Shared Practices | Your Dental Roadmap through Practice Ownership

Transitioning from a clinician to a CEO is the ultimate hurdle in dental practice ownership. In this episode of Practice Underwater, Dr. George Hariri and Elizabeth navigate the "logistical nightmare" of scaling an eight-month-old practice that is already bursting at the seams. With 3,000 patients and only six operatories, Elizabeth faces a pivotal choice: stay in a challenging second-floor space or chase a "shiny object" real estate deal with mismatched timelines.George reframes the traditional dental business ownership mindset by challenging the urge to move too soon. They break down the ROI of a $43,000 construction project to add two operatories versus the capital-intensive trap of buying a building that doesn't fit the long-term vision. This is a survival guide for any dentist wrestling with dental growth strategies and the fear of patient attrition.The conversation pivots to the "Mega Group" concept, where George introduces the power of the 12-operatory model. For those pursuing sustainable dental practice growth, reaching 12 operatories allows for a three-doctor rotation, providing the owner with the "school schedule" flexibility they crave without sacrificing dental practice profitability. Elizabeth gains clarity on why settling in her current space—for now—is the fastest way to hire an associate and preserve her patient base. Ready to scale your dental practice ownership?Visit https://sharedpractices.com/ for our "Free Look" service and follow our social channels for roadmap updates. Join the community and turn your clinical skills into a thriving business.

In this episode of Coaches Corner, we dismantle the myth that clinical excellence alone is enough to scale a practice. As you move from solo clinician to the head of a growing group, your dental business strategies must evolve or your systems will shatter. Dr. Andrew Clingan and Caitlin Embree dive deep into the "Ugly Duckling" phase of ownership—that volatile period where adding an associate reveals every crack in your foundation. Transitioning into dental practice ownership requires more than just hiring more hands; it demands a total shift in how you view dental practice management. If you are out-producing your problems rather than solving them with systems, you are sitting on a ticking time bomb.For the future dental practice owner, this episode serves as a survival guide for the associate to owner transition. We discuss the hard reality of "losing" high-value cases simply because your team wasn't trained on the right codes or verbiage. We explore dental business strategies that focus on empowering an Office Manager to lead, rather than the owner micromanaging every $15-an-hour task. This is the core of sustainable dental practice growth: building a culture of leadership where your team is self-accountable and your dental practice profitability isn't solely dependent on your time in the chair. We break down the "Time and Energy Audit," a tool designed to help you buy back your time and focus on the high-level dental business ownership tasks that actually move the needle. Stop acting like an employee in your own business and start implementing the dental business strategies that allow you to lead with vision and clarity.Ready to take the next step in your dental practice journey? Visit https://sharedpractices.com to learn more about our Buyer Representation and Coaching services, designed to help dentists buy, grow, and optimize profitable practices. You can also use our Free Look to evaluate dental practice opportunities with real data before making a decision. For daily Dental Moneyball insights, strategy tips, and updates, follow us across our social channels.

Welcome back to the Shared Practices podcast for a high-stakes episode of Practice Underwater. Today, we sit down with "Bob," a high-achieving dentist navigating the complexities of an $8M mega-group. While his revenue has soared, his focus has shifted toward the bottom line, making this a masterclass in reclaiming margins without sacrificing growth.Bob’s journey is a classic success story of the associate to owner transition. After a decade as an associate, he dove into dental practice ownership in 2015. Everything changed when he found the Shared Practices | Your Dental Roadmap philosophy. By implementing dental growth strategies like "retain, open, fill," he scaled his new patient numbers from 25 to nearly 90 per month.Despite this expansion, Bob currently finds his Practice Under Water regarding profitability. With 17 operatories and a central leadership team, his EBITDA margin sits at 8%—a figure he hopes to double. Alongside Dr. George Hariri, Bob performs a "dental moneyball" diagnostic on his P&L, breaking down financial management for dentists—from lean 3% management costs to 36% staff compensation.It’s clear that while his dental practice management is solid, it requires fine-tuning. Bob has been in the "ugly duckling" phase for two years and now faces a critical turning point in entrepreneurship for dentists: continue with acquisitions in dentistry or pause to optimize? This episode is a must-watch for those interested in how to buy a dental practice, as it covers the dental practice acquisition checklist, dental practice valuation methods, and due diligence red flags.The episode also tackles the psychological "10-year grind." Bob shares lessons from a smaller acquisition that led him to re-evaluate his path toward sustainable dental practice growth. Whether you are starting out or managing a group, this dental ownership podcast offers essential dental business strategies. Bob’s willingness to share his Practice Under Water moments provides a roadmap for moving from a clinical bottleneck to a true CEO. Join us to analyze cost dilution, dental practice marketing strategies, and the discipline required to keep dental business ownership lean. Use this dental practice buyer guide to ensure your dental practice profitability remains high. From the dental startup podcast to the dental transition podcast, this is the ultimate dental roadmap for dental practice acquisition podcast listeners. Ask George your questions and get your Practice Under Water!Ready to take the next step in your dental practice journey? Visit https://sharedpractices.com to learn more about our Buyer Representation and Coaching services, designed to help dentists buy, grow, and optimize profitable practices. You can also use our Free Look to evaluate dental practice opportunities with real data before making a decision. For daily Dental Moneyball insights, strategy tips, and updates, follow us across our social channels.

Most ambitious dentists are taught that dental practice ownership success is a linear climb from one location to three, five, or ten. In this episode, Dr. Megan Timm joins Caitlin Embree to pull back the curtain on the "sexy" allure of the dental empire and explains why she made the difficult decision to offload two locations to return to a single-doctor model. If you are currently navigating the associate to owner transition or feeling the pressure to expand, this survival guide explores the hidden costs of growth—including the financial strain of multiple mortgages, the "revolving door" of rural recruiting, and the mental toll of managing personalities rather than practicing dentistry.Megan shares the raw reality of the "tipping point" where three practices resulted in zero personal take-home pay for six months. We deep dive into the logistics of a practice merger, how to communicate office closures to patients without losing your reputation, and the importance of clinical alignment when hiring. You will learn why sustainable dental practice growth is often found by increasing efficiency per patient and dropping insurance dependence rather than adding more chairs. Megan’s journey from a stressed multi-practice owner to a thriving, "productive solo" dentist proves that dental practice management is not one-size-fits-all. We discuss the "ego stroke" of expansion versus the actual dental practice profitability of a well-oiled, single-doctor machine.Whether you are performing acquisitions in dentistry or looking to optimize your first office, this episode challenges the "bigger is better" narrative. Learn how to protect your vision, set boundaries with high-level team members, and design a life that allows you to be both a CEO and a present parent.Ready to take the next step in your dental practice journey? Visit https://sharedpractices.com to learn more about our Buyer Representation and Coaching services, designed to help dentists buy, grow, and optimize profitable practices. You can also use our Free Look to evaluate dental practice opportunities with real data before making a decision. For daily Dental Moneyball insights, strategy tips, and updates, follow us across our social channels.

The leap from clinician to CEO is the most significant hurdle in any associate to owner transition. Most dentists enter ownership with world-class clinical skills but find themselves practicing blind when it comes to the business side of the chair. In this episode of the Shared Practices Podcast, Dr. George Hariri sits down with Dr. Aditi Agarwal, co-founder of Practice by Numbers, to discuss how to navigate this high-stakes shift using the power of data and AI dashboards.Dr. Agarwal shares her personal journey of launching a startup in a depressed market and the "aha moment" when she realized that her case acceptance issues weren't a clinical failure, but a data-driven financing gap. This episode serves as a survival guide for dental practice ownership, moving beyond simple spreadsheets to embrace sophisticated dental business strategies. We explore the concept of "Operations AI" and how it acts as a co-pilot for the modern dentist, automating the revenue finder process to locate thousands of dollars in unscheduled treatment.As a future dental practice owner, your success depends on your ability to implement dental business strategies that don't rely solely on your own manual effort. We break down the importance of team-led technology adoption, showing you how to empower your front office to reduce their workload while simultaneously increasing dental practice profitability. From call sentiment analysis to AI-assisted perio charting, learn how to leverage the "great equalizer" of technology to compete with DSOs while maintaining the personalized touch of private practice. This is the roadmap for turning dental business ownership into a predictable, data-backed success story.Ready to take the next step in your dental practice journey? Visit https://sharedpractices.com to learn more about our Buyer Representation and Coaching services, designed to help dentists buy, grow, and optimize profitable practices. You can also use our Free Look to evaluate dental practice opportunities with real data before making a decision. For daily Dental Moneyball insights, strategy tips, and updates, follow us across our social channels.

Transitioning from a skilled clinician to a successful CEO requires a fundamental shift in how you view dental practice management. Most dentists enter ownership to focus on patient care, yet they quickly find themselves bogged down by the "human" element of human resources. In this episode of Shared Practices, Richard Low sits down with Jill Hasselmann from HR for Health to dismantle the myth that HR has to be a source of constant stress. For future owners, understanding these systems is not just about staying organized; it is about protecting the legacy and financial health of your dental practice ownership journey.Jill explains that "compliance is caring," reframing bureaucracy as the baseline for treating a team with respect. We dive into the "Anatomy of HR," breaking it down into five critical pillars: hiring and onboarding, benefits administration, conflict resolution, payroll logistics, and legal compliance. Many owners struggle with wage and hour claims—which have seen a 450% increase over the last 20 years—simply because they lack a digital paper trail or clear time-off policies. This episode serves as a survival guide for dental business ownership, highlighting why relying on a "friend’s handbook" or unverified AI tools like ChatGPT can create massive legal exposure.We also explore the modern expectations of Millennial and Gen Z team members who demand transparency and digital-first experiences. By implementing a "True North" via a customized employee handbook, you can remove the emotion from difficult conversations and lead with consistency. Whether you are navigating a startup or an acquisition, mastering entrepreneurship for dentists means having a proactive plan for everything from cell phone policies to pregnancy leave. Jill shares how automated systems can handle the tedious tracking of CE certifications and performance reviews, allowing you to shut your brain off and focus on dental growth strategies. Stop reacting to crises and start building a foundation where you never have to worry about HR again.Ready to take the next step in your dental practice journey? Visit https://sharedpractices.com to learn more about our Buyer Representation and Coaching services, designed to help dentists buy, grow, and optimize profitable practices. You can also use our Free Look to evaluate dental practice opportunities with real data before making a decision. For daily Dental Moneyball insights, strategy tips, and updates, follow us across our social channels.

Think you could grow a suburban dental practice from $700K to $2.5M in four years without burning out? In this high-stakes episode of Practice Under Water, George sits down with "Thor," a high-intensity owner who has done exactly that. Thor shares the raw numbers behind his explosive associate to owner transition, revealing how he moved from 15 new patients a month to over 90 by mastering Google reviews and direct mail.However, success has brought a new challenge: the "Sunday scaries". George helps Thor evaluate the dental business strategies needed to stop being the bottleneck in his own five-operatory building. They discuss the "pseudo-specialist" pivot—moving away from general dentistry to focus on high-value ortho and implants—as a way to maintain dental practice profitability while regaining control of the schedule.This episode serves as a survival guide for dental practice ownership, tackling the psychological hurdles of dropping insurance, hiring a second associate, and the risk of taking a temporary income hit to achieve long-term longevity. Whether you are looking for sustainable dental practice growth or trying to navigate the complexities of dental practice management, Thor’s journey offers a roadmap for high-producing dentists who want to lead a team-led practice rather than grinding in the chair forever. Learn how he leveraged dental growth strategies to build a practice that produces $250,000 a month with only five operatories.Ready to take the next step in your dental practice journey? Visit https://sharedpractices.com to learn more about our Buyer Representation and Coaching services, designed to help dentists buy, grow, and optimize profitable practices. You can also use our Free Look to evaluate dental practice opportunities with real data before making a decision. For daily Dental Moneyball insights, strategy tips, and updates, follow us across our social channels.