Leadership & Communication in Dentistry (E.244)

“What is needed more in dentistry is communication skills and leadership, but I find that most people want to listen about profit and money.” ~Dr. Paul Etchison

In this episode of the Productive Dentist Podcast, Dr. Bruce B. Baird sits down with the renowned Dr. Paul Etchison—host of the Dental Practice Heroes podcast and author of the book Dental Practice Hero. Together, they dive into a candid discussion about the challenges and rewards of modern dentistry, from mastering communication and leadership to dealing with difficult patients and navigating the rise of DSOs.

Dr. Etchison shares his journey of scaling back clinical work to focus on coaching and leadership, emphasizing the transformative power of constant improvement and empathetic patient care. He also reflects on his experience selling to a DSO and why he continues to stay involved in his practice by choice, not obligation.

Whether you’re looking for insights on profitability, conflict resolution, or the latest trends in technology and training, this episode is packed with valuable lessons and practical advice. Tune in to discover how these two leaders in dentistry are inspiring a new generation to see the profession as an exciting, fulfilling opportunity.

As you listen to this episode, we invite you to think about the following questions:

• How do I currently handle conflict and patient complaints in my practice, and what steps could I take to improve communication and resolution strategies?
• Am I leveraging my leadership skills and team to create a practice culture where stress is minimized, and ownership feels intentional rather than obligatory?
• What am I doing to stay curious and grow—whether through learning new technologies, refining business practices, or exploring personal interests that align with my professional goals?

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Announcer: The Productive Dentist Academy Podcast Network.

[00:00:03] Dr. Paul Etchison: What it made me realize is that I never trained my team how to deal with conflict. I had never taught them the proper way to empathetically listen, acknowledge the patient, validate the patient complaint, and then find a solution.

[00:00:16] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: Hello everyone, this is Dr. Bruce B. Baird, and you’re listening to the Productive Dentist Podcast. In this podcast, I will give you everything that I’ve learned over the last 40 years in dentistry, working with thousands of dentists. And I’ll tell you, it’s not that my way is the only way, it’s just one that has worked extremely well for me, and I’d love to share that with you. So you too can enjoy the choices and lifestyle that productivity allows, more time for things you love, increased pay, Better team relationships and lowered stress. Let’s get into it with this week’s episode of the Productive Dentist Podcast.

[00:00:51] Regan Robertson: Doctor, did you know that PDA coaching doctors grew 219, 000 on average in just the last 10 months? If your revenue goals fall short this year and you suspect that patient communication and inefficient systems are holding you back, Productive Dentist Academy can help, but you have to take action. Register today for the PDA conference, March 13th through the 15th in Frisco, Texas. Go to productivedentist.com to snap a picture. up your seat. It is the nation’s leading course for growing your practice and your team. Plus, while you’re there, you can set up a free 60 minute session to identify your own unique opportunities for growth. And if you act fast, you could score a one on one with PDA’s co founder, Dr Bruce Baird. That’s right. We’re only offering 10 and then his calendar is full. Don’t wait. Go to productivedentist.com right now and have a great 2025. We’ll see you in Texas.

[00:01:38] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: Hi, this is Dr. Bruce Baird with the Productive Dentist Podcast. And I have a special guest with us today, Dr. Paul Etcheson. He came to PDA, I don’t know how many, how many years ago. It’s been a good while, a couple of times, long time. And he’s also known as the Dental Practice Hero. He has, you have the Dental Practice Hero Podcast. You have website and you’re doing training. And I mean, I am just so proud of you, man. It’s what dentistry needs. I mean, people stepping up and helping. And, you know, it’s. Good for you. Good for me. Good for everybody. So, uh,

[00:02:12] Dr. Paul Etchison: again, congratulations. Thanks, man. I mean, it’s just like what you’re doing, man. Like you are out there changing dentistry. You got a way of practicing that made your life so much better. And I learned a lot of what I teach from you and it just, you know, spreading it, showing people what we do. And, you know, we, we get on Facebook and sometimes everybody’s all upset. Why am I a dentist? Why did I choose this? And I don’t agree with that. I want to be the one that says, this is awesome. It’s what you make of it. Do something cool with it. And I’ll show you how. So I’m, I’m excited to be here with you, Bruce. Always, you know, very much look up to you and appreciate you having me on.

[00:02:44] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: I went to your website and I listened to the podcast and it is appropriate for the time. You know, it really is what you’re, what you’re sharing with them and the scripting that you’ve done. I mean, just amazing, amazing work. So. Really, really, you know, again, proud of you for doing that. When did you think you might want to start teaching, you know, or educating others? Was that something you even enjoyed doing back in school or growing up? When did that hit you?

[00:03:10] Dr. Paul Etchison: I don’t think that hit me until like just growing my practice. You know, it’s like you go to these courses. And the courses are so much fun, but then like being with the people is so much fun. And I felt like I was always like, Oh, we try this, we do this, we do that. And that turned into writing a book. And then when you write a book, all of a sudden you’re like some kind of expert and people are asking you more questions. It was the logical flow of things. I started pulling myself out of my practice, less and less clinical dentistry. And most people might say, cool, I’m going to go golfing. I’m going to. Spend more time with my family. I’m going to do less. And my dumb ass was like, okay, I’m going to take on some more projects. And it’s just, I wanted to coach other people, but it’s just weird how things just fall in place. I had a friend from school, reach out and ask if I did coaching. I said, absolutely not, but I’ll try it. And it turned into. Here we are, you know? And now it’s what I do more than I do dentistry.

[00:03:57] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: I do more coaching than I do dentistry.

[00:03:58] Dr. Paul Etchison: So it’s great.

[00:03:58] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: And it’s fun too. It’s rewarding, isn’t it? And the cool thing, people always say, oh, I wish I could, you know, do things like you do Bruce, or I wish I could do things like Paul. Well, you can, this is not rocket science. It’s about taking great care of people and taking great care of your patients and learning. Always being ready to change your one act play. What we call your one act play is kind of what we do. And then all of a sudden, Hey, I want to change a few words. Hey, that worked even better. There’s no perfection in any of this stuff, but there sure is constant improvement, you know, over the years. So it’s really is something that’s fun. What is one of the hottest topics right now that you think Dennis. Are

[00:04:36] Dr. Paul Etchison: really wanting information about man, you know, it’s funny and I think you might have the same experience with your podcast. I don’t know if you see this, but in my podcast, I feel like what is needed more in dentistry is communication skills and leadership. But I find that most people want to listen about profit and money and stuff like that. Stuff like that. So I would, well, that comes to, that’s part of communication and leadership, but I find most dentists, it’s the typical cliche. We’re all about money. I don’t think we all are, but that seems to be what a very popular podcast topic in my personal world, in my little microcosm of my practice, what is hot right now is dealing with conflict. We had a meeting the other day, maybe about a month and a half ago. And our front desk team was explaining to us that we feel really crappy. When you tell us this is our protocols, this is the way we do things. This is our policies. And then a patient gets all pissed off about it. And then we stick up for the policies, the office, and then they have to talk to somebody higher up. They talk to the owner, they talk to the office manager, and we just bend over and give them exactly what they want. And what it made me realize is that I never trained my team, how to deal with conflict. I had never taught them the proper way to empathetically listen, acknowledge the patient, validate the patient complaint, and then Find a solution. So we even went through this maybe a year ago. We were all like, screw those patients. We are the best. We’re going to start acting like we’re the best and they got a problem with then go somewhere else. So now you take that attitude and you take a quick little, let me take care of why you’re upset and let me make it right for you. And you turn it into a three, four week ordeal of the patient calling you back, writing one star reviews, doing all this stuff. And I finally came to the realization. I’d rather just kind of humble myself, eat a little turd sandwich for about five minutes. And be done with it because we’ve had some patients that, man, it’s, they are still calling there. She’s on the phone for you again. I’m like, what does she want to talk about anymore? I get on the phone. I’m like, what can I do for you? And she’s, she’s wanting to be upset. And we could have addressed that right away if we handled the conflict correctly. So we’re back to doing whatever the patient’s like. If the patient’s not always right at my practice, but damn, we’re going to make them feel like they are. That’s our, that’s our motto.

[00:06:34] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: What I always told people is kind of like, do you have butthead patients? Yeah, you got butthead patients. And I was very similar. I mean, I was like, we’re the best. Get the hell out of here if you don’t like us. But then you run into that deal where maybe that butthead patient was complaining about a system in our practice that had broken down, you know, or something that was different than what we intended it when we put it in play. And now all of a sudden, you’re trying to. Backstab, but I, I agree with you, turd sandwiches is part of the deal, you know, it’s part of the deal of working with the public. Now, there are times when you invite them to their happy place and you just tell them to have a good one, but yeah, they would

[00:07:12] Dr. Paul Etchison: go to their happy place. They never go. They’re like, to go, but I’m going to let you know for the next. But the thing is too, is we tend to write off those butthead patients and we say, ah, they’re crazy. But the thing is when most people get upset about something, your practice, they’re just like, ah, I didn’t like that, but not that big a deal. I’m not going to make us think about it. The crazy ones are the ones that are going to make us think about it, but they’re expressing something to you that a lot of your patients are probably also feeling as well. So it does have some merit. It is worth listening to, even though we tend to not.

[00:07:38] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: Yeah, you nailed that. You nailed that. It may be pointing a gigantic arrow at something in the practice is not quite working. Across the country now, of course, we’re seeing DSOs kind of taken over and everything else. Did you sell to a DSO yourself?

[00:07:54] Dr. Paul Etchison: I did. Yes, I did. I partnered up with a DSO. So back in 2020, it was post COVID I was talking pre COVID and then COVID happened. And then when I came back from COVID, I was like, Oh, screw this stuff. I can’t do this for the rest of my life. But what’s interesting is my sale was motivated primarily by, you know, I think I want to exit. I think I want to do something else. I was turning 40 and I wanted to like open a new chapter in my life. And what was interesting is after the sale, I really leaned into my leadership team at the office. They took on a lot of responsibility. And when my contract was done where I could actually leave the office, I decided to stay. So I’m not a contract right now. I’m been there a year and a half now on my own volition. I like being part of this team. You know, it’s like stress. And overwhelmed kind of led me to explore the sale. And it got me to a place where I really feel like I’m at this practice because I want to be instead of I have to be. It feels different, but it’s still the same thing.

[00:08:46] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: Yeah, it does. I mean, you know, I sold to Heartland back, Holly, I don’t even know. 2000, maybe 10 or 8, 2008, and I was there eight years. I wasn’t under contract the last few, and I put the hand piece down five and a half years ago. So what I’ve been doing since then is more education, more teaching, and going to a lot of courses, learning new stuff on the new scanning technology, the new 3D printing. I mean, it’s an exciting time to be a dentist. Kind of drives me nuts. I wish we would have had all this stuff. When I was 40, you know, or when I was, you know, just getting going, dentistry is changing pretty rapidly.

[00:09:23] Dr. Paul Etchison: Yeah,

[00:09:23] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: sure. Patients are the same, you know, patients just, you know, they come in, they want to be taken care of. They, you know, they want to feel like they’re heard. They want to feel like they’re the most important person that day in your office. And I tell you, the people that I’ve, Have so much respect for and that are out teaching this stuff. You know, we are, you, you are, I was on with dental maverick, Twan, uh, same things. I mean, the more we can help Dennis, cause I mean, there’s 200, 000 of us out there. I’m just proud to have friends that are doing that. Paul Goodman. And, you know, I just kind of go down the list of people who have influenced me. I might’ve influenced them some, but it’s your own game. Twan was saying last week, he said, yeah, but. You know, I used your stuff and then I added this and I said, well, let me tell you, I went to Pete Dawson. I went to, you know, all the courses I went to see Paul homily. I went to see Schuster. I went to see Greg Stanley. I went to everything I could learn about business. I wanted to learn, you know, and so, and then that became what I’m teaching. It’s based on all your experiences that you’ve had. It doesn’t have to, it’s not one experience. It’s the experience we bring to the table. Are you still reading and still into the literature and looking at books? Technology and stuff.

[00:10:38] Dr. Paul Etchison: Gosh. You know, it’s like I’m very, I’m, I read all the time like weird thing about my schedule that people will say, no, this guy is on drugs. Is that I stay up till about 4:00 AM every day and I sleep till about noon. So this is a very normal schedule for me. But that, that midnight to about 4:00 AM is, that’s my reading time. And I’m always reading, you know, three, four hours. I love it, but I’m reading a lot of stuff, uh, communication, leadership, you know, some, you know, getting on some weird topics like consciousness, things like that. Um, I don’t read fiction, but as far as like the technological, like things that are happening in dentistry, I’m starting to turn into a little bit of a dino daunt I’m finding because the fact of the matter is, is I’m, I’m only practicing three, like five hour days a month. So, and it’s all band in bracket ortho. That’s all I’m doing is being on kids. And there’s part of me that. Interested in that stuff and wants to learn it, but it’s practicality. I don’t see a use for it right now in my life, but it’s, I feel like I’m fighting it and I’m like, I’m not learning that. And it is getting harder every single month to sit back and feel comfortable in the fact that I’m saying like, yeah, I’m a really good dentist and I don’t know much about 3d printing stuff. So, so it’s on my to do, I’m going to do it.

[00:11:45] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: I did veneers on my daughter number two, about four weeks ago, went up to the office. You know, Nesta, Preptor, you know, did everything and seeded them last week. I hadn’t done a prep in five years and I went in there and it just kind of like came right back and it was the first time ever I’d ever scanned for an impression because, you know, it’s all scanning now. And so, I mean, we scan and then they made the model. These preps look really good. You still got it, dude. Cause I felt really good. My patients don’t care about the preps, but at least I can share with some dentist buddies. Look at these preps. I hadn’t done it in five years, but anyway, her final smile is phenomenal. We did put it in a week ago, so just having a lot of fun. So

[00:12:27] Dr. Paul Etchison: yeah. That’s great. You know, I had, uh, I saw my niece just last Tuesday and it was just M O D O three, four, and I can’t remember the last time I did a filling and like, My assistant handed me, I’m like, what are you doing? She’s like, what are you doing? And I’m like, what do I usually do? She’s like, not what you’re trying to do. And I’m like, what the hell? Like, I was like, I’m pretty sure I do the first one with the top of Meyer. And then I don’t do them back to back. She’s like, you always do them back to back with the ring. And I’m like, I’m pretty sure I don’t. We never came to resolution on how we used to do that. We were, we both, we were just like, we don’t know. Yeah, it was not like riding a bike and, um,

[00:13:00] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: I got in there and just started prepping and as things came back to me, but I did notice that what’s funny is my back wasn’t used to it, you know? I mean, I was kind of like, Oh man, this is, you know, I’m not sure I can do this all day anymore. Yeah. It was fun. Do you remember back? I don’t know how long ago it was been, but we were in Colorado Springs, I think.

[00:13:22] Dr. Paul Etchison: Yeah.

[00:13:23] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: The blue sky, uh, blue sky. And we did, it was about speaking and, uh, lecturing or whatever. And Chris. Moriarty was there doing them. And that was a really fun time. I really enjoyed that. We had a bunch of great docs there and everybody was just having so much fun. Did you find that was useful for you

[00:13:43] Dr. Paul Etchison: after? Oh man. You know, what’s so weird is that I wasn’t really looking at speaking or doing anything in that regard. At that point in my life, but it was very useful. I think I did my first speaking thing maybe a year after that. I think that was about 2018, 2019, maybe I’m trying to think when that was, but yeah, it was, it was super useful. It’s amazing to me. Just like everything. It’s a skill. You know, you think we just get up in front of and we just start talking and it just magically happens. I mean, one of, one of your gifts, Bruce, is you tell fantastic stories and I took your PDA course, went home and I tried to tell my team about it. It didn’t work as good as, and then I just, they didn’t want to do anything. And so I brought them all to the PDA and they said, let’s do this. I said, that is what I’ve been saying for a year. And they go, well, you didn’t say it like he did. You didn’t say it like he did. I’m like, damn right. I guess I didn’t. It’s one of those things. It’s like, you like to, I want to, I want to be the best. So I do, I’ve done a lot of training on speaking and stuff. I’m doing it with like my podcast, trying to make, there’s a best practice for everything. And it’s

[00:14:38] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: funny because I would go to a seminar by myself. I want to see what it’s all about before I bring the whole team. Cause you know, I don’t want them going, Oh, we like it. And I’m going, no, this is what we want to do. But, you know, so I’m very much like you in that sense, you know, but I was trying to get the team to do, you know, productive scheduling back when I first kind of came up with that thought process. But I never trained them kind of like you were saying, I never trained them how to do it. I just expected them to get it through osmosis or something. Uh, and they were frustrated with me and I was frustrated with them, but it was all about education. It was all about training and that kind

[00:15:13] Dr. Paul Etchison: of stuff. So it really is. And I see it even with my coaching clients is like productive scheduling. Like I follow a method very similar to what you teach. It’s a little bit different, but it’s the same idea is that we’re holding space for big, productive. appointments. What I have found has been useful with a lot of offices is that talking about why this is a benefit to the office and the patient. You know, it’s very easy to say why it’s a benefit to me as the owner. I want to do production, but it’s also so we can have low stress, easy days, stay on schedule, because, and that’s why I tell my team, if we overbook, every, if you Put one person in there because you can’t tell them, no, every single patient on that schedule is going to get less than experience. Every employee there is going to be pissed off all day. It’s our schedule is like, we got so much control over it, but yet that’s such a thing that so many practice owners just, we let it go crazy and chaotic and it doesn’t need to

[00:16:02] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: be. Most of them. It’s kind of like, I always joke. It’s kind of like a dart on a dart board. When do you want to schedule when there’s no. Rhyme or reason, it’s just, it’s open. There it is. You know, how about Wednesday? You know, there’s nobody even thinking about what it does to the business. It is what it is. I would say 95 plus percent of practices out there run late at lunch and run late at the end of the day, and it’s frustrating and there’s high stress, but if you can learn to schedule properly and then, Learn when it’s lunch. It’s lunch. And when at the end of the day, you’re done, you know, but you’re highly productive during the time that you are seeing patients. When you can get to that point. That’s what I love what you’re teaching and what some of the other guys are out there teaching what we teach. It’s just to try to learn. Let’s reduce stress. And what you said when we first started talking was, you see these guys that are not happy in dentistry and you’re going like, man, this is, this is a great occupation. I mean, it really is. It’s like having your own ATM machine if you’re halfway decent. And if you’re a good communicator, it’s like having two ATM machines. I mean, it’s, it is whatever it is. Whatever it takes. Well, buddy, I’m so thankful that you came on with us today, uh, in the podcast. Again, I’m super proud of you and I’m proud of what you’re doing. Just have a blast and, uh, continue helping dentists like you have been.

[00:17:19] Dr. Paul Etchison: I really appreciate you. Thank you so much, Bruce. And thank you for everything that you’ve taught me and just being a great mentor to me my whole entire career. I can’t thank you enough and I’m sure you hear a lot, but you’re making quite an impact and you made an impact on me. So I’m appreciative of that.

[00:17:31] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: Well, thanks,

[00:17:32] Dr. Paul Etchison: brother.

[00:17:32] Dr. Bruce B. Baird: Thank you guys. And, uh, for listening to the podcast today. And remember, you can vote for the number one podcast in dentistry and, and vote for, uh, the dental hero podcast to get him, get them up there. So we’re all good. Thanks. Thank you for joining me for this episode of the Productive Dentist Podcast. If you found this episode helpful, make sure you subscribe, pass it along to a friend, give us a like on iTunes and Spotify, or drop me an email at podcast@productivedentist.com. Don’t forget to check out other podcasts from the Productive Dentist Academy at productivedentistpodcast.com. Join me again next week for another episode of the Productive Dentist Podcast.