Brews and Tiny Teeth, The Unfiltered Pediatric Dentistry Podcast

70,000 SDF applications and 11,000 ART fillings. Dr. Jonathan Norris and his partners own 10 practices across Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts. They have built their entire practice philosophy on being minimally invasive. I love having these conversations because its so interesting to see how different pediatric dentists can practice. We have a great conversation and discuss: - Their protocol for SDF and SMART fillings, when it works and when it doesn't - Why they only use glass products - Hall crowns vs modified Hall crowns - Papacarie for ART fillings - How is minimally invasive dentistry perceived by referring GPs?

Dr. Lizzy Standish is a pediatric dentist from Lafayette, Indiana. We met at AAPD when she was telling me about her involvement and passion for comedy, specifically improv. I invited her on the podcast to learn more about how this skillset improved her communication with parents and made her a better pediatric dentist.

Dr. Diana Pelzer is a pediatric dentist and owner of The Nest Pediatric Dentistry in Waukee, Iowa. She opened the practice from scratch in 2020 in a large modern building that she constructed at the same time. After just 5 years of being open, she added an addition on the building along with a bringing on a new associate. Dr. Pelzer has a virtual adult beverage with me as we discuss start-ups, commercial real estate as a new pediatric dentist, developing a great brand and reputation in the community, and dealing with the highs and lows of managing employees.

Dr. Shon Diguglielmo is a pediatric dentist and partner at a large legacy multi-specialty practice in Vermont. The partnership consists of seven pediatric dentists and three orthodontists. They have a unique system in which they equally split the same number of working days in a calendar year. The partners are all reimbursed equally (profits are not distributed by production percentage). Dr. Shon shares how they structure this and why it works so well for their doctors. Dr. Shon also shared with me that a previous Brews and Tiny Teeth Episode inspired him to explore the option of partnering with a DSO. He explains why their practice made that transition, how he did his due diligence, and why it was the right move for his group.

Dr. Karli Williams is a pediatric dentist at Black Hills Pediatric Dentistry in South Dakota. She is a partner at a large, established practice that serves children with major access to care barriers across South Dakota and the surrounding states. Her busy practice also owns and runs a stand-alone surgery center that operates with CRNAs five days a week. Carly cracks a beer and talks with me about South Dakota, treating Native children, operating a surgical center, using Equia strip crowns, and how they survived a Medicaid audit.

Dr. John Kiang is a pediatric dentist from Rhode Island. He is a partner in a large practice that has three pediatric dentists, a GP, and multiple orthodontists. He steps away from a day off at the beach to talk about a variety of topics including: - How their large pedo-ortho practice integrates orthodontics and makes that relationship seamless - The importance of offering partnerships to the right people - Dealing with challenging cleft patients - Nasal alveolar molding - Training for triathlons as a way to stay healthy and be a better dentist.

This episode is all about how to put a valuation on a pediatric dental practice. To help me dissect this topic, I invited on Jeffrey Moss from Moss, Luse, and Womble (MLW). MLW is a prominent accounting firm out of Texas that works with dentists from all around the country. They help approximately 150 pediatric practices with services ranging from bookkeeping, tax strategies, financial planning, and practice valuating. Jeff and I discuss the following topics: - What trends he's seeing in regards to the demand for pediatric offices - What metrics are looked at when considering high-quality practices? - What's a healthy profit margin and how is that calculated? - Is there such thing as a practice that is too big to obtain financing from a private buyer? - How does bringing on an associate who wants to eventually partner affect the valuation for both the buyer and the seller?

This episode comes to you live from AAPD in Denver, Colorado! Dr. Corey Hastings and I had a great time on the floor meeting other dentists and doing some networking. We had a ton of ambitious young docs come up to us and share their stories. Based on our feedback, Corey and I estimate that we've helped somewhere between 60-80 people start their own practice. Corey and I ordered some old fashions and share some of our thoughts about the new Cain Watters Practice Comparison Report. This is a report that shares practice production, collection, overhead, wages, etc. of mature pediatric practices that work with Cain Watters. We discuss some of the trends we are seeing, and why some of these numbers may be misleading.

Dr. Eric Phan is a pediatric dentist who decided to take the leap and go back to ortho residency after four years of practice. He developed an interest in ortho during his associateship and decided to purse being one of the few dual-specialists in our profession. Dr. Phan talks about the application process, why he chose to go back to residency, differences in personalities between pediatric dentists and orthodontists, and why he thinks adding an ortho skill set increases his value and will afford him a longer and healthier career. He also shares some tips for those listeners who may consider going back to specialize in orthodontics.

Dr. Vinny Miriyala is a pediatric dentist who wears a variety of hats in his professional career. Besides working both in private practice and academics, he also takes on an administrative roll by working with insurance companies and the federal government doing peer-reviews and fraud/waste/abuse claims. We have a great conversation about how to avoid liability as a pediatric dentist, specifically what mistakes docs make that get them served a letter from an attorney. Dr. Vinny can be reached at dr_vinod@hotmail.com

Dr. Adi Genish is pediatric dentist in the beautiful Beverly Hills area of California. She is also a well-known social media influencer and has attracted an impressive following to her profiles on Instagram and TikTok. Dr. Adi talks about why she went back to specialize in pediatrics, and what inspired her to open her practice in Beverly Hills. Her office vision was to create a dental spa for children, and you can tell she spared no expense in designing a very modern practice. We also discuss treatment modalities and parent expectations for the families she sees in Beverly Hills. Dr. Adi also gives us some pointers for social media and reviews its importance for having good content in the modern world of pediatric dentistry.

Dr. Ivy Fua is a pediatric dentist in Burbank, California. Right before COVID she purchased and renovated an established pediatric office to create "Grin Garden Kids Dental and Orthodontics." We talked about how she used a marketing and branding firm to help create her new office, along with the challenges of surviving the transition during COVID. We also discuss: - Outsourcing your insurance billing, is it worth it? - Difficulties when you hire and then lose an associate - Dealing with parents who have fluoride concerns - Being a mom and running a practice - Does it make sense to do full ortho or just phase one?

If you think your life is busy... wait until you listen to this episode! Dr. Gary Lehn is a partner and owner of a 6-office practice in Nebraska, along with the father of 8 children. His kids range from one all the way up to 16 years old. Gary shares his journey and tells us about how he grew his family and his practice together. He gives some advice about how he manages his time, and what his life outside of work looks like. This is a great episode for those docs who work in a busy practice, along with trying to grow a family at home.

Dr. Andrew Lusk is a pediatric dentist from West Virginia. He started a practice almost two years ago, and he comes on the show to talk about life as a West Virginia practice owner. In our discussion, we talk about: - Should pediatric dentists work on Fridays? - Why it's tough to fight Delta Dental, and why using umbrella insurance plans worked for him - Using minimally invasive treatment options to help his patients - Why it's tough being a business owner with cash flow and income inconsistencies

Dr. Tim Followell is a pediatric dentist and the program director of the residency program at the University of Louisville. He has been teaching at Louisville since 2020, where he works with the residents to teach them a wide variety of new techniques and procedures. Dr. Followell is also a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which peaked my interest in having him on the podcast. (He could probably strangle 99% of the general population). In this episode, we focus on what changes Dr. Followell is seeing with his residents. We discuss new procedures, what they are moving away from, and how they try to produce well-rounded pediatric dentists. They also have CO2 lasers to allow the residents to do TOT work! I finish by asking Dr. Followell if he thinks we are producing too many pediatric dentists to enter the workforce.

Today's episode is a collaborative episode that Brews and Tiny Teeth did with Dr. Joel Berg of the AAPD Newly Erupted Podcast. We had a great discussion about what inspired me to become a pediatric dentist, the importance of practice owners in rural areas, and how seeing kids with Medicaid can allow an early startup to grow exponentially.

Whitney Linville is a a pediatric dentist and practice owner from Louisiana. She graduated from residency in Omaha, Nebraska in 2018, before starting her practice from scratch in Youngsville, Louisiana. This episode is awesome because it's the exact vibe I try to chase after for my podcast. We each have a drink and just talk shop about a whole bunch of awesome peds topics, including: - Dealing with snow, hurricanes, and bad weather - The middle age stage of practice ownership - What the pediatric dental scene is like in Louisiana - Medicaid reimbursement in Louisiana - Patchwork ART/ITR glass ionomer fillings that don't hold up - When not to reimplant an avulsed tooth - Whiny tweenagers who don't want you to touch their loose baby teeth.

This episode is all about resiliency. We have a demanding, repetitive job with a lot of stress. Whether it's trying to navigate massive student loan debt, figuring out how to become a practice owner, or handling difficult parents, it's important to take care of ourselves in order to practice for decades instead of years. Dr. Niloo Mofakhami is a pediatric dentist from Virginia, and a practice owner of 20 years. We talk about resilience strategies that she shares with younger docs and residents that she mentors. Some of these topics include: - Not working weekends - Taking quality lunch breaks - Seeing the appropriate number of patients in a day - Prioritizing health - Talking to a therapist - Outsourcing tasks

Dr. Mike Dowling is a pediatric dentist from Maine. He joins us to talk about his experience as a practice owner serving the very underserved state of Maine. Mike talks about how hard it has been to provide care to such a high caries risk area, while battling a lack of operating room access and minimal time slots for mobile in-office anesthesia. Mike decided to expand into his leased medical building to create a fully certified and compliant stand-alone surgery center. When the project is finished, it will be a fully-functional surgery center with the capacity to do twice as many dental anesthesia cases as any other facility in the state. Mike shares his journey with this project, as well as gives advice to any other doctors struggling with access to anesthesia time in their community.

This episode is all about clinical techniques, restorative materials, and procedures that didn't live up to the hype. Part of being a good pediatric dentist is trying new things. And sometimes these things don't always hold up as well as we would hope. I asked listeners to write or call in and share some of their failures. I compiled a list of the 12 best ones, shared anonymously by our pediatric dental colleagues. This is a fun solo episode over a crisp beer to remind us that we all have failures, and the best thing we can do is learn from mistakes and move on.