You see someone in brackets at the grocery store. They’re not your patient. Feel that twinge? You’re not alone. Most of us were trained to think like rivals, to assume a fixed pie, to measure wins and losses street by street. But the founders and doctors who are actually winning play a different game entirely. They replace scarcity with abundance, define the real competition as household attention and discretionary dollars, and align their teams and systems to serve more people, better. That mindset shift changes everything: how you judge a lead, how you train your team, how you run a consult. The practices that grow fastest aren’t chasing neighbors. They’re building capacity to meet a much larger unmet need.
 
The False Scarcity And The Real Market
Here’s the early-career trap. Someone you know chooses another orthodontist, and frustration creeps in. Beneath that reaction sits a belief that there are only so many cases to go around. Wrong game.
You’re not mainly competing with other orthodontists. You’re competing with Disney+, home renovations, car payments, and a thousand other ways families spend limited time and money. The data backs this up: far more people could benefit from treatment than those who actually start each year. The smarter play is to expand demand and remove friction, not guard a tiny slice.
The abundance view is practical, not naive. When neighboring practices do better, your category grows, referral patterns stabilize, and you’re less likely to get sideswiped by zero-sum tactics. That’s a healthier, more durable competitive landscape for everyone.
 
From Offense To Service: Why No Lead Is A Bad Lead
Abundance shows up in daily behavior. It replaces judgment with service. Instead of labeling inquiries as “bad,” you ask how to make things easier for the customer. You design follow-up that respects timing, because timing is often the variable, not motivation. This shift lowers defensiveness and raises conversion over longer horizons.
The same applies to feedback. You can treat coaching as criticism, or as an opportunity to get better. Teams that choose the latter create compounding advantage because they improve faster than rivals who protect their ego. That attitude is ready for growth, and it spreads.
A related discipline is unoffendability. When leaders practice humility and resist taking things personally, they notice useful signals, adopt better ideas, and stay steady in front of the team. That steadiness is contagious in consults, in handoffs, in the waiting room.
Invest In The Team, Collect Pearls, Scale Quality With Systems
The fastest path to abundance is people investment. Bring your team to trainings, expose them to different offices, and collect “pearls” from good and bad examples. Some team members will move on. Invest anyway. The return on investment appears in better execution, faster adoption of best practices, and a wider base of capable eyes on your patients and processes.
This isn’t about novelty for its own sake. Elite operators are learn-it-alls, not know-it-alls. They obsess over fundamentals, build repeatable systems, and lead people to run those systems consistently. Phone answering, show rates, booking discipline, and conversion are boring words, yet they separate peak performers from everyone else. Control what you can control, and don’t let external cycles become excuses for poor fundamentals.
 
Run A Business That Happens To Be A Practice
When you view your work as a business that happens to be a practice, you listen to the customer first, not vendors or peers. You simplify choices and show the outcome patients care about, then provide clinical depth when they ask for it. Many practices unintentionally present like they’re defending a case to faculty.

Most orthodontic and dental practices sit on a goldmine they never touch. Every day, people call asking about treatment. They request information. Then life happens and they disappear.
They don’t mean to ghost you. They just get busy, lose confidence, or hit a financial snag.
But here’s the truth: buried in those old leads are your future patients. The difference between practices that grow and those that plateau? Persistence.
At HIP Creative, the New Patient Scheduling Team exists for one reason: make sure no potential patient falls through the cracks. They combine strategy, empathy, and relentless follow-through to transform “not yet” into “yes.” What happens on those calls goes far beyond scheduling. It’s about building trust, nurturing relationships, and understanding the real human stories behind each lead.
 
The Patient Who Said Yes After Two Years
Picture this: a lead sits in your system for two full years before finally scheduling.
For months, the New Patient Scheduling Team kept reaching out. The patient carried dental anxiety from previous bad experiences. She worried about the cost. But the follow-up never stopped.
Eventually, the timing clicked. The conversation wasn’t about pushing. It was about listening. That patient felt heard for the first time in years and decided to take the next step.
This story repeats itself constantly. Patients aren’t saying “no” forever. They’re saying “not right now.” The difference between losing them and helping them is how long you’re willing to stay in touch.
Why Follow-Up Gets Forgotten
Most front desk teams want to follow up. They know it matters. But in reality, they’re pulled in ten directions at once: checking in patients, verifying insurance, answering phones, managing schedules, and handling walk-in chaos.
Follow-up becomes the first casualty when the day gets hectic. Calls go unanswered. Texts go unsent.
As one team member put it, “The front desk is juggling so much. The phone rings, a patient walks in, another is checking out. Something has to give, and it’s usually the leads.”
That’s where the New Patient Scheduling Team steps in. By taking that responsibility off the in-office team, they free your staff to focus on what happens inside the practice while ensuring that every single lead still gets nurtured with care and consistency.
 
The System Behind Persistence
Persistence isn’t about luck or endless calling. It’s a process built on proven cadence, thoughtful timing, and authentic communication.
Here’s how the New Patient Scheduling Team does it:
Multiple Touch Points. They call leads at different times of day: morning, afternoon, and evening. This increases the chance of connection.
Text Before Calling. A quick, friendly text saying “Hey, this is Alyssa from [Practice Name]. I’ll be giving you a quick call shortly” builds trust and boosts answer rates.
Double Dialing. Calling twice back to back is surprisingly effective. It signals that the call matters.
Three-Day Cadence. Each lead is contacted multiple times over consecutive days, with strategic spacing to avoid feeling intrusive.
Long-Term Nurture. Even after months or years, the team continues reaching out with empathy and context. No lead is ever lost.
This cadence transforms follow-up from a task into a strategy. Every call, text, and note builds momentum. Every interaction brings a patient one step closer to starting treatment.
The Power of Empathy and Tone
Persistence only works when it’s paired with empathy. The New Patient Scheduling Team isn’t reading from a script. They’re listening for the “why” behind a patient’s hesitation.
Is it cost? Fear?

Growth feels good. New signage. New markets. New potential. But here’s the catch: opening another location doesn’t guarantee success. It guarantees overhead, stretched resources, and thinner margins.
One orthodontist learned this after years of splitting attention across multiple offices. His breakthrough? He closed a location everyone called a “goldmine.” His practice grew 50 percent in a year.
True growth isn’t about multiplying offices. It’s about mastering what you already have before chasing the next opportunity.
https://youtu.be/A6IaQIuzROg
 
The Hidden Cost of Expanding Too Soon
Expansion looks like progress. But the math tells a different story.
Open too early and you’ll multiply overhead before you see new revenue. Rent doubles. Utilities double. Staff doubles. Marketing doubles. Meanwhile, your margin shrinks and your focus scatters from excellence to survival.
One doctor put it bluntly: “My strategy was making the least amount of money possible and spending the most on things I didn’t get to enjoy.”
When he finally closed that underperforming location, profit trapped in inefficiency suddenly appeared. No new patients needed. No new systems. Just eliminating waste revealed growth hiding in plain sight.
What Stewardship Actually Means
Stewardship isn’t a soft concept. It’s a business discipline. You maximize what’s in your hands before asking for more.
Too many orthodontists expand out of impatience or status seeking, not readiness. The question shouldn’t be “Where should I open next?” It should be “Am I truly maximizing what I already have?”
Real stewardship starts here:
Know your true numbers. If you can’t name your margin per case or cost per new patient, you’re guessing, not growing.
Optimize every touchpoint. Are leads answered in three minutes or three hours? Are patients clear on next steps? Small fixes create massive returns.
Develop your team. Great operators multiply your impact without multiplying your costs. Invest in people before you invest in square footage.
One orthodontist nailed it: “Let’s perfect our model, then duplicate it.”

 
Operations Trump Appearance Every Time
Flashy offices and cutting-edge brackets don’t win patients. Patients already assume you’re qualified. What separates you is how you operate.
Competing on operations means building workflows that eliminate friction. Your team anticipates needs. Your systems deliver clarity and speed. Your experience feels effortless because consistency compounds over time.
Patients don’t care about your aligner manufacturer or practice management software. They care about feeling heard, understood, and confident. Deliver those things systematically, not sporadically, and you’ll win over time.
The Ego Trap Every Orthodontist Faces
Walk into any orthodontic conference and you’ll hear the same question echoing: “How many locations do you have?”
It’s become a scoreboard. Expansion earns applause. Excellence doesn’t get the same attention.
The result? Practices chasing status instead of sustainability. Growth driven by ego, not readiness. And most orthodontists are artists at heart, passionate about their craft, but business growth demands an entrepreneur’s mindset.
The shift is simple:
From artist to architect. Design systems that scale, not just cases that wow.
From ego to empathy. Focus on what patients actually want, not what impresses colleagues.
From more to better. Serve deeply before you serve broadly.
Stop chasing applause. Start refining your systems. Profit follows.

 

The Three Pillars That Build Unstoppable Orthodontic Teams
Most orthodontic leaders think motivation lives in the paycheck. Add a bonus here, throw in a perk there, and watch performance soar. Except it doesn’t work that way.
True motivation isn’t bought. It’s built. Dr. Ann Marie Gorczyca proves it every day in her practice with three psychological pillars: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. When you weave these into your culture, motivation becomes self-sustaining. Your team starts driving itself forward instead of waiting for you to push.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bifonMVrpwA
 
Autonomy: Let Your People Own The Wheel
Autonomy doesn’t mean walking away and hoping things work out. It means designing clear lanes of responsibility and letting your team steer within them.
Dr. Gorczyca gives every team member a project they own, from accounts receivable to customer service. Then she has them present results during meetings. That simple act transforms a task into a contribution. They’re not just completing assignments. They’re leading.
If you’ve hired for personality and potential over experience, this approach becomes critical. Start small. Give a new hire one job they can master, like serving as the office concierge who greets every patient. Let them win early, celebrate those wins, and expand their scope as confidence grows.
Micromanagement kills motivation faster than anything. Ownership grows it. When people feel trusted to make decisions, they begin thinking like leaders.
Try this: In your next team meeting, assign one person a recurring metric to track and report on: insurance claims, call conversions, or patient satisfaction. Let them own the mic for that topic. You’ll see confidence rise almost instantly.
Mastery: From Good Enough To Excellent
Mastery isn’t instant. It’s the drive to keep improving long after you’ve become proficient. It requires repetition, humility, and curiosity.
Dr. Gorczyca notes it takes about three years for a registered dental assistant to truly master every system in an orthodontic practice. One year to become proficient. Three years to become excellent. Twenty years to become elite.
This mindset separates thriving practices from stagnant ones. When your culture rewards mastery, people start taking pride in their precision, whether they’re handling insurance billing or seating a patient.
Think of mastery like athletic training. The best performers, from Kobe Bryant to Tom Brady, show up every day to refine the fundamentals. The same principle applies in your practice. The job isn’t to get things done once. It’s to get better every time you do them.
Try this: Set clear 30-60-90 day development goals for each team member. Focus less on speed and more on precision. Then celebrate milestones, like reducing insurance claims over 60 days or improving call conversion rates. Recognition fuels repetition.
 
Purpose: The Anchor That Keeps Teams Grounded
Autonomy and mastery create drive. Purpose gives direction. Without it, even your most talented team will lose steam over time.
Dr. Gorczyca’s practice lives by one powerful statement: “Smiles Change Lives.”
It’s simple, memorable, and true. Every task, from sterilizing instruments to bonding brackets, connects back to that purpose. The work isn’t just about straightening teeth. It’s about giving patients confidence and helping them leave better than when they arrived.
Purpose transforms a job into a mission. It reminds every team member that what they do matters.
Try this: Post your vision statement where every patient and team member can see it. Then weave it into your meetings. When a patient shares how treatment changed their life, tell that story.

Stop Posting, Start Converting: Build A Trust Funnel That Wins Patients Before the First Call
Right now, thousands of ads are flooding Meta. Your future patients are scrolling past most of them. The question is not how to post more. It’s how to convert strangers into patients before they ever pick up the phone.
The answer: turn every social profile into a trust funnel. Treat your channels as sales assets that earn trust with video, keep people inside your world long enough to like you, then point them to a clear next step.
https://youtu.be/5kuPEWQ9JnI
What A Trust Funnel Is And Why Video Sits At The Core
A trust funnel converts a social channel into a sales asset. Instead of scattered posts, you deliberately design profiles and content to shepherd a cold viewer through a sequence: discover you, understand you, like you, and finally act.
Do this on video-forward platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn. The algorithms prioritize video and users naturally choose it in down moments with captions on. HubSpot research shows video gets dramatically higher engagement than photos and text, which aligns with what platforms reward and how people actually consume content.
The job is not just to spark interest on a single post. It’s to keep viewers inside your channel until they cross the threshold of “I get who this practice is.”
Here’s why this matters: when prospects feel they know you, your likeability stacks on top of expertise. That creates price elasticity. Parents will pay more for a provider they trust to deliver a safe, positive experience for their kids, even if a cheaper option sits down the street.
The Three Trust Signals Your Channel Must Demonstrate
The most effective channels show three types of trust over and over.
Logical Trust
This is credibility. Clear explanations, simple case breakdowns, and answers to common concerns prove you know what you’re talking about.
Emotional Trust
Relatability matters. Show your human side and your relationships with team and patients. Give people a behind-the-curtain view so your practice feels like more than a “meat grinder” of visits.
Social Trust
Our brains still run tribal safety checks. Testimonials, case studies, and peer or industry endorsements signal that “this tribe is safe,” which lowers perceived risk.
Check all three boxes consistently and conversion gets easier. But you cannot stop at content they “like.” You must steer viewers to a next step or you lose them to the next swipe. Direct them to book a consult or take a tour of the office so attention turns into action.
 
Align With The Three Players Of Social Media
Winning on social means serving three different objectives at once.
You, the practice: convert strangers into patients, then find more strangers. That’s your objective.
The platforms: they make money by keeping users on platform, so they reward content that holds attention.
The users: people open apps for education, entertainment, and connection. Reverse engineer your topics and packaging around those motives and the platforms will amplify you, which in turn serves your goal.
When you meet user goals and platform goals first, your visibility compounds.
Package Broadly, Bridge Specifically
If you only publish narrow, high-intent topics, your ceiling is low. To widen the top of the funnel, package with a provocative, broadly appealing hook, then bridge to your services.
Here’s a concrete example: lead with “What is your dentist lying to you about?” to attract more viewers, then connect the conversation to retainers or braces. The hook earns the click. The bridge makes the video commercially relevant.
The same standard applies to case studies. “I worked with Luke.

Your treatment coordinator isn’t filing papers. They’re selling life-changing smiles to anxious families who’ve never stepped foot in an orthodontic office before. Yet most practices hand them scripts, demand conversion numbers, and wonder why patients feel like transactions instead of people.
Here’s the truth: TCs who thrive don’t memorize objection responses. They balance three core elements that transform hesitant families into loyal patients. Get this balance right, and you’ll see conversion rates climb, teams energize, and practice culture shift from transactional to transformational.
https://youtu.be/uov4RopVuQg
Your TC Is the Heartbeat, Not the Gatekeeper
After that first phone call, your treatment coordinator becomes the patient’s emotional anchor. They’re not processing paperwork. They’re processing fears, hopes, and life-changing decisions.
They sell transformation stories. Every conversation centers on a future smile that will boost confidence for decades, not just straighten teeth for two years.
They set the practice tone. Walk in motivated, and patients feel cared for. Walk in drained, and they sense it before you say hello.
They carry the human connection. Numbers keep the lights on, but without genuine care, patients will shop elsewhere.
Passion and Purpose Beat Scripts Every Time
Processes keep practices running, but passion creates the connections that close cases.
Passion spreads faster than anxiety. Patients can feel authentic excitement about their transformation. They can also spot when you’re just going through motions.
Purpose means focusing on their why. Whether it’s senior photos, a wedding, or finally smiling in pictures, their reason for treatment matters more than your monthly start goal.
Real stories fuel the role. From tears of joy at debonding to kids who can’t wait to pick new colors, TCs witness life-changing moments daily. That’s the fuel that sustains passion.
 
Build Processes That Support People, Not Numbers
Passion without structure burns out fast. Your TC needs systems that amplify their natural connection skills.
Streamline everything patients touch. From scheduling software to financial presentations, every process should reduce friction and build confidence.
Vaccinate against common objections. A day-before call that sets expectations (“You can typically start for $500 with payments under $200”) prevents the dreaded “I need to talk to my spouse” stall.
Design for the patient experience. Every workflow should answer one question: does this make families feel more confident about starting treatment?
The Three-Legged Stool: Balance All Three or Fall Down
Think of passion, purpose, and processes as a three-legged stool. Remove one leg, and everything collapses.
Passion without processes leads to inconsistent experiences and burned-out staff.
Processes without passion create efficient but cold interactions that patients remember negatively.
Purpose without either becomes wishful thinking that doesn’t convert.
When all three work together, problems become team challenges. The result? A dynamic practice culture where everyone wins.
Measure Success Beyond Conversion Rates
Conversion rate matters, but it’s not the only metric that counts.
Starts per exam remains the gold standard. How many patients offered treatment actually begin?
Observation patient engagement builds tomorrow’s starts. Keep them connected, and they’ll start when ready.
Follow-up persistence separates good TCs from great ones. Most families aren’t juggling multiple consults. If they don’t start, it’s because connection was missed.

The Growth You’re Missing: 3 Assets That Can Double Your Orthodontic Practice
Most orthodontists believe growth comes from bigger marketing budgets, more ad spend, and flashy campaigns. But here’s the truth: the fastest way to double your orthodontic practice growth isn’t external—it’s internal.
In fact, according to Flint Geier of the Scheduling Institute, the practices that see breakthrough growth don’t simply market harder. They fix what’s broken inside their systems first.
In this blog, we’ll break down the three overlooked assets sitting inside your practice right now that can double your new patient flow—without spending another dollar on ads.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sam9m_VfLTg
1. Your Phone Is Your Profit Center
For years, orthodontists have treated the phone as an afterthought—just a necessary piece of office equipment. But in reality, your phone is your single most valuable profit center.
Consider these numbers:


90% of new patients still call an office before scheduling.


80% of callers who don’t reach you will never leave a voicemail.


Miss 30% of calls? You just lost 30% of potential patients.


Patients decide whether to trust you in the first 60 seconds of a call.


That’s not a marketing issue. That’s a systems issue.
When staff sound rushed, when calls go unanswered, or when parents feel like an interruption—you’re literally handing patients over to competitors.
The fix? Treat your phones like a $10,000 piece of equipment. Audit answer rates, track missed calls, and most importantly—train your team to own the moment.

2. Your Team Controls Your Growth Rate
Your front desk team might not wear lab coats, but they hold the keys to your growth. Every new patient call is a high-value moment that determines whether someone chooses you or hangs up and calls the next orthodontist.
Here’s the reality:


Most practices underestimate their people.


Team members often “go through the motions” without realizing they are the growth engine.


Practices that win train phone skills like clinical skills.


Repetition creates confidence. Confidence builds consistency. And consistency drives new patient flow.
If you want predictable growth, train your team weekly. Role play scenarios. Make practice harder than reality. The better prepared your team is, the easier it will be when real families call.

3. Transform Patients Into Walking Billboards
You’re probably investing heavily to attract new patients, but are you maximizing the families already in your chairs?
Every interaction is a chance to turn patients into raving fans who can’t stop recommending you to friends, coworkers, and neighbors.
Some simple shifts include:


Call it a “welcome area,” not a “waiting room.”


Treat each patient as a person, not a case number.


Connect personally before discussing clinical details.


Create a warm, unrushed environment.


The goal isn’t just straight teeth—it’s creating an experience so positive that families can’t help but share it.
And when patients say, “Thank you, this has been amazing,” don’t just say, “No problem.” Use the moment: “We’re honored to serve families like yours. If you know anyone else who could benefit, we’d love to help them too.”
That simple line can turn gratitude into a referral.

Building Your Referral Machine
Referrals don’t happen because of one-off campaigns. They happen in moments. That’s why your top 20 referring families are gold mines. Treat them like VIPs—send handwritten thank-you notes, offer perks, and recognize their loyalty.
When you make referrers feel special,

The Problem Every Practice Owner Faces
You hire great people. You build solid systems. Yet something still feels off.
Maybe your star treatment coordinator suddenly can’t close cases because the new “foolproof” workflow confuses her. Or your front desk team starts avoiding phone calls because the seven-step process feels overwhelming.
Here’s what’s happening: you’re treating people and processes like enemies instead of dance partners.
The best practices don’t choose one over the other. They create systems that amplify what their people already do well. When you get this balance right, your team performs at their peak and patients feel the difference.

Your Practice Is Bleeding Money Right Now
Picture your practice as a boat moving downstream. Every operational gap is a hole letting revenue pour out.
The leaks look small:

* One missed follow-up call per day
* Slow response times that lose warm leads
* Team members asking “what do I do next?” instead of taking action
* Unclear responsibilities that create finger-pointing

But those tiny holes add up fast. Missing just one qualified lead per day costs your practice up to $1 million annually. That’s not a typo.
Most practices try to solve this by generating more leads. That’s like pouring more water into a leaky bucket. You need to plug the holes first.
 
Data Shows You Where to Look
Tools like PracticeBeacon and Gaidge give you X-ray vision into your practice operations. The numbers don’t lie about where patients slip through cracks.
Track these three metrics religiously:

* Scheduling percentage (inquiries that become appointments)
* Show rates (appointments that actually happen)
* Consult-to-start conversion (consultations that become treatments)

When one of these numbers drops, dig deeper. Check phone response times. Review follow-up procedures. Listen to how your team communicates with patients.
The data will spotlight exactly where your processes are failing your people.
Build Systems That Make People Shine
Stop building processes around individual team members. Build them around roles.
When you create a system for “Sarah” instead of “treatment coordinator,” you trap your practice. Sarah leaves, and your entire workflow crumbles. Plus, the next person feels like they’re living in Sarah’s shadow.
Design role-based systems that give structure while letting personalities flourish:

* Your organized team member who struggles on phones? Move them to back-office tasks where they thrive.
* Growing practice overwhelming your front desk? Split responsibilities so one person handles calls while another greets walk-ins.

The goal: systems that elevate both staff performance and patient experience.
Warning Signs Your Systems Are Too Complicated
Good systems feel invisible. Bad ones scream for attention.
Watch for these red flags:

* Team members constantly asking for the next step
* Patients looking confused or frustrated
* Staff resistance to new procedures
* Processes that feel like punishment instead of support

The best systems work like bowling bumpers. They keep your team in the lane without restricting their ability to aim for strikes.
If a system feels like a grind, simplify it.
 
Write SOPs That Actually Get Used
Standard Operating Procedures shouldn’t require a PhD to understand. They should provide guidance, not handholding.
Keep SOPs concise and visual:

* Use bullet points instead of paragraphs
* Include Loom videos for complex tasks
* Avoid click-by-click instructions that break with every software update

Ever watch a patient nod politely through your treatment presentation, then disappear forever? You’re not alone. Most orthodontic practices accept mediocre case acceptance rates as “industry standard.” Here’s the truth: your 50% conversion rate is costing you over $200,000 annually in lost revenue.
Brooke Oliphant learned this the hard way. As a treatment coordinator following rigid scripts, she hit the industry average and felt stuck. Her breakthrough came when she ditched the fill-in-the-blanks approach and started treating consultations like human conversations. The result? Conversion rates that consistently hit 80% and beyond.
Your consultation process has five hidden friction points that are killing your case acceptance. Fix these, and you’ll transform tire-kickers into committed patients.
https://youtu.be/NoroIHo2KEE
The Script Prison: Why Rigid Conversations Kill Confidence
Confidence sells. Scripts don’t.
Walk into most practices and you’ll hear treatment coordinators reciting the same rehearsed lines, word for word. The moment a patient asks something unexpected, panic sets in. They freeze, defer to the doctor, or worse, fumble through an obviously scripted response.
Here’s what’s really happening: confidence is contagious, and so is uncertainty.
When your TC loses confidence, patients feel it instantly. They start questioning your expertise before you’ve even talked about treatment. Scripts create this problem by making team members dependent on perfect conditions that rarely exist in real conversations.
Think about your best treatment coordinator. They don’t sound robotic because they’ve moved beyond scripts to frameworks. They have structure without handcuffs. They can pivot when a parent asks about payment options or when a teen shows resistance to braces.
The framework approach works like this: Know your key talking points, understand the logical flow, but speak like a human being who genuinely wants to help. When patients sense authenticity instead of a sales pitch, they lean in rather than pull back.
 
The Redundancy Trap: How Repeating Information Destroys Trust
They already told you three times. Start listening.
Picture this scenario: A parent calls your office and explains their child needs braces. They fill out new patient paperwork detailing the same concerns. Then your treatment coordinator starts the consultation with “So, what brings you in today?”
You just told them their time isn’t valuable enough for you to prepare.
Orthodontics is an attention-to-detail business. When you ask patients to repeat information they’ve already provided, you’re signaling that precision isn’t your strong suit. Why would they trust you to move their teeth correctly if you can’t manage basic information?
Preparation demonstrates clinical competence before the clinical exam begins.
The most effective treatment coordinators read scheduling notes and review paperwork beforehand. They start consultations in the middle of a conversation, not at the beginning. Instead of “What brings you in?” try “I see from your paperwork that Sarah’s front teeth are your main concern. Tell me more about what you’ve noticed.”
This simple shift proves you’re paying attention and sets a professional tone that builds trust from minute one.
Language Landmines: The Words That Sabotage Your Sales
Stop saying “just” and start commanding premium fees.
One word can destroy thousands of dollars in value perception. That word is “just.”
“It’s just phase one.” “It’s just six months.” “It’s just limited treatment.”

Why Every Orthodontist Has Blind Spots
Every orthodontic practice has blind spots. The difference between the offices that grow and those that stall often comes down to proximity—how close the doctor is to the real issues impacting the business. In this episode of the podcast, we’re joined by Nick Wangler, co-founder of Orthodontic Details, to explore why these blind spots form, how to close the gap, and why proximity is power when it comes to orthodontic practice growth.
When you stay close to your challenges, you see problems sooner, make better decisions, and turn obstacles into breakthroughs. This conversation with Nick offers practical insights and strategies you can use immediately to strengthen both your business and your leadership.



The Hidden Cost of Distance
Business relationships don’t work the same way as patient relationships. Suppliers, marketing partners, and banks are not evaluating you on bracket placement or aligner precision—they care about systems, numbers, and results. Over time, your identity as “the doctor” can merge so closely with your sense of worth that acknowledging a business challenge feels like admitting clinical failure. It’s not the same thing, but it feels that way.
This distance from the business side often starts small—skipping a financial report, delegating without proper follow-up, or avoiding operational meetings. These aren’t signs of laziness; they’re signs of cognitive protection. When you’re performing complex orthodontic treatments, your brain pushes aside operational concerns to keep you focused on patient care. Unfortunately, that same protection creates gaps where small problems quietly grow.
Why Proximity Is Power in Orthodontic Practice Growth
The further you are from a problem—physically, mentally, or emotionally—the less likely you are to solve it quickly. Proximity gives you faster awareness, better data, and greater control over outcomes. When you close the distance, you can identify issues before they escalate, spot growth opportunities earlier, and make decisions based on reality rather than assumptions.
Proximity also creates momentum. When you have your finger on the pulse of your practice, you can adapt faster, keep your team aligned, and maintain a competitive edge in a changing orthodontic market. As Nick Wangler, founder of Orthodontic Details, points out, proximity isn’t about micromanaging—it’s about having the awareness to see problems early and act decisively.


A Practical Plan to Turn Blind Spots into Breakthroughs
The best way to close the gap is to implement systems that keep you close to the truth—without overwhelming your schedule.


Pick one area you’ve been avoiding—whether it’s reviewing your numbers, evaluating your systems, or checking in on team dynamics.


Schedule a short weekly review—just 15 minutes to assess your new patient flow, team satisfaction, and operational efficiency.


Create feedback loops—include patient surveys, team input sessions, financial reviews with your accountant, and regular check-ins with trusted advisors.


The goal is not perfection—it’s consistent proximity. The closer you are to the facts, the faster you can make changes that matter.
The Patient Experience Connection
Proximity doesn’t just benefit you—it benefits your patients. They expect more than outstanding treatment; they want a smooth, stress-free experience from the moment they walk in until the day they finish care. Delivering that requires efficient systems, clear communication, and reliable processes.
When you apply the same precision you use for bracket placement and aligner planning to your scheduling, billing, and marketing systems, you elevate the patient experience and build a stronger reputation in your community.
Quick Win: Get Closer to Your Supply Chain

Why High-Income Healthcare Professionals Are Financially Struggling: The Hidden Crisis in Medicine
The shocking statistics reveal a disturbing paradox in healthcare: 50% of physicians work beyond age 65 because they have to, despite earning in the top 1% of incomes for over 30 years. With over 400 physician suicides annually and financial stress ranking as the second leading cause of professional burnout, it’s clear that high income doesn’t guarantee financial security for doctors, orthodontists, and other healthcare professionals.
This crisis affects thousands of highly educated professionals who’ve mastered complex medical procedures but remain financially illiterate despite impressive incomes. The result? A generation of healthcare providers trapped in what experts call “golden handcuffs” – looking wealthy on paper while actually running on a dangerous financial treadmill.
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The Educational Gap: 27 Years of School, Zero Financial Training
Dr. Erik Nilssen, an orthopedic surgeon and financial educator, highlights a critical flaw in medical education: “I personally went to the 27th grade and I never had a class on how to invest or why to invest or what does retirement really look like.”
This educational blind spot is systematic across healthcare professions. Medical schools, dental schools, and orthodontic programs excel at teaching clinical skills but completely ignore business and financial realities. Students spend over a decade learning to treat patients but graduate without knowing how to manage wealth or build financial security.
Teresa Kuhn, a wealth strategist specializing in high-income professionals, traces this problem to its psychological roots: “We’re programmed to be consumers at a very, very young age, as opposed to thinking long term about what lifestyle do you want to live, what outcome do you want?”
 
The Lifestyle Inflation Trap: From Broke to Rich to Broke Again
The transition from broke medical student to high-income professional creates perfect conditions for financial disaster. After years of delayed gratification and accumulating massive student debt, new healthcare professionals suddenly have access to credit and income they’ve only dreamed about.
Dr. Nilssen describes the psychological trap: “You make nothing as a resident, you’re broke, you have all this debt, and then one day you get a paycheck which is more than you’ve made your entire life… and then you start buying the goods and feeling good and lifestyle creep kicks up and now you’re stuck in this system.”
The mathematics are brutal. When professionals reach their 50s and 60s wanting to retire or reduce their workload, many discover their balance sheet cannot support their lifestyle. This creates a vicious cycle where high earners feel trapped by their own success – making more money than ever but having less financial freedom due to high fixed costs.
The Burnout-Finance Connection: Why Money Problems Are Killing Doctors
The connection between financial stress and physician burnout isn’t coincidental – it’s systematic. Current healthcare economics create an impossible equation, as Dr. Nilssen explains: “With insurance companies dropping reimbursements, cost of practices increasing, so overheads increasing, reimbursements are going down. That mathematical equation over time doesn’t add up.”
This financial pressure contributes to an epidemic of professional burnout affecting 80-90% of physicians. The human cost is devastating: “Burnout leads to depression. And then depression leads to what? There’s over 400 physician suicides a year. That’s one a day,” states Dr. Nilssen.
Healthcare professionals often ignore biological realities tha...

Your most loyal team member just cost you $50,000 this year. She’s been with you for eight years. Patients love her. She’d take a bullet for your practice. And she’s systematically destroying your new patient conversion without even knowing it.
Dr. Brian Rochford discovered this truth through a flash drive that arrived in his mail from the Scheduling Institute. What he heard on that recorded call made him want to “immediately log off” – not because his team member had bad intentions, but because she had zero training on systems that actually convert callers into patients.
“It was one of our team members who’s still with our team, who we loved, was an awesome team member who I did not set up for success,” Dr. Rochford recalls. “The phone call was the most cringiest thing I’d ever heard. I couldn’t even hardly finish it, it was so bad. Not because of any bad intentions, because of bad training.”
The biggest barrier to practice growth isn’t bad team members. It’s good team members operating without proper systems and training.
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The Loyalty Trap That’s Costing You Patients
You trust your longtime team members. They care about patients. They show up every day with genuine intention to help. But intention without infrastructure creates expensive blind spots.
The false security of tenure tricks practice owners into assuming experience equals effectiveness. Dr. Jeff Goldberg learned this lesson when implementing new phone protocols at his North Carolina practice. “I had some that were here 20, 30 years. ‘I know how to answer the phone. Don’t tell me how to do my job. You know, I’ve been doing it this way for so long, there’s no reason for a consultant to come in and tell me how to do any better. I’ve been doing it longer than he’s been alive.'”
Length of service doesn’t equal skill at patient conversion. Your eight-year veteran might excel at scheduling existing patients but stumble through new patient calls because she’s never been taught the difference.
Intention vs. impact creates the cruelest trap of all. Your team member genuinely wants to help every caller. She spends 15 minutes gathering insurance information, asking about their dog, building rapport. Meanwhile, three other calls go to voicemail because she’s tied up being “helpful.” Those missed calls represent $18,000 in lost annual revenue per call, based on average orthodontic case values.
The “we’ve always done it this way” blindness affects successful practices most. When referrals flow naturally and the schedule stays full, informal systems feel adequate. But informal systems can’t scale. They create what Dr. Rochford calls a “multimillion-dollar lemonade stand” – profitable but primitive.
The Real-Time Reality Check Every Practice Needs
Dr. Rochford’s flash drive moment reveals why assumptions about phone performance are dangerous. “I was like, you got me. Let’s give him a call,” he says about his reaction to hearing the recorded call.
The power of recorded evidence cuts through the comfort of assumptions. Most practice owners believe their phones are handled well because they see their team’s genuine care for patients. But care without conversion methodology produces random results. Some callers book appointments. Others don’t. Nobody knows why.
Recording reveals the gap between what you think happens and what actually happens. Dr. Goldberg discovered his team was spending precious time on low-value activities while high-value opportunities slipped away. “We were spending 15 minutes on a call trying to get someone&#...