In this episode of Ask George, Dr. George Hariri tackles the most common myth in dentistry: the belief that an endless stream of new patients will magically solve your growth problems. While marketing companies will gladly sell you on the promise of fresh leads, George explains why throwing cash at loss-leader marketing is often the quickest way to ruin your dental practice profitability.

If you want to achieve true sustainable growth, you must stop undervaluing the patients who already know and trust you. A highly effective ownership strategy prioritizes retention before acquisition.

Here is why you should focus on your existing patient base first:

Avoid Loss-Leader Marketing: Offering steep discounts (e.g., $89 new patient specials) attracts bargain-hunters who have no intention of accepting comprehensive treatment, severely damaging your dental practice profitability.

The Value Gap: In George's practice, an existing patient on a recare exam accepts an average of $200 in treatment, whereas a low-quality, cost-driven new patient only accepts about $90.

Understand Your Baseline Flow: Before you spend money on marketing, track how many new patients find you organically each month (e.g., via location or referrals) so you only pay marketing companies for the extra patients they bring in.

Raise Your Floor: Existing patients are the predictable, stable foundation of your practice. Reactivating overdue patients costs nothing but your team's time and ensures you cover your fixed monthly expenses before relying on unpredictable new patients to hit your financial goals.

Track Reappointment Rates: Your existing patient reappointment rate should be 90% or higher, ensuring that at least 70% of your total patient base is current on their six-month recare to sustain long-term dental practice profitability.

Ready to take the next step in your dental practice journey? Visit https://sharedpractices.com to learn more about our Buyer Representation and Coaching services, or click "Free Practice Assessment" to let our team objectively identify the specific bottleneck holding your practice back. For daily Dental Moneyball insights, strategy tips, and updates, follow us across our social channels.

In this episode of the Shared Practices Podcast, coach Caitlin Embree sits down with her long-time client, Dr. Katelyn Miller, to unpack a remarkable dental practice ownership success story. Opening a startup in December 2019 right before a global pandemic is no easy feat, but Dr. Miller scaled her practice from just two employees to a 12-person team generating $2 million in annual collections with over 3,200 active patients.

The key to her rapid growth in dental practice ownership was a crystal-clear vision: she never wanted to remain a solo clinician. By maintaining a 90%+ hygiene reappointment rate and intentionally hiring an associate, Dr. Peiffer, Dr. Miller was able to reduce her clinical schedule to just three days a week while the business continued to thrive.

Here is how to evolve your dental practice ownership strategy as you reach maximum facility capacity:

Communicate the Vision: Tell your early hires exactly where the practice is heading so they expect change, embrace growth, and buy into the long-term goal.

Empower Your Associate: Schedule overlap days to handle administrative tasks and team mentorship, but give your associate days where they are the sole doctor so they can build autonomy and team trust.

Protect Your Boundaries: True freedom in ownership means empowering your team to operate without you; stop answering non-emergency texts after hours and commit to taking your scheduled days completely off.

Drop the PPOs: When you completely run out of physical chairs and provider time, the best way to grow is to tactfully drop in-network insurance plans to increase your production per procedure and selectively retain patients who value your care.

Leverage EFDAs: Utilize Expanded Function Dental Auxiliaries (EFDAs) to place fillings, drastically increasing your daily patient capacity while freeing up the doctors for higher-value procedures like implants, cosmetics, and Invisalign.

Ready to take the next step in your dental practice journey? Visit https://sharedpractices.com to learn more about our Buyer Representation and Coaching services, designed to help dentists buy, grow, and optimize profitable practices. You can also use our Free Look to evaluate dental practice opportunities with real data before making a decision. For daily Dental Moneyball insights, strategy tips, and updates, follow us across our social channels.

In this vulnerable episode of Ask George, Dr. George Hariri pulls back the curtain on the lonely, difficult realities of dental practice ownership that most doctors refuse to discuss publicly. Despite years of rigorous preparation, George found himself battling severe imposter syndrome on day one as a 25-year-old boss managing staff 30 years his senior. He openly shares his turbulent dental practice ownership journey—from hitting early financial milestones to a devastating nine-month "rock bottom" where he worked four days a week with a 100% overhead, taking home zero personal income.

If you are currently struggling to achieve sustainable dental practice growth and feeling completely isolated in your dental practice management, this episode is proof that you are not alone.

Here is your guide to avoiding the hidden traps of early dental practice ownership:

Beware the Honeymoon Phase: Early clinical success often comes from diagnosing the untreated needs of a legacy patient base. Once those existing treatment plans are completed, your production will crash unless you have intentionally reinvested in new patient marketing as a core part of your dental business strategies.

Identify Your True Bottleneck: Stop throwing money at random ideas. George was losing money because he was paying for a bloated, multi-doctor team while only serving a solo-doctor patient base. Identifying patient flow as his primary constraint was the only way to right the ship.

Profit Requires Intention: Scaling your collections will not automatically fix your dental practice profitability. Generating true profit requires intentional cost control, especially when fighting against modern inflation and stagnant insurance reimbursements.

Do Not Isolate Yourself: The isolating struggles of the "messy middle" are incredibly common among growth-minded dentists. Plugging into a community of peers and utilizing objective coaching will drastically shorten your learning curve.

Ready to take the next step in your dental practice journey? Visit https://sharedpractices.com to learn more about our Buyer Representation and Coaching services, or click "Free Practice Assessment" to let our team objectively identify the specific bottleneck holding your practice back. For daily Dental Moneyball insights, strategy tips, and updates, follow us across our social channels.