AI, to break down the walls between insurance verification, treatment coordination, and claims management. Louis explains how five-star doctors at his old oral surgery group kept getting one-star reviews, why most practices react to problems instead of catching them early, and how every denied claim carries a lesson. They also get honest about where AI still falls short and why teams end up chasing a 5% problem with 80% of their time. If you've ever wondered where your front desk's time is really going, this one will change how you see it.

Connect with Kaylie.ai:

🔗 Website: http://kaylie.ai/deo

📲 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kaylie-ai/

💡 Running your practice shouldn't feel like survival mode. Join DEO's Growth Secrets Newsletter, the daily email with real tips on growth and profitability. 👉 Subscribe Now: https://deodentalgroup.com/newsletter/

Today's episode is sponsored by Kaylie AI, a partner of the DEO.

What happens when the laws governing your practice change every few months, and you find out the hard way?

Emmett Scott sits down with Eric Scalzo and John Saran, partners at Holland & Knight, to break down the wave of new state regulations reshaping dental practice growth in 2026. They walk through the recent California settlement making headlines, why non-competes and ownership disclosures are under new scrutiny, and how practices in Indiana secured their own exemption simply by showing up during the legislative process. The takeaway: the practices protecting themselves right now aren't panicking, they're paying attention. This one's essential listening before your next hire, partnership, or transaction.

Learn more about Holland & Knight's work in the dental space 👇

🔗 Website: www.hklaw.com

🔗 HK Navigator (state-by-state regulation tracker): https://www.hklaw.com/en/general-pages/holland-knight-navigator-mapping-healthcare-transaction-laws

💡 Running your practice shouldn't feel like survival mode.

Join DEO's Growth Secrets Newsletter, the daily email with real tips on growth and profitability.

👉 Subscribe Now: https://deodentalgroup.com/newsletter/

Today's episode is sponsored by Holland & Knight, a partner of the DEO.