The Dental CEO Podcast

The rules of dental student loans just changed, and most dentists have no idea what it means for them.The One Big Beautiful Bill Act capped federal student loans at $200,000 for dental students, down from a system that previously allowed borrowers to cover the full cost of attendance. For dental schools that cost $600,000 to $1,000,000 to attend, that means the gap now has to be filled with private loans at rates as high as 18%, requiring co-signers and offering zero forgiveness options. In practical terms, the Big Beautiful Bill just made dental school twice as expensive for most incoming students.In this episode, Scott Leune sits down with Dan Rooker, founder of Grad Loan Advice and one of the country's few Certified Student Loan Professionals, to break down exactly what changed and what every current dentist and dental student needs to know.Dan and Scott cover:Why the $200,000 federal loan cap will change the financial trajectory of every dentist graduating from 2026 forwardThe difference between federal and private loans and why private loans are now the biggest debt burdenThe Repayment Assistance Program strategy that can reduce your first-year payment to $10 per monthHow to use tax filing timing to eliminate an entire year of interest accrualWhy forgiveness exists on federal loans but not private, and what that means for your career decisionsThe specific circumstances where filing married-filing-separately can save borrowers thousandsPublic Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) opportunities most dentists never considerThe one-time-only 1% autopay discount deadline that could save $6,000+ on a $600K loanWhy every new dentist needs a student loan consultant on their team alongside their CPA and financial plannerWhether you're a dental student, a new graduate carrying debt, or a practice owner still working through your own loans, this episode delivers the tactical, timely information most dentists never get.Learn more about Dan Rooker and Grad Loan Advice: gradloanadvice.comSpecial offer for Dental CEO Podcast listeners: Dan is extending a discounted rate on his one-hour student loan consultation for anyone who mentions the show.🎧 Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: dentalceopodcast.com

Dr. Divya Patel was two years out of dental school when she made a decision most dentists take a decade to make: open her own startup instead of buying an established practice.In this episode, Scott sits down with Dr. Patel to unpack why she walked away from Toronto's acquisition market and built Pearl Dental Studio from the ground up instead. They break down the real math behind "buying a practice twice," once to acquire it, and again to actually fix it into your vision, and why that math made a startup the lower-risk path for her, not the riskier one.In this episode:Why acquiring an established practice can cost more long-term than building one from scratchWhat it actually costs to open a five-op startup in Toronto today, and how Canadian dentists access fundingHow Dr. Patel built a patient experience around comfort and quality instead of volume and insurance-driven case mixWhat it's like to bet on yourself as a young dentist, before a spouse, before kids, before "waiting until you're ready" starts costing you yearsHer 2-3 year vision for the practice, including plans for a second locationLearn more about Pearl Dental Studio: pearldentalstudio.ca | pearl.dental.studioIf you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the Dental CEO Podcast and leave a review, it helps other dentists find these conversations.🎧 Listen now: www.dentalceopodcast.com

Last week's episode challenged the traditional path to retirement. This week, Scott Leune gets tactical: what should you actually be doing in dentistry, right now, at your specific age, to make that philosophy real?In Part 2 of this series, Scott walks through the exact practice models that align with the semi-retire-twice framework, breaking down what each decade of a dental career should look like and why.Scott breaks down:Why age 26 to 35 should be about high income and low costs, and why becoming a practice owner as fast as possible is the single biggest lever for building wealth in this decadeWhy the highest-earning associates usually make even better-earning owners, and why staying an associate too long can quietly cap your ceilingTwo specific ways to structure a practice so you can drop to part-time in your late 30s and 40s without losing income, including dropping insurance plans for fee-for-service and building a "big case only" scheduleHow replacing yourself with associates the right way can get your personal overhead down to 10%, letting you take home the majority of what you produce on just one clinical day a weekWhy age 46 to 65 can become your highest-earning, highest-impact decade, and how adding practices during this phase builds both income and a business worth sellingWhat it actually looks like to reach 65 without burnout, with a healthy family, a nest egg, and a new chapter built around passion instead of retirementIf you've ever wondered whether you're in the right decade doing the right things, or whether you need a complete reset, this episode gives you the specific dental practice models to actually make the shift.🎧 Listen and subscribe: https://dentalceopodcast.com

A dentist got an unsolicited $9.8M offer to sell his practice — and on paper it looked incredible. So why is walking away the smarter move? Scott Leune breaks down the real offer line by line and runs the actual math, exposing the traps most dentists never see: the cash up front, the "rollover equity," the multi-year stay requirement that quietly erases years of owner profit, and the "hopium" of future multiples that rarely pay out. He shows how selling now nets roughly $9.4M while transitioning out first nets up to $14M+, and what to do instead if your practice is struggling. Whether you plan to buy, sell, or advise someone who will, this could save you millions. Subscribe for new episodes weekly.

There is a lot of bad location advice in dentistry. A dentist goes on a podcast, says demographics do not matter because they opened in a weak market and made it work, and suddenly "build it and they'll come" sounds like a strategy. It is not. It is luck, and as Scott Leune puts it, a blind man can hit a home run, but that does not mean the rest of us should swing blindfolded. On this episode of the Dental CEO Podcast, Scott sits down with Kent Miller, founder of Dentagraphics, to make the case for trusting the data instead of Dr. Facebook and one-off success stories. They break down what demographics actually tell you about a location, why the right market depends on the kind of dentistry you want to do, and how population, income, age, and competition take the risk out of opening or relocating a practice. The dentists bragging online about beating the odds are the exception, not the playbook. If you want a real shot at 2 million in collections with a healthy overhead, trust the data, not a hunch and not a lucky stranger on the internet.

In this episode of The Dental CEO Podcast, Scott Leune is joined by Bill Donato, Founder of DentalMarketing.com, to break down why your website is no longer the biggest driver of new patient calls. As patient search habits change, Google My Business, local search visibility, reviews, hyperlocal content, and real-time search queries are becoming more important than ever. Scott and Bill explain what dental practice owners need to understand about the new rules of dental SEO and how practices can improve visibility, compete locally, and generate more new patient opportunities.

In this episode of The Dental CEO Podcast, Dr. Scott Leune breaks down how dentistry is moving toward a new practice model built around automation, simplified staffing, patient hosts, presentation stations, and more efficient systems. He explains why traditional front office roles may become less necessary, how clinical team members could take on a more complete patient experience role, and how owners may be able to reduce chaos, improve consistency, and manage the practice with fewer bottlenecks. Scott also discusses how a personal assistant can help protect the owner’s time, support implementation, and create more flexibility in both business and life. This episode challenges dental practice owners to rethink staffing, facility design, patient flow, leadership, and what it may take to build a practice that is easier to run, easier to manage, and more profitable.

What does it actually look like to go straight from dental school into building your own practice? In this episode, Scott Leune sits down with Dr. Emily Magee just five weeks into opening her startup to walk through her journey from associate to owner. She shares how she made the decision to start early, secured financing, built out her office, and what the first few weeks of ownership really feel like. From hiring and training a team to managing patient flow and stepping into a leadership role, this is a real-time look at the pressure, uncertainty, and early wins that come with building a practice from scratch.