Dental Mentors

Dental Mentors
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  • Entrepreneurship

Learn strategies for building wealth in dentistry. Hosted by Matt Ornstein, Eric Morin, and Neil Zemba. Whether you’re focused on optimizing your practice, expanding your portfolio, or designing a life of abundance and impact, Dental Mentors is your space to learn, connect, and build alongside the most driven minds in dentistry. We started Dental Mentors to change the conversation around money in dentistry. For too long, the topic of wealth has been treated as delicate or taboo — yet financial growth is one of the most empowering forms of professional and personal mastery. We believe that building wealth is a responsibility, allowing you to create freedom for your family, support the causes you believe in, and live life on your own terms. Dental Mentors exists to demystify wealth-building and share the strategies of the wealthy so every member can benefit, grow, and give back with greater purpose.

  1. 7 hr ago

    Building a 48-Location Implant Empire with Dr. Alex Sharp

    In this episode of Dental Mentors, host Matt Ornstein sits down with Dr. Alex Sharp, CEO and co-founder of Shared Practices Group (SPG), to break down how his team scaled a specialized dental implant group to 48 locations across 30 states while maintaining an ultra-lean debt profile. Dr. Sharp details the journey from feeling commoditized as a general dentist to building a dentist-founded, dentist-led platform opening roughly one implant center per month. He unpacks the debate between building heavy corporate infrastructure versus running lean, how to conquer the messy middle of multi-site expansion, their transition to fully digital clinical workflows, and why taking on minority private equity from M1 Capital became their catalyst for institutional scale. Key Takeaways: ✅ Escaping Commodity Dentistry: Why general restorative care often traps clinicians in price competition, and how focusing on full-arch dental implants unlocked patient demand and eliminated insurance fee dependency. ✅ The De Novo Growth Playbook: How SPG scaled to nearly 50 centers almost entirely through de novo startups rather than legacy practice acquisitions, keeping debt-to-EBITDA ratios near an industry-defying 1-to-1. ✅ Navigating the Messy Middle: The dangerous trap of the 5-to-10 practice phase, and why leaders must decide whether to over-invest early in corporate infrastructure or endure painful growing pains. ✅ Target EBITDA Benchmarks: Why aiming for 30% 4-wall practice margins and 20% post-corporate EBITDA creates an elite, institutionally sound multi-location platform. ✅ Fully Digital Workflows: The high-impact operational shift from messy analog impressions to intraoral scanning and in-house 3D printing of teeth, elevating both clinical margins and the patient experience. ✅ Taking Minority Private Equity: The decision framework behind partnering with M1 Capital to inject institutional expertise and professionalization without sacrificing clinical control or doctor compensation models. ✅ Testing Your Multi-Practice "Why": Why dentists looking strictly to maximize annual take-home pay are often better off expanding within a single large-footprint facility rather than taking on multi-site overhead. Whether you are scaling a solo practice, structuring a regional DSO, or planning a future liquidity event, this conversation delivers a masterclass in de novo expansion and sustainable enterprise building. Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or watch the full episode on YouTube! 👉 Dr. Alex Sharp on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-sharp-dds-53826a104/ 👉 Matt Ornstein on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-ornstein-8363a756/ 👉 Eric Morin on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericjmorin/ 👉 Neil Zemba on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zemba/

  2. 20 Oct

    How to Build an 8-Location Practice Group with Dr. Eli Friedman

    In this episode of Dental Mentors, host Matt Ornstein sits down with Dr. Eli Friedman, a South Florida clinician and entrepreneur who scaled his specialty-driven dental group from a single practice to an 8-location platform with its own in-house laboratory and centralized back-office infrastructure. Dr. Friedman breaks down his transition from a prosthodontist working chairside to a non-practicing owner-operator, highlighting the strategic shifts required to build equity-driven practices rather than relying solely on clinical production. He details his acquisition philosophy, the importance of stabilizing practices before expanding, and why focusing on true EBITDA margins—targeting a 20% benchmark—is essential for long-term health and valuation. Key Takeaways: ✅ From Chairside to Business Owner: How Dr. Friedman realized that single-handed clinical production caps growth, leading him to transition into full-time practice management and platform scaling. ✅ The "Acquire, Stabilize, Scale" Playbook: Why practice owners should never "scale in chaos," and why every location must hit target KPIs and stability before opening or buying the next site. ✅ Specialty-Driven Group Structure: How combining prosthodontics, periodontics, oral surgery, and an in-house laboratory creates a high-margin, referral-resilient specialty platform. ✅ EBITDA Benchmarks & Financial Truth: Why revenue is a vanity metric, and why maintaining a 20% EBITDA margin protects practices against market downturns. ✅ Transitioning Off the Chair: How to calculate associate drop-off, analyze practice cash flows, and time your step away from clinical dentistry without destroying bottom-line profitability. ✅ Alignment in Practice Growth: The common pitfalls of buying practices with short doctor transitions (e.g., 90-day exits) and why long-term partnership models build lasting enterprise value. Whether you are a solo practitioner looking to acquire your second location, a specialist aiming to build a surgical group, or an established operator refining your corporate infrastructure, this conversation offers actionable blueprints for sustainable dental growth. 👉 Dr. Eli Friedman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eli-friedman-23449946/ 👉 Matt Ornstein on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-ornstein-8363a756/ 👉 Eric Morin on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericjmorin/ 👉 Neil Zemba on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zemba/

  3. 13 Oct

    Maximizing EBITDA, Negotiating Terms, & Building Generational Wealth with Elijah Desmond

    In this episode of Dental Mentors, hosts Matt Ornstein, Neil Zemba, and Eric Morin sit down with serial entrepreneur and the founder of Dental Pitch Brokerage, Elijah Desmond. From his humble beginnings as a farm boy in Ohio to achieving seven successful company exits, Elijah is the "strategic partner" every dentist needs on their roadmap to freedom. We dive deep into why 90% of dental brokerage is broken, the critical importance of a "Quality of Earnings" (QofE) report, and the raw, vulnerable story behind why he created The Backstage Pass mastermind. In this episode, you’ll learn: • The Exit Blueprint: Why selling your practice is not about the "valuation" you have in your head, but about the specific terms and EBITDA multiples you negotiate. • Forensic Accounting for Dentists: Why a Quality of Earnings (QofE) report is the ultimate protective shield against lowball offers and post-closing clawbacks. • The Transparency Revolution: How Dental Pitch Brokerage is disrupting the industry by refusing buyer-side fees to eliminate conflicts of interest. • Playing the Long Game: Why Elijah often tells practice owners to wait 12–24 months to sell, potentially adding millions to their exit price through strategic operational tweaks. • Actionable EBITDA Levers: How small changes to merchant processing, aligner sourcing, and insurance negotiations can drastically increase your practice’s enterprise value. • The Backstage Pass: Inside the elite mastermind that is helping dental entrepreneurs bend time—turning 10-year growth goals into 2-year realities. Whether you are a solo practitioner, an emerging group founder, or a clinician looking for the right exit, Elijah Desmond’s insights offer a masterclass in the business of dentistry. 🚀 Join the Dental Mentors Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/dentalmentors or visit: www.dentalmentors.com Connect with the team: 👉 Elijah Desmond on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elijahdesmond/ 👉 Dental Pitch Brokerage: https://www.dentalpitchbrokerage.com/ 👉 Backstage Pass: https://backstagedentistry.com/ 👉 Matt Ornstein on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-ornstein-8363a756/ 👉 Eric Morin on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericjmorin/ 👉 Neil Zemba on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zemba/

  4. 6 Oct

    It’s Not the Surgeon, It’s the System: Scaling OMS 360 to 29 Locations with Trevor Maurer

    In this episode of Dental Mentors, host Matt Ornstein sits down with Trevor Maurer, CEO of OMS 360—a premier oral surgery group spanning 55 doctors, 29 locations, and 9 states. From his origins as a Canadian farm kid to leading a 4,000-location eye care group and scaling major dental platforms backed by Shore Capital, Trevor shares his masterclass in specialty practice management and operations. Trevor unpacks the exact operational playbooks OMS 360 uses to drive 20% annual organic practice growth without expanding physical footprints, how an industrial engineer with a stopwatch revolutionized their patient journey, and why decentralized leadership outperforms corporate micromanagement. Key Highlights: The Canadian Farmer to PE Titan Journey: Trevor’s non-traditional path from Canadian farm life and college football to corporate executive roles at Procter & Gamble, Novartis, and leading massive healthcare groups.The "Industrial Engineer" Experiment: Why hiring an engineer with a stopwatch and clipboard revealed that practice bottlenecks aren't caused by surgeons—they are caused by flawed operational systems.Driving 20% Organic Growth: How focusing on practice optimization over immediate M&A acquisitions allows OMS 360 to outpace the industry average (where 5% is elite and most platforms sit flat).Scaling Surgeon Collections to $3M+: How removing administrative friction enables surgeons to collect 60% higher revenue than the U.S. average while preserving 100% clinical autonomy.Decentralized Leadership & Top Gun Training: Why OMS 360 invests heavily in a Nashville-based Leadership Academy to empower practice-level managers to solve problems without corporate intervention.The Specialty Referral Leakage Problem: Trevor reveals a major industry challenge—why 49% of referred specialty patients never make contact, and how solving pre-contact leakage transforms practice economics.Whether you are a general dentist looking to optimize your practice throughput, a specialist aiming to scale collections, or a DSO operator building private equity playbooks, this episode provides actionable strategies to elevate your healthcare leadership. 🚀 Join the Dental Mentors Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/dentalmentors or visit: www.dentalmentors.com Connect with the team: 👉 Trevor Maurer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevormaurer/ 👉 Eric Morin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericjmorin/ 👉 Matt Ornstein on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-ornstein-8363a756/ 👉 Neil Zemba on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zemba/ 👉 Dental Mentors Website: https://www.dentalmentors.com/

  5. 24 Sept

    The Legal M&A Playbook: How to Maximize Your Practice Exit with Eric White

    In this episode of Dental Mentors, host Matt Ornstein sits down with Eric White, a veteran healthcare transaction attorney and Managing Member at Dykema. Drawing on nearly 30 years of deal-making experience across hundreds of dental M&A transactions, Eric breaks down the legal playbook for practice owners looking to buy, scale, or execute a high-value exit. From unravelling messy ownership structures to navigating hidden liability traps, this conversation is an essential guide to protecting your practice's equity and maximizing valuation. Key Takeaways: ✅ Getting Your House in Order: Why practice owners need to clean up legal structures, state registrations, and former co-owner agreements before going to market to avoid steep price discounts. ✅ The "Bungalow vs. New Build" Valuation Model: How missing documentation or outdated practice infrastructure acts like asbestos in a home sale—prompting buyers to immediately dock hundreds of thousands off their offer. ✅ The Lease & EBITDA Trap: Why missing amendments or overlooked rent escalation clauses can derail cash flow models, crush valuations, and stall transactions at the 11th hour. ✅ Protecting Yourself Post-Closing: Crucial strategies for navigating indemnification provisions, holdbacks, earnouts, and seller notes without leaving yourself open to unnecessary legal risk. ✅ The Personal Guarantee Trap: How to ensure personal guarantees on real estate and equipment loans are formally released during a sale so you aren't left on the hook for someone else's debt. ✅ Scaling Past 4 Locations: How the role of a founder shifts from clinical oversight to talent management—and why getting completely out of the chair is the single best move to maximize exit value. ✅ Wild M&A War Stories: Unfiltered stories from the closing table, including messy marital timeouts, equity disputes, and catching a supposedly "disabled" seller pulling 10-hour workdays with a private investigator. Whether you are a solo practitioner preparing for a future sale or a multi-site operator scaling a DSO, this episode provides the legal framework required to safeguard your assets and close deals with confidence. 🚀 Join the Dental Mentors Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/dentalmentors Or visit: www.dentalmentors.com Connect with the team: 👉 Eric White on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-white-754679a/ 👉 Matt Ornstein on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-ornstein-8363a756/ 👉 Neil Zemba on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zemba/ 👉 Eric Morin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericjmorin/ 👉 Dental Mentors Website: https://www.dentalmentors.com/

  6. 17 Sept

    Building a $1B+ AI Empire in Dentistry with Pearl CEO Ophir Tanz

    In this episode of Dental Mentors, hosts Matt Ornstein and Neil Zemba sit down with Ophir Tanz, founder and CEO of Pearl—the industry-leading AI platform transforming modern dentistry. Ophir shares his journey building multi-billion dollar technology companies, the science behind scaling Pearl to over 25,000 practices worldwide, and why he views AI not just as a diagnostic feature, but as the foundational operating system for the dental practice of the future. Key topics we cover in this episode: ✅ Delivering Inevitability: Ophir outlines his product philosophy of building software that represents inevitable standards of care, driving 7x growth over two years. ✅ The ROI of AI: How implementing radiologic AI and practice intelligence can deliver an automatic 10% to 35% revenue lift by catching missed disease and optimizing scheduling. ✅ The Future of Practice Operations: Why the next paradigm in dentistry will feature autonomous AI agents managing back-office friction points—from insurance verification to revenue cycle management. ✅ Navigating Software Fragmentation: The hidden architectural challenges that cause most healthcare software startups to fail, and how Pearl solved data normalization at scale. ✅ Design & User Experience: Why great UX and integrating directly into existing clinical workflows is essential for driving real software adoption. ✅ Venture Capital & Unicorn Mindsets: A look inside raising major funding rounds from top Silicon Valley investors (like David Sacks' Craft Ventures) and targeting a $1B+ enterprise valuation from day one. Whether you are a practice owner looking to boost profitability, a DSO executive evaluating AI integration, or a tech founder trying to break into healthcare, this conversation delivers a masterclass in product design, distribution, and enterprise scale. 🚀 Join the Dental Mentors Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/dentalmentors Or visit: www.dentalmentors.com Connect with the team: 👉 Ophir Tanz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ophirtanz/ 👉 Matt Ornstein on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-ornstein-8363a756/ 👉 Neil Zemba on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zemba/ 👉 Eric Morin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericjmorin/ 👉 Dental Mentors Website: https://www.dentalmentors.com/

  7. 8 Sept

    Building a $600M Dental Empire with The Legendary Mitch Olan

    In this episode of Dental Mentors, hosts Matt Ornstein and Neil Zemba sit down with legendary dental industry executive Mitch Olan, former CEO and Executive Chairman of Dental Care Alliance (DCA). Over a career spanning more than four decades, Mitch helped build DCA from a 3-practice regional group into an enterprise scaling to over 350 locations generating $600 million in annual revenue. In this masterclass on practice management, M&A strategy, and executive leadership, Mitch shares the hard-earned lessons from taking a DSO public, navigating private equity exits, and avoiding the operational traps that burn out growing practice owners. In this episode, we cover: ✅ The Evolution of DSOs: Mitch walks through the historical shift in practice valuations—from standard revenue percentages (60–80% of trailing 12 months) to the private equity-driven EBITDA multiples used today. ✅ Protecting Your EBITDA: Why maintaining a 98–99% collection rate through negotiated insurance contracts and front-desk execution prevents the margin squeezes that sink multi-site practices. ✅ Buy & Build vs. De Novo: Strategic insights on why acquiring existing cash flow with aligned doctor partners is often faster and less risky than de novo site development. ✅ The Infrastructure Trap: How to time key corporate and field hires so you don't under-build and burn yourself out—or over-build and drown in overhead. ✅ Prepping for the Ultimate Exit: Essential advice for doctors considering a DSO sale, including clean financial reporting, office manager alignment, and avoiding "revenue juicing" before close. ✅ The $10M EBITDA Sweet Spot: A realistic look at valuations, strategic vs. financial buyers, and finding optimal enterprise size without sacrificing your quality of life. Whether you are an independent practice owner, a multi-site operator, or a DSO executive, this conversation offers an unfiltered look at what it takes to build, scale, and exit a high-value healthcare organization. 🚀 Join the Dental Mentors Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/dentalmentors Or visit: www.dentalmentors.com Connect with the team: 👉 Mitch Olan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitch-olan-8a53a8/ 👉 Matt Ornstein on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-ornstein-8363a756/ 👉 Neil Zemba on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zemba/ 👉 Eric Morin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericjmorin/ 👉 Dental Mentors Website: https://www.dentalmentors.com/

  8. 1 Sept

    Meet The Mentors: Matt Ornstein

    In this exclusive Meet the Mentors segment, host Eric Morin and Neil Zemba flip the script and drill down into the investment philosophy, corporate history, and operational core of dental industry titan Matt Ornstein. Matt strips away the corporate vanity and provides a masterclass on what it actually takes to scale. From pulling paper routes at 8 years old to retrofitting massive New York-style lofts in Atlanta with personal-guarantee notes, Matt has spent his entire life mastering the mechanics of risk. He pulls back the curtain on how he took his DSO, Oak Dental Partners, from an initial 20 offices with $7 million in EBITDA to over 80 thriving locations producing more than $25 million in EBITDA. We talk about the psychological weight of backing over $100 million in bank debt, managing a hybrid leadership framework, and creating an ironclad baseline for communication clarity. In this episode, you’ll learn: ✅ The 1,000-Pound Boulder Analogy: The authentic psychological reality of balancing massive debt obligations while carrying the weight of supporting hundreds of team families. ✅ The 20% Private Equity Floor: Matt's strict, non-negotiable personal investment rule requiring a minimum 20% annual rate of return on invested corporate equity. ✅ The Revenue vs. Net Income Illusion: A prime warning on how confusing top-line revenue with true bottom-line net cash flow leads to catastrophic financial decisions. ✅ The 80% Personnel Rule: Why high-performing operators must get comfortable hiring leaders who execute at 80% of their personal capability in order to safely step away from daily management. ✅ Betting on the Jockey over the Horse: Matt's framework for evaluating capital stacks, tracking profit margins, and why a stellar business development team beats a flawless product every single time. If you are ready to pivot from simple lifestyle practices to driving institutional cash flow statements, this masterclass conversation with Matt Ornstein outlines the precise blueprint. 🚀 Join the Dental Mentors Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/dentalmentors or visit: www.dentalmentors.com Connect with the team: 👉 Matt Ornstein on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-ornstein-8363a756/  👉 Oak Dental Partners: https://www.oakdentalpartners.com/ 👉 Neil Zemba on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zemba/  👉 Eric Morin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericjmorin/  👉 Dental Mentors Website: https://www.dentalmentors.com/

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About

Learn strategies for building wealth in dentistry. Hosted by Matt Ornstein, Eric Morin, and Neil Zemba. Whether you’re focused on optimizing your practice, expanding your portfolio, or designing a life of abundance and impact, Dental Mentors is your space to learn, connect, and build alongside the most driven minds in dentistry. We started Dental Mentors to change the conversation around money in dentistry. For too long, the topic of wealth has been treated as delicate or taboo — yet financial growth is one of the most empowering forms of professional and personal mastery. We believe that building wealth is a responsibility, allowing you to create freedom for your family, support the causes you believe in, and live life on your own terms. Dental Mentors exists to demystify wealth-building and share the strategies of the wealthy so every member can benefit, grow, and give back with greater purpose.

Information

  • Creator
    Dental Mentors
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    17
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Dental Mentors
  • Show Website
    Dental Mentors

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