Why Patients Doubt the Diagnosis – Part Two (E.327)

“So what I tell you is, it’s not about you.”- Dr. Wade Kifer

Brief Overview of the Episode

This episode begins where the conversation gets even more practical: Victoria asks Wade if he is an in-network provider.

From there, the episode moves into the deeper tension every dentist feels. How do you deliver the right diagnosis, protect the patient’s health, and still navigate the financial and emotional resistance that comes with treatment?

Wade brings the perspective of a master clinician who has built his career around science, people, and high-quality dentistry. A University of Tennessee College of Dentistry graduate, AEGD-trained dentist, Kois Center student since 2008, and President of the Academy of Interdisciplinary Dentofacial Therapy, Wade explains why diagnosis is not just clinical. It is relational.

This conversation shows how great dentists remove shame, explain disease clearly, and help patients understand risk before pain becomes the only thing they trust.

What This Episode Reveals

• Patients often feel blamed when they hear a diagnosis, especially with gum disease.
• Insurance can shape expectations, but it should not define the standard of care.
• Clear diagnosis gives patients choice without turning the conversation into pressure.
• Trust grows when the team puts the focus on disease, risk, and health instead of personal failure.

What You’ll Learn

• How to explain periodontal disease without making patients feel judged.
• Why “you’re doing a great job” can lower defensiveness and open the conversation.
• How to help patients understand that effort improves health, but does not guarantee it.
• Why confident diagnosis must be paired with empathy, clarity, and a plan patients can understand.

If This Sounds Familiar

• Patients say, “But I brush and floss.”
• Gum disease conversations feel negative or shame-based.
• Insurance limitations make the treatment conversation harder.
• Patients delay care because they do not feel pain yet.

Next Steps

If patients are doubting the diagnosis, the answer is not more pressure.
It is a better conversation.
It is a clearer standard.

It is helping patients understand that disease is not a character flaw, and treatment is not punishment.

Listen to Why Patients Doubt the Diagnosis, Part Two and learn how to build trust when the diagnosis feels personal.

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Build Trust Before Pain Decides

Patients do not always doubt the dentistry. They doubt what they cannot feel, what they do not understand, or what feels too personal to face.

At Unrestricted, you will step back, look at the quality of your revenue, and build a more intentional path forward for your practice. Because when your diagnosis, communication, and team alignment are clear, patients can make confident decisions before pain becomes the reason they finally say yes.

Learn more and reserve your spot: Attend Here

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TRANSCRIPT

00;00;03;08 – 00;00;21;16
Regan Robertson
Welcome back to part two of our conversation with doctor Wade Kiefer. If you joined us last week. You know, we started unpacking some powerful ideas around how trust is built before you ever enter the room, why you’re hygiene and doctor handoffs matter so much, and how to talk about risk cracks and complex treatments without any shame, pressure, or confusion.

00;00;21;17 – 00;00;37;07
Regan Robertson
Today, we’re covering how to diagnose without letting insurance dictate the conversation, and how to build a team that can carry your philosophy of care through every patient touchpoint. Let’s jump in. Wait. Can we? For those that may not have heard you on our podcast before, clarify.

00;00;37;09 – 00;00;44;26
Victoria Peterson
Are you an end provider? An out of network provider? Where do you stand on revenue mix and was it always this way?

00;00;45;02 – 00;01;17;03
Dr. Wade Kifer
Yeah, so I started pretty much completely in network and my practice in 2006. Oh, so for a few years, over time, we dropped a few. When Covid hit, I just came back and said, I’m done. I was like, I’m very highly trained. And I was getting more confident in my skills. And I said that now I kept one insurance because I’m do a lot of the team dentistry for the local university here.

00;01;17;03 – 00;01;37;05
Dr. Wade Kifer
So I like being the the team doc for that and they’re on that. And that’s probably the only reason I stayed on that one now. I mean, I still have a decent write off on that one, because we don’t get rid of all the patients that are in network with that one. Insurance I’m always debating on do I do it?

00;01;37;06 – 00;01;48;23
Dr. Wade Kifer
Do I not? I mean, but it’s like just because I see some benefits. But I mean it’s harder being on network. You see that right off at the end of the month and you’re like, oh, I just gave away. $100.

00;01;48;23 – 00;01;58;03
Victoria Peterson
And well, so here’s the question. Do you change your script or your diagnosis or your conversation?

00;01;58;05 – 00;02;01;18
Dr. Wade Kifer
I don’t know what insurance the patient’s on when I go in the room.

00;02;01;19 – 00;02;03;29
Regan Robertson
Oh, so you have no idea anyway.

00;02;04;01 – 00;02;07;13
Dr. Wade Kifer
I just I don’t know, I don’t want to know, why would I?

00;02;07;16 – 00;02;32;20
Victoria Peterson
Yeah. Well, I love this so much because and this is why in our live event in Denver, Colorado, in September, called unrestricted, you are one of our feature speakers. Yeah. The thing that that most clinicians, most practices allow them to restrict is this conversation. And I didn’t know where you really stood on that, but I’m glad you said that because it should not matter.

00;02;32;21 – 00;02;54;09
Victoria Peterson
That’s that’s how you pay for it. That’s not how I diagnose you. So that’s one of the big keys into being an unrestricted practice is having that mindset before you even start going out of network. So you know where you know what your philosophy care is. It’s so strong. The other place and you haven’t you haven’t gotten to this place in your career yet.

00;02;54;09 – 00;03;29;27
Victoria Peterson
But this is part of the investment grade practice formulary, is that when clinical conviction and passion and dedication to diagnosis is as solid as it is in your practice, when you partner with an associate who might become your partner, your standard is the standard. They rise to that because you’re not going to allow it to drop. If you chose to go with a private equity firm or a DSO or a private group, where there’s going to be multiple ways and multiple philosophies.

00;03;29;28 – 00;03;55;09
Victoria Peterson
The only thing you’re left with when you’re not a number is your clinical standard, your clinical autonomy and more and more estate sensor making that mandatory. California. 351 bill passed. Six other states passed. No practice management firm, no private equity. No financial backer. Can tell a dentist what exam tools to use, how to diagnose, or what the treatment plan.

00;03;55;14 – 00;04;16;03
Victoria Peterson
And sometimes that’s just the weakest part of the whole system. And I just you’re so humble and you’re so kind, and yet you are so fierce about this. How did you become just this fears? How did you take such a strong stand for your patience?

00;04;16;06 – 00;04;43;27
Dr. Wade Kifer
I don’t know. You know, it’s it’s something I had people call me out. I remember one of my mentors when I was going through, you know, I’ve always been a c junkie, and one of my mentors. I tell this story, and I’ve told him this recently, but I was at dinner one night on a boat, and my wife was there, and I was about halfway through my course curriculum training.

00;04;43;27 – 00;05;02;15
Dr. Wade Kifer
And he’s there with my wife, and he’s probably 70 at the time. And he looks at me and he says, how much of this are you doing? You’re halfway through this. And I said, I’m doing pretty good, and I’m working on some bites. And he said, I said, I’m not doing it on everybody. So I mean, you know, I get it.

00;05;02;15 – 00;05;18;24
Dr. Wade Kifer
This is a process because this is where I was at the time. I said, I’m not doing it on everyone. And he looks at my wife and he says, do you realize your husband’s $50,000 in and about five weeks out of the office and not using this?

00;05;18;26 – 00;05;20;12
Victoria Peterson
Whoa.

00;05;20;14 – 00;05;49;28
Dr. Wade Kifer
And I went out and then he said, and he laughed, kind of like a grandpa figure would. And he said, all right, I’m going to tell you how to fix this. I need you to go back on every patient and do a full comprehensive exam, diagnose all the risk factors on everyone. Don’t skip nothing. Otherwise, you’re not doing your patients or yourself a service.

00;05;49;28 – 00;05;55;12
Dr. Wade Kifer
And I just took it to heart. And so I do it on everyone.

00;05;55;13 – 00;06;19;00
Regan Robertson
Doctor, if people have you feeling restricted as a dentist, but you’re not sure if going completely out of network is the right move for you, that tells me that you are right at the stage where having a strategy and plan is essential. If you want to protect your revenue and grow. Investment grade practice powered by Productive Dentist Academy is hosting a live event this September that will help you design the right revenue mix for your practice at unrestricted.

00;06;19;01 – 00;06;43;03
Regan Robertson
The end of PPO dependency live hands on workshop. You get to work with renowned of business and clinical experts who will help you analyze, clarify, design, align, and activate a plan so you don’t have to feel restricted by pose ever again. Go to investment grade practice today for more information and to secure your seat. This event is strictly limited, so go to investment grade practice today.

00;06;43;05 – 00;07;04;19
Dr. Wade Kifer
I mean, they deserve that. And then my own stick on that is I try to do it in a non-judgmental way. I would say that’s kind of in my own piece of how do I put that disease on the or blame on the disease and not the patient? How do I get us on the same side fighting the disease, me and the patient versus the disease and.

00;07;04;20 – 00;07;14;08
Victoria Peterson
Me and the patient versus the disease? Yes. Oh, I love that AI to create an Avenger avatar for you. Yeah.

00;07;14;10 – 00;07;19;04
Dr. Wade Kifer
Oh, Lord.

00;07;19;06 – 00;07;50;15
Dr. Wade Kifer
So that was kind of it for me. You know, it’s someone challenging me. And that’s why, you know, you need mentors. This no one. I say no one. Most people don’t figure this out on their own. You know, one of my mentors lines is none of us are smarter than all of us, right? And so when we work together and come up with these things and you kind of learn from your mentors, and then you put your own little spin on things, all of a sudden the profession goes forward and we grow.

00;07;50;15 – 00;08;12;00
Dr. Wade Kifer
So, you know, that’s why we’re here with going to Denver and doing clinical calibration. It’s to mentoring at these other courses because we want to see the profession grow. We want to see everyone do better. You know this isn’t a limited mindset, right? You know, it’s we want to rise all of us together. And it just helps the profession go up.

00;08;12;00 – 00;08;15;14
Dr. Wade Kifer
So I don’t know. That’s kind of what it is.

00;08;15;16 – 00;08;33;15
Regan Robertson
Wait, I’m really curious how much you invest in your team. Because when you say we all rise together, there’s so much importance in that team element. And I would hate to be someone who works so hard on my communication. You know, I’ve got them up to the plate, they’re ready to say yes. And I hand it off to the team and then they don’t schedule.

00;08;33;15 – 00;08;59;29
Regan Robertson
And you and I have intimately talked about this and other episodes, folks go. Google everyday practices and you’ll see Wade and hear the story on that. So I’m I’m really interested in in hearing what that handoff looks like and how how and you know like how much time you invest and what is that process so that you can bring your team into your why and help them get to the same level that you have poured decades into, you know, honing over the years.

00;09;00;04 – 00;09;25;11
Dr. Wade Kifer
Well, I mean, to expect your team to be at your level without training and bringing them up is just stupid, right? And so, you know, when I talk and we talk about how many hours a month we meet, I mean, we meet on average eight hours a month with our team, and that’s broken down into a couple one hour segments, a three hour segment, a two hour segment.

00;09;25;13 – 00;09;52;07
Dr. Wade Kifer
And, you know, people think that’s crazy. And what’s even crazier is that our production level, I mean, for the office, we’re over $3,000 an hour, right? And so to give away eight hours, you know, it’s just 24, $25,000 worth of production in those eight hours, but I wouldn’t be producing that as an office if we didn’t do that.

00;09;52;13 – 00;10;18;23
Dr. Wade Kifer
Right. And then it’s way smoother because, I mean, we got on this podcast at 3:00 and I think I was one minute late and but I don’t run behind my day ended it. Three. Right. We are a we communicate those things. I mean, last month, for example, I mean my team’s been here a long time. We practiced handoffs at the front desk because every steps gotta be there.

00;10;18;24 – 00;10;37;13
Dr. Wade Kifer
We spent 30 40 minutes doing handoffs. It doesn’t have to be a full hour because we’re pretty good at handoffs, but we review them and people get praised. The ones who are doing it good so that others see that. And, you know, we just kind of try to mimic this person and everything. And so yeah, we do it.

00;10;37;13 – 00;10;59;17
Dr. Wade Kifer
And so during that Ars, we may do occlusion this month and handoffs and customer service and as little things, if you hear the phone ring and you’re in the back answer quickly because that means the front didn’t grab it. I mean, all these things are just meeting things, handoffs from the doctors. I mean, we can go over and over and over.

00;10;59;23 – 00;11;24;00
Dr. Wade Kifer
And so we just create a checklist. We block off the meetings every month, but we don’t know what the topics will be. And we my office manager, comes up with a list of topics. But if we notice, hey, we’re dropping the ball in this area that climbs the list. And as a doctor, I don’t do them all. One of the Hyginus did airway last month because she’s my functional therapist.

00;11;24;03 – 00;11;49;11
Dr. Wade Kifer
One of the hygienists will do you I mean, we have meetings. Some of them are just routine as far as emergency management, what’s in the what’s in the emergency box? Right. The albuterol inhaler, the aspirin, the all the things. And so it’s all structured every month. So tomorrow we have a two hour meeting. It’s our first meeting of the month.

00;11;49;11 – 00;12;13;24
Dr. Wade Kifer
So we’re going to go over last month. We’ll go over our numbers our productivity our diagnosis where we struggled. Each hygienist will go over all that stuff. So it’s a lot of meeting. But it’s not yelling. It’s not strict. It’s all educational. We try to make it fun and but it makes a will organized team so that we drop the ball less times, which is a lot less stress.

00;12;13;26 – 00;12;42;01
Sara Hansen
You’re like the poster child of a true investment grade practice, meaning you are still investing in the team training. You understand, as a leader of the practice that you may not be seeing every touchpoint right or seeing every situation. And so I love that your team, which speaks so highly of you, is coming to you saying, hey, we need to revisit handoffs.

00;12;42;02 – 00;13;10;19
Sara Hansen
I mean, I would say oftentimes that’s something that a doctor will implement in their practice in the first year, and then they never talk about it again. Right? So the fact that you’re bringing these basics, but keeping them very top of mind for the team, that is a well functioning team and process that you have created. So I’m wondering because you mentor dentists all the time you yourself spoke to you were mentored in different ways.

00;13;10;19 – 00;13;30;26
Sara Hansen
So what would you say to a dentist that’s maybe feeling frustrated with, you know, feeling confident to diagnose comprehensively? Maybe some of those systems like you talked about, what would you say to them as a mentor?

00;13;30;28 – 00;13;51;23
Dr. Wade Kifer
Surround yourself with mentors, right? Because I didn’t come up with any of this stuff. I mean, my first practice management conference was PDA, like I said, in 2010. And I hired a coach, right. And they set up those systems in office. I just didn’t end right when someone said, do this. One of my mentors from the center.

00;13;51;24 – 00;14;19;13
Dr. Wade Kifer
I just did it. And so it doesn’t happen overnight. I tell people, I think I’ve been fairly successful in my career. I’m I’m very happy with wearing go has gone. But the point of that is like, I didn’t set out, you know, everyone says to set out with goals. I never set out with a goal and said, I want to speak for this company.

00;14;19;17 – 00;14;22;03
Dr. Wade Kifer
I want to be a mentor. I didn’t do.

00;14;22;03 – 00;14;26;21
Regan Robertson
That, really did it? That’s I remember you being like, I mean, I’ll do it, but.

00;14;26;27 – 00;14;35;11
Victoria Peterson
The most reluctant ever. Don’t put me on camera. Don’t let me do it virtually. Yeah, but I’m glad.

00;14;35;11 – 00;15;03;06
Dr. Wade Kifer
I did them. But what I did do was work very hard every day. Right. And then you look up and you look up five years later and you go, oh, all those little steps added up. And here I am, even if I didn’t plan on being there. So I’m not saying those kind of goals are bad. I set budget goals and production goals and all those things, but I never really set goals to be, oh, I want to teach at this place or do this or lecture here.

00;15;03;06 – 00;15;23;08
Dr. Wade Kifer
It was more I’m just going to put in the work and then share with what I do. And so with the team. And the reason I kind of went with that story is because we just set up the meetings and you do the little things, and you keep setting up the training and the trainings on the schedule. So I tell patient or tell doctors, put block it for a year.

00;15;23;09 – 00;15;54;05
Dr. Wade Kifer
Don’t don’t worry about what goes in there, but just block all those meetings is because after 2 to 3 years, you look up and your practice is a totally different practice. Yeah. If you’ll sit there and implement two hours on Thursday afternoon with just you and your treatment coordinator to go over cases. Yeah, I mean, I talked the cases when I didn’t have other dentists to talk to when my treatment for nater and all of a sudden I got more confident she’d ask questions, and it was almost like she was prepping me to do it in front of the patients.

00;15;54;05 – 00;16;16;19
Dr. Wade Kifer
She’d be like, well, why are we doing it this way? And I was teaching her, but she was training me to give a better explanation, you know? So you’ve got to just block the time. And even if your goal isn’t, I mean, you can have the goal to sell X amount of cases, but if you’ll just work on getting better at the cases, the selling happens.

00;16;16;22 – 00;16;28;25
Dr. Wade Kifer
And so like I said, I never set up with certain goals. I just set up to work hard and be diligent. And then the goals just happened. It’s probably the wrong way to think about it. I should have had the goals, but.

00;16;28;26 – 00;16;52;06
Victoria Peterson
I love that so much. And given my tenure in the industry, someone said, where are you going to be in another 10 or 15 years? And I was like, upright and eating solid food. You know, that’s my goal. That’s my big life goal. But I want to ask you the killer investment grade practice question. I haven’t checked in with you on this one in a while.

00;16;52;09 – 00;17;05;06
Victoria Peterson
How long do you know that you could step away from your practice, and you know for sure that it would continue running as well, or better than if you were there? How long can you be out of your practice?

00;17;05;08 – 00;17;35;29
Dr. Wade Kifer
I’ll give you two answers to that, because one of them is, I don’t know. I am such a driver of the production. Without my production financially, I would worry about my practice because I’m a big part of that. As far as I can runs. I don’t want to be here at all. My office manager has told me when I retire she doesn’t want me to retire because she wants the team and her to run the place.

00;17;35;29 – 00;17;41;02
Dr. Wade Kifer
I don’t have to be here. She just doesn’t want me to sell it.

00;17;41;04 – 00;17;41;22
Victoria Peterson
There you go.

00;17;41;22 – 00;17;50;09
Dr. Wade Kifer
So the team can completely run the practice without me here. That is not a we’re all on the same.

00;17;50;11 – 00;17;51;27
Regan Robertson
And that is a testament.

00;17;51;29 – 00;17;52;29
Speaker 6
That is.

00;17;53;07 – 00;17;57;23
Sara Hansen
I mean, talk about a team that gol I mean, I.

00;17;57;24 – 00;17;58;11
Victoria Peterson
Like I.

00;17;58;11 – 00;17;58;26
Sara Hansen
Want to come.

00;17;58;27 – 00;17;59;06
Victoria Peterson
Be part.

00;17;59;06 – 00;18;02;02
Sara Hansen
Of the team. Wait like but but to have a.

00;18;02;02 – 00;18;04;05
Regan Robertson
Team that way it is it is, it.

00;18;04;05 – 00;18;22;10
Sara Hansen
Is, it is. But to have a team that can function without you there and you don’t even worry about it. But then to have an office manager that’s like, we just don’t want you to sell, but we’re going to keep this going because we believe in how we show up for patients and how we treat them. And I mean, that is powerful.

00;18;22;12 – 00;18;23;11
Sara Hansen
It’s really.

00;18;23;14 – 00;18;42;03
Dr. Wade Kifer
Gone between I mean, you know, I’ve tried to live that. I mean, I remember when I went to PDA, Victoria and Bruce used to say, you know, the goals 1200 an hour and I don’t remember what it was, 8 to 10 weeks off a year and higher than that. And I mean, I’m ten, ten plus weeks off every year.

00;18;42;05 – 00;18;59;09
Dr. Wade Kifer
I mean, almost every month I’m going to reach for you. I do not get calls from the office. I do not get text. If anything, it’s me texting them, hey, this is what I learned. And they’re like, stop it. And so.

00;18;59;11 – 00;19;02;11
Sara Hansen
Enjoy your vacation. Leave us alone.

00;19;02;12 – 00;19;06;05
Dr. Wade Kifer
Well, most of us on vacation most of the time out of the office is dental related. But that’s just.

00;19;06;10 – 00;19;06;23
Sara Hansen
Yeah.

00;19;06;26 – 00;19;12;27
Dr. Wade Kifer
Yeah, probably five weeks of vacation a year and another 5 or 6 weeks of work off, so.

00;19;13;02 – 00;19;35;06
Victoria Peterson
That’s nice. Well, you know, what you’ve done is you’ve you crossed the threshold, right? You come into dentistry. And the easy part is the clinical and the hard part is the business. And like all doctors, you doubled down on clinical education, but you doubled down on your business education. And you didn’t stop there. You embedded it in the systems with the team.

00;19;35;06 – 00;19;52;06
Victoria Peterson
And so you’ve solved all the hard problems and you’re left with one challenge. How do I mentor someone up to my level of productivity, which I have no doubt that you’ll do that. And now that your associates back from maternity leave, I’m sure you’ll get right on that.

00;19;52;07 – 00;20;07;20
Dr. Wade Kifer
Oh, yeah. She’s she’s she’s killing. She’s doing well. And yeah, my next goal is I mean I’m going to bring in another associate and yeah hopefully you know they’ll want to take over someday. But I plan to go to 2 to 2 and a half, three days a week here in the next year or two.

00;20;07;22 – 00;20;30;00
Victoria Peterson
So nice. I had one of my five practices that ran like that and the it was team driven. I didn’t know until after I purchased it because looking at the financials, it was pretty steady, 1.1 1.2 million for like five years didn’t very much at all. I then after I purchased it, realized they had 11 doctors in 11 years.

00;20;30;02 – 00;20;47;29
Victoria Peterson
Like that’s a lot of doctor turnover right. But and and they tell you I’m still friends with this team. And they’re like I was like, what? How did you do this? And they go, I don’t know. It’s a joke with the patient like, hey, who’s the doc today? What do you women keep doing to him? Run them off, you know, but small community, everybody knew him.

00;20;47;29 – 00;20;57;09
Victoria Peterson
Every of them. I had another practice. I couldn’t close my eyes and go to bed at night. That they weren’t trying to buy Dave Matthews tickets on the office debit card. You know, I.

00;20;57;09 – 00;20;59;11
Sara Hansen
Was.

00;20;59;14 – 00;21;00;23
Dr. Wade Kifer
A little Dave.

00;21;00;25 – 00;21;02;18
Sara Hansen
I was going to say, that’s a good.

00;21;02;20 – 00;21;04;08
Victoria Peterson
You know.

00;21;04;12 – 00;21;07;12
Regan Robertson
That’s my perk that I’m on the mayor of.

00;21;07;14 – 00;21;24;18
Victoria Peterson
Oh, well, you call me like three times like this charge just won’t go through. And I was like, well, how much isn’t there like $800? And I said, well, you know, our limit on the cards, like $250. What are they trying to buy? And they go, I don’t know. Dave DMB media and I’m like, oh, the office manager loves Dave Matthews.

00;21;24;18 – 00;21;26;07
Victoria Peterson
I bet she’s trying to get tickets.

00;21;26;12 – 00;21;28;05
Regan Robertson
Some VIP tickets there.

00;21;28;06 – 00;21;30;01
Sara Hansen
Yeah.

00;21;30;04 – 00;21;44;26
Victoria Peterson
So it’s good that you have systems in place and you know what kind of team is surrounded by. Yeah. She wasn’t there long after the police officer came to to the practice. Scored her away.

00;21;44;28 – 00;22;05;00
Regan Robertson
Wade, one last reflection. I have. Thank you for so much of your time and sharing your knowledge. And I think this kind of plays into the unrestricted event that is coming up in September, and I’m really grateful that you’ll be presenting there. You know, you’ve shown us how to communicate well, but also paint a clear vision and having your team be that self-sufficient and that that place was.

00;22;05;00 – 00;22;24;10
Regan Robertson
I have a feeling that you do not spring initiatives or things on your team spontaneously, so I know it can shock a lot of people. We recommend that if you are dropping POS or going to go completely out of network, that you put a runway in place, that it’s not something that you do overnight and just decide, I’m done.

00;22;24;10 – 00;22;54;07
Regan Robertson
In fact, 18 months would be preferred. So I think your philosophy and leadership and I guess I’m looking for some validation there is that is that in order to get your team to that level, you’ve got to not just paint where you’re going, but also give them time to understand the why and take incremental steps that get you to where you can turn around and say, oh my gosh, you know, I, I put those two hours aside and they have really grown far past what I even thought was possible.

00;22;54;09 – 00;23;16;25
Dr. Wade Kifer
Yeah. So, you know, in our practice, for example, when it’s like the pose, like tomorrow we will say how much we rode off for the insurance and how much we wrote off for care, credit and comp finance and stuff. And I mean, those are all tools, don’t get me wrong. But, you know, well, there’s always a quip, man, what else could we buy with $50,000 that we just wrote off?

00;23;16;25 – 00;23;40;05
Dr. Wade Kifer
And so when we come to the decision of insurance and everything, it is not. It’s my practice, but it is not me going, all right, we’re going to drop. It’s it’s been this discussion of man, you know, because we sit there and dream at these meetings to what would we do if we had an extra this and that.

00;23;40;07 – 00;23;59;07
Dr. Wade Kifer
Okay. How much patience do we think we leave? So no, it was a full office work together because it’s not hey, this is what we’re doing. I mean, sometimes, like I’ve bought a new scanner. I’m to tell I’m at the office tomorrow. That’s just a waste. We need another scanner.

00;23;59;09 – 00;24;03;17
Regan Robertson
See, I was kind of wondering, is it like that? You go to a show and then you’re like.

00;24;03;19 – 00;24;24;04
Dr. Wade Kifer
Yeah, but I don’t really know. But they’ve been asking for another scanner, so that was it. So that that’ll be the surprise tomorrow. But you know, we start talking for weed for upping insurance. Are we adding a doctor or are we adding a high Genest. It’s you know, it’s problem solving for hand as a team where we’re at.

00;24;24;06 – 00;24;48;13
Dr. Wade Kifer
Right. You know, we’re doing some social media marketing. Just the guy, you know. And I’ve trained my front desk. Hansen. It’s like he’s like, well, I don’t have spots to put the patients. Well, I tell him he’s got a problem, solve that. So now he’s working with the team. How can we create spots? Because I can’t do marketing if we don’t put anyone having where to put them.

00;24;48;13 – 00;24;48;23
Dr. Wade Kifer
Right?

00;24;48;24 – 00;24;49;06
Regan Robertson
Right.

00;24;49;07 – 00;25;19;04
Dr. Wade Kifer
So it’s not me doing those things. It’s the team and empowering them. Because my office manager started as my assistant minimum wage 20 years ago, and now she completely runs the office. You know, my assistant was 14 years ago and she’d never assisted. And now she sells 50,000 to $100,000 worth of dentistry every month at her, her chair, you know, and our front desk person never done dentistry.

00;25;19;04 – 00;25;41;07
Dr. Wade Kifer
Other one had a year and she’s been here 18 years. So it’s like we empower them to do that so that now I’m not making decisions. I might I’m kind of the vision person of the office. I feel Victoria I kind of just try to steal that from her for PDA because I know Reagan’s probably a lot more organized with.

00;25;41;09 – 00;25;45;29
Victoria Peterson
That idea.

00;25;46;02 – 00;25;46;29
Sara Hansen
So it’s.

00;25;46;29 – 00;25;52;05
Victoria Peterson
Like, you know, I can see where you were going with that.

00;25;52;07 – 00;26;10;02
Dr. Wade Kifer
Sorry. It just went there. So I do I try to be the person. That’s right. They come up with the some of the ideas and I might throw some ideas, but my ideas aren’t better than their ideas. Right. You know, I sense the problems of saying, hey, this isn’t working for me, and I don’t think it’s working for the practice.

00;26;10;03 – 00;26;15;12
Dr. Wade Kifer
And sometimes, like, yeah, it is working for the practice. That’s okay, because not all my ideas are there.

00;26;15;15 – 00;26;24;05
Victoria Peterson
It might be. That’s the same thing. It’s working for us. We think it’s a you problem.

00;26;24;07 – 00;26;26;13
Dr. Wade Kifer
So I use the team that way.

00;26;26;16 – 00;26;49;14
Victoria Peterson
That’s fine. You know what you this will be my last input here today. Thank you so much for such rich content. And I can’t wait to see you in Denver. A good friend of ours and alumni, Cheryl Brunel, I interviewed her for an article one time and she said, you know, my friends ask me, why do you invest so much time and money in your team training?

00;26;49;14 – 00;26;57;27
Victoria Peterson
And she said, well, they said, what if they leave? And she said, well, what if I don’t invest in them and they stay?

00;26;57;29 – 00;26;59;23
Dr. Wade Kifer
Yeah. That’s awesome.

00;26;59;27 – 00;27;20;00
Victoria Peterson
Yeah. And so I think I would, I would always rather over invest in team and help them build their skills. And if they choose to take that to their next position and you’re part of their journey. Well that’s great. And because if they stick around, they should evolve with the business. And so thank you for modeling that.

00;27;20;03 – 00;27;40;26
Dr. Wade Kifer
Yeah. You know I’ve said one. I’ll give you an example. I sent wonder photography class, in Virginia or in Charleston. And she goes out there, she learns all this amazing photography and she’s no longer here, but she still brought it back and taught the rest of the team. Right. And I do find that the more I invested them, the less likely they are to leave.

00;27;40;27 – 00;28;03;12
Dr. Wade Kifer
But it’s not always like that. So you can’t look at that with that limited mindset because she brought back a skill set we’re still using for the rest of our group. So, I mean, if I ever lost something because I spent that much money or time on a person, yes, but I can promise you I’ve gained way more than I’ve lost by doing it.

00;28;03;14 – 00;28;05;01
Dr. Wade Kifer
Yeah.

00;28;05;03 – 00;28;25;12
Regan Robertson
Well, thank you so much for being on both podcasts. I cannot wait for you to present the September. Thank you for being on faculty with us. And and just, you know, to end it on Bruce’s note that I have up in front of my face all the time, become the best at whatever it is you do and then share it with others.

00;28;25;12 – 00;28;29;03
Regan Robertson
And you’ve given us a masterclass today.

00;28;29;05 – 00;28;32;29
Dr. Wade Kifer
Thank you. I’m glad to be here. Looking forward to September and hope to see everyone there.

00;28;33;00 – 00;28;50;04
Regan Robertson
Hey, thanks for joining us on Everyday Practices Dental Podcast. It would mean the world to me if you could leave us a like or a review on iTunes, or go to protect your Dentist Academy through Google and leave us a review there. You know we are here each week to talk about what’s possible when you leave your practice with clarity and courage.

00;28;50;04 – 00;29;07;08
Regan Robertson
If you are ready to build a business that supports your life and not the other way around, investment grade practice coaching powered by productive, dense academy can help. Visit investment grade practice to schedule your free 60 minute coaching session so you can start designing the practice and lifestyle you’ve been dreaming about all along.