The Savvy Dentist

When the ads seem to fail, the real problem is usually the front desk, and it’s a costly blind spot for dental practice owners. In this episode, Dr Jesse Green walks through the three numbers that show where you lose dental patients, from the first enquiry to the appointment book, and how one practice doubled the patients in the chair without spending an extra cent on ads. If you are a dental practice owner spending money on marketing without knowing what it returns, you won’t want to miss this episode.

In This Episode:

• 01:02 A practice spending $5000 a month on ads, and what one week of call tracking revealed
• 02:22 Why you can’t set a marketing budget without knowing your cost of acquisition
• 03:55 The three numbers to track before you spend another dollar on marketing
• 04:33 AI receptionists for after hours calls, plus the front desk basics that turn calls into bookings

Resources and Links:

• How Does Your Dental Practice Compare Against the Top Performers?
• Stay Up to Date by Following Dr Jesse Green on Instagram
• Connect with Dr Jesse Green on LinkedIn
• If you’re a Dental Practice Owner looking to scale your practice, learn more about our Practice Max Program

Most patients have no way of judging the quality of your dentistry, so dental practice owners get judged on everything around it instead. In this episode, Dr Jesse Green sits down with Dan Monheit, Chief CX Thinker at Thinkerbell, to work through the psychology behind every decision your patients make, and the small, deliberate changes that make your practice the one they choose and return to. If you are a dental practice owner who wants patients to value your care as much as you do, you won’t want to miss this episode.

In This Episode:

• 14:59 Why patients judge your dentistry by everything except the dentistry
• 17:42 Why patients remember the peaks and the ending, not the whole appointment
• 22:01 Effort bias: how showing the work behind a crown changes how the fee lands
• 29:20 The Eminem 8 Mile technique for defusing a patient’s concern before it surfaces
• 37:32 The bias Dan would pick above all others, and the toothpaste story behind it

Resources and Links:

• How Does Your Dental Practice Compare Against the Top Performers?
• Stay Up to Date by Following Dr Jesse Green on Instagram
• Connect with Dr Jesse Green on LinkedIn
• If you’re a Dental Practice Owner looking to scale your practice, learn more about our Practice Max Program
• Explore Dan Monheit’s BSci Bootcamp and use code SAVVY at checkout for 20% off
• Learn more about Thinkerbell
• Books mentioned: Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely, and Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don’t Make Sense by Rory Sutherland

Mentioned in this episode:

Savvy Dentist Team Training Bundle

If your practice can’t run without you, it’s time for systems - not more theory.

Team Training Bundle 2025

The four stages of dental practice growth are far more predictable than most owners realise, and so are the problems waiting inside each one. In this episode, Dr Jesse Green works through what it takes to grow a dental practice at every stage, from startup to growth to scaling up to preparing for exit. You will learn why a startup practice without retention systems is a leaky bucket you can never fill, and why crossing from profitable to scalable means becoming the world’s best trainer. If you are a dental practice owner who wants to know which stage of growth you are actually in and what to fix next, you won’t want to miss this episode.

In This Episode:

• 00:25 The four stages every practice moves through, and why the problems at each one are predictable
• 01:27 The leaky bucket that keeps startup practices stuck in the hustle and grind cycle
• 02:40 Dentistry by day and business by night, the growth stage pattern that ends in burnout
• 05:49 The mindset shift into scalability: becoming the world's best trainer
• 08:49 What really drives your multiple, and the single point sensitivity that puts it at risk

Resources and Links:

• How Does Your Dental Practice Compare Against the Top Performers?
• Stay Up to Date by Following Dr Jesse Green on Instagram
• Connect with Dr Jesse Green on LinkedIn
• If you're a Dental Practice Owner looking to scale your practice, learn more about our Practice Max Program

Mentioned in this episode:

Savvy Dentist Team Training Bundle

If your practice can’t run without you, it’s time for systems - not more theory.

Team Training Bundle 2025

Social media keeps declaring word of mouth marketing slow and inefficient. In this episode, Dr Jesse Green makes the opposite case, and lays out the four step ESAR framework for patient referrals in your dental practice: the same system behind several multi-seven figure practices he helped grow with zero advertising spend. He also explains how external marketing adds new patients while referral marketing multiplies your patient numbers, and what that does to your cost of acquisition. If you are a dental practice owner who wants to grow without lifting your ad spend, you won't want to miss this episode.

In This Episode:

01:38 The four step ESAR framework behind every referral

02:03 Why you have to earn the right to ask, and the touchpoints that get you there

03:25 The patient covenant that makes referrals an expectation, not a hope

04:50 The exact words Jesse uses to ask a patient for a referral

07:45 Why behaviour rewarded is behaviour repeated, and the gift mistake to avoid

Resources and Links:

• How Does Your Dental Practice Compare Against the Top Performers?
• Stay Up to Date by Following Dr Jesse Green on Instagram
• Connect with Dr Jesse Green on LinkedIn
• If you're a Dental Practice Owner looking to scale your practice, learn more about our Practice Max Program

Mentioned in this episode:

Savvy Dentist Team Training Bundle

If your practice can’t run without you, it’s time for systems - not more theory.

Team Training Bundle 2025

AI tools are arriving faster than the rules that govern them, and most practice owners are switching them on without knowing where their obligations begin and end. In this episode, Dr Jesse Green sits down with Zac Herps, Managing Director of Hillhouse Legal Partners, to work through what AI in dental practice actually exposes you to, from the moment a tool generates its very first clinical note.

You will learn why informed consent belongs in the chair rather than on a sign in the waiting room, and what free AI platforms quietly do with everything you paste into them. Zac also walks through the reverse engineering approach his own firm uses to select tools, so you can put governance in place before something goes wrong. If you are a dental practice owner bringing AI into your clinical, administrative, or marketing workflows, you won't want to miss this episode.

In This Episode:

01:21 Why the law treats AI as assistive, and why the liability still lands on you

05:37 Why a sign in the waiting room does not count as informed consent

16:08 The problem with free AI tools and what happens to everything you paste in

20:24 Two real cases: the lawyer struck off and the board member removed

23:44 The reverse engineering approach to choosing an AI tool for your practice

Resources and Links:

• How Does Your Dental Practice Compare Against the Top Performers?
• Stay Up to Date by Following Dr Jesse Green on Instagram
• Connect with Dr Jesse Green on LinkedIn
• If you're a Dental Practice Owner looking to scale your practice, learn more about our Practice Max Program
• Learn more about Hillhouse Legal Partners
• Read the Hillhouse fact sheet: AI in Healthcare: Managing Privacy, Legal and Compliance Risks

This episode and these show notes provide general information only and should not be relied upon as legal advice. Specific advice should be obtained from a qualified professional based on your individual circumstances.

Mentioned in this episode:

Savvy Dentist Team Training Bundle

If your practice can’t run without you, it’s time for systems - not more theory.

Team Training Bundle 2025

One dental practice worked through four receptionists in a few years and every single time, they blamed the receptionist or blamed the hire. Dr Jesse Green traces the problem back to its real source: the dental practice hiring process. He makes the case that getting it right lifts the calibre of applicants, keeps good team members longer, and protects the productivity that constant turnover quietly erodes. If you are a dental practice owner tired of cycling through team members and ready to build a hiring system that works, you won't want to miss this episode.

In This Episode:

• 01:59 The two documents to have in place before you write a word of an ad: the ideal applicant avatar and your employer value proposition
• 03:34 How to write an advertisement that speaks to your ideal applicant's hopes and frustrations
• 05:15 Why advertising is only the first domino in a full recruitment system

Resources and Links:

• How Does Your Dental Practice Compare Against the Top Performers?
• Stay Up to Date by Following Dr Jesse Green on Instagram
• Connect with Dr Jesse Green on LinkedIn
• If you're a Dental Practice Owner looking to scale your practice, learn more about our Practice Max Program

Mentioned in this episode:

Savvy Dentist Team Training Bundle

If your practice can’t run without you, it’s time for systems - not more theory.

Team Training Bundle 2025

Dr Jesse Green is joined by Clayton Newell from Henry Schein One to unpack how AI can help your dental practice today, not in five years' time. You will hear which low value tasks to hand over first, why freeing your front desk from the calendar and the phone changes the patient experience, and how to tell the difference between technology that earns its keep and technology that just looks impressive.

Clayton also points to the revenue already sitting in your existing database: the lapsed recalls, the unbooked treatments, and the simple follow-up habit that turns those numbers into booked chairs. You will get a clear picture of where the practice of the future differentiates once systems become a commodity, and what that shift means for the work your team does every day. If you are a practice owner deciding how far to take AI and automation without losing the human side of your practice, you won't want to miss this episode.

In This Episode:

• 02:32 The parallel between tradies and practice owners, and why hands on craft has a long runway ahead of it
• 12:17 AI clinical notes inside the PMS, and the end of writing up your day at nine o'clock at night
• 17:36 Getting front of house out of the calendar, and why patient experience becomes the point of difference
• 24:29 The money left on the table in your database, and the follow-up call nobody wants to make
• 38:41 Practice owners are vibe coding their own tools: what to build, what to buy, and the compliance trap

Resources and Links:

• How Does Your Dental Practice Compare Against the Top Performers?
• Stay Up to Date by Following Dr Jesse Green on Instagram
• Connect with Dr Jesse Green on LinkedIn
• If you're a Dental Practice Owner looking to scale your practice, learn more about our Practice Max Program
• Learn more about Henry Schein One Australia
• Connect with Clayton Newell on LinkedIn

Mentioned in this episode:

Savvy Dentist Team Training Bundle

If your practice can’t run without you, it’s time for systems - not more theory.

Team Training Bundle 2025

There is one delegation habit that quietly caps the growth of a dental practice, and it is not the one you would expect. In this episode, Dr Jesse Green unpacks the difference between delegating a task and delegating an outcome, and why the second one is where the leverage lives. He also explains how answering a question with a question builds a team that problem solves without you.

You will see why the practices that scale are the ones where the owner sits one layer back, and how to make that gear change without panicking and running back to what you know. If you are a dental practice owner who keeps hearing yourself say it is easier if I just do it myself, you won't want to miss this episode.

In This Episode:

• 00:51 The checklist culture Jesse learned in the Navy, and why it did not follow him into his first practice
• 02:04 Delegating a task versus delegating an outcome: the line between beginner and advanced
• 02:34 Handing the monkey back: how teams return the job and why you must not take it
• 04:02 Two practice owners, two very different outcomes, and the one who ended up in front
• 05:29 The gear change, the short term dip, and why so many owners never push through it

Resources and Links:

• How Does Your Dental Practice Compare Against the Top Performers?
• Stay Up to Date by Following Dr Jesse Green on Instagram
• Connect with Dr Jesse Green on LinkedIn
• If you're a Dental Practice Owner looking to scale your practice, learn more about our Practice Max Program

Mentioned in this episode:

Savvy Dentist Team Training Bundle

If your practice can’t run without you, it’s time for systems - not more theory.

Team Training Bundle 2025

Are the 2026 tax changes about to undo years of work in your practice? Dr Jesse Green and Brendan Campbell go through what the changes actually mean for a practice owner, and the answer is calmer than the headlines suggest.

You will find out which assets are grandfathered and need no action at all, how far away the real deadlines sit, where changing the way your practice is owned could get more money into super, and which questions to put to your accountant about your trust and your bucket company before anything shifts. If you are a dental practice owner with a trust, an investment property or a super balance you are working to grow, you won't want to miss this episode.

In This Episode:

• 02:39 Division 296 and the $3 million super balance threshold, and why super is still one of the best places to hold money
• 06:21 The 50% CGT discount ends 1 July 2027 and cost base indexation returns, so gains arising before that date keep the discount
• 13:34 Negative gearing limited to new residential builds from 1 July 2027, with properties acquired before budget night exempt until you sell
• 31:02 The 30% minimum tax on discretionary trust income, and what it changes for bucket companies
• 41:11 The restructure that can move money into super, create a deduction on the borrowing, and lift your cost base

Notes on This Episode:

• The capital gains tax and negative gearing reforms discussed in this episode are now law, taking effect from 1 July 2027
• Division 296 applies an extra 15% to super earnings above $3 million, with a further 10% above $10 million. Both thresholds are indexed and may rise over time
• The 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts, the loss carry-back measure, and the instant asset write-off changes were proposed as part of the 2026-27 Budget. Confirm current status with your accountant before acting

Resources and Links:

• Learn more about Prosperity Advisors
• How Does Your Dental Practice Compare Against the Top Performers?
• Stay Up to Date by Following Dr Jesse Green on Instagram
• Connect with Dr Jesse Green on LinkedIn
• If you're a Dental Practice Owner looking to scale your practice, learn more about our Practice Max Program

This episode was recorded on 21 July 2026. The information and commentary shared is general advice only. It does not take into account any individual's objectives, financial situation or needs, and it is not a substitute for advice about a specific practice or structure. Listeners should obtain advice from their own accountant, tax agent or licensed adviser before acting on anything discussed.

Mentioned in this episode:

Savvy Dentist Team Training Bundle

If your practice can’t run without you, it’s time for systems - not more theory.

Team Training Bundle 2025

Are you the bottleneck in your dental practice? If every decision in your practice still comes back to you, this episode breaks down exactly why. Dr Jesse Green unpacks the three layers of leadership, primary, secondary and tertiary, and shows how skipping any one of them quietly turns you into the bottleneck for every problem your team faces. You will learn how to set the standard as the practice owner, build clear scorecards and expectations for your team, and develop other leaders who can carry real responsibility without you.

The real breakthrough in this episode is the accountability piece most owners miss. Jesse walks through a real case where a great team with solid training still was not performing until one simple habit changed everything, and explains why what gets measured gets managed. If you are a dental practice owner who is tired of being the answer for every question your team brings you, you won't want to miss this episode.

In This Episode:

• 00:00: Why leadership is not just one skill, and the three layers every practice owner needs to master (primary, secondary, tertiary)
• 02:00: Building secondary leadership with clear scorecards, plus the line from Michael Filosi that reframes how you manage your team
• 04:00: Developing tertiary leaders so you can step one layer back from the business
• 05:00: The number one responsibility of the CEO, and why it matters more than most owners realise
• 06:00: A real practice case study showing how one simple accountability habit turned a good team into a high performing one

Resources and Links:

• How Does Your Dental Practice Compare Against the Top Performers?
• Stay Up to Date by Following Dr Jesse Green on Instagram
• Connect with Dr Jesse Green on LinkedIn
• If you're a Dental Practice Owner looking to scale your practice, learn more about our Practice Max Program

Mentioned in this episode:

Savvy Dentist Team Training Bundle

If your practice can’t run without you, it’s time for systems - not more theory.

Team Training Bundle 2025