Culture Before Crowns (E.309)

“Culture comes first. Technology is just icing on the cake.” – Dr. Chris Comer

Brief Overview of the Episode

Growth hides dysfunction until the stall exposes it. In this episode, Dr. Chris Comer and Regan Robertson unpack how small operational misalignments become leadership turning points. From fixing chaotic scheduling to hiring his first office manager, Dr. Comer shares how delegation and trust rewired his practice. He talks candidly about team resistance, training, and the emotional control it takes to lead through change. This is a blueprint for maturity in leadership and calm in growth.

What This Episode Reveals

• How bad scheduling creates burnout without production to show for it
• Why culture must stabilize before technology can thrive
• The power of hiring from outside dentistry
• Why delegation expands authority instead of losing it
• How emotional steadiness separates growth from chaos

What You’ll Learn

• How to realign your team when momentum stalls
• How to train, delegate, and still verify
• How to adopt new technology without resistance
• How team-driven problem solving builds culture faster than directives
• Why team training often outperforms doctor CE for growth

If This Sounds Familiar

• You are producing more but enjoying it less
• Your schedule feels packed but the days blur together
• You keep adding technology but culture lags behind
• You do not want to lose control, yet you want more freedom

Next Steps

You cannot outproduce misalignment. Growth without people alignment is just expensive chaos. Hear how Dr. Comer turned a down quarter into sustainable momentum through leadership, patience, and trust.

---

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Regan Robertson: The Productive Dentist Academy Podcast Network. I know it’s common to think that the right technology or equipment can really create progress, and it does, but what few really I think, realize is that progress without people alignment is just expensive chaos. Since joining PDA in 2023, Dr. Chris Comer experienced 17% growth in the first year, and then another 28% in the next year.

[00:00:30] Regan Robertson: But this year came the stall, the dreaded stall. Today we’re gonna dig into how Dr. Chris built those wins, what shifted and how as a leader, he continues to turn this stall into strategy. So welcome Dr. Chris Comer to Everyday Practices Dental Podcast.

[00:00:51] Dr. Comer: Good afternoon, and how are you?

[00:00:53] Regan Robertson: Oh, I’m doing great because I’m here with you.

[00:00:56] Regan Robertson: You know, I’m gonna love to dive into this story with you. Uh, so, uh, [00:01:00] well, first of all, where do you practice?

[00:01:03] Dr. Comer: I’m in Savannah, Georgia. It’s beautiful.

[00:01:06] Regan Robertson: Oh, Savannah. I’ve never been to Savannah, Georgia, but I’ve always, it’s been on my bucket list for a really long time. I’m moved out to Atlanta. Yeah.

[00:01:14] Dr. Comer: You can do better.

[00:01:15] Regan Robertson: Yeah, I know. Move it up.

[00:01:16] Dr. Comer: Move it up the list.

[00:01:17] Regan Robertson: It needs to, it needs to be a priority for sure. And, and tell us a little bit about your practice. Are you a general real dentist? Cosmetics? What is your passion?

[00:01:25] Dr. Comer: So I’m a general dentist and we take it about as far as you can as a general dentist. So we do implant surgeries and we do, uh, crown and bridge rehabs and cosmetic work that goes with that.

[00:01:40] Dr. Comer: We’ll do. Endodonic dentures, you know, e everything. That’s fun. We’ll do all the cool stuff.

[00:01:48] Regan Robertson: I like that you said that. That’s fun. So of all of those, which is your favorite?

[00:01:52] Dr. Comer: You know, it ebbs and flows over the years, but, uh, right now I’m back. I’m back into crowns. It’s [00:02:00] getting exciting again. Yeah. Used to be pretty dry and boring, but, you know, and implants are fun too.

[00:02:05] Dr. Comer: Um,

[00:02:06] Regan Robertson: yeah.

[00:02:07] Dr. Comer: You know, but they’re, they’re just, it’s just gotten so routine now it’s just. It’s fine. It doesn’t have the

[00:02:13] Regan Robertson: thrill anymore. Feel a challenge. Oh, the thrill. Well, I know we’re gonna talk a little bit about technology, uh, a little bit later on. So I wanna know about maybe what’s changed in that and what’s sparked your passion for it again, but take us back to 2023, what was happening in the practice before you met, uh, productive Dentist Academy?

[00:02:32] Dr. Comer: Sure. So I purchased this practice from a retiring dentist in 2013, and it’s, um, you’re very. Normal. Um, five op, two hygiene, two assistant, one front, just a normal general office and had a lot of fun for 10 years. And then I was getting to a point where I thought it would be a shame to [00:03:00] just go on cruise control and not reach potential.

[00:03:03] Dr. Comer: Like we should really see where we can take this. And so at that point, I. I said, well, it’s time to get a coach. That’s what you do for anything in life. If you wanna get better, it’s something you, you need to get a coach or a team. And, uh, so then I just started research, uh, you know, all the top consulting companies at that time.

[00:03:28] Dr. Comer: And, uh, just set up interviews with each one and just took it as a, you know, a systematic approach and. There’s not magic to it. Like they’re all the top companies are probably gonna bring you some benefit. Um, the PDAI found appealing because, uh, the company culture was, was similar to my office. Practice style was [00:04:00] similar, so it was, uh, it wasn’t something that was gonna require, um.

[00:04:08] Dr. Comer: Ethical challenges or a paradigm shift, it was just gonna be, let’s, let’s get serious, let’s redo systems and let’s get put things in motion. And so, uh, for me, PDA was the right fit at that time. Now, you know, other people may prefer other companies, but I just did research interviews, went on Dental Town, went on Facebook, um.

[00:04:37] Dr. Comer: Talk to other people that had used, you know, each company that I was considering and, and PDA really sort of, um, sort of found its way to the top of the list and it, it worked out well.

[00:04:51] Regan Robertson: Could you tell me a little bit about your culture? You’d mentioned that there was a cultural alignment and, uh, and that the, you know, the ethical standards would be there.

[00:04:59] Regan Robertson: [00:05:00] What is, what is your culture like, like in 2023, where you were at at that time?

[00:05:06] Dr. Comer: So we’re, um, our practice is not, uh, it’s not a high volume practice. So we can set the pace that we want and we like patient education, which PDA has a focus on and we like, uh, uh, to give patients reasonable options and then, you know, if they do it great, if they don’t.

[00:05:30] Dr. Comer: I, I don’t care. There’s no arm twisting, there’s no high pressure sales. It’s just the more patients know, the more interested they’re going to be in treatment offered. If you can offer it, you know, I, I can’t provide every single treatment option, but you know, within reason.

[00:05:47] Regan Robertson: So it, in that first year, uh, 17% growth is really commendable.

[00:05:53] Regan Robertson: And then 28% the following is, is, you know, remarkable. Over those two years, what did you and your team do [00:06:00]differently? That really, like what started the momentum? Because you know, it’s always like that first step and then it gets easier and easier. Or maybe not in your case. I don’t know. You tell us.

[00:06:10] Dr. Comer: Yeah.

[00:06:10] Regan Robertson: What else you do differently?

[00:06:12] Dr. Comer: Yeah, that’s the fun of it all is, um. One of the first things that I, I never did, um, previously was, uh, I never did any long-term planning as far as the practice, you know, maybe, maybe with a financial guy for some retirement or something like that, but not specifically for the dental practice.

[00:06:30] Dr. Comer: I didn’t have, uh, specific, um, goals, uh, for the practice or metrics to measure. So a lot of it was just adding intentionality and. Um, using all the cool software to track everything and taking all that information and then using it in the practice. So, uh, [00:07:00] without any, uh, set goals, it’s, it’s very hard to drive growth.

[00:07:06] Dr. Comer: But when you have, you know, an end in mind, you. Really, really have a much easier path. And so that was, that was huge. Just what’s possible and set a reasonable goal. And then let’s, uh, let’s go ahead and see, let’s work backwards. What do we need to do to make that happen?

[00:07:30] Regan Robertson: You’d, uh, you’d mentioned, uh, you know, systems a little bit early on there and, and having a, a systems alignment also as well.

[00:07:37] Regan Robertson: So having, setting the goals. It’s amazing to me with how much, as leaders, we talk about goals and I feel like that is always top of mind. You know, is it a smart goal? Is it, you know, what kind of goal is it? Uh, but. But when you’re in the day-to-day, I mean, you’re just, you’re doing the day-to-day and as long as the bills are getting paid, you’re moving forward.

[00:07:56] Regan Robertson: So I, I’m curious in that, you know, because, well, [00:08:00] I say this because a lot of dentists get stuck in this, a lot of leaders get stuck in this and, and assume that growth just means working harder and not really making the time to look through and say, okay, is it something with our systems? Is it in the case?

[00:08:11] Regan Robertson: You know, I’m, I’m not setting goals and being intentional about that. Was there anything that you stopped doing that made a difference?

[00:08:20] Dr. Comer: Yeah, I, I think the, the big difference was just the overhaul that the scheduling needed and that that really changes everything because, uh, we were in the classic trap of scheduling badly, um, leaving ourselves working too hard, um, you know, burning out with like no production to show for it any given day.

[00:08:46] Dr. Comer: And you’re like, that’s. Why did we come to work today? That didn’t make any sense. Like this was, we’re just really treading water. This is crazy. And then you’ll have like, you know, a couple of great days to balance out the really terrible [00:09:00] days. And, uh, it was a lot more fun once we really got on the same page and got the team aligned for, uh, scheduling in a more, uh, efficient manner, in a more predictable manner.

[00:09:16] Dr. Comer: So that we could just sort of level off all our production for the, uh, month.

[00:09:22] Regan Robertson: So between year one and year two, you did, you feel like that really got stabilized? So there was no roller coaster anymore. Did it feel a lot more, uh, a lot more steady each month, like you could forecast better?

[00:09:34] Dr. Comer: Yes. It took, it took the bulk of the first year to really, really get the scheduling dialed in.

[00:09:41] Dr. Comer: It was a long process, but you know, that’s. Um, worth. You know, I, I don’t, I don’t get too worried about, you know, if, if it’s can be done in two months or three months, well, it’s six months, it’s okay. It’s gonna be for the life of the practice. So [00:10:00] just doesn’t matter. And, uh, we, uh, struggled. Um, my team is wonderful and they, uh, had just never seen any, uh.

[00:10:14] Dr. Comer: Scheduling system before of any type. So, you know, there’s different ideas, block scheduling, scheduling to production and like, you know, several others, but they had never used any. So that was just a big, a big change. And big change is always difficult. Um, inertia’s a powerful force. So we, uh, struggled with that throughout the year and once it made sense, it was pretty smooth afterwards.

[00:10:44] Regan Robertson: I’m curious because I know that change management is, is a topic in and of itself. And, and do you feel that, that when, um, you identified you had your goals and then you identified the scheduling piece and implementing that piece, did you implement a lot of other changes at that time as [00:11:00] well? Were there other areas that you were working on in the practice that the team was adopting and changing?

[00:11:07] Dr. Comer: We were, and, uh. That was always the fear was that we would add too many changes at once. Or my, my fear, I didn’t wanna overwhelm anyone. And you know, as the dentist we’re all notorious, we’re just like, well, let’s just do everything this way now, always forever. And it’s just, it’s not a reasonable, I mean, you wouldn’t have that at any other company.

[00:11:29] Dr. Comer: Um, it’s, it’s, it’s myopic. So we try to pick like two or three big things for the year and. Implement those in stages and, uh, you know, there’d be setbacks, but, uh, the big things needed to get done. And the smaller things, we try to work those in, in between and sometimes it stuck and sometimes it took longer, but, uh, you just have to do these things.

[00:11:58] Regan Robertson: Do you find when you’re, I call [00:12:00]myself a late stage adopter with an innovation heart, so I am very cautious. I can be really risk averse and I don’t know, like I wanna feel it all out and, and there’s that, you know, there’s that tipping point when you’re thinking and you need to be acting and doing, and I love what’s on the horizon.

[00:12:17] Regan Robertson: Like I love the future and what I. See, when I, when I think about you talking about, um, being passionate about what’s exciting right now with crowns and, um, some of the, you know, the, the technology probably that goes with that. How do you balance that between clinician and innovative heart with the business owner and leader that is risk averse and maybe wants to make sure that everything is kind of stable and predictable?

[00:12:42] Dr. Comer: Yeah, that’s a tricky balance because uh, you don’t wanna go. Buy all the toys and not have a way to implement it successfully. And that’s, that’s a whole conversation right there. But it’s, um, I try to just [00:13:00] take any new idea. I’m game for it. If this, if anyone on the team has an idea, something they wanna try, like, I’m not gonna say no to anything unless it’s just awful.

[00:13:10] Dr. Comer: But like, I’m flexible and uh, and I want to hear what other people have to say. So. If there’s something new that we want to try, my my thinking is let’s, let’s give it a go, an honest trial. Let’s do it for three months. And if it’s a nightmare, just forget about it. Take it out, move on. And if it’s working, let’s just keep it going.

[00:13:30] Dr. Comer: But, uh, you gotta give it the test run.

[00:13:34] Regan Robertson: Do you think coaching supports you with that, that messaging out to the team too? Do you find that it has, um, maybe lowers some of the nervousness around it?

[00:13:45] Dr. Comer: It does because I’ve, I’ve even seen, uh, other consultants suggest that the owner should be like, uh, schizophrenic in a way and always have the team on edge with, uh, new [00:14:00] ideas that they’re just gonna drop on them.

[00:14:01] Dr. Comer: And I just think that’s terrible, terrible idea. Makes no sense. Um, you want everyone on the same page. You want people to buy in, you want them excited and, um. Communication’s, everything your team needs some level of transparency. So I like to, you know, get feedback before making big leaps and you know, make sure that this is something that everyone’s gonna be okay with.

[00:14:26] Dr. Comer: If there’s gonna be a lot of pushback, sometimes it’s just not even worth it. So we’ll just skip that.

[00:14:33] Regan Robertson: Yeah, I can, I can hear that in my head already, and I, I can’t imagine, uh, I, yeah, I’d love to have a, a podcast guest with a schizophrenic leader and how, from the teams of perspectives, that would be really

[00:14:43] Dr. Comer: madness.

[00:14:44] Dr. Comer: Oh, they’d be so stressed, so angry.

[00:14:46] Regan Robertson: No, that’ll be another episode on Team Turnover.

[00:14:50] Dr. Comer: It’s a thing,

[00:14:51] Regan Robertson: you see it, it totally is. Uh, well after two years of what I consider to be really big wins, and thank you for letting us into your mindset so [00:15:00] we kind of understand how you approach change and how you approach the team.

[00:15:03] Regan Robertson: Uh, you, you started this year to kind of slow that change down and kind of stall a little bit. And when did you realize that growth was. Slowing and maybe it wasn’t going where you thought it was gonna go.

[00:15:19] Dr. Comer: Before I started with PDA, I had it in my mind I thought, you know, we can probably make changes and streamline, uh, grow, but it’s probably gonna taper off and then just be

[00:15:33] Regan Robertson: yeah,

[00:15:34] Dr. Comer: small, smaller leaps.

[00:15:35] Dr. Comer: And so I was like, it’ll probably be a couple years. And it, and it kind of landed around that time and. So now we’re, uh, we had our down quarter and now we’re kind of on the upswing. And, uh, it’s, it’s fun. You know, it’s not interesting if you don’t have a couple of hiccups along the way. I mean, that’s just, that’s not life.[00:16:00]

[00:16:00] Dr. Comer: That’s, it’s, there’s gotta be downs with the ups. And, uh, it’s been, uh, it’s been a good ride. We’ve been enjoying it, but a lot of the first two years growth is gonna be. Fixing all the low hanging fruit, fixing all the things that just need to happen. And so you are gonna get a jump there, I would feel. And then afterwards, uh, you’re more of a slow growth, slow sustained growth, unless you’re gonna do some sort of major change, um, expand your office, add a dentist, some, something else.

[00:16:36] Dr. Comer: I’m not sure.

[00:16:38] Regan Robertson: So you had anticipated that, that, that the growth would slow. And that was, that was gonna be a natural occurrence of it. So it wasn’t a, a shock or anything like that. And, and if I hear you well, it also sounds like, uh, the nuances were going to have to come into play, so it would be intentional changes moving forward.

[00:16:56] Regan Robertson: What were some of the, uh, well, did you, so did you, for [00:17:00] 2025 and 2026, are you putting out big, big goals again or are you putting, um, maybe a, a smaller goal in place? How are you approaching your goals right now?

[00:17:10] Dr. Comer: We’re looking, I was just doing my paperwork for the 2026 year. Uh, I gotta scan it in in just a minute and, uh, uh, we’re looking for like a more, a more modest percentage increase, but, you know, still, uh, onward and upwards.

[00:17:28] Dr. Comer: So, uh, I think it looks good.

[00:17:31] Regan Robertson: Were there any, any changes that you identified, uh, between January and now that you put into place, uh, to help you, you know, even in your modest growth, were there, were there the nuances that you identified as being something out of alignment?

[00:17:46] Dr. Comer: So we added an office manager, which we had not had before, and that’s gonna be nice to kind of offload some of the shores that I don’t really want to do and.[00:18:00]

[00:18:00] Dr. Comer: That’s been good, but there’s a lot of training that goes with that. So that’s, you know, been up until about now and now we’re, we’re tracking pretty well. So that’s, that’s gonna be a nice addition,

[00:18:11] Regan Robertson: that’s gonna be a great addition

[00:18:13] Dr. Comer: just for growth.

[00:18:14] Regan Robertson: How, how was, how was the process of finding that office manager?

[00:18:19] Regan Robertson: Because team turnover is the number one hot topic right now. Staffing challenges all year long has been the big. Issue

[00:18:27] Dr. Comer: everywhere. All over the country, everyone’s got the same problem. Um, you know, wasn’t great, wasn’t a fun experience, but we’ve had low turnover, uh, as long as I can remember. We’re very lucky in that respect.

[00:18:41] Dr. Comer: But, um, attracting talented people is, they’re just not that many out there. I don’t know any other way to put it, but. We, we pulled a, a gentleman from outside of dental and just, uh, trained, trained up from, from [00:19:00] scratch, and, uh, I think it’s been pretty, pretty cool. We’re liking

[00:19:04] Regan Robertson: it. Really. Did you use a service to, to help you like a recruiting service or didn’t We’re too.

[00:19:11] Regan Robertson: It’s, it’s okay if, if you hired a great office manager. I’m just genuinely curious because I know people are probably leaning in right now. If you’re listening and you’re saying, yeah, I need an office. Yeah. Like

[00:19:20] Dr. Comer: what’s the secret? Yeah. The secret is, uh,

[00:19:22] Regan Robertson: is there a secret?

[00:19:24] Dr. Comer: Terrible. It’s so terrible. It’s just, it’s just time and luck.

[00:19:28] Dr. Comer: I don’t know any way to put it. It’s just, it’s such a bad experience right now. People looking for hygienists, looking for dental assistance, it’s all a mess right. Now.

[00:19:38] Regan Robertson: Do you have, and when did you, when did you bring your office manager in?

[00:19:43] Dr. Comer: April. So

[00:19:45] Regan Robertson: they’ve been here

[00:19:46] Dr. Comer: for, but that is, yeah, it took a few months to find someone.

[00:19:51] Dr. Comer: Mm-hmm. And then that started in April and now, yeah, we’re pretty trained up on, uh, the dental world now. [00:20:00]

[00:20:01] Regan Robertson: Oh. For the office manager. So the office manager feels more, more aligned with what’s going on. Any,

[00:20:06] Dr. Comer: you gotta learn all the lingo and whatnot and see the procedures and. Stuff.

[00:20:11] Regan Robertson: How did you communicate it to your team when you brought the office manager in and said, uh, you know, this person is a, is a great fit, and by the way, surprise, they don’t have any dental experience.

[00:20:22] Dr. Comer: Yeah, they, they were not too worried about the no, no dental experience because they’re like, really? It’s a management job. It’s not clinical gig. So they were okay with that and we just said, look, you know, we want to add a manager, we wanna do some more growth. So, uh, it’s, it’s time to, uh. To add another position to the office.

[00:20:42] Regan Robertson: Were there other things that you, that you’ve handed off? So I love where you said, you know, I didn’t need to be doing that. So we had, I, I don’t hear of a lot of practices that don’t have an office manager or someone designated with the duties of it. Were there any other things that you’ve handed off this year or are looking forward to delegating?

[00:20:57] Regan Robertson: That’s another hot topic is delegated.

[00:20:59] Dr. Comer: [00:21:00] Yes. I love delegation. I love it. Love it, love it. I don’t wanna do anything. I mean, that’s the sad truth, you know? I don’t know any other way to put it. I just wanna.

[00:21:08] Regan Robertson: You wanna do some crowns,

[00:21:09] Dr. Comer: do the teeth part, do the, yeah, the teeth, maybe gums. And that’s kind of it.

[00:21:13] Dr. Comer: And uh, and the rest is just, uh, no, not for me. Just, uh, not my thing, but some people love it.

[00:21:23] Regan Robertson: So were there other things that you feel like you have delegated this year that has given you more space to enjoy the dentistry part?

[00:21:31] Dr. Comer: So we’ve passed off.

[00:21:37] Dr. Comer: All the, uh, most of the business type stuff, you know, like the, the back office things that happen on Friday. I don’t, I don’t like to do all those. So that’s been cool just to have someone handle all that. And we also use, and have used since I bought just practice, we’ve used. [00:22:00] We use an offsite dental billing company.

[00:22:04] Dr. Comer: Um, we use Dental Claims support, which is now rebranded Dental Management. I’m not sure, but still DCS, uh, consulting, I think is maybe what they’re going by, but they’re fantastic. And so they’ve always, uh, maintained, uh, all of our AR for us. Um. Insurance filings, all, all the stuff that needs to happen.

[00:22:30] Dr. Comer: They’ve always done that with zero drama, all in the background. Loved it. Local company, nationwide. So we’re, we’re big fans.

[00:22:39] Regan Robertson: Oh, that’s incredible. Has delegating been something that just comes naturally and easily to you?

[00:22:45] Dr. Comer: Um, I think I’m like most, uh, owners of, uh, small businesses or practices where they just.

[00:22:54] Dr. Comer: They try to do everything and it never works. And uh, and I [00:23:00] recognize it. I don’t mean to do it, but there’s just that awful mindset of like, well, I can just do it myself faster and

[00:23:06] Regan Robertson: oh, I’ll raise all hands. It is,

[00:23:08] Dr. Comer: everyone does it. Everyone does it. It’s awful. And really just have to spend some time training, just train and delegate and just, uh, accept that it may not be the way you do it or to the level you do it.

[00:23:23] Dr. Comer: Until the training’s done, so it’s just a process and you gotta do it.

[00:23:29] Regan Robertson: Something I have used lately is Zone of Genius. So I’ve reminded myself what’s, what is the zone of genius for, for each role, for each person, and are in, are they in the controlling idea that way? And that has been something that’s, that’s helped lessen it a little bit for me.

[00:23:42] Regan Robertson: Um, and, and make delegation. Right. Make it a little bit easier. Do you feel like your momentum is going with that too? Uh, especially handing off the financial elements, which is huge, and to be able to trust that and, and let that piece go. Uh,

[00:23:57] Dr. Comer: well, we say, we say trust.

[00:23:59] Regan Robertson: Okay.

[00:23:59] Dr. Comer: But, [00:24:00] but verify. Okay. But we got some, some embezzlement stuff in place to like try to avoid issues.

[00:24:06] Dr. Comer: You know, we had, you know, systems and checks and balances and all that stuff. We just can’t, like, not blindly trust. Anyone but, uh, you know, some of this stuff.

[00:24:17] Regan Robertson: Absolutely. Well, uh, you know, getting back to the, the, the dentistry part of it and what you enjoy doing, let’s talk technology a little bit and how that journey has evolved over the past, uh, couple of years for you.

[00:24:29] Regan Robertson: So have you updated your technology, brought anything in? Why are you passionate about crowns now?

[00:24:35] Dr. Comer: You know, we we’re, we’re pretty tech heavy. Pretty tech heavy office. So we’ve got all the stuff, you know, whatever, whatever you want. We have it. And uh, all the toys and it’s great. So I was very late. I have a lot of 3D printers, but I was very late to the milling game and so [00:25:00] we didn’t do that until this year.

[00:25:01] Dr. Comer: And that’s been a lot of fun just because now it’s like. Changes the way you schedule slightly in a positive way. And, uh, it gives you some new opportunities. So now, you know, if we’re doing a quadrant dentistry and, you know, one or two of the teeth involve a crown, well now we’re using our time more efficiently to, you know, restore the rest of the quadrant while the crown’s in the mill.

[00:25:26] Dr. Comer: Like, it’s just, these are not new ideas to dentistry, but, um, they’re fun to implement. So

[00:25:33] Regan Robertson: we’re, we’re enjoying it. Do you have, uh, I don’t know if your state has the, the regulations or not. Do you have your assistance helping with that?

[00:25:40] Dr. Comer: So Georgia is way, way behind every other state. We were like one of the last four states to allow hygiene anesthesia.

[00:25:53] Dr. Comer: We we’re one of the last states to allow people to like practice [00:26:00] when they’re not there or like have a hygienist. A prophy on a patient if you’re like running to the bank. Like you couldn’t do that until recently. Um, so the most we can do here is like they can, you know, they can run the bill, you know, but I still have to do the final scan.

[00:26:18] Dr. Comer: You know, it’s not a big deal, it’s just like doing a final impression. Those are kind of the regulations here. So I hand off, uh, everything I can, you know, I don’t. I, this stuff’s cool, but it’s not that cool. I got other things to do. So, yeah.

[00:26:35] Regan Robertson: One of the things that you mentioned a little earlier was, uh, investing in, in training and that being a secret to delegation and, and just taking the time, like investing the time to that.

[00:26:44] Regan Robertson: So bringing in the technology that you, that you have brought in, um, I believe you brought in like overjet also in addition to the combi. Love it. And love it. Do you love that?

[00:26:55] Dr. Comer: Oh yeah.

[00:26:57] Regan Robertson: Talk to me about what it means to implement with the [00:27:00] team. So I, I think from the innovator’s heart, so we’re gonna take the clinician’s, innovator’s heart, and you’re like, okay, we’re gonna try this.

[00:27:05] Regan Robertson: We’re bringing it in. And the team is like,

[00:27:07] Dr. Comer: team’s like, oh God, not again.

[00:27:09] Regan Robertson: Yeah. Another thing. Yeah. What am I,

[00:27:11] Dr. Comer: yeah, it’s one more thing I have to learn and I don’t wanna learn anything. Uh, and my team is, um, they’re a more mature team. Like, um, until my office manager was hired, I was the youngest person here by like.

[00:27:25] Dr. Comer: 15 years and I’m not young, like I’m in my forties. So this,

[00:27:29] Regan Robertson: we’re, we’re still young.

[00:27:31] Dr. Comer: That’s what I’m trying to, I’m trying to hang onto it, but it’s not like this was a team of like 22 year olds that are super cool with computers and technology. That’s like something they didn’t grow up with. And you know, that has its own challenges ’cause it takes more training and you have to be a lot more patient.

[00:27:50] Dr. Comer: It’s, I’ve had better luck with technology when we, uh, spend more time explaining why we’re doing this. So like we [00:28:00] added, um, Florida probe for the, uh, the voice dictation for the hygienists. And that looked very, uh, like cumbersome and like, uh, more, more to get in the way when they were trying to learn it.

[00:28:15] Dr. Comer: But once the training was finished, which. Had pretty good, um, uh, virtual training. It actually worked better than I thought. And, uh, once they got caught up to speed, they’re like, oh my God. Can’t go back. Like, I don’t have to have someone like writing numbers on a page and, or I don’t have to like, try to reach the keyboard, which is like, impossible.

[00:28:39] Dr. Comer: So once, once you explain why you’re gonna do it, uh, what the benefit is and what the benefit to them would be. Then you get a little more buy-in, but it, you kinda have to demonstrate it in person after a while, spend time training,

[00:28:57] Regan Robertson: you know, you, uh, talking about trusting, but [00:29:00] verifying from a leadership perspective right now, it takes a lot of trust for a team to say.

[00:29:06] Regan Robertson: Okay. We, we will go through this frustration together. And oftentimes I find it’s little micro moments that build up enough trust. So you coming in, in what, 2013 it was mm-hmm. To today? Uh, I think, I think explaining the why is one of those secrets and, and showing them how they, how they apply to it. Are there other areas if you can really think deeply?

[00:29:33] Regan Robertson: I, I just want you to reflect. On how you approach integrating the technology from a team perspective and,

[00:29:45] Regan Robertson: and let us know what, what little moments maybe make that difference that might be normally overlooked.

[00:29:54] Dr. Comer: Yes. So depending on the technology, I like [00:30:00]to, um, not to say delegate again, but like pick someone. To kind of take point, not not to learn it all or be the best, but just to help with the coordination and the, uh, the jumps we see are when it’s the team helping the team and they solve a problem together without me involved.

[00:30:25] Dr. Comer: It’s better if I’m not around. Like, I’m just gonna be over, I don’t wanna be overbearing. And they, uh, they get a win. Like they, they’re like, it clicks. Whatever, whatever part of the process they’re working on, like, oh, that’s how you design the crown. Now it looks, now it looks like a tooth. That’s awesome.

[00:30:42] Dr. Comer: Then when you see a little cheer, then it’s like, alright, we’re moving forward. This is gonna work.

[00:30:49] Regan Robertson: I’ve always said, you know, I mean people want, people want two things in life. They want to contribute. I mean, from a work sense, they wanna contribute to a mission that’s bigger than them, and they wanna [00:31:00] understand how their role is important and contributes to the mission.

[00:31:05] Regan Robertson: Mm-hmm. I’m curious, since you did not have an office manager before, brought one in, in April, have trained them, invested some time, and then do you think your culture has shifted, improved, changed in any way?

[00:31:19] Dr. Comer: I don’t think so. I, I think we’ve gotten just another layer of stability and it’s, uh, it’s, it’s setting us up well for, uh, the future.

[00:31:32] Dr. Comer: I think, um, as long as we can keep, uh, a good atmosphere, um, keep the team, uh, excited, not burned out. And, uh, really enjoying helping all these great patients. I mean, we’ve got the best patients in town. It’s obscene. Um, we’re just, uh, feel lucky.

[00:31:53] Regan Robertson: Do you think that this exciting, you know, technology drives culture in the practice, or do you think culture [00:32:00]drives technology adoption?

[00:32:02] Dr. Comer: Yeah, it’s culture first. It’s always culture. Yeah. The technology is, is just the icing on the cake. Um, because you can have the, all the cool technology, but. Patients don’t want it, or, you know, team, the team doesn’t appreciate it and you know they don’t want to use it, then they’re gonna find ways to avoid it and it’s just gonna be huge headaches.

[00:32:28] Regan Robertson: One of the gifts I think of being in our forties or whatever age we’re at is, is we have no choice but to live through frustrations and live through unknown scenarios. So. If you could go back, you know, to, to 2013 even, uh, or even just, just a few years ago. I’ll give you a little bit of a friction point.

[00:32:47] Regan Robertson: Are there’s some things that you would say to Dr. Comer, uh, to, to, to look out for? Kind of knowing that we kind of have to go through these challenges, it makes us better leaders, but if there’s somebody listening today [00:33:00] and you would say, Hey, watch out for this, what would it be?

[00:33:03] Dr. Comer: Oh, I would to go back in time and do it over.

[00:33:07] Dr. Comer: I would. Probably invest in team training as soon as possible, because I was notorious. I’m one of the, and I’m sure a lot of it’s, it’s a lot of people like this where I like, I love all the C courses. I love learning specific, like intentionally choosing courses to add to your product mix. And uh, you know, I try to hit a hundred hours a year, like I do all the stuff.

[00:33:31] Dr. Comer: I love it. But I was, I should have brod back on that. Uh, and put more into team training that it’s just such a no brainer. But, you know, that’s hindsight, that’s part of the fun. So for the younger dentists, it’s like get into ownership as quickly as possible and, uh, get your team, uh, trained up and everyone on the same page as fast as possible.

[00:33:56] Dr. Comer: And I think your growth would be through the roof. [00:34:00]

[00:34:00] Regan Robertson: When you say ownership, you mean business ownership, right?

[00:34:02] Dr. Comer: Oh yeah, absolutely. You gotta get out of an associateship. You gotta, you gotta own a practice or practices, whatever your, you know, whatever your dream is, but you just need to,

[00:34:13] Regan Robertson: so what does 2026 look like for you?

[00:34:16] Dr. Comer: I think 2026 looks to us like, uh, a good year and it’s gonna be more like, um, like polishing up rough edges more than, uh. Really big rocky changes. It should just be kind of fine tuning.

[00:34:36] Regan Robertson: How does that, how does that feel emotionally to you?

[00:34:42] Dr. Comer: Honestly, I, I didn’t mind the big changes. It, none of it’s been upsetting or stressful. Like, it’s just, it’s just more challenges, you know, and you just take care of them as they come along. So I, I don’t. I’d [00:35:00]like to say like, oh, I feel the weight lifted. Uh, everything’s easy. Uh, I just, you know, just keep going to work.

[00:35:06] Dr. Comer: It’s all good. I’m not gonna worry about a couple bad days at the office. That’s just crazy. So it’s, uh, it’s just been, uh, a bit of fun ride so far. I, I loved dentistry. I would highly recommend it to anyone that’s ever thought about it. It’s the coolest gig.

[00:35:25] Regan Robertson: Even in, even in today’s world like that, it’s all over the message boards that I see people coming in and being like, should I even attempt at being a dentist in this day and age?

[00:35:34] Regan Robertson: Why do you say that?

[00:35:37] Dr. Comer: Oh yeah. Well, it’s like, you know, if you, I guess for the young people choosing a career, you know, they’ve got to weigh options. Like, what’s my future income level? What’s. The risk of AI replacement. Where can I live and do what I want to do? [00:36:00] I don’t know. I think dentistry offers a lot and it’s, uh, not easy, uh, by any means.

[00:36:08] Dr. Comer: There’s easier ways if your goal is just to make X amount of dollars, like, I mean, there’s a lot of ways to do that. Um, you know, I got my degree in finance and. I don’t remember any of it. I couldn’t tell you the first thing about like stocks or bonds. I don’t know, it just all pushed out. But

[00:36:25] Regan Robertson: you got your bachelor’s in that.

[00:36:27] Dr. Comer: Yeah. Yeah. So there’s the thing, that’s why I’m wearing a vest. It’s like a finance bro. You have to legally, I don’t even want to. But, uh, I would say, you know, you could take the finance route. I could go back in time, uh, leave college, go into banking, probably make more money. Probably work less. Yeah.

[00:36:48] Dr. Comer: Dentistry’s. Just fun. You know, this is, this is a cool gig. So I don’t know. I think young people, I would keep it on them. I would keep it on [00:37:00] the list. It’s a gray one.

[00:37:02] Regan Robertson: As long as they enjoy it and it’s fun. I think the fun PI think when people are actually enjoying what they do and, and having fun work. I, I know it’s cliche, but it does, it stops, it stops feeling like work and it, it feels to me like you, you like just, you embodying that probably subconsciously ripples out through your team anyway because you want to be there.

[00:37:22] Regan Robertson: Oh,

[00:37:23] Dr. Comer: yeah. And your patients, you know, they don’t walk in and go, oh, doc’s in a terrible mood. It must be one of those statistics, you know, and you’re like, oh, but, uh, you know, a lot of people, well, it’s a tricky, it’s a tricky proposition because you really don’t know if you’re gonna like this job until you get into it, and you’ve already invested a lot of time and money.

[00:37:45] Dr. Comer: And so a lot of people are stuck in it. And, uh, I’m just lucky in the sense that, uh, it’s just been a good fit and I like it, but I don’t begrudge. Dentist that do not like it because it’s definitely not a career for everyone, [00:38:00] but it is, uh, still very fun.

[00:38:04] Regan Robertson: Well, thank you very much for your time, Dr. Comer.

[00:38:07] Regan Robertson: It’s been really eye-opening to understand, you know, that growth, true growth really isn’t linear. It’s, it can be cyclical and, uh, and understanding the rhythms of that, uh, can help us have better emotional intelligence to weather the ups and downs. And, uh, if you’re staying in the game with something that’s fun, you will end up seeing success and, and serving patients in a way that just feels great.

[00:38:31] Dr. Comer: It’s a blast. Thank you.

[00:38:35] Regan Robertson: Thank you for listening to another episode of Everyday Practices Podcast. It would mean the world if you can help spread the word by sharing this episode with a fellow dentist and leave us a review on iTunes or Spotify. Do you have an extraordinary story you’d like to share or feedback on how we can make this podcast even more Awesome.

[00:38:53] Regan Robertson: Drop us an email at podcast. At productive dentist.com. And don’t forget to check out our other podcasts from Productive Dentist [00:39:00] academy@productivedentist.com slash podcasts. See you next week.