Dental A Team Podcast

Recent Episodes

1. #1,195: Burnt Out? Get Your Life Back Without Sacrificing Growth

   Aug 27, 2026

   Kiera Dent, founder of Dental A-Team, discusses three tactical strategies to help dental practice owners overcome burnout while maintaining business growth. She covers stopping the need to be the solution to every problem, establishing firm boundaries around personal time, and building a practice that supports the owner's desired lifestyle rather than consuming it. Dent draws on her extensive experience across multiple dental practice roles and consulting work with over 165 offices.

2. #1,194: Are Your KPIs Lying To You?

   Aug 26, 2026

   Kiera Dent, founder of Dental A-Team consulting, explores the dark side of KPIs in dental practice management. She discusses how metrics can create false security, mislead practice owners, and be misused as goals rather than guides. The episode covers three core strategies: avoiding KPI isolation by examining relationships between metrics, balancing lagging indicators (production, collections, profit) with leading indicators (case acceptance, hygiene reappointment, unscheduled treatment calls), and ensuring all KPIs align with the practice's vision and mission rather than driving behavior in isolation.

3. #1,193: The Foolproof Way to Build Community Anywhere, Anytime

   Aug 25, 2026

   Tiffanie and Nikki discuss strategic community networking as a marketing tool for dental practices. They explore how dental practice owners can build two-way referral relationships with local businesses, leverage chamber of commerce memberships, host networking events, and use personal hobbies and interests to create authentic community connections that drive patient acquisition without traditional paid advertising.

4. #1,192: How To Know If Your Office Suffers From "Artificial Harmony"

   Aug 20, 2026

   Kiera and Dana discuss the concept of 'artificial harmony' in dental practices—when teams work together daily but avoid difficult conversations. They explore how lack of trust and vulnerability prevents teams from addressing root problems, implementing action items, and achieving real commitment. Dana shares a case study of an office that used a code word ('flat tire') to help team members initiate honest conversations, resulting in measurable improvements in accountability and goal achievement within three months.

5. #1,191: Breaking Down the Benefits of DSOs

   Aug 19, 2026

   Brittany Stone, a regional manager and DSO consultant, shares insights from her recent visits to multiple dental practices within dental support organizations (DSOs). She and host Kiera Dent discuss the foundational elements required for DSO success, including establishing KPIs across all practices, building effective leadership teams, standardizing culture and brand identity while allowing location flexibility, educating managers on P&L statements, and creating decision-making autonomy that empowers regional managers and office managers without burdening the founders.

6. #1,190: For the Practice Owners Stuck in the Weeds

   Aug 18, 2026

   Nikki Mack, a consultant with Dental A-Team, discusses strategies for practice owners to transition from being hands-on operators buried in daily tasks to strategic business leaders. The episode covers how clear job descriptions, intentional culture-building, delegation of non-critical tasks, and regular one-on-one communication enable owners to step out of the weeds while empowering their teams to take on greater responsibility.

7. #1,189: The Future of Private Practice Is Actually Very Bright

   Aug 13, 2026

   Brian Hanks, owner of Dental Buyer Advocates, discusses why dentists are delaying practice ownership by an average of five years and the financial cost of that delay. He presents data showing that 9 out of 10 dentists eventually buy a practice, that owners earn $151,000 more annually than associates, and that the failure rate for dental practices is only 0.14%. Hanks breaks down the five concrete requirements to purchase a practice and addresses common fears holding dentists back from ownership.

8. #1,188: Your Secret Weapon for Hiring

   Aug 12, 2026

   Kiera Dent, founder and CEO of Dental A-Team, discusses hiring, staffing, and retention strategies for dental practices. Drawing on five years of observing one practice's evolution from high turnover to exceptional retention, Dent emphasizes that retention—not constant hiring—is the key to sustainable growth. She outlines core strategies including clear expectations, intentional leadership, professional development opportunities, strong company culture, and creating environments where employees want to refer friends and stay long-term.

9. #1,187: Must-Know Tools for Re-Care + Reactivation

   Aug 11, 2026

   Tiffanie and consultant Pam discuss critical strategies for dental practices heading into fall/winter 2026, focusing on re-care and reactivation systems. They cover how to give patients reasons to return, the importance of personalized hygiene handoffs, and how to systematically reactivate inactive patients—emphasizing that reactivation is often more cost-effective than acquiring new patients.

10. #1,186: The Best and Smartest Way To Fill Holes in Your Schedule

    Aug 6, 2026

    Kiera Dent, founder of Dental A-Team, provides three tactical strategies for consistently filling schedule holes in dental practices: maximizing existing patients through morning huddles and unscheduled treatment calls, improving case acceptance through strong handoffs and treatment coordinator protocols, and maintaining consistent marketing. Drawing from consulting work across 165+ practices, Dent emphasizes that schedule gaps are typically not a patient acquisition problem but rather an execution and consistency issue.