Monthly Archives: June 2023

When picking up a new book, I encourage you to ask what do I hope to get out of this and after reading it, challenge yourself with how am I going to apply what I’ve read to my life? If the answer sounds like my neighbor’s response, drop it like a hot porntato.

When I was in second grade, my parents allowed me to spend $30 of my First Communion loot on a ninja suit. For months before, I obsessed on the double-page ad in the martial arts magazine. An all-black ninja suit. The hood, the little tabi shoe things, the whole suit. I’d be able to fight the neighborhood bullies, catch blowgun darts mid-air, and wield my homemade nunchakus like a hybrid of Bruce Lee and Michael Dudikoff in American Ninja.

I hosted a ton of Dental Sleep CE events. Most attendees only cared about which appliances to use and how to get medical insurance to pay for treatment. I stressed that without an efficient screening program, a fluid referral system, and a repeatable testing workflow, the appliances and billing don’t matter because patients have to go through those other sections of the journey first. Most ignored me while salivating over sample appliances and room temperature fettucine. When you R.E.A.D. the room, the first two steps pose the greatest challenge for the majority of dentists: 1. RELATE 2. EXPLORE The third…

hat’s going to happen if I buy a pair of Jordans, shoot free throws a couple hours each month, and read a bunch of books about basketball? Will I be the next Michael Jordan? What about Scottie Pippen? Realistically, I wouldn’t even hold a Bed Bath & Beyond going-out-of-business-candle to Toni Kukoc.

patients are icebergs. Successful dentists and their teams are experts at exploring beneath the surface. I’m not talking about instruments here. I’m talking about asking questions that encourage patients to share useful information which can uncover more opportunities.

At this year’s AADSM meeting, there was a big hullabaloo about dentists, ENTs, and scope of practice. Device manufacturers pilloried each other, and impotent jabs were thrown via social media comments. In a nutshell, a successful ENT group was collaborating with dentists to treat patients with oral appliances. Sounds like every sleep dentists’ dream, right?

“When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That’s when you can get more creative in solving problems.” —Steven Covey One or more of the Four Obstacles to Selling pop up when a sleep patient opts not to move forward with oral appliance therapy, when a physician says they won’t refer PAP failures to your practice, and when the guy in your chair is built like a linebacker with a 19 inch neck and completely flattened cusp tips, but he declines your recommendation for a sleep test. The only way to…

Back in the day, I worked at a dental lab that manufactured oral appliances. Like a Bill Murray-less Groundhog Day, the customer service team called dentists to get feedback about their first cases. Dentists raved about how the patient’s spouse thanked them with hugs, cookies, or the whole Sentimental Value Meal. “It was the easiest thing I’ve done as a dentist, and they were both so damn happy. By the way, what do other dentists normally charge for these things?” “It varies, but it’s usually between $3,000 and $6,000,” the rep answered. “WHAT?! Are you kidding me? That seems criminal.…