Managing Dental Drama

Dr. Kuba and Bethany dig in to an all-important topic – patient communication. In this episode, Dr. Kuba shares a recent restaurant experience and how the communication was off throughout the entire meal. Ultimately, she felt like she was treated like she was an idiot. She began to wonder how often patients feel like idiots in our office. She and Bethany discuss the value of good listening to ensure that smooth and respectful commu...

September can be slow in the dental field. In fact, many practice owners refer to it as “Suck-tember.” In this episode, Dr. Kuba and Bethany discuss the September slowdown in her practice. Should a practice owner send employees home? Dr. Kuba and Bethany discuss how and when she decides to send employees home. As practice owners, it is important to have a slow-time game plan to ensure that the practice bounces back quickly. 

Previou...

 Welcome to SEASON FIVE!!! We kick this season off right with Dr. Jones! Dr. Kuba challenged him to think of some of his worst moments as a practice owner and some of the worst decisions he’s made. So, as he always does – he delivers! He discusses a medical emergency situation, his worst employee, as well as major financial decisions he made completely solo. As he relives each of these “worst” scenarios, he finds silver lining in e...

Never underestimate the power of phone answering skills. The way a dental practice phone is answered can lead to a new patient appointment (or the lack of one). Good skills can lead to de-escalation of a frustrated patient and to the positive feeling of satisfaction while neutral or negative skills can unintentionally upset a patient or drive a patient away. Dr. Kuba and Bethany jump into this very important topic in today’s episod...

Team building events are an important part of building successful team members, but what do you do when team members fail to show up for these important and often costly events? Dr. Kuba shares a colleagues frustration when after careful planning for an expensive team building weekend, two team members bail with less than 24 hours-notice. In this episode, she and Bethany discuss the frustration of this scenario, but also discuss th...

As if last week’s “Male vs. Female” episode was not enough, Dr. Kuba and Bethany go in even further on difficult topics. Bethany summarizes some upsetting details from a client’s recent drama and discusses the specifics with Dr. Kuba. They both talk about the challenges of being equal to team members while also still having to be “boss.” When the balance gets out of whack, team members can rise up and challenge authority or develop...

Bethany notices every day the differences between practices led by males and those led by females. While Bethany has avoided doing a podcast on this topic, the impact of gender is simply too strong to ignore. She meets with so many practice owners that are reeling in the aftermath of a gender problem, so she and Dr. Kuba decided to take the plunge today into the murky waters of this subject. Together, they discuss how expectations ...

Today’s episode is a must listen! Bethany tackles a subject that is near and dear to her heart – perspective/vantage points. She preaches an important thought to both her kids and her clients – at times, our perspective could be completely changed with just a simple step to the right or left. She references those mind-blowing photos that would be completely “normal” with taking the photo from a different vantage point (see link bel...

After last week’s episode on stealing employees, Dr. Kuba and Bethany took the time to flip the coin. What if the “word on the street” gets to you and you find out that one of your employees is looking to leave? What do you do? Fight to keep them? Preemptively fire them? Do you resign to the fact that they are gone and begin to build a replacement plan? All of these questions and more are covered in this week’s episode. Listen as D...

 Dr. Kuba and Bethany are back in the closet today because they have an extra dramatic topic – stealing employees! When should a doctor check references? What are the rules about contacting an existing employer? What if the employee works for somebody that you know – what should you do? Dr. Kuba and Bethany dive deep and talk about some sticky situations that can come up in this process. It is a delicate subject to say the least, b...

Bethany’s dad, Dr. Jones, is back in the studio, and today he is talking about a subject that is often on everyone’s mind – retirement! He takes us through the history of retirement as well as his personal subjective evaluation of retirement. Listeners will be eager to know – when is Dr. Jones retiring?? He answers this and much more while also thoroughly discussing this important subject. Whether you are 20 or 92, you do NOT want ...

20 minutes – that is all it is going to take to listen to this week’s essential episode. Listen as Bethany quickly unpacks eight foundational resources that every practice needs. She focuses on two different “buckets” of advice – first, she selects her top four (gasp, only four!?!?) favorite books for practice leaders and teams. Then, she tells listeners the MUST-HAVE professionals to ensure that you are fully supported in your pra...

The hardest decision any leader must make is when to ultimately call it quits on an employee. It is a gut wrenching process that cannot be taken lightly. In this episode, Dr. Kuba and Bethany discuss the importance of giving a team member every opportunity to be successful, and it is important for the practice leader to consider changing the person’s roles and responsibilities to better fit his or her strengths. However, when all o...

First impressions are everything, especially when welcoming a new employee to the team. Just as the leadership team is hoping that they struck gold with their new employee, the new team member is also hoping they risked everything for the right practice. So, these first few days and weeks are critical for setting the right tone and creating a welcoming experience. In this episode, Dr. Kuba and Bethany discuss her second location an...

Bethany’s dad, Dr. Jones, is back!! In this episode, he and Bethany discuss the importance of recognizing that restless energy and even apathy that some team members experience in the summer months. It is hard to stay focused on work when we really want to play. Yet, the summer months can often be productive months for the practice IF we have a team that is focused and willing to work hard. Dr. Jones shares some of the small but si...

Why are changes and improvements so hard to implement? Maybe we start strong, but then old habits die hard. Or, maybe we never even started with the improvement. Why? In this episode, Dr. Kuba and Bethany discuss the challenge of implementation. They incorporate several real scenarios of team members and discuss the WHY behind the lack of implementation. In one of the scenarios, an attitude of resistance was the cause, while anothe...

 A dental conference can be so incredibly exciting and ALSO so incredibly overwhelming. It is such an investment of time, money, and energy. So, it is critical to get an excellent return on your investment. In this episode, Bethany gives a specific strategy to ensure that every course attendee (includes ALL team members) gets the most out of the conference. In this episode, she tells course participants to set aside a couple of hou...

Can my practice survive if I drop insurance? Where should I begin? What if all my patients leave? – These are just a few of the questions that practice leaders ask when considering whether or not to drop an insurance plan or two. Dr. Kuba and Bethany discuss various points of view with this topic and specifically dig into the important topic of the practice surviving and even thriving after an insurance drop.  

 Insurance MAD World ...

When do you know if you are TRULY out of space? What are the options to consider to increase space or decrease your patient count? How do you know if you need a second location? In this episode, Dr. Kuba and Bethany discuss the potential highs and the potential lows of starting a second location. They also discuss all of the “signs” that may indicate that you are truly out of space. If you are feeling cramped for space or are think...