Shared Practices | Your Dental Roadmap through Practice Ownership

Recent Episodes

1. Feelings vs. Facts: Dental Practice Management with Practice by Numbers

   Sep 7, 2026

   Dr. Aditi Agarwal, co-founder of Practice by Numbers, discusses how analytics and data-driven decision-making transform dental practice management. The episode covers key performance metrics including pre-appointment rates, hygiene production percentages, case acceptance rates, and insurance analytics, emphasizing the shift from gut-feeling management to fact-based operations. Dr. Agarwal and host Caitlin Embree explore how to communicate data insights to teams without overwhelming them, and preview upcoming AI integrations and cloud software compatibility.

2. Ask George: How to Survive Burnout in Dental Practice Ownership

   Aug 31, 2026

   Dr. George Hariri discusses why dentists should not sell their practices prematurely due to burnout, framing burnout as a quantitative financial threat rather than merely a qualitative issue. He explains that practice ownership represents the highest return on investment from dental school, and that extending one's career through addressing specific burnout drivers—difficult patients, challenging procedures, and HR burdens—is more financially beneficial than selling to DSOs. Hariri provides a framework for auditing exhaustion, delegating stressors, designing ideal schedules, and optimizing for longevity rather than short-term growth.

3. Dr. George Hariri's Dental Business Strategies: A Roundtable with Pre-owners

   Aug 24, 2026

   Dr. George Hariri, founder of Shared Practices, joins a roundtable with pre-owner dentists Elijah Dunlap, Ben Vickery, and Josh Ward from the Business-Minded Dentist podcast to discuss dental practice acquisition and growth strategies. Hariri reveals how Shared Practices achieves 37-39% practice growth in the first year of new ownership by targeting underutilized practices with established patient bases and proper facility infrastructure. The conversation covers critical factors for successful ownership including facility size, access to care dynamics, patient retention strategies, and the importance of intentional business planning to avoid the pitfall where 30-40% of new dental owners earn less than they did as associates.

4. Generic IT vs Industry-Specific Dental Support with Josh Wallace of IT Harbor

   Aug 17, 2026

   Josh Wallace, president of IT Harbor, discusses why dental practices need specialized IT support rather than generic IT services. He explains how IT Harbor evolved organically into the dental sector and now offers comprehensive services including cybersecurity, remote and on-site support across the US, and strategic technology planning for new builds and modernization.

5. How the World's Most Ambitious CEOs Think — And What It Means for Your Dental Practice

   Aug 10, 2026

   This episode explores what it means to be the CEO of a dental organization, whether solo or multi-practice. The speaker outlines a three-horizon framework: long-term vision (rooted in personal life goals), medium-term strategic planning (point A to point B pathway), and short-term execution (constraint-focused daily management). Using case studies and analogies to Elon Musk's approach, the episode demonstrates how dental practice owners can scale from solo practitioners to multi-dentist groups while maintaining work-life balance and clinical specialization.

6. Are You Missing the Clarity of Vision Needed for Sustainable Dental Practice Growth?

   Aug 3, 2026

   Dr. Andrew Clingan delivers a solo episode addressing the critical importance of vision clarity for sustainable dental practice growth. Using a real-world example of a successful but directionless young practice owner, he explains how talent and willpower alone eventually lead to unfocused decision-making. Clingan emphasizes that dentists cannot simultaneously optimize for elite clinical mastery, aggressive scaling, and perfect work-life balance—choices must be made deliberately. He provides practical frameworks for finding focus, including ignoring social media extremes, auditing time allocation, and building optionality through conservative early-career financial practices.

7. Ask George: Is a Fee-for-service dental practice Right For You?

   Jul 27, 2026

   George, host of the Shared Practices podcast, discusses fee-for-service dental practices in depth, addressing whether dentists should buy or transition to this model. He presents his bias against fee-for-service practices while objectively exploring when they work best (rural/underserved areas, affluent markets, solo practitioners with strong patient relationships) and the challenges they present (patient acquisition, retention, insurance friction). The episode covers three pathways for pre-owners: acquiring existing fee-for-service practices, starting from scratch, or transitioning from insurance-based practices when patient demand exceeds capacity.

8. The Dental Menu Factor: Elevating Patient Retention and Practice Profitability

   Jul 20, 2026

   Paul Lowry, co-founder of Dental Menu, discusses membership plan strategy for dental practices as a patient retention and revenue tool. The conversation covers why membership plans outperform cash-pay models (64% vs 12% retention vs insurance), the importance of subscription-based design over discount bundles, compliance considerations by state, and Dental Menu's software solution that integrates with practice management systems and automates billing while maintaining accurate financial reporting.

9. Ask George: Maximizing Profitability Through Solo Dental Practice Management

   Jul 13, 2026

   In this solo episode of the Shared Practices podcast's 10th-anniversary season, the host addresses listener feedback requesting more content focused on solo dental practices rather than group practices. George outlines three solo practice avatars (Solo, Productive Solo, Smart Solo) based on owner income levels and revenue, then provides a detailed framework for maximizing profitability through four key growth levers: patient flow, case acceptance, consistency, and efficiency. The episode emphasizes moving from a single hygienist model to managing two hygienists, building strong case acceptance metrics, developing consistent diagnostic protocols, and optimizing the dentist's time as the practice's most valuable asset.

10. Sitting Down with an Office Manager - Uncovering Dental Practice Pearls

    Jul 6, 2026

    Max Dempsey, office manager of two dental practices under Dr. Jess Preet Parmar's ownership, discusses her 29-year career in dentistry and five-year journey transitioning from lead dental assistant to practice manager. The episode covers her experience navigating practice ownership transitions, building team culture through core values, managing fee-for-service operations, scaling to a second location, and the critical partnership between owner and manager in driving practice success.