Back in 2011, I gave a lecture called “The Coming Storm for Dentistry.”

I warned that insurance companies would choke reimbursements while corporate dentistry scaled up and swallowed private practices.

Fourteen years later… well, here we are.

In this week’s Practice Autonomy Podcast, we open that time capsule and compare those predictions to the real 2025 data — and it’s chillingly accurate:

🦷 PPO reimbursements are lower than last year for one-third of dentists.

💰 Overhead is rising faster than collections.

DSOs now employ more than 1 in 4 new grads, backed by billions in private equity.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. I also share the same three-part counter-strategy that still works today:

1️⃣ Get Bigger – Build multiple sources of new-patient flow.

2️⃣ Get Faster – Run your practice with precision systems that out-produce corporate offices.

3️⃣ Get Stronger – Align your team so you can move faster than any DSO.

If you’ve felt that “Viking raid” from corporate recruiters or insurance clawbacks, this episode will hit home — and give you a roadmap to fight back.

Stay independent, stay sharp, stay private

Staff has gotten so expensive. It's so expensive to keep good team members that any successful dentist knows it is the #1 item on the P&L by far these days.

And yet, it's so important to keep those key players.

The success or failure of a dental practice is overwhelmingly dependent on its staff, who function as the critical intermediary between the doctor and the patient.

A significant portion of patients place more trust in the opinions and expertise of the staff than in those of the doctor.

To achieve peak performance, doctors must understand the unique motivations, perspectives, and "secrets" of their staff members.

Uncovering these underlying factors is essential for breaking down barriers to productivity, resolving internal conflicts, and fully implementing the practice's vision.

Most of us waste a ton of time each day.

I'm not asking any dentist to rush through any procedure or exam.

You should demand excellence for yourself every second of every day.

But, you're kidding yourself if you think you're not wasting time.

My theory is that if you are taking a day away from your family to be at the dental office, you should make every second count.

What I believe you will find is that you can absolutely be as productive while working less if you put your mind, heart, and soul into that pursuit.

If you pull this off, you'll basically give yourself a vacation every single week.

Imagine how much your family will appreciate that!

In this episode I lay out the basic concepts that allow this to happen.

See what you think and let me know.