In this episode of the Stress-Free Dentist Podcast, Dr. Eric Block sits down with Dr. Deren Flesher — an Oklahoma dentist and serial dental-software entrepreneur who co-founded Modento and founded Airo Dental. Raised in small-town Oklahoma by two hospital nurses, Deren came to dentistry late, after ending every shadowing session with one revealing question: "If I were your son, would you advise I do what you do?" Nearly every physician said no; every dentist said yes. Three years and "20 failures" later he got into dental school, associated at DSO offices doing thousands of extractions and dentures, then opened a scratch startup in 2015 that has since seen around 12,000 patients.

The conversation digs into why he builds software to solve his own problems. Modento — a patient communication, forms, and consent platform — grew to a couple thousand offices and sold to Dental Intel (now Engagement by Dental Intelligence). His newest company, Airo Dental, centers on "Lane," an AI voice scheduler that answers 100% of scheduling calls in his practice. Deren and Dr. Block unpack the real numbers: the national average is about 65% of calls answered, only about 50% of ready-to-book callers actually get scheduled, and an AI that never misses a call and books roughly 80% of the time can be about twice as effective as a human team — while being honest about what AI still can't do.

They also cover rebuilding the phone tree so patients self-select, the stress it lifts off the front-desk team, and close with candid money advice: after chasing tax-advantaged private deals, Deren came "full circle" to simple, low-cost, diversified index investing — pay your taxes, avoid shortcuts, and put the rest on autopilot so you can focus on dentistry.

In this episode of the Stress-Free Dentist Podcast, Dr. Eric Block sits down with Sergei Azernikov — Senior Vice President of Software Development at Glidewell Laboratories — whose path to dentistry ran through computer vision research at the Technion in Israel, a postdoc at the University of Michigan, and patient-specific device work on hearing aids and orthopedics at Siemens, before he joined Glidewell as the second member of a software team that now numbers around 200.

The conversation traces Glidewell's early and unglamorous bet on artificial intelligence — a 2015–2017 collaboration with UC Berkeley, and founder Jim Glidewell personally reviewing crowns for hours a day to curate the training data — to where the company stands now: 100% of its crown designs are generated by AI, and a model update that once took months now takes about a week. Sergei and Dr. Block dig into the fast scan / fast mill chairside workflow, why crown proposals and margin detection keep improving, and the long-standing vision of a scan-to-seat process that ultimately becomes a single button click.

The episode also looks ahead — to voice interfaces and virtual assistants in the operatory, to robotics and automated prepping (with a Tesla full-self-driving analogy for how trust builds over time), and to Sergei's bigger thesis: dentistry is missing a true software platform, a "Windows moment" or App Store that would let disconnected systems finally plug and play. They close with advice for the next generation — for dentists, "you cannot afford to stay"; for entrepreneurs, a historically underserved market that is wide open for anyone who can build the connective layer.

Bruce Baird was producing over $64,000 a month and couldn't buy his wife a Christmas present. That story is why Productive Dentist Academy exists — and it's the first thing Victoria Peterson tells Dr. Block on this week's episode.

Victoria co-founded PDA with Bruce on a single insight: high production is not the same as profitability. The practice that looks busy and the practice that pays its owner well are often very different places. Production per hour is the metric that separates them.

The episode covers PDA's founding philosophy, the Martha problem in case acceptance, clinical language that gets patients to say yes, and two techniques Dr. Block uses in his own chair. Victoria also opens the door to any practice owner who wants a benchmark — reach her at [email protected].

In this episode of the Stress-Free Dentist Podcast, Dr. Eric Block sits down with Dr. John Montoya — a dentist who practiced in La Jolla for seven years, built multiple practices in Colorado, sold down to one before COVID after burning out from operational complexity, and went on to found Dental Purchasing Partners: a group purchasing organisation that gives solo dental practices the same buying leverage as a DSO, without giving up independence.

The conversation covers Dr. Montoya's full journey — from a childhood dream that nearly became a medical career to a seven-year La Jolla partnership, from the deliberate decision to simplify his practice portfolio to the origin of a business idea that came from a simple question to his vendors: how do I get those multi-location prices back as a solo practitioner? The answer became Dental Purchasing Partners — 80+ vendors, a $97/month membership, a procurement software that shops all major distributors simultaneously, and a promise that the first supply order will pay for the membership on its own.

The episode also covers the cost creep problem in private practice — supplies running at 8% when the target is 4–6%, credit card processing fees that nobody audits, software subscriptions that overlap, and equipment purchased at 5% discounts when group pricing offers 20–40%. Dr. Eric Block and Dr. Montoya close with advice for young dentists and both offer the same formula: cash flow is king, engineer your schedule intentionally, and stop comparing yourself to everyone else.

In this episode of the Stress-Free Dentist Podcast, Dr. Eric Block sits down with Dr. Kianor Shah — a dentist who bought his first practice just six months out of dental school, doubled its revenue, scaled to multiple locations, pursued an MBA to fill the business education gap dental school left behind, and went on to found the Global Summits Institute to protect dentistry from third-party control.

Dr. Shah is direct, experienced, and deeply practical. He shares the mindset that separated his trajectory from the average new graduate's — the belief that the debt you carry after school is the same whether you own a practice or work for someone else, so you might as well own it and control everything. He talks about the power of aesthetic dentistry as a premium positioning tool, how he thinks about patient standards and team expectations, and what the arrival of AI and robotics in dentistry actually means for a working practice owner today.

The episode also includes a preview of work Dr. Shah is doing through the Global Summits Institute — an organisation building the infrastructure to keep dentistry in the hands of dentists, not insurance companies, private equity firms, or technology platforms. A candid, energising conversation about building a practice on your own terms.

Dr. Jeffrey Greenberg joins Dr. Eric Block to talk workflows, SOPs, and how documentation transforms a dental practice from chaos to clarity. Two dentists who both went fully out of network share how a documented second brain — and the platform they built to create it — made their practices more profitable, more consistent, and genuinely stress-free.

In this episode of The Stress-Free Dentist Podcast, Dr. Eric Block sits down with Dr. Mona Patel to explore the deeper challenges many dentists face beyond clinical dentistry, burnout, perfectionism, leadership pressure, and emotional overwhelm. Dr. Patel shares her remarkable journey from becoming a dentist at just 21 in England, moving to the United States to retrain at the University of Pennsylvania, and eventually building a successful boutique fee-for-service practice focused on full-mouth rehabilitation, sleep dentistry, and patient relationships. Along the way, she reflects on the challenges of leadership, imposter syndrome, and the pressure dentists place on themselves to be perfect.

In this episode of The Stress-Free Dentist Podcast, Dr. Eric Block sits down with executive coach Tom Passalacqua to explore the emotional and leadership challenges dentists face at every stage of their careers. From imposter syndrome and self-doubt to practice ownership and professional growth, Tom shares powerful insights on how clarity, awareness, and intentional goal-setting can help dentists lead with confidence instead of overwhelm. Drawing from his background in education, dental sales, DSOs, and executive coaching, Tom explains how coaching differs from consulting, why emotions often derail progress, and how dentists can break big goals into actionable steps. This episode is a must-listen for dentists who feel stuck, stressed, or uncertain—and are ready to regain clarity, confidence, and control in their professional and personal lives.

In this episode of The Stress-Free Dentist Show, Dr. Eric Block sits down with Dr. Zina Berry, retired dentist, entrepreneur, and founder of Z-Loupes to explore her journey through early practice ownership, public health dentistry, burnout, and reinvention. Dr. Berry shares powerful lessons from purchasing a practice straight out of dental school, navigating high-volume community health settings, and recognizing the physical toll dentistry takes on the body. The conversation dives into how neck and back pain, infection-control concerns, and ergonomic challenges inspired the creation of Z-Loupes, a lighter, more hygienic loupe system designed with longevity in mind, especially for female clinicians. This episode is packed with real-world insights on efficiency, resilience, and building a dental career that supports both performance and well-being.

In this episode of The Stress-Free Dentist Podcast, Dr. Eric Block welcomes Dayna Johnson, founder and CEO of Novonee and a nationally recognized Dentrix trainer, for an in-depth conversation on how dental software training directly impacts efficiency, profitability, and team retention. Dayna shares her journey into dentistry, explains the differences between server-based and cloud-based practice management systems, and breaks down why Dentrix remains the most widely used software in dental practices today. Together, they explore how intentional team training, smarter software integrations, and streamlined workflows reduce stress, improve morale, and deliver a strong return on investment. This episode offers practical insights for dentists at every stage, from startups to long-established practices, looking to create a calmer, more efficient, and more profitable dental office.