Prosperident's Dental Practice Owner's Podcast

What happens when a trusted dental team member turns criminal? In this gripping episode, Dr. Deborah Staten of Las Vegas joins Prosperident senior investigator Scott Clifford to recount one of the most striking embezzlement cases in recent dental history.

Danielle Powers, a dental office employee trusted with financial responsibilities, systematically stole over $250,000 from Dr. Staten's practice. But the story doesn't end there &m...

Three of dentistry's leading specialists in practice protection come together for a candid roundtable on the challenges confronting dental practice owners today. David Harris of Prosperident, Adrienne Twigg of Bent Ericksen & Associates, and Erik Pook of Cirrus Group each bring a distinct and vital perspective — financial forensics, human resources and employment law, and commercial real estate — to a wide-ranging d...

She was trusted completely. She was there every day. And she was stealing — for years. In this deeply personal episode, Virginia orthodontist Dr. David Hughes describes in his own words how his office manager embezzled over $370,000 from his practice, right under his nose.

Dr. Hughes is joined by Prosperident CEO David Harris, senior investigator Wendy Askins, and forensic accountant Amber Weber-Gonzales for a frank and illumi...

Dental Support Organizations have reshaped the landscape of dentistry — but are they a lifeline, a trap, or something more complex? In this candid episode, Prosperident's David Harris, Wendy Askins, and Amber Weber sit down with Emmet Scott, CEO of a 70-practice DSO and one of the most influential voices in the DSO industry, for an unvarnished look at what DSOs really mean for dental practice owners.

Emmet Scott brings rare in...

Embezzlement is not just a financial crime — it is a profound personal betrayal. In this deeply moving episode, dentist Dr. Mark Saladin recounts how someone he trusted stole $150,000 from his practice, and what the pursuit of justice meant to him personally and professionally.

What makes this episode extraordinary is its dual perspective. In addition to Dr. Saladin's account, this episode includes audio clips from his embezzl...

Smart people make dumb mistakes — especially when they're highly trained clinicians running a business they were never taught how to manage. In this entertaining and insight-packed episode, David Harris sits down with Dr. Rich Madow, former practicing dentist, speaker, and co-founder of The Madow Group, to talk candidly about the most common — and costly — mistakes dental practice owners make.

Dr. Madow has spent d...

Revenue doesn't just disappear in a single dramatic event — most of the time, it leaks out quietly through gaps in systems, habits, and oversight that busy practice owners never have time to examine. In this episode, David Harris welcomes legendary dental practice management consultant Linda Miles to identify the four most common and costly ways dental practices lose money they never know they're losing.

Linda Miles has spent ...

Few cautionary tales in dentistry are as powerful — or as instructive — as Dr. Roy Shelburne's. A respected dentist, Dr. Shelburne spent 19 months in federal prison for health care fraud. Today, he has turned that devastating experience into a mission: helping other practitioners understand the legal and regulatory risks that can destroy a career, a practice, and a life.

In this extraordinary episode, Dr. Shelburne sits ...

This episode is a special cross-post from the DSO Secrets Podcast, hosted by Ken Kaufman. Ken sits down with Prosperident's David Harris, Wendy Askins, and Amber Weber to tackle one of the most consequential challenges facing Dental Support Organizations today: how do you hire staff across multiple locations without importing a theft or embezzlement problem?

For DSOs, the hiring stakes are particularly high. A single bad hire who un...

If you only have an hour to understand dental embezzlement — what it is, how it happens, and what to do about it — this is the episode. Prosperident's David Harris, Wendy Askins, and Amber Weber, joined by special guests, deliver a concentrated masterclass on the most important things every dental practice owner needs to know about embezzlement.

Drawing on decades of combined investigative experience across hundreds of d...

Dental practices hold an enormous amount of sensitive data — patient records, financial information, insurance details — making them high-value targets for cybercriminals. In this eye-opening episode, Prosperident's David Harris, Wendy Askins, and Amber Weber welcome Gary Salman, CEO of Black Talon Security, for an urgent and practical discussion on two of the most dangerous threats facing dental practices today: cybers...

Most dental practice owners focus their security concerns on employees — and rightly so, given how common internal theft is. But the threats to your practice don't stop at the front door. In this episode, Prosperident's Amber Weber, David Harris, and Wendy Askins turn their investigative lens outward, examining the external threats that can cause serious financial and operational damage to a dental practice.

From physical brea...

This episode is a special presentation from the DSO Secrets Podcast. Ken Kaufman of Community Dental Partners interviews Prosperident's David Harris, Wendy Askins, and Amber Weber on a topic of growing urgency within the group dentistry world: how embezzlement happens inside Dental Support Organizations — and what makes it different from theft in a solo practice.

As DSOs continue to grow and consolidate dentistry, the financia...

Prevention is always better than investigation. In this practical, action-oriented episode, Prosperident's David Harris, Wendy Askins, and Amber Weber share the concrete strategies dental practice owners can implement right now to make their practices dramatically harder to steal from.

Drawing on direct experience investigating embezzlement in hundreds of dental practices, the Prosperident team knows exactly which vulnerabilities em...

Financial mastery is one of the most underleveraged competitive advantages available to dental practice owners — and one of the most neglected. In this episode, Prosperident's David Harris, Amber Weber, and Wendy Askins are joined by senior investigator Scott Clifford for a wide-ranging conversation about the financial fundamentals that every practice owner needs to understand and actively manage.

Too many dentists hand over f...

The statistics on dental embezzlement are sobering — but statistics don't tell the full story. In this powerful episode, Prosperident's Amber Weber and Wendy Askins sit down with four dentists who have lived through embezzlement firsthand: three Prosperident clients and one dentist who handled the situation independently.

Hearing directly from victims strips away the abstract and makes the reality of dental embezzlement imposs...

This is one of the most remarkable episodes in the history of the Prosperident podcast. David Harris was given a rare and extraordinary opportunity: a face-to-face interview with one of dentistry's most prolific embezzlers — a woman who has worked at, and stolen from, over a dozen dental practices.

She contacted Prosperident herself. Her stated reason: to "set the record straight." What followed was a candid, unsettling, and d...

What goes through the mind of someone who steals from their employer — and what brings them to genuine remorse? In this rare and candid interview, Prosperident's David Harris sits down with a convicted dental embezzler who agreed to speak openly on the condition of anonymity. She embezzled more than $250,000 from her dentist employer and served time in state prison.

Unlike many who minimize or deflect, this woman speaks with w...

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted nearly every aspect of dental practice — including how embezzlement happens. In this timely episode, Prosperident's David Harris, Wendy Askins, and Amber Weber examine how the events of 2020 and 2021 changed the financial threat landscape for dental practices, and what practice owners need to know as they navigate the post-pandemic environment.

Practice closures, staff furloughs, government reli...