Dental Practice Heroes

Dr. Paul Etchison
  • 4.8 (164)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Biweekly

Where dentists learn how to cut clinical days while increasing profits - without sacrificing patient care, cutting corners, or cranking volume.   We teach you how to grow a scalable practice through communication, leadership, and effective management. Hosted by Dr. Paul Etchison, author of two books on dental practice management, dental coach, and owner of a $6M collections group practice in the south suburbs of Chicago, we provide actionable advice for practice owners who want to intentionally create more time to enjoy their families, wealth, and deep personal fulfillment.  If you want to build a scalable practice framework that no longer stresses, drains, or relies on you for every little thing, we will teach you how and share stories of other dentists who have done it!

  1. 1d ago

    Two Paths To A Dental Practice That Runs Without You

    If you have been grinding to “improve the practice” but your days still feel the same, you are not alone and you are not lazy. We dig into a hard truth: you can spend an entire year fixing what is broken and still end up with almost the exact same dental practice, the same pressure, and the same dependence on you. The missing piece is not effort. It is the difference between problem solving and creation. We walk through the two paths to change. The first path is reactive problem solving with a proactive layer: something goes wrong, we fix it, then we build a small system so it does not repeat. It is necessary work, and it delivers an immediate payoff. But it will not automatically produce the practice you want. The second path is creation, and it only happens when we deliberately protect dentist CEO time and go looking for it. That is where we define what we actually want, then design the structure to match. You will hear concrete examples you can apply right away: reducing owner stress by building a leadership team, hitting production goals by designing a schedule template that supports targets, and creating consistent patient communication through all-team training instead of constant corrections. We close with a simple prompt you can use before every work session: “Am I fixing something or am I creating something?” If you want support mapping the next version of your practice, book a call at dentalpracticeheroes.com/slash strategy. Subscribe, share this with a practice owner who feels stuck, and leave a five-star review so more dentists can find the show. If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company.  Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

    Two Paths To A Dental Practice That Runs Without You

  2. 3d ago

    When Your Strengths Create Dependence

    Being the most capable person in your dental practice can feel like a superpower, right up until it becomes the reason everything still depends on you. I’m Dr. Paul Etchison, and I see this pattern constantly with dental practice owners: we’re great at hiring, interviewing, running meetings, resolving conflict, smoothing over upset patients, and handling the sensitive admin work, so we keep doing it. Then we look up one day overwhelmed, frustrated, and wondering why nobody takes initiative, even though we accidentally trained the team to wait for us. We dig into the competence trap and the real cost of “rescuing” the practice with our strengths. When we hold onto too many responsibilities, our team stops stretching, leadership never develops, and we lose the time needed for the work that actually changes the business: building systems, improving structure, spotting inefficiencies, and thinking like a true dental CEO. The turning point is a simple question that cuts through perfectionism and control: “Does this actually require me?” It’s a better filter than asking whether someone can do it as well as we can on day one. You’ll also get a practical delegation playbook: audit what you own (on paper), pick one meaningful responsibility to move away from yourself this week, and make it the last time you ever do it by creating training, documentation, or a quick video. If you want a dental practice that runs without you, this is how you start building autonomy, accountability, and scalable dental practice management. Subscribe, share this with a practice owner who needs it, and leave a review so more dentists can find the show. If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company.  Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

    When Your Strengths Create Dependence

  3. Sep 30

    Why You Still Haven’t Cut Back a Clinical Day

    You can have a solid team, good new patient flow, and real culture momentum and still feel weirdly stuck. That’s the trap we dig into today: the belief that you should wait until you feel 100% ready before making a big move in your dental practice, like dropping from four clinical days to three. I share a recent coaching conversation with a practice owner who has all the ingredients to cut a day right now, yet keeps postponing it for “sometime this year,” and we unpack what’s really going on beneath that word. We break down why certainty is rarely a prerequisite for smart dental practice management. Fear is sneaky, and it often disguises itself as being responsible: “I’ll do it when the schedule is cleaner,” “when the systems are tighter,” “when savings are higher.” But those goalposts keep moving. The cost of waiting is not just lost production, it’s lost CEO time, lost energy, lost family time, and another year of operating the same way. Confidence doesn’t arrive first; it shows up after you commit, execute, and prove you can handle what comes up. Then we get tactical. I explain why putting a date in stone changes everything, how to plan backwards from that date, and why you should expect problems after the jump instead of treating them as evidence you made the wrong call. We also talk through the financial fear of losing production and why reducing clinical days can actually push better scheduling, delegation, assistant utilisation, and higher production per hour, while freeing up time to work on the business like a true CEO dentist. If you’re ready to stop living in “someday,” subscribe, share this with a practice owner who needs it, and leave a review. And if you want help picking a date and building the plan, book a strategy call at dentalpracticeheroes.com/strategy. If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company.  Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

    Why You Still Haven’t Cut Back a Clinical Day

  4. Sep 28

    The Dangerous Part About Having a Good Practice

    Your practice is finally in a good place. The schedule is full, the money is good, and you actually like your team. This episode is about what happens when this comfort turns into complacency. The DPH coaches explain why thinking "things are good" can be dangerous, the difference between healthy comfort and complacency, and how to tell if you're building the practice you actually want. Topics discussed: 00:00 Introduction 01:59 Why good practices stop trying to improve 06:12 Fixing problems vs. designing the practice you want 07:24 What happens when you stop innovating 10:17 The frustration and clarity exercise 11:32 How to tell if you’re comfortable or complacent 15:20 The one question every practice owner should answer 16:07 The future-you test for your practice 22:42 When to keep pushing and when to take a break This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique https://www.podcastboutique.com Use the same marketing company as Dr. Etch! Get your free demo with Relevance Marketing by Clicking Here If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company.  Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

    The Dangerous Part About Having a Good Practice

  5. Sep 23

    Your Team Isn’t Resisting the Change. They’re Resisting This

    That uncomfortable moment when you roll out a new system and your team goes quiet isn’t about the system at all. It’s about what they think it means.  We’re talking about one of the most common breakdowns in dental practice leadership: we introduce training, new workflows, or higher standards with good intentions, and our team hears an accusation. I share a real example from my own practice after we dropped Delta and saw a decrease in new patients. I pushed case presentation training and treatment coordinator training to improve case acceptance, help more patients say yes, and reduce financial pressure. Months later, I walked into a lead meeting and could feel the tension, then heard the hard truth: the team felt like I blamed them for everything wrong in the office. From there, we unpack the core idea: your team often isn’t resisting change, they’re resisting the story they created about why you’re implementing it. You’ll learn how to make your intentions visible, how to build a culture where training and feedback are normal, and how to diagnose resistance with curiosity instead of defending yourself on instinct. If you’re working on dental practice systems, team communication, and leadership habits that let the practice improve without constant battles, this one will land. If you want help applying this to your practice, book a free strategy call at dentalpracticeheroes.com/slash strategy. And if this helps you lead with more clarity and less stress, subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review so more practice owners can find it. If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company.  Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

    Your Team Isn’t Resisting the Change. They’re Resisting This

  6. Sep 22

    You Might Be Wrong About Your Worst Team Member

    "They're lazy." "They don't care." "This person is the problem." You probably said something like this the last time you got annoyed at the office. In this episode, the DPH coaches break down what to do the next time someone on your team drops the ball. You'll learn the difference between being decisive and being judgmental, when to act immediately or take a pause and get curious, and how to address problems without putting anyone on the defensive. Topics discussed: 00:00 Introduction 02:11 The mistake most owners make 05:26 How your team labels you too 06:23 When acting fast backfires 10:52 Judgmental, patient, or decisive — how to tell 13:40 The question that works better than "why" 16:16 Why you're really annoyed 17:03 Why addressing it now helps you later 19:07 Building your practice's constitution This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique https://www.podcastboutique.com Use the same marketing company as Dr. Etch! Get your free demo with Relevance Marketing by Clicking Here If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company.  Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

    You Might Be Wrong About Your Worst Team Member

  7. Sep 16

    Retiring Early in Dentistry and the Freedom Trap

    You can do everything “right” and still feel stuck: work harder, save more, invest earlier, chase a retirement number… then wake up the next day and realize nothing changed. That moment is what we’re unpacking, especially for dentists who are high achievers, practice owners, and the kind of people who won’t be happy staring at the ocean for 30 years. We walk through the core problem with traditional retirement planning for dentists: it treats your younger years like they only exist for production, and it assumes your future income drops to zero on some arbitrary date. I share why that thinking quietly creates burnout and postponement, how the goalposts keep moving, and what I learned after hitting my retirement target at 39 and feeling no real freedom. We also talk candidly about a painful money loss and why it forced a healthier relationship with wealth, security, and fulfillment. Then we make it practical. We cover how to define “enough,” set a realistic retirement target, and stop treating every dollar you don’t save as a mistake. We explore why assuming some future income (part-time dentistry, consulting, teaching, coaching, business) can change your entire plan, and how intentional spending can buy back time, reduce stress, and make ordinary Tuesdays better. Finally, we connect it to dental practice management: leadership, systems, and associates that reduce owner dependence so you can cut clinical days without your practice collapsing. If you want a retirement strategy built around optionality, flexibility, and a practice that supports your life, listen now. Then subscribe, share this with a dentist friend, and leave a review so more practice owners can find the show. Use the same marketing company as Dr. Etch! Get your free demo with Relevance Marketing by Clicking Here If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company.  Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

    Retiring Early in Dentistry and the Freedom Trap

  8. Sep 14

    Why Your Team Only Follows Systems When You’re Watching (How to Fix It) w/ Dr. Gina Dorfman

    Your team does the right things when you're in the building. Turn your back and... maybe not. Dr. Gina Dorfman has spent over 20 years building practices around culture, and knows exactly what makes a team follow through without being reminded. She explains what has to come first, the test candidates don't know they're taking, and what to do about a strong performer who's dragging the team down. Plus, hear her message to any woman who's been called difficult for holding her team to a standard. Topics discussed: (00:00) Introduction (02:17) Running pediatric and general under one roof (10:43) What your team needs before SOPs will stick (16:13) Getting the right people in the right seats (21:57) Gina’s crumpled paper interview test (23:32) What to do with a high performer who hurts culture (25:58) Why the best hire may have no experience (28:44) How far to take standardization in your practice (34:09) Advice for female leaders in dentistry Learn more about Yapi: https://yapiapp.com/ Connect with Dr. Gina Dorfman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-dorfman-dds/ https://www.instagram.com/drginad/ This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique https://www.podcastboutique.com Use the same marketing company as Dr. Etch! Get your free demo with Relevance Marketing by Clicking Here If you are ready to increase your new patients and start growing your practice, visit www.relevanceonlinemarketing.com and see what you've been missing with your current company.  Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams. Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

    Why Your Team Only Follows Systems When You’re Watching (How to Fix It) w/ Dr. Gina Dorfman
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4.8
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About

Where dentists learn how to cut clinical days while increasing profits - without sacrificing patient care, cutting corners, or cranking volume.   We teach you how to grow a scalable practice through communication, leadership, and effective management. Hosted by Dr. Paul Etchison, author of two books on dental practice management, dental coach, and owner of a $6M collections group practice in the south suburbs of Chicago, we provide actionable advice for practice owners who want to intentionally create more time to enjoy their families, wealth, and deep personal fulfillment.  If you want to build a scalable practice framework that no longer stresses, drains, or relies on you for every little thing, we will teach you how and share stories of other dentists who have done it!

Information

  • Creator
    Dr. Paul Etchison
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    709
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Dental Practice Heroes
  • Show Website
    Dental Practice Heroes

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