Ep. 4 | Building the Perfect Team: The Implant Practice Fantasy Draft

In Episode 4 of Case Closed: From Consult to Crown, Ryan Pritchard and AJ Davino build the ultimate implant-driven dental team: fantasy draft style.

Instead of drafting athletes, they draft the key roles that make a dental implant practice successful, including the lead implantologist, Implant Treatment Coordinator, front desk, hygienist, office manager, associate dentist, marketing, billing, dental assistant, and in-house lab. The rules are simple: every drafted role becomes elite, while the roles left behind stay as industry-average. That forces Ryan and AJ to debate which positions matter most when building a high-performing implant practice.

Packaged in a fun format, this episode's conversation highlights an important point: that dental implant growth is not just about the doctor. Every part of the team affects the patient experience, case acceptance, production, follow-up, and overall practice performance. Ryan and AJ discuss why a great implantologist matters, why the ITC is often the most important support role, how marketing creates opportunity, why the front desk can make or break new patient flow, and why strong systems only work when the right people are executing them.

They also break down the hidden value of roles that often get overlooked, including hygiene, billing, dental assistants, office managers, and even the in-house lab.

Topics discussed:

• Building the perfect dental implant practice team

• Why implant growth is a team effort

• The role of the lead implantologist

• Why the Dental Implant Treatment Coordinator is so important

• How front desk performance impacts case acceptance

• Why hygiene can be the “tip of the spear” for implant opportunities

• The importance of marketing and qualified demand

• Why billing and insurance systems affect profitability

• The value of a strong office manager

• How dental assistants support patient confidence

• Whether an in-house lab can become a true advantage

• Why one weak link can hold back the entire practice

• How elite systems and elite people create real growth

By the end of the episode, Ryan and AJ also come together to choose their ultimate starting five for an implant-driven dental office.

If you’re a dentist trying to place more dental implants, build a stronger team, or understand what roles matter most inside a high-performing practice, this episode gives a practical and entertaining look at what it really takes to build the perfect implant team.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

All of your staff is important. Um in it if but if you can make a handful of people in the office um uh or systems uh elite, then you will be successful. If you can make all of them elite, you'll you'll find success you didn't even think possible. Welcome to another episode of Case Closed from Consult to Crown, a podcast for dentists who want to place more implants. I'm your host, Ryan Pritchard, and I am joined by my co-host, AJ DeVino. We've officially made it to four whole episodes, AJ. What the hell are we doing?

SPEAKER_02 0:42

I just if there were, you know, were people who reviewed us and could control our cancellation, I just assumed we would have been canceled by now. Got to be canceled by now. So many ratings.

SPEAKER_05 0:53

But alas, we we are not. Um people are just loving the show, I guess. So uh today we're gonna mix it up a little bit. We're gonna talk about um the team, right? The office. You know, we say it all the time. We talk about the all-stars, the implant coordinators, obviously, and the implantologists and and and all that. But today we're gonna talk about building the perfect team. Okay, and we're going to have a little bit of fun with it. Uh Chasen, our producer, has put together uh a draft. So essentially, I I guess what we're gonna do, I don't know a lot about it. He's gonna explain it to us. But just for the audience, that name again?

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Can you can you drill down his name? Chasen.

SPEAKER_05 1:38

Like chasing dreams? Chasing a dream. Okay. He loves that. If you ever meet him, make sure you say, You mean like chasing a dream? Yeah, he loves it. So sorry, Chasen. Sorry, Chasen. So uh what what I think what we're gonna do is we're gonna go through, we're gonna pick the perfect team. Okay. And then uh as we pick, we're gonna talk about why they're important. Before we start, I think it's important to know we're having a little fun with this. Um, we're gonna put them in order. We won't be able to pick once once you've picked. I can't, I can't pick a draft. Um, but I think it's important to know every member of our team uh we love, we adore, we think that they uh are super important to a dental office. Right, right. You know, I've got doctors a lot that will say, Wow, I don't I don't need assistance. Holy cow, remember that, doctor. I don't need assistance. Of course you need assistance, right? Of course you do. We've had doctors say we don't need a hygiene department. Absolutely. That's insane. Hygiene is one of the most important parts of a dental office. So every single team member in an office is super important, but we're gonna have a little fun with it uh today. And uh I believe, Chasen, you are gonna go through the rules.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

That is correct, guys. Okay, so here's how this works. Today you're drafting implant practice X factor roles. Think, yeah, think of this like a What's an X Factor? An X factor is like this is a transcendent team member of your practice, someone who is really dominating their you know, what they have to do on a day-to-day basis uplifts the rest of the team and is something that you can really rely on.

SPEAKER_05 3:06

So in each role that we get to pick, it's the all-star of this version of this role.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Yes, and I will explain that further. Think of the this like a fantasy draft, but instead of players, you're building the ultimate implant-driven dental team. I'm going to give you a list of roles commonly found in a dental office. You'll take turns drafting them one by one.

SPEAKER_05 3:27

You look like you're reading something. You sound like that too.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

I just want to make it clear and concise for the audience. I don't I don't want to screw it up. So I guess following along with the if that's okay with you.

SPEAKER_05 3:37

All right, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Uh so the goal is simple build the team that would give an implant practice the best chance to become a true juggernaut. Now, here's the key every role you draft is considered to be best in class. If you draft that role, you get a top-tier performer. If you don't, you're stuck with an industry average version of that same position. So every pick matters. Um, and then these are the the ten roles that we've sort of chosen available in your draft.

SPEAKER_05 4:07

Oh, you're gonna list them out?

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Yep, I'm gonna list them out right now.

SPEAKER_05 4:09

Okay, and we have to just listen.

unknown 4:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 4:11

Yeah, listen and carefully.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

Isn't X Factor also a panel show on television? Yeah, I think it's a TV show.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Yeah, I think it is.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Ours will be better. Stuck on X Factor.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Okay. All right, so like I said, every pick matters, and these are the 10 roles that are available in our draft pool today. Uh, so number one, a clinically brilliant lead implantologist. Number two, a workhorse associate general dentist.

SPEAKER_05 4:33

Wait, hold on, hold on, go back. So clinically brilliant. So does this mean are they good at talking to people?

SPEAKER_01 4:39

No, this is simply clinical. This is a doctor that is clinical prowess. Clinical prowess, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:45

But how are they talking to people?

SPEAKER_01 4:46

I was average.

SPEAKER_05 4:48

Average talking to people, clinically all-star.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Yeah, like they can handle any case that's thrown at them.

SPEAKER_05 4:53

Okay. Is this the owner of the practice?

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Many zygomatics. This in this scenario, this would be I I I had envisioned it, yes, to be. This is the owner? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:04

Okay. So an owner who's clinically brilliant, people skills, average. Yep. Got it. What do they look like? What do they look like? I'm just kidding, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Unassuming.

SPEAKER_05 5:12

Professional. Do they wear a tie? Okay. Bow tie.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

They look exactly like you would hope they would expect to look like too much. I have a picture in my head. From a patient perspective. I have a picture in my head. He's a real human being. All right. So number two is a workhorse associate general dentist, someone that the implantologist or the owner of the practice can really rely on on a day-to-day basis to handle that sort of general stuff.

SPEAKER_05 5:33

Alright. Like crowns and and and everything and stuff, or are we talking just drill and fill dentistry?

SPEAKER_01 5:41

A little more of the drill and fill the every all the things that help a the implantologist focus on implants.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

What about sleep apnea?

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Yeah, whatever takes up the day today. Yeah. Okay. Alright, so number three, a reliable hygienist.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Ooh, number four.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Just reliable. Just reliable. They just show up. As in they yeah, they never call out. Not high performer. Again, these are these are X factors.

SPEAKER_05 6:05

So it is it is a X factor in reliability or in being a hygienist?

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Yeah, whatever, whatever, as whatever the practice owner values the most, that is the extra. That that is what whatever you believe a hygienist is most important for, that's what they are. Okay. Whatever you value as is as you guys doing the draft.

SPEAKER_02 6:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Um the next one, uh, this is number four, a dependable dental assistant. Um, same type of thing as a hygienist, whatever you believe is is the best um qualities that uh that uh a uh an assistant has. Um the the next one, uh, number five is an elite treatment coordinator. Uh number six is a highly trained front desk staff. Number seven is insurance and billing coordinator.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

Oh my.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Number eight. I love the the back and forth Asia. That's great. Number eight is a respected office manager.

SPEAKER_05 6:54

What does that mean?

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Uh this is well, the office manager, do a jack of all trades, do it all. This is someone who wields the power of the office, someone that the other uh people in the office respect and follow orders from and can get things done to keep things running.

SPEAKER_05 7:07

I know I keep doing this, I keep coming back to to your adjectives here, but they don't need to be liked by the team, do they? Yeah, does do they have to uh is this office manager respected or liked? Or feared? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

I would say a combination of both. Someone who, again, this is the X factors, so they're people that do the very best that they can.

SPEAKER_05 7:26

Well about now it's of the dental office.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Oh yes. All of them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Like this is you know, office manager, like we talk about a lot of times, is like the right hand person to, you know, the people that are directly in charge. All right. Got it. Um, and then nine is marketing, and ten is an in-house lab.

SPEAKER_05 7:43

Okay. Uh okay, so so we we've got we've we've got we've got this list of people. They are the most elite, but we got to go back to your first one then, because you said clinically brilliant, but people skills average, are they X factor or not? Because the X factor lead implantologist can talk to people.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Okay. Um, I mean, in that scenario, I guess I would use um, I guess maybe we can define that together. I guess what I was originally thinking is strictly clinical. This is someone who, if someone comes into the office with that with whatever dental problem they have, this is the doctor that can help them know.

SPEAKER_05 8:21

It's important, it's very important for my picks, though. If it, for example, if he take if he takes my ITC, I gotta know my doctor can talk to people. And if it's X factor, it's X factor, right? So it's all of it.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Well, I guess I would ask you both right now. If you when you think of an X factor like the best clinically, you know, the brilliant lead implantologist, when you think of the think of someone in your head as the best that you know right now. Is that is that person are they awesome with patients as well?

SPEAKER_05 8:50

Dr. Frank Aiello, one of the best. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

All right, so let's let's define it in that way, that they are in fact not only clinically brilliant, clinically strong, clinically great with patients.

SPEAKER_05 9:01

Hey see, that changes a lot for me. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Okay, so those are the the ten rules. Um, we will flip a coin to determine who goes first. After that, we'll use a snake draft format. So for the people who are not draft nerds out there, that basically just means that the first pick goes to one of you, uh, whoever wins the toss, and if they decide they want to receive the first pick, then the other person will then get to the next two picks, then it switches back to the other for two picks, and then so on and so forth until all ten roles are selected. Uh once every uh position is drafted, you'll each have a full team, obviously. Um from there, we'll kind of break it down uh your teams individually and and how they sort of stack up uh comparatively between the two of them and make a case for which one of you wins. So if you does the winner win, what do we win? Man, you you get a ticket to the next episode. You get to stick around. Wow, the other one gets fired. The other one gets the holy cow.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Will you be replacing the loser? No, I don't uh we'll we'll find someone else, but okay. Oh wow. This is life or death here.

SPEAKER_05 10:05

Okay, that's important. Yeah. You know, I was once undefeated. High stakes in uh fantasy football. I am undefeated. I've never been beat. Is that true?

SPEAKER_02 10:13

Yeah, I only played once. I won. Uh little known fact: the only time I ever played fantasy football, my team name was the Festivas, which is a Ford motor car from the early 1990s.

SPEAKER_05 10:24

We've mentioned Ford a few times now. We're gonna get a letter. Yeah. Please cease and desist. Quick word from today's sponsor, Care Credit. We use Care Credit in all of our own offices, and we recommend it to our clients because it removes one of the biggest barriers to treatment. Cost. Care Credit gives patients flexible monthly payment options while your practice gets paid quickly, often in just a couple of business days. When you're presenting implants or larger cases, having financing built into the conversation makes a huge difference in case acceptance. Take it from me. I see the numbers. If you're not offering it, you're leaving opportunity on the table.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Alright, so we're gonna flip a coin to determine the draft order. I will do that now. I will flip a coin and then one of or I'll I guess I will give Ryan the the call of heads or tails when I flip it. Um, and then we'll we'll go from there. See if you get it, then we'll decide.

SPEAKER_05 11:21

Okay, before you do that, Casey, film Jason, because I guarantee he drops this coin.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

I might. All right, here we go. Are you ready to call it?

SPEAKER_05 11:28

Yes, go. All right.

unknown 11:30

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

I did. There it is. You didn't also you didn't call it. Oh, you ready? Yeah, yeah. Heads. Tails. Tails. Wow. AJ, you now get the option to decide whether you want to draft first overall, or if you want to pass that to Ryan.

SPEAKER_05 11:52

Wow. Wait, in in in this draft, whoever gets first, the second person gets second and third.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

And third, and then it goes back to the other person who gets fourth and fifth, and it goes like that all the way until all ten get picked. We're doing a snake draft just because, again, very nerdy stuff. But this is kind of a more balanced way to do this. Otherwise, if we did it back and forth, one of you would sort of have the leg up all the way through.

SPEAKER_05 12:16

This is how we did it in backyard football.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

So um, so yeah, AJ, you it's uh first, uh, you determine whether you want to go first or pass it off to Ryan.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

With the first pick, I trade it back to who is picking second and third. You want second and third?

SPEAKER_05 12:31

Yes. Shit, I wanted second and third. I really thought you were gonna go first. Okay. Alright, so that means I really oof. Alright. Wow, the two and three. I think I'm gonna go as important as a lead as a uh implant treatment coordinator. That was gonna be my number one at first, but as I look at this list, I'm gonna go uh the lead implantologist who we have confirmed they can talk to patients.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

Okay. I will I know I have two, right? So I will go with uh ITC, implant treatment coordinator. And I will also go with front desk staff. Front desk staff. Mm-hmm. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 13:46

Strategery. You got it. Alright, so uh Chasen, well, what we're doing here is we're gonna pick the teams and then we'll talk about why we picked the team.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Yeah, I I was I was gonna try to jump in.

SPEAKER_05 14:00

Uh first off, AJ, you just picked treatment coordinator and front desk staff. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

All right. Yeah, so if you guys just want to maybe just talk a little bit about kind of your your first overall put uh overall picks, um, Ryan, you went with the implantologist. So what uh in your opinion makes that the the number one gotta have it for your first overall pick?

SPEAKER_05 14:19

Okay, so I I feel like it's an instant lose for you here because without an implantologist who's an all-star, I believe that the implantologist slash owner, Jason told us that this is the this is the captain of the ship. And all things kind of fall from from where they're at. Um and if you've got a strong implantologist, clinically strong, uh a good leader, uh then everything else we can manage. Um I think without it though, you're sort of at a loss, right? You're your average docs and average talkers and average leaders, of course we can we can work with that. Um, but it makes it so much easier with it, which is also why I was very careful to ask, can they talk to people? Um now for me, I've never had to deal with this. I don't have any clients that aren't implantologists. Implantologists call me and then I call you and say, let's bring in an ITC. So naturally that was going to be my first guess, but if I'm starting from nothing, I've got to have an implantologist before I have anything.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

So uh Yeah, and AJ, if you want to, just one pick at a time. So he that was his first pick. So maybe talk a little about what your number two overall pick is.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

So uh I took into account, I I uh thought you might take the implantologist. That was my that was my theory. I baited you into doing oh, you did? I did. I've been baited. So uh it's gonna make a horrible joke. Let your imagination fill it in. Anyway, so I've decided mentally that if the implantologist I end up with is at least bang average, right? I'm going to surround said implantologist with an elite team of people who can overcome them not being great at talking to patients, right? Uh overcome uh maybe they they can't do every single case that exists in this world, right? But they can do enough of them. And uh with the right team, uh I can elevate uh a bang average implantologist into something more if I surround them with uh an elite ITC, who ITC implant treatment coordinator, someone who their job is to get people to move forward with big high-end implant treatments and front desk staff, which is uh definitely not something I would sit here and believe I would pick as my my second pick, third overall. But ITC and front desk staff are actually pretty pretty linked, right? An ITC can't be expected to answer phones. An ITC is talking to patients in person, so I need a front desk staff who uh understands how to talk to patients, how to get them excited, how to talk to them on the phone, how to uh keep an office that's focuses on implants. I I I I need a cohesive unit. And I feel like if I surround uh, you know, and understand what is an average implantologist, we don't know. We're just using these words in this draft. I yeah. Every every dentist ever who's placed an implant is elite.

unknown 17:59

Ever.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Ever. So that's that's my reasoning is I'm gonna surround the people who interact with patients to get them to the implantologist. I'm gonna surround that person with uh elite team members. I see.

SPEAKER_05 18:14

So it's like an NFL coach who's really great, but but maybe doesn't have Tom Brady, whereas Tom Brady can go anywhere. Yeah, I'm going with the Sam Darnold model. Darnold. Yeah, you son of a bitch. The Seattle guy, right? That's the one. Yeah, Sam Darnold. Okay, so it's my turn.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

Is this right, Jason? Yep. So uh if those are uh AJ's uh next two picks, then that we are now at the fourth pick, which uh goes to Ryan. You are on the clock.

SPEAKER_05 18:41

I'm on the clock. Oh shit, you didn't tell me that. It's a big clock. Uh no, I I already know. I've I've known since the beginning. Uh I'm gonna go with marketing uh as my number two, and I'm gonna go with uh elite hygienist as number three. Do you want me to tell you why now, Jason? Yeah, yeah, just and when you guys go, we I know we're doing two in a row, but you can just do your picks and then explain as you go, so we're just kind of easier to the reason why I'm gonna do marketing is uh it's it is of my opinion that all of this is moot without phone calls. If you can't get people to call into the office that want implants, then you're stuck only with existing patients. And if I have a bang average team uh and I don't have marketing, well, the people who are there, they're already there. They already know this team, they already know the doctor and the staff. They obviously like it enough that they're still there, so I don't need elite. Um, you know, uh, but but this is never going anywhere if the phone isn't ringing um with people who need in plantology. And so uh I'm definitely gonna go with marketing as the second pick. And then hygienist. Um, you know, in owning dental offices, uh I have offices that have a very light hygiene team. Not not bad, just not many hygienists. Right. And I have other offices that hard to come by nowadays. Oh, geez, holy cow, we should do a whole episode on that. Jason, write that down. Um but yeah, I mean, having, you know, I get this from you. First time you ever uh presented, I heard you say that hygiene is the tip of the spear, and it so is when it comes to implantology. Um building rapport is everything. And in ex in your existing base, you've got people who build rapport with your patients, your clientele, all the time. More than you do, more than the front desk does, more than your office manager does, um, and before marketing, uh, even more than your ITC does. So uh, if you have a hygienist who can identify a need for implants uh and talk to a patient about that, um, you are going to see great success uh with that. Um so there.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

Oh wow, okay. Well, that's pretty good. I like that reasoning. Did we settle on team names? No, we did not. I was gonna go with festivas, but I am team death strike. Death strike. Yeah, it just feels right. Okay. That's aggressive. So Team Death Strike is taking dental assistant and office manager.

SPEAKER_05 21:49

I like the tone you use there, like you're really in a draft. I was channeling my inner rod Roddy from from uh Price this right. You took dental assistant and office manager? I did, I did.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Sticking with the theme of I'm surrounding the implantologist with elites. So here. Uh for those of you that can't see, I'm I'm feverishly writing dental assistants. I see what you're doing. I see what your game is. It's a good game.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

And I am also going with office manager. I don't know how to spell. Okay. So dental assistant. Uh okay. We have again, I hate to keep saying this average implantologist, but we have an elite dental assistant. And what are they gonna do? They're gonna be doing a lot of the talking for the doctor. They're gonna be the ones that the patient turns to maybe sometimes and gets feelings of feeling like they made the right choice, gets uh affirmations from, right? Because they're just so good at their job and they're so friendly and they're so incredible that so what if the doctor is like a little shy or a little quiet, right? You've got this unbelievable dental assistant that's doing all this all making up for the shortfall there, right? Uh and also an awesome dental assistant can just make a patient feel comfortable, right? Because uh some of the best dental assistants I've ever seen, as we've mentioned in past episodes, are not necessarily uh battle-harden lifelong dental assistants. They're people that we really like, uh, meet them at a restaurant, at uh, I don't know, uh in in our in our life outside of dentistry, and we really like them as a person, and we assimilate them into our collective, right? So I think that they can make up for some shortfalls there. And then office manager is the conductor for the office, right? Uh the wrangler that's going to make sure that doctor stays on task, that the dental assistants and the front desk staff and the ITC are all moving, they're all synced in their conversation with patients. And when the phone rings, uh, you did take marketing though. They're your phone's not ringing. Dang it. Well, it's average, so it's I can deal with average, right? I'm gonna make sure make every call count, right? Because the office manager is gonna be driving the front desk when someone calls. We got to do everything we can to make sure that this person comes in for this consult. And uh the office manager and the ITC, instead of having a weird adversarial, possibly uh does happen. It does happen. They can be a little at odds with each other because uh office manager is looking at things, you know, zoomed out and and not looking at just the implant department, whereas the ITC is just implants, right? But I think if I have these four different roles in the office, all with the same mentality, uh, it can overcome, you know, someone who's average. I hate saying this. Uh on the on the on the the implant placement side of things. I got nothing. Oh boy. Oh boy. Well, what's in this?

SPEAKER_01 25:09

All right, so now it swings back over to Ryan for your next pick.

SPEAKER_05 25:13

God, I get one or two. Two.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

You get two if you want to go one at a time, but yeah, you get we're now at the eighth overall. I know what I'm getting stuck with.

SPEAKER_05 25:22

I know what you're getting stuck with, too.

SPEAKER_04 25:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:24

Okay, okay. So my next one is gonna be insurance and billing coordinator. Um, and I will tell you why. So uh RCM, uh, this is called revenue cycle management. Um, this is in I honestly, until I owned offices, I had no idea how sloppy most offices manage this, how um unaware most offices are of kind of normal protocol in this world. Um uh but I I every office that that we've acquired so far is several hundred thousand dollars um uh exists out there that is in AR or accounts receivable. Um, and that doesn't even count the the write-offs, that's just accounts receivable, right? So there's a bunch of patients out there over the years, of course, but as over the years you add up several hundred thousand. We're talking about four, five, six hundred thousand dollars of outstanding AR that exists in in a space that um, you know, it I I think it I think I say this a lot that doctors sometimes are successful in spite of themselves, right? It's it is a dental office does well. And um so you're very quick to just say, oh, okay, yeah, you know, this patient owes us 10,000, but they only gave us four right off the other six. Um, it sounds crazy, but it happens all the time, and it's both a mixture of we didn't manage uh insurance verifications and submittals properly, uh, and then we don't know how to go and collect said submittal. All right. Uh big problem we see is insurance companies deny a submission. And a lot of offices, especially uh ones that don't have an insurance coordinator, they just go, Oh, okay, I guess they won't pay. Right. And what really happened uh was the insurance company says, uh, hey, you didn't upload an x-ray here, so we can't pay on this. And instead of going and asking the hygienist or the dental assistant or the doctor, can we go get an x ray so I can resubmit this and get paid? A lot of offices just write that off. The insurance companies are in the business of not paying. Yeah. How does an insurance company improve their margin? It's by rejecting submissions. So I just went on a whole thing there on that. But but hit home, hit close to home. A good insurance billing coordinator will manage that to um in our offices, it is 95% or better. So, in other words, 95% of the adjusted amount uh will be collected. And most offices flow closer to 75. So, you know, you're talking about, again, hundreds of thousands of dollars that and I have an all-star. I have the best. This is the Helen of insurance coordinators. Love that. Uh, so the my final pick, number five, that's you're already crossing it out. That's gonna be the associate dentist. The associate dentist does two things. Um, they increase revenue and uh they also relieve my implantologist of general dentistry two major ways to increase revenue. So there's just the raw we can see more patients, right? Um, but there's also if I have, and I do, I have the X factor implantologist. If I can free them up from general dentistry, um, then I I can increase revenue uh by multipliers of three or four. In fact, we're in the process of doing this in one of our offices right now. We just hired uh in our office in Cincinnati, we just hired an associate and they're excited because they're gonna come in. They're going to uh relieve the our doctor of the general dentistry, which they're younger and and sort of hungry and they want to do that. Right. Um, but also they're going to be working under Dr. Joe. And so Dr. Joe will be teaching them implantology in a couple of years. This person who helped us out is now in a position where they can be uh a Dr. Joe. Absolutely. And so that helps on so many levels. Um, and uh I uh to me this is nail in the coffin for you, bud.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

Yeah, uh I mean, oh boy. Just to remind everyone, the last thing left is in-house lab, which is hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Don't sound so excited, eh?

SPEAKER_02 30:24

Well, it's because he hates labs. Those of you that know me, uh Jason, does in-house lab does that include a milling machine?

SPEAKER_05 30:37

And a printer.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

Does it also include an intra oral scanner?

SPEAKER_01 30:45

What do most in-house labs include?

SPEAKER_02 30:48

Also, this is X Factor.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

It is it is like the best lab that you can probably imagine.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

Okay, so then that means that they do have a scanner. They probably do have milling equipment. Okay. Uh okay. In this world, right, I would make sure that the office is actually set up to take advantage of having an in-house lab. A lot of dental offices get involved, uh, start dabbling in the in the laboratory space. Uh, they hear sentences at dental shows and conferences that it's like, you can eliminate your lab bill. You can you can do this. You get just bring it in-house, do it yourself. And it's just not true. It's just not true.

SPEAKER_05 31:34

Not yet.

SPEAKER_02 31:35

Not yet. Soon, but we're probably we'll be long retired or dead. I mean, definitely dead. So what do I what do I mean by this? I got I gotta I gotta maximize it. Okay, so that means that in order to maybe make more profit on implant cases, I'm gonna actually use my in-house lab to offset some of that. I'm gonna be able to turn cases around quicker. I'm going to be able to literally make it a focal point of the office instead of just saying, yeah, this is something I can do and only saying it to patients when they're there, right? Something that I actually maybe market out into the world that I have the ability to do this, because most dental offices don't have the ability to make a same-day crown, right? Um, I've I've been in the dental industry long enough. I've been around uh this type of equipment, and and a lot of times it's like, oh, you you have a mill? I I mean, I didn't know, right? And and if you don't make it a focal point, if you don't let others outside of your dental office know, then you might not actually be able to take advantage of why you brought it in in the first place. And if we're counting intraoral scanners into this in-house lab world, well, that's also a a big advantage, right? Uh everything like you kind of mentioned, we're we're we're not there yet where in-house lab school maybe one day be able to do virtually everything, right? But we're we're we're getting there, right? Well, it blows my mind when we get into a lab and they don't have an intraoral scanner. So if I'm kind of including that into this, which I feel like we probably shouldn't, because that's not really a leader. Yeah, you're cheating a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 33:15

Yeah, does this in-house lab a little include a hygienist? Does this in-house lab include hands? I got nothing. Porcelain furnaces. Wait, so I have a question, Jason. So does this mean I have an in-house lab, but they're average?

SPEAKER_01 33:34

I would say it in well, so perhaps we should have gone over that a little more thoroughly. I would say no. I would say that you either have an in-house lab or you don't, you you don't have an in-house lab.

SPEAKER_05 33:42

Okay. Oh, well, lucky you. Yeah, your cup is sweating. What's going on here? Um okay. So I I think to just piggyback off of the in-house lab thing a little bit. I think actually, when we talk about it being X factor, I'm gonna change my tune a little on in-house labs because I I do think in-house labs are the future of dentistry. I just it's not a lab, right, right? It's it's a machine that is sitting chair side that you press a button and broke a denture, here we go. Yeah, it just pops out something. Well, when it's milled.

SPEAKER_02 34:17

We need a temp after placing implants, here it is.

SPEAKER_04 34:19

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:20

So it's coming, right? Um, right now it's too expensive. Uh, and more importantly, no one does it. Right. Who's gonna operate it? Right. But in this game Chase has put together, this is the X factor in Hus Lab. So someone is there kicking ass at this lab lab. We'll call them Rick for some reason. Yeah, Rick. Rick is Rick the lab guy. Rick.

SPEAKER_04 34:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:46

Yeah. Yeah, Rick the lab guy. He he kicks ass, right? So so when you need a denture, Rick's got it for you. Right. Okay, so that's I wish I would have I wish I would have really you would have amended? Maybe. I don't know. I think I did pretty well here.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

Yeah, I was trying to tell I I literally uh tried to talk myself into an in-house lab, which is just so hard for me because those of you who know me, I'm just so like, oh great. You were technically a lab guy by association. True story, that's where I actually started my dental career was on the laboratory side of things. So uh I love dental labs because you send things to them and you don't do it yourself. Yeah, it just it just comes back.

SPEAKER_05 35:28

Right. Um one uh a doctor and and mentor of mine, he he once said that what he tries to do all day, every day, is pick the things that they are good at and then just do them and get very, very good at those things. And the things that they're not good at, outsource. Yep. And just be okay with that. Um good, good, good dude, that guy, yes. Uh okay, so we've picked our teams, Jason. Now what?

SPEAKER_01 35:57

So first off, let's let's do a quick recap. Um so Ryan's team. Um he has drafted a clinically brilliant lead implantologist, marketing, reliable hygienist, insurance and billing coordinator, and a workhorse associate dentist. AJ's team, he drafted an elite implant uh treatment coordinator, highly trained front desk staff, dependable dental assistant, a respected office manager, and an in-house lab. So now that you guys have drafted your teams, I suppose we should compare and contrast who is the winner of this draft. Me. Yeah. AJ, fight for yourself. What's the matter with you?

SPEAKER_05 36:41

I have. So I I I I'll plead my case for for why I've I think you're top heavy. You're top heavy. I'm certainly top heavy. I definitely am. But uh I have the juggernauts of of production, right? I've got I've got the lead implantologist, I've got the workhorse uh general dentist, and I've got the the the elite hygienist. These people are going to produce, and when you produce, you uh it everything becomes a little easier. All the problems are easier to manage when you are producing.

SPEAKER_02 37:15

That's true.

SPEAKER_05 37:17

And then I got the marketing. My phone is ringing.

SPEAKER_02 37:20

I'd like to look at my team as saying I have so many of the support networks. Yeah, you took all the support. I wish I would have had some more support in here. That make the producers produce, right?

SPEAKER_04 37:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:34

You know, um, a lot of times we'll visit an office and it'll be like, well, uh I don't understand. Why don't or we'll be talking to a doctor and it's like, you know, I do some marketing and the phone rings, but I'm I'm not doing any more cases. And it's like, well, who do you have supporting this, right? Putting just the declaring I place implants now that's true, isn't necessarily do anything, right?

SPEAKER_05 37:58

Maxilla tracks these numbers. You'll hear you will hear that a lot. And uh if I'm generating, if the elite marketing is generating 150 calls a week and my front desk true story is booking at six percent, I'm spending a lot of money and it's a disaster, right? So that's why I started this by saying we truly believe everybody in in a dental office is really truly important, and and I do believe that. Without, you know, we try to get the X Factor employees and every one of these positions, except the in-house lab. Yeah, you won't let us have one. Oh, Rick. One day.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Rick's out. It's all that monomer, they're just breathing monomer, just so much monomer.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

AJ, I have a question. Yeah. Knowing how these results turned out, do you regret your decision on going first or second?

SPEAKER_02 38:49

No. Uh I actually think uh doing it this way uh made this like kind of fun because it it actually put some things into my into my domain here that I don't normally do in my in my day-to-day you know job and life. Uh like making the case for an in-house lab, making the case for an office manager. I'm not normally doing these things. So I actually took it as a challenge, like, okay, you're gonna be doing something. ITC is that's that's my life and bread and butter and front desk too, but everything else is a little outside of my you you gotta come up with compelling reasons why uh these people matter, and sitting here and it's like, yeah, I could make the case for for for everyone on my team. And uh I feel I feel like I learned something today, and I grew as a person. Ryan?

SPEAKER_01 39:45

That's we really got more than we are going to put.

SPEAKER_05 39:48

I don't, yeah, I grew as a person. I grew as a person too, yeah. Um, but I I think look, I I honestly think you you go X factor on either one of these. Both of these offices are successful.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

Yeah, that's a good point. Right? Both of them.

SPEAKER_05 40:07

As long as you've got average in the things that you're missing, right? You know, I truly believe without any marketing at all, you're just never gonna be much. But but you've got average marketing there, and I've got an average ITC. And so I think with that, you you X factor a few points anywhere in the line, and and you have success. Right.

SPEAKER_02 40:27

We also just have a over the years, we uh visiting so many offices, we sometimes visit offices and and find X factors like hidden in practices sometimes. Oh, we just did this two weeks ago.

SPEAKER_05 40:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 40:39

It's like, holy cow, where has this person been? Right. Like, whoa, you're doing this. Who are you? Well, wait a minute. Yeah, have you thought about this? You know, yeah, so it's it's it is possible to find, you know, recruit from your own your own team already. We have done it. I'm thinking of uh several people right now that we've been able to do that with over time, and it's like I need to repurpose you what you're doing now. Do you like this? Yeah, and I'm getting into the weeds here again, but like you know, sometimes just flat out asking some of your team members, do you like this or do you want to do this? I don't know how often that gets done. You know, I I'd like to think that we do it a a lot, but I uh I don't know if that's being done all the time.

SPEAKER_05 41:27

It's amazing how you can just ask someone, yeah, do you like this? And they'll tell you, no. Right. Like, no, I I don't really wish I was doing that.

SPEAKER_02 41:36

I don't know why I'm the finance coordinator. I I I I I don't even know what an interest rate is. I don't know why uh but the doctor needs it. So I guess so I just do that. Right.

SPEAKER_05 41:44

Yeah, that that happens that happens a lot. It's trying to sound really profound, but it's I mean it's kind of profound. It just didn't work at all. Wasn't it profound y science? I think we should do this uh not today, but uh I think we should do this again. Or may maybe it's a a twist on this, but um the most detrimental person in an office position in an office that if you have someone very, very weak, wow, they'll just ruin the yin to the yang, I see. Yeah, yeah, okay. Because again, uh both of your office that you've put together, my office, these are successful. You have five X factor people in a dental office, it doesn't matter where they are, you are going to be not just people, but things. Yeah. Uh you're gonna be successful. Absolutely. You know, but if you if we did this where holy cow, can you imagine five really weak things in a dental office? Yeah. I mean, again, you're probably not overcoming that. Right. Uh uh what I found is that one really weak thing in a dental office can we could build the least successful dental office. I like this. Yes, yes, not in real life, but on the podcast. Please, let's by God, no, please. Let's not do that in real life. Okay, Jason, did is did we do what you wanted?

SPEAKER_01 42:59

There's one more thing. Uh so yeah, so now so now that you've went to battle and drafted against each other, you now have to choose your your starting five. This is the dream team. Oh, we're coming together. So now we're at Kumbai Homent, we're all gonna come together. Okay, and we're going to pick So we're at the Pro Bowl. Yeah, okay. Yeah, so now I'm the coach and he's the assistant coach. Yeah, all the X factors are here, they're ready to go for you. And so now you got to pick up together. We're picking the dream team, I think. Starting five.

SPEAKER_02 43:29

You know, AJ whipped his card. Well, I still got him. I got him up here. Okay. So, I mean, so I think non-negotiables are ITC and implantologists. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_05 43:39

That's that's one and two in whatever order you want to put them. You know, I I especially I'll tell you that that one two punch, uh, a team of uh really solid doctor implantologists and a really solid ITC amazing. Yeah, but what Next level is when the two of them get along really well. Absolutely. So Dr. Joe and his ITC, they play frisbee golf together, they hang out outside of the office. I mean, these two people are professionally connected, they're personally becoming personally connected. You can't ask for a better matchup than that. So it has to be one and two, and they have to get along. Okay. I like that. I think number three is marketing. I was gonna say, right? It's gotta be marketing. Otherwise, the thing is. So ITC, uh implantologist. Um, and I I do actually think if you asked me, I get the best implantologist in an average ITC, or the best ITC in an average implantologist, I'm gonna go best ITC and average implantologist. Yeah. I think that's what I'm gonna do. We can raise the level. Yeah. Um so then marketing. Then three four.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

I think any either front desk or office manager.

SPEAKER_05 45:11

So yeah, stick to these producers.

SPEAKER_02 45:12

No, but we can we can have both. That's true. I feel like we need a conductor. So maybe office manager. Because an office manager can in this uh world would pick up the phone and hear a front desk person struggling with a call or something and be able to I have a lot of probably more than anything.

SPEAKER_05 45:32

Office manager slash ITC. And in fact, two weeks ago, we were in an office together and we were sitting with our uh assistant office manager, and I said to her, Do you do you think that you would ever want to be an ITC? And she said, Yeah, I I was one. I've always been an office manager in an ITC. And I said, Oh, well, we're very against that. And she said, Well, you haven't met me yet. And I thought that was an awesome answer. And then I said, Yeah, no, it's not gonna happen though. Not here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's wonderful. Love the confidence, not happening. Um, because you can't do both of those jobs really, really, really well. But at Crown, our office managers do double as front desk because I think an office manager who can also talk to people and and patients and and help when needed. Right. Right? They're sort of backup help, but they're there. So I agree. I think I can forego great first front desk as long as my office manager can be both. Right. And just be elite to just drive. Yeah. Push. Yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm with you. So push expectations. That was four.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

Well, I think they're interchangeable. Does the does the sequencing matter, Jason?

SPEAKER_01 46:50

I ideally rank them in your your top five. It's your starting five. We're not doing that. We're not doing it.

SPEAKER_02 46:55

You're starting five. Hygiene hygiene and hygiene office manager. Yeah. Hygiene office manager. That's the five.

unknown 47:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:03

The whole the holy five.

SPEAKER_05 47:04

Yeah, and uh I'll I'll say it one final time. This is not to say all of these other people and things are not vitally important to the office. Yeah, Rick is still, he's out there and he's helping someone out.

SPEAKER_02 47:17

He's probably smoking a cigarette out there. Sorry, it's probably a vape. That's my bad.

SPEAKER_05 47:24

So uh if if we have to pick, that's the five. Did we win? Did we win? Who won? Well, I guess uh well because the other person gets fired.

SPEAKER_02 47:33

That's what you said. I know it gets replaced. Is this my choosing? Yeah. Wow. I just noticed we're wearing almost the same color top. Yeah, you are. Well, they can't see that, so you have to believe me, folks. And those of you that are that are colorblind, you'll never believe me.

SPEAKER_05 47:49

All right. I think I think we've done it here. I think uh Jason, would you say we we've we've done it? The uh I I hope the the moral of the story of today is that all of your staff is important. Um in if but if you can make a handful of people in the office um uh or systems uh elite, then you will be successful. If you can make all of them elite, you'll you'll find success you didn't even think possible. The first time I saw a dental office were this one and a half doctors and they're doing $4.2 million a year. It was like, how are you doing this? Yeah. It was because of the support staff. That's true. Amazing front desk, awesome office manager, great hygienist. Yeah. Um, doctors, good doctor, right? And associates never lasted longer than two months at that office, yet 4.2 million. That was an awesome staff, great positions. Yep. So I follow. All right. Well, that is it for today. Uh, if again, if if any of of what we talked about has got you thinking about the office, please feel free to reach out to myself, to AJ, go to our website. It'll be up on on the screen if if you're watching there. Um, thank you for joining us. And until next time, that's another case closed. I did it, I remembered.

SPEAKER_02 49:15

We did it. You did it. Ah, tastes like schnaws berries.

SPEAKER_05 49:24

Thanks for tuning in to Case Closed from Consult to Crown. New episodes drop every other week. If you're watching on YouTube, give us a like, leave a comment, and consider subscribing to catch all of our upcoming content. Click the notification bell, and feel free to leave a review or share the show with a friend. We greatly appreciate your feedback. And if you'd like to reach out to AJ or myself directly, leave us a message at anothercaseclose.com. Thanks for being here, and we'll see you in the next episode.