The Word of Mouth Podcast

Opkie
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Marketing

The dental industry is splitting. Routine care is facing an insurance squeeze, while the high-value digital dentistry market is exploding. If you want to stay ahead of the curve and grow a profitable practice, you need to know what’s actually happening in the market. Welcome to The Word of Mouth Podcast—your weekly newsdesk and strategy playbook for the modern dental practice owner. Hosted by Jeffrey and Sarah (with occasional drop-ins from Troy), we cut through the noise of the dental internet to bring you the business, tech, and macro-economic trends shaping clinical practice today. You don't have time to read every trade journal, so we do the heavy lifting for you. What to Expect: The Weekly Breakdown: Rapid-fire analysis of current events, ADA policy updates, shifting labor models, and the dental economy. The Tech & Trends: Deep dives into the clinical innovations driving practice growth, from AI diagnostics and 3D printing to the changing landscape of DSOs and private equity. Clinical Founder Interviews: Sit-downs with top-tier dentists to reverse-engineer how they built premium clinical brands, attract high-value cases, and create an unmatched patient experience. Whether you are looking to transition to Fee-For-Service, attract high-ticket implant and aligner patients, or simply understand where the market is heading next, The Word of Mouth is your trusted weekly briefing. Hit subscribe to join the conversation and build a practice that thrives in the modern dental economy. Topics Covered: Dental Practice Management | High-Value Patient Acquisition | Dental AI & Digital Dentistry | DSO & Market News | Dental Marketing Strategy | Case Acceptance | Clinical Leadership Connect with Us: 🌐 Website: https://opkie.com 📱 Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/opkie/ 🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@opkiebiz 🎙️ Want to be a guest? Book an interview with us here: https://link.opkie.com/widget/bookings/wom-pod-interview

  1. Sep 10

    The 3 Lists Every Dental Practice Has (and Almost Nobody Uses) | WOM 028

    Your patient list is worth more than you think, and most practices barely touch it. Every dental practice has three owned lists by default: email, text messaging, and direct mail. Patients on those lists already gave you permission to reach them. But most practices only send appointment reminders and templated birthday texts, and then wonder why inactive patients don't come back. In this episode, Jeff and Troy break down what owned traffic actually is, why it outperforms paid and organic for relationship-building, and what it looks like when you use it well. One client ran a real reactivation campaign to their inactive list and generated 100 appointments and $100,000 in production without running a single ad. Want to see what this could look like for your practice? Book a free call: https://opkie.link/Word-Of-Mouth

  2. Aug 27

    People Over Algorithms: The Referral-First Marketing Framework for Dentists | WOM 026

    Most dental practices are stuck in a Sisyphus loop: pay for ads, get patients, stop paying, lose patients. There's a different path. Jeff and Troy make the case that sustainable practice growth comes from people, not platforms. You'll hear why dentists have a community advantage most businesses can't touch, how to identify the specific communities your practice already belongs to, and why the line between "marketing" and "advertising" is the most expensive blur in dentistry. From language communities to medical crossover interests to staff bowling leagues, the referral opportunities are closer than most dentists think. Ready to see what that looks like for your practice? Book a free call at https://opkie.link/Word-Of-Mouth

  3. Aug 13

    More Patients Won't Save Your Practice: The Numbers Behind Successful Marketing | WOM 025

    Most dentists chase new patient count. But that number won't tell you why your take-home pay keeps shrinking. Jeff and Troy break down the marketing metrics that actually matter: what your insurance write-offs are really costing you, how to measure patient lifetime value by segment, and why a single well-run specialty campaign can outperform years of volume-focused marketing. Plus: the one number every practice owner should be optimizing for, and it isn't new patients. Book a free practice market analysis at https://opkie.link/Word-Of-Mouth

  4. Aug 6

    Dental Insurance and In-House Plans | WOM 024

    Dental insurance annual maximums haven't moved in 50 years. Premiums keep climbing. And every write-off you accept to stay on an insurance panel is quietly functioning as a repeat marketing cost, one you pay again on every single patient visit. In this episode, Jeff and Troy break down why in-house dental membership plans are one of the most underbuilt tools in a practice's marketing strategy, and how to design one that works for both the patient and the practice. What you'll learn: Why the insurance model is your most expensive form of patient acquisitionHow to structure a membership plan that targets the patients you actually wantWhy cookie-cutter plans underperform and what to design insteadThe real math: a patient paying less out of pocket while you earn more per visitWant to talk through what this looks like for your specific market? Book a call here: https://opkie.link/Word-Of-Mouth

  5. Jul 31

    Google Ads are the New Yellow Pages for Dentists | WOM 023

    Most dentists know Google Ads aren't working the way they used to. Costs are up, patient quality is down, and their agency keeps saying the same thing: refine the keywords, spend more. Jeff and Troy have heard this from every dentist they've talked to. And they've heard it before, just with a different channel. That's the Yellow Pages story, and it ends the same way. In this episode: why the Google Ads model is following the same collapse arc as Yellow Pages, how the "sameness trap" makes every practice look identical online, and what the practices that are actually growing are doing instead: relationship-driven, non-scalable strategies that compound over time instead of stopping the moment you pause the campaign. One practice. One patient. Twenty-three referrals. All staying long-term. That's the model. Want to talk through what this looks like for your practice? Book a free market analysis at https://opkie.link/Word-Of-Mouth

  6. Jul 22

    Cut the Insurance Headache: A Win-Win for Patients and Dentists | WOM 022

    Dental insurance works nothing like medical insurance, and most patients don't find out until they are already in the chair. Dr. Mike Musso has practiced dentistry for 36 years and worked inside the insurance system for over 30 of them. In this episode, he breaks down what practice owners and patients actually need to know: yearly maximums frozen near $1,500 since 1994, waiting periods that block urgent care, and downgrades that quietly shift cost onto patients. Then he makes the case for in-house membership plans: no deductibles, no hidden fees, no surprises. You will hear a real patient story, a 20-something who got full-arch implants, landed a job interview 10 days into her temporaries, and got the job. And Jeff shares how his own family saved $120 a year by dropping their dental insurance for a membership plan. Ready to think differently about your practice? Book a free market analysis at https://opkie.link/Word-Of-Mouth

  7. Jul 16

    Why Digital Marketing Is Failing Most Dental Practices (And What Comes Next) | WOM 021

    Most dental practices are doubling down on digital marketing right when it's starting to break down. In this episode, Jeff and Troy walk through the Inside Out Framework, a four-pillar system for sustainable practice growth that starts where digital can't compete: with patients you already have. You'll learn: How to reactivate drifted patients and why they're worth more than cold leadsWhere revenue is leaking right now through phone conversion, no-shows, and missed treatment presentationsHow targeting higher-value services lifts your entire patient mixWhat it actually takes to build a word of mouth system that compounds month after monthIf your current marketing feels like a treadmill, this one's for you. Book a free practice market analysis at https://opkie.link/Word-Of-Mouth

  8. Jul 10

    Are Google Ads the Carbs of Dental Marketing? | WOM 020

    Why Google Ads Are the "Carbs" of Dental Marketing (And What Actually Grows Your Practice) If your entire patient acquisition strategy runs on Google Ads, you're not building a practice — you're renting one. In this episode of the Word of Mouth Podcast, Jeff, Troy, and Sarah break down why an over-reliance on paid search is quietly commoditizing dental practices everywhere, and introduce the first pillar of their Inside-Out Framework: a faster, cheaper way to grow revenue using patients you've already paid to acquire. In this episode: 🍩 The Google Ads "carbs" analogy — why paid search gives you a quick energy spike but no long-term structure, and what happens when it's the only thing in your marketing diet 📉 Only 15-20% of new patients use Google as their first search tool for a dentist — and that segment skews toward the most price-sensitive, promotion-driven patients in the market 🔁 The agency echo chamber — why so many practices sound identical online (hint: it's not just the algorithm, it's every agency running the same promotional playbook) 💰 Pillar One of the Inside-Out Framework: Reactivating Stalled Patients — a single campaign generated 57 additional appointments within the first few weeks, all from patients already sitting in the practice's own database 🍽️ Building a "balanced diet" for practice growth — why sustainable growth requires more than just carbs (ads), and sets up the four pillars they'll unpack next episode The key takeaway: The fastest, cheapest patients to grow with are the ones you've already paid to acquire — reactivating them beats chasing new clicks every time. 🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell so you never miss an episode. 🎙️ Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, and wherever you listen. 📞 Interested in talking with Opkie? Book a call here for a free practice market analysis: https://opkie.link/Word-Of-Mouth

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About

The dental industry is splitting. Routine care is facing an insurance squeeze, while the high-value digital dentistry market is exploding. If you want to stay ahead of the curve and grow a profitable practice, you need to know what’s actually happening in the market. Welcome to The Word of Mouth Podcast—your weekly newsdesk and strategy playbook for the modern dental practice owner. Hosted by Jeffrey and Sarah (with occasional drop-ins from Troy), we cut through the noise of the dental internet to bring you the business, tech, and macro-economic trends shaping clinical practice today. You don't have time to read every trade journal, so we do the heavy lifting for you. What to Expect: The Weekly Breakdown: Rapid-fire analysis of current events, ADA policy updates, shifting labor models, and the dental economy. The Tech & Trends: Deep dives into the clinical innovations driving practice growth, from AI diagnostics and 3D printing to the changing landscape of DSOs and private equity. Clinical Founder Interviews: Sit-downs with top-tier dentists to reverse-engineer how they built premium clinical brands, attract high-value cases, and create an unmatched patient experience. Whether you are looking to transition to Fee-For-Service, attract high-ticket implant and aligner patients, or simply understand where the market is heading next, The Word of Mouth is your trusted weekly briefing. Hit subscribe to join the conversation and build a practice that thrives in the modern dental economy. Topics Covered: Dental Practice Management | High-Value Patient Acquisition | Dental AI & Digital Dentistry | DSO & Market News | Dental Marketing Strategy | Case Acceptance | Clinical Leadership Connect with Us: 🌐 Website: https://opkie.com 📱 Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/opkie/ 🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@opkiebiz 🎙️ Want to be a guest? Book an interview with us here: https://link.opkie.com/widget/bookings/wom-pod-interview

Information

  • Creator
    Opkie
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    21
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Opkie