But what happens when an employee isn’t performing as well as he or she should be? How can you get him or her “back on track?” Dealing with underperforming employees is challenging for many dentists and practice managers, and so today we are going to examine five key principles to keep in mind during this process.

1) Face the facts. For most dentists, the first instinct is to ignore the problem and hope that it goes away on its own. Confrontation is stressful and can sometimes seem like a waste of time. But trust me when I tell you that the problem will never go away on its own. It will only get worse. The best thing you can do is address it immediately before it becomes a habit.

2) Clearly explain what is wrong and what needs to change. When you sit down to talk with your employee, be as clear as you can be. Explain what the employee is doing wrong and what needs to change. Remind him or her of your expectations. Make sure that when the conversation ends, the employee knows exactly what needs to happen.

3) Provide the employee with the necessary support to improve. Do your best to put employees in position to succeed. Give your employees the necessary support, training, and resources they need to get the job done right. Set them up for success!

4) Monitor the situation and provide regular feedback. Once you’ve had a conversation with your underperforming employee, pay very close attention to the situation. Provide feedback as much as you can, whether that’s positive reinforcement or constructive criticism to get the employee back on track. If your employees feel that you aren’t going to follow up on your instructions and your expectations, they’re not going to change.

5) Don’t hesitate to cut ties if the situation doesn’t improve. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you just won’t be able to get the employee to turn the corner and improve his or her performance. In these cases, don’t hesitate to let the employee go. If he or she is showing no commitment and no desire to improve performance today, it’s not going to change tomorrow. Keeping that employee around is a waste of time and resources that you could be spending on the training and development of a replacement. And keeping an underperforming employee around will oftentimes have a bad impact on the morale and the effectiveness of the rest of your team.

Managing underperforming employees is part of running a dental practice. It happens to all of us. When it does, keep these tips in mind and proactively address the problem before it gets worse. Contact me today if you’d like to learn more!

One thing is for certain.  We have only seen the beginning from this individual.  Even though his teachings and treatments have touched thousands of lives, both patient and professional, he is only “jogging” at this time due to his commitment to his young family.  Once they have spread their wings and launched their own careers, only then will we see what amazing final products will come from his imagination.

A Michigan native, he attended the University of Michigan for my undergraduate studies in microbiology and completed my dental education at the University of Detroit-Mercy School of Dentistry. Upon graduation from dental school, he enlisted in the US Navy. His first year consisted of an AEGD (Advanced Education in General Dentistry) residency allowing him to further his education in the various disciplines of operative, endodontic, periodontic, and surgical dentistry. The last 2 years of his military commitment was completed in Twenty Nine Palms, California, where he focused on comprehensive dental treatment for the Marines.

Returning to Michigan, he worked as an associate for 2 years, gaining insight into the business aspect of dentistry. Shortly after that, he opened his practice, named Premier Dental Center, from scratch, focusing on comprehensive and restorative care.

Within the last decade, he has had the opportunity to consult with a variety of dental manufacturers, assisting them on product development and enhancement. In fact, in 2002, he created the DemoDent® patient education model system that is distributed worldwide through a variety of dental suppliers. Most importantly, he has had the honor of being able to share his passion of full-mouth rehabilitation, cosmetics, and implant dentistry by educating fellow dentists globally via lectures and seminars. Recently, he established the Reconstructive Dentistry Institute to help set and elevate the standard of care in all areas of dentistry, ranging from single-implant placement to full-mouth reconstruction using a hands-on approach.

His interests with implant dentistry started more than 14 years ago with the application of small-diameter implants for denture stabilization. I, myself, took that course about 10 years ago and was astonished at the precision of his surgical technique.  To date, He has personally trained several thousand dentists in this treatment. Having already restored traditional implant restorations, his goal was to seek formal education on the placement of traditional implants as well as the grafting necessary to build the foundation for complicated cases. In order to fulfil this desire, he enrolled at the Misch International Implant Institute, led by the world-renowned Dr. Carl E. Misch. With its well-trained faculty, the institute provided him with the most progressive and documented information on bone grafting as well as implant placement and restoration through education that is based on research. In addition to this program, he also received training in rotary endodontics, cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) analysis and treatment planning, short-term orthodontics, sedation dentistry, full-mouth rehabilitation, minimal preparation veneers, and maxillofacial prosthodontics through a variety of teaching institutions and courses.

Reconstructive dentistry is probably the broadest and most inclusive term used to describe the concept of replacing, rebuilding, or creating, for the first time, the elements and relationships between teeth, the upper and lower jaws, and overall facial structures. In order to provide this type of care, his practice is not limited to implants. As a general dentist, his goal is to utilize a wide variety of dental services, such as restorative, endodontic, periodontic, and prosthetic care, in order to produce the precise outcome desired, with no exceptions. However, he does rely on specialists to provide a team approach to patient care if it is needed.

When he is not in the office providing dentistry for his patients, lecturing to fellow dentists around the world about the latest techniques in dentistry, or learning about new dental materials, he prefers to spend his free time with his wife and two sons. His hobby is to enjoy their love and company at home, away on vacations, or skiing and traveling. Now is the time to enjoy them, since they are still very young. Later on, when they are at college, and Dr. Ara can focus his attention on our profession improvement…

One can only imagine.

Just like most kids growing up in the South, I was introduced to hunting at an early age. My father taught me how to train bird dogs to hunt quail using feathers on the end of an old cane fishing pole. It was my job to hide the feathers in some tall grass and then hide while Dad’s Setter sniffed around looking for it. I think the most fun part of hunting was the camaraderie between my Dad, me, and the dogs as we walked up and down the fence rows around our soybean fields.

I guess when it all boils down; it’s not the actual hunting that’s addictive. It’s not even spending time with your friends. It is the experience of working as a team and setting out to achieve a goal together.

Which gets me to why I’ve sent you this letter with a picture of me in hunting gear on the cover.

It’s because I’ve been very busy HUNTING for you. But instead of hunting for quail with my Dad, I’ve been on the HUNT for the newest and best ways you can ADD an additional 6-figures of production Q-U-I-C-K-L-Y to your practice as part of our upcoming seminar in Nashville, Tennessee.

So, Iet me start off with asking you a simple question. Could you use an extra 6-figures of production added to your Practice?

I know, it’s easier said than done, but what I’m about to let you in on is finding out about the “6-BEST-WAYS” others have found to add an extra 6-figures of production to their Practice as well as a seldom talked about topic (except whispered behind closed doors) which is Creating “Life-Changing-Money” Outside of Dentistry. This should excite you so much that you IMMEDIATELY

REGISTER YOURSELF and YOUR TEAM to attend the 2013 SUMMIT seminar.

Why am I qualified to lead you on this Hunt?

I’ve been practicing General Dentistry in Ripley, Mississippi since I graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1998 and I compete with five other Dentists in my small town. I am proud to be blessed with over 3,000 active patients and routinely schedule well over 50 NEW Referred Patients each month.

In fact, Dr. Woody Oakes* one of the most highly respected dental educators has labeled me…

“Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Dentist”

What might be more impressive to you is that I don’t even consider myself a full time Dentist because I work in my practice just 27-hours a week! In fact, just recently I was christened the MOST EFFICIENT MAN IN DENTISTRY as reference by Dr. Michael Miyasaki and Dr. Woody Oakes on coaching calls to their Members because of all of the “Systems” I’ve put into place that allows me to be super productive in the least amount of time.

First a Bit of Reality

We all agree that our Profession is in turmoil and “danger” signs loom all around, from government

intrusion, corporate takeovers and recent documented decline in Patients visits. Many experienced Dentists take their hard earned money and ride off into the sunset, unsatisfied with what they’ve accumulated and disappointed that if they could sell their practice, it’s NOT worth nearly what they hoped it would when their day came to retire.

Actually, Dentists who have already retired are now returning to Dentistry in record numbers; not because they want to, but because they have to. Unfortunately, all of the years they’ve put into practicing dentistry didn’t create enough money for them that they would never have to worry about outliving.

The hard fact is that Dentistry is in the midst of cataclysmic change and if you haven’t already experienced it, it’s only because the changes are creeping in at such a slow pace that many Practices don’t even notice them yet.

Perhaps your still relatively high income has made you comfortable to a point where you haven’t yet noticed the slow erosion of that income or the subtle decrease in your quality of life. Or maybe your “J-O-B” is so demanding that you don’t want to think much about the future.

Here’s the good news

I and many of the Members of my Capacity Academy have not only survived during this turmoil in our Industry, but are having their best and most profitable years ever. In fact, when I’ve observed what they are implementing along with what I’m adding in my own HUGELY successful Practice, I’ve literally HUNTED DOWN and identified the “BEST WAYS” for YOU to add “at least” an ADDITIONAL 6-Figures of take-home income.

Before I tell you the BEST WAYS, let me tell you why this is like

NO other Event you’ve ever been too…

…Actually, I hate to even call it an “Event,” “Conference,” Boot Camp,” or anything else you may have heard of in the past. In fact, The “New” Innovations in Profitable Dentistry SUMMIT has been completely revamped for 2013 to make it the “Go-To PLACE.” (Keep reading and you be the judge.)

Here’s why:

1) It’s NOT a “pitch fest.” I’m sure you’ve been to other events before where speaker

after speaker is paraded in front of you trying to sell you their latest and greatest Practice Growth widget. In case you’re not familiar with the term, that is what is commonly referred to as a “pitch fest.” This ain’t that. In fact….

2) This IS “real training.*” I, along with a hand–picked faculty of experts, will be

delivering ALL of the training. Everyone has been informed that the purpose of the SUMMIT is

to deliver real actionable content that will lead you towards the goal of earning “at least” an

ADDITIONAL 6-Figures of take-home income. In addition, your attendance at the SUMMIT will

qualify you for 16 AGD Approved CE Credits.

*Just to provide more incentive for each Speaker to give you their absolute best and most useful information they

will each compete for the title of “The TOP 2013 New Innovations in Profitable Dentistry SUMMIT Presenter of the Year” and I will donate a $3,000.00 check to their favorite charity. I can tell you that most of them are super competitive and will try to outdo one another vying for the crown.

3) My Staff will train your Staff. Let me let you in on a dirty little secret. I didn’t earn

the distinction as one of the MOST EFFICIENT Dentist in North America all by myself. I did it along with my extraordinary and well trained staff and for the 1st time ever, I’m going to have them conduct separate Training Sessions for your staff to attend and learn how we do what we do right from the people who are doing it for me. (As you’ll see on pages 8-11 training your staff alone should be worth “at least” an ADDITIONAL 6-Figures of take-home income to YOU, not to mention creating a Hyper-Motivating environment in your own Practice….)

4) It’s NOT 3-days ONLY about making an ADDITIONAL 6-Figure Income from WITHIN your own Dental Practice… Have you ever said to yourself that you hate being so dependent on your Dental income and would like to discover multiple ways you can make “Life Changing Money” so you weren’t so dependent on working ‘IN’ an Operatory the rest of your life? Wouldn’t that create some additional security for you and your family?

Your Prayers Have Been Answered: For the First Time at the SUMMIT, we’ll also cover making multiple streams of income from OUTSIDE your Practice and reveal how you can remove the chains from the stranglehold that Dentistry has on you.

The question is: Given the current state of Dentistry, what is best for you to keep your Practice supporting you as you wish and continuing to maintain its value allowing you to exist on your own terms?

I will tell you – unabashedly – that being at The 2013 “New” Innovations in Profitable Dentistry SUMMIT is the answer to that question.

So, there it is.  I hope you can “join the hunt” with me and the real “Winning Dentists” out there.

Just be sure you don’t less this opportunity pass you by.

If possible, now would be a great time to quickly review the goals and objectives you have for yourself and for your practice this year. Then, take a look at the questions below as we evaluate your progress.

1) How are you doing on the specific goals you set for yourself? Have you made significant progress? Are you on track to reach the goal by the end of the year? Are there any unforeseen challenges or obstacles that have made this process more difficult? If so, what can you do to overcome them?

2) Have you been able to grow your practice so far this year? At the end of the day, just about everything you do as a dentist comes down to growing your practice. Has your practice grown – or has it been a struggle to acquire new patients?

3) Are you using your time effectively so far in 2013? We spend a great deal of time in this space discussing the importance of systemization. Systemizing your practice basically means that “lower level” functions (such as ordering supplies or managing every single aspect of your staff’s workday) come off your plate and are handled by your team. This frees you up to spend more time with patients and more time strategizing and planning for the future. How have you done in this area so far this year? Do you spend most of your day performing essential functions –or is much of your time consumed with less important tasks?

If the answer to most of these questions isn’t very good, don’t worry. The good news is that you still have plenty of time to turn things around and make 2013 a great year. What’s important, however, is that you identify the problems or challenges that are keeping you from meeting your goals. And once you’ve identified them, create a plan to mitigate or overcome them.

Over the years, I have found that understanding the purpose behind your work is a key factor in your ultimate success or failure. In other words, if you want to succeed, you need to have a clear vision in mind that you’re working towards. In our context, the goals and objectives that you set for the year are a big part of your purpose. The reason you’re getting up early each day and coming in to work is because you’re working towards something significant. Think back to the first week of the New Year. If you’re like most people, you were excited, upbeat, and optimistic. This is partially due to the fact that most of us begin the New Year with our resolutions in mind. We’re motivated and we work hard because we want to accomplish big things in the New Year. (That’s why gyms and health clubs always fill up in January).

But after a few weeks, the enthusiasm dies down. Don’t let this happen to you—take a few moments right now to review your goals and sharpen your focus as you continue building your practice throughout the year. If you’d like to learn more, or if you’d like some help getting back on track, please don’t hesitate to contact us today!

Today, we’re going to address an important component to creating effective systems: accountability. You see, it doesn’t matter how effective the systems you design are if your staff members don’t execute properly. Management consultants often point to fast food restaurant McDonald’s as the ultimate example of the power of systemization. And for good reason—the franchise has achieved remarkable consistency. You could walk into any McDonald’s in America and order a meal that looks and tastes exactly like the food at your hometown location.

But… what happens if the cook doesn’t stick to the manual and cooks the fries for too long? Or uses the wrong toppings on a burger?

All of a sudden, the incredible system that has been built doesn’t matter. All is lost, simply because one team member failed to execute. This scenario doesn’t happen often at McDonald’s, because they emphasize quality control and accountability. Mistakes are quickly identified and corrected.

Now… can you say the same about your practice? Do you have rigorous quality control parameters in place? If your employees aren’t executing properly, will their mistakes be identified? And once they are identified, will corrective action be taken to ensure that the problem is resolved?

Most dentists and practice managers, if they are being honest, will admit that their employees aren’t held to high enough standards. It is accountability that produces results—because without it, most (but not all) employees will do the bare minimum. They’ll look for opportunities to cut corners. They won’t execute your systems the way you’ve designed them, and the result will be an inconsistent experience for your patients.

What can you do to create a culture of accountability? Below are several ideas:

Lead by example. If you don’t meet your own standards, don’t expect your team to. If they see you cutting corners and taking shortcuts, they are absolutely going to do the same. I guarantee it!

Don’t tolerate tardiness. If a staff member is supposed to be at work at 9:00 AM, hold him or to it. 9:01 isn’t acceptable. This may sound unnecessarily strict, but the goal is to create a culture of accountability, and you can’t “pick and choose” when you enforce the rules and when you don’t.

Perform thorough reviews frequently. Most dentists DO have clear expectations for their team. They just don’t hold them to it. Take the time regularly to review a team member’s work. Review it in depth and point out any areas that need work. If you expect every ‘I’ to be dotted and every ‘t’ to be crossed, hold your employees to it!

Without accountability, you won’t get the results you want. And no matter how well-designed your systems may be, if your employees don’t execute them properly, your patient experience is going to be inconsistent at best. Hold your team accountable!

Their culture and economy is completely different, but there are also many distinct similarities.

Regardless of their unique ways, one thing is for sure: they are hungry for American dental education.

When they looked to the United States for a doctor to come and mentor, they didn’t have to look far to find a man uniquely qualified to teach them.

Dr. Michael Morgan is probably the biggest star in the world of composite resin study that you’ve never heard of.

His name may be a little nondescript, but there’s nothing “normal” about his history of educating.

His Bio reads like a history book of the last 15 years of American cosmetic dental continuing education.

He was there for the boom, teaching at both LVI and PAC-Live back when they were the 800 pound gorillas in Cosmetic dentistry.

From there, he used that resume to springboard into all the big U.S. meetings: ADA, AGD, AACD, etc. Then, it was time to go international.

Dr. Morgan took his show on the road to Switzerland, Russia, Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines, England, and finally he landed on the shores of Japan.

He was asked about 2 years ago to come to Japan by Dr. Junji Tagami, who is affectionately considered the “Godfather of Dentistry” in Japan. He spoke to his students and residents at Tokyo Medical Dental University, which was quite and honor.

Dr. Morgan spent his time doing roundtables and consults with the residents there and, soon, he was published in their journals.

Then, he was asked back to their country in 2012 (another great honor) to do presentations at the Japanese Esthetic Dental meeting in Hokkaido. There were presenters and attendees form all over Asia and other parts of the world as well.

One thing that struck Dr. Morgan while he was there was that there is a serious need in Japan to find a way to do a quality composite very efficiently, but very clinically sound.

You see, the Japanese people still consider honor to be very important to their culture and it is ingrained and woven into their history. To do shabby work wouldn’t be acceptable there. Yet, they routinely only receive the equivalent of $30 U.S. dollars to do a posterior resin.

There is a need to find a way to help them improve their income, yet still maintain their honor of providing a quality restoration.

Dr. Morgan is currently taking up that charge and working behind the scenes to find a technique or sequence that can accomplish both of these desired outcomes.

As the trip wound down, Dr. Morgan also had the opportunity to visit the clinic of Dr. Hirofumi Tashiro, who is considered one of the best young dentists in Japan. His office was truly a model of efficiency. Bright and nicely decorated, immaculately clean, always runs on time, and probably does more production per square foot than most office in this country. Not just production, but very high quality production.

That trip changed the way Dr. Michael Morgan looked at dentistry in other countries and it probably changed the way he looks at dentistry, anywhere. Period.

As 2013 gets underway, there is no telling how those travels will shape the way Dr. Michael approaches his teaching style. Heck, who knows how it will affect dentistry in the world as we know it.

Only time will tell.

The same is true of you and I. Frequently, dentists tell me that they “just don’t have the time” for various initiatives relating to growing their practice. But that is simply not true—it’s an excuse.

We have the time. In most cases, the problem is that we’re not using our time very effectively. To that end, today I want to share with you five tips to help you use your time more effectively each day. This isn’t theoretical mumbo-jumbo—these are principles that work in the real world.

1) Start each day by creating a plan.Take the time every morning to create a prioritized to-do list, or do it the night before. Without such a list you become reactive instead of proactive—but by defining your priorities, you assure that you’re always spending your time efficiently. Identify the most important tasks each day, and don’t let distraction keep you from getting them done. You can easily do this using your smart phone or tablet!

2) Stop doing work that your staff should be doing. If you knew how many hours each year you spent doing work that your staff should be doing, you’d be shocked—if you’re like most dentists, anyway. If you pay your staff to answer the phone when it rings, you shouldn’t be doing it. Two minutes here and there may not seem like a big deal, but it adds up. And more importantly, it sends the wrong message to your team. They are responsible to do their job, and you are responsible for yours. Make this clear.

3) Avoid multi-tasking. This may sound crazy—after all, our culture is all about multi-tasking. And while from time to time, some level of multitasking is necessary, you’re better off focusing on one job or project at a time, completing it, and then moving on to the next. Try it for a week—take on one task at a time and refuse to be sidetracked. I would be willing to bet that you’ll experience a major productivity boost.

4) Stop putting off the tough tasks. It’s human nature to look for ways to avoid tough tasks—and as a result, we all have those items that linger on our to-do list for weeks. Don’t let this happen. Instead, make it a goal to get the toughest jobs out of the way early each week when you will have the energy that will be required.

5) Train and delegate. Your practice will be much better off if you can teach your staff to do things the right way, and then empower them to take action while you focus on priority number one… taking care of your patients!

As a dentist, your time is precious. These tips will help you make the most of it. Give them a try and let me know how it goes!

Periodontitis has it’s controversial links to heart health.

GERD is many times a silent disease that can be best identified by us at the earliest stages before more serious internal damage is done.

Now, there’s a chance that we could identify one of the major causes of high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and diabetes, before they have a chance to grip the lives of our patients with their terrible consequences.

The only catch is that it raises our need for expertise to the level of medical specialists.

What could have burst onto the scene with such reckless abandon that it raises our scope and the need for our keen skills of observation at the same time?

Sleep Medicine of course.

10 years ago sleep medicine may have been a real discipline, but sleep dentistry was relegated to the outposts of dentistry to the extent that it was difficult for dentists to even acknowledge that they dabbled in the art at their local dental society meetings.

That’s sure not the case today.

Dental Sleep Medicine has boomed.

Almost as quickly as the field has become mainstream, a rising star has burst on the scene herself.

Enter Dr. Erin Elliott.

When I decided to include Dental Sleep Medicine in my agenda for the Biggest, Baddest Dental Event 2013 in Nashville this summer, I asked around for “the” expert in the field. I assumed there would be some 50 to 60 year old male who had been working on this for the last 30 years. I worried that the lecture might be a little stale, but I felt like it was an area that my members needed to know about.

As I continued to inquire, one name kept popping up. I even had a couple of docs email me and say that I needed to get in touch with Dr. Elliott.

OK, I got it. I needed to find this elusive Erin Elliott and convince her to come to Nashville.

Easier said than done.

I finally tracked her down next to the Rocky Mountains. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to be exact.
What I found certainly wasn’t a stodgy, old, warhorse of a dentist.

I found a young, go-getter who has squeezed a lifetime of dental and social experience into her 10 professional years.
Dr. Erin has not only built a thriving practice during those 10 years, but she also found time to give back, working with local tribal dental centers and taking 3 separate trips to Honduras to do charity work.

Then there’s Sleep Medicine.  Dr. Elliott is an active member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine. Dr. Elliott has authored several articles on Dental Sleep Medicine, including her latest article published in the October 2012 issue of Dental Economics entitled “Take the Time to Check for Sleep Apnea.” She is considered a national expert in this growing field of dentistry and has lectured extensively educating dentists on how to incorporate dental sleep medicine into their practices.

That’s just what she’ll be doing for our group this year in Nashville.

Somehow in the midst of all her professional accolades, she has managed keep up an active personal life, with loving husband and two great kids in tow.

She even has time to get in the occasional soccer game. She’s quick to say that she’s not “competitive,” but with her track record in all the other aspects of her life, I seriously doubt you’d want to be facing her one-on-one.

Barbara Walters once said that Coeur d’Alene was a “little slice of heaven.” I suppose that’s the kind of setting you’d expect to find a dentist like Dr. Elliott, a Winning Dentist if I ever saw one.

Hailing from the University of Southern California, home of Heisman trophies, national championships, and arguably the best motion picture school in America, Dr. Sameer Puri has transformed himself into a movie-star in the world of cosmetic dentistry.

I met Southern Cal Sam while I was a senior at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Puri was finishing up his residency there and was assigned to my side of the clinic floor on Fridays to grade operative.

Since most of my classmates had already finished there operative requirements (I admit to being a friend of procrastination), the only people he had to work with routinely were me and the unmarried girls in the class who were just showing up in hopes that they might catch his eye. You see, he had the rep of being the “cute” professor with all the ladies in my class. Although, as far as I could tell, he took his residency so seriously that he never acknowledged their interest.

As far as I was concerned, Sam was just about the coolest grader I had since all my other clinical professors were ex-military with a severe love of amalgams and the secondary anatomy that they thought a true silver filling deserved.

Dr. Sam made us do good by our patients, but he wasn’t hung up on making us come back in for polish appointments before he gave us our points. Needless to say he was a favorite of mine and all who got to hang out with him that year.

At the end of that year, Sam jetted back to the friendly confine of California and I struck out on my general dentistry adventure.

We lost touch until a few years ago. I had kept up with him sparingly through watching his posts on Dentaltown, but had never re-connected.

Then, I decided to publish a book about my exploits. After writing my material, I felt the book needed some other perspectives besides my own narrow success experience. Since I had become “anti” cosmetic dentistry, I contacted Dr. Puri to see if he would contribute an original chapter. He very graciously complied.

I just knew he was a great cosmetic dentist. I had no idea he had become a secret Rock Star of the CEREC world.

He sent in his chapter, “The Definition of Success”.   I published the book The Ultimate Success Secret: Not Just For Dentists in 2009 and I lost track of Sam again.

I knew he had mentioned that he had started a little website for CEREC users, but I let it fly right over my head as I was focused on “bigger and better ideas.”

Once again, WRONG. I had no idea that there would become NO bigger or better idea than the one that Sameer had started with his friend, Armen Mirzayan.

Cerecdoctors.com has become a force with which to reckon in the dental education world.

If you visit their site, you will see a movement, not a website. When I asked Sam if I could write about him for the last Winning Dentist ezine of the year, he graciously obliged, but said that I would have to get most of my research off the cerecdoctors.com website. I visited and started reading.

Here are some of the highlights I found:

‘Dr. Puri serves as the Director of CAD CAM at the Scottsdale Center for Dentistry.  He is also the cofounder of www.cerecdoctors.com a website dedicated to CEREC online education where clinicians can learn the ins and outs of CEREC dentistry from basic training to more advanced techniques such as anterior esthetics.  The website has become the standard of CEREC training and is the largest online CEREC resource in the world.  Patterson Dental found the content so valuable to the CEREC user, that they approved the website to be used with the CEREC Advanced Training Vouchers, the first time any educational medium outside of a standard training was approved to do so.Dr. Puri has been published in numerous professsional journals and magazines. His aesthetic techniques and results have been used in manufacturer brochures and advertisements.  Dr. Puri is also a consultant to various manufacturers to help them improve their products and help develop new products for the dental industry.  He is married to his wife of 14 years and is the father to two beautiful girls.’

I continued my research and found out that besides all the hoopla about cerecdoctors.com, Dr. Puri is revered so mightily in the CEREC community that he was asked to deliver the keynote address at their 25^th Anniversary gathering a couple of years ago.

OK, I’m now officially jealous.  Back in 1998 he and I were essentially at the same station in life.  Sure he had a couple of years on me.  Still, essentially the same.

Now, he has the world at his feet.  He is building a true empire with likeminded friends.  He has students who respect him and are chomping at the bit to learn his amazing skills with CEREC dentistry and cosmetic in general.  He speaks to thousands at a time.

I’ve got to quit writing this article before I get more depressed.  But, I’ll leave you with this:

Sam Puri achieved this amazing success the right way.  He had a vision and a dream that was rooted in genuine passion and excellence.  This is a true organic success story, no flash in the pan.

If you ever meet him, you can just tell.  It is the unspoken compassion and confidence beneath that million dollar smile.

In fact, I became so impressed by his body of work that after preparing to write this article, I purchased a new CEREC unit myself.  Yes, I know I have been on record saying that I would never do that.  Yes, I know that I’ve said that I thought they were stupid and wastes of productivity.  Yes, I know I’ve said that there is NO way they are worth the money that Patterson extracts from a dentist.

What can I say?  I believe in Sam Puri enough to alter my opinion long enough to at least test it out on my days off.  We’ll see.  To the larger point, I know the real deal when I see it.  Sameer Puri is it.  Isn’t that the true definition of a Winning Dentist?

If you would like to read Dr. Puri’s chapter in The Ultimate Success Secret: Not Just For Dentists, go to this link and download the entire book for FREE.  It might just open your eyes, too.

1) Stay in touch with patients. How often are you communicating with your patients? Are you finding many opportunities each year—or does your correspondence tend to be limited to scheduling reminders and billing statements? Remember, more communication leads to stronger “top of mind” awareness for your patients. Social media is a great tool in this area.

2) Emphasize consistency. Great practices don’t rely on flashes of brilliance. They are built around a consistent patient experience. Commit to consistency.

3) Invest into your staff. Your staff generally interacts with your patients more than you do. Investing into their training and their growth as professionals is not only the “right thing to do”—it also ensures a higher level of patient service.

4) Set the right example. Don’t just “talk the talk” when it comes to patient service. Set an example of professional, courteous behavior for your staff to follow.

5) Delegate more. How much time do you spend each week doing work that could be delegated to others on your team? If you are like most dentists, the answer is a significant amount of time. And usually, the reason dentists keep doing the work themselves rather than delegating is because they don’t want to invest the time into training their staff. But this is one of the best investments you can make as it frees you up to spend your time more effectively.

6) Spent time each month strategizing. It’s critical that you take the time to look at your practice from a “big picture” perspective. Take time each month, either with your team, a mentor, a mastermind group, or even family, to look at your practice from a strategic standpoint. You may be surprised at how many opportunities you discover.

7) Be proactive. Too many dentists, and business owners in general, have a tendency to be overly passive. They wait and “see what happens” rather than taking deliberate and purposeful action. Whatever your goals and objectives are for 2013, commit to proactively pursuing them, rather than sitting back and hoping for good luck.

8 ) Always set deadlines. This is one of the most powerful pieces of advice I can give you, and it’s very easy to implement. Whether it is your own personal to-do list, a task list for your staff, or a project with an outside contractor—always set a deadline. This prevents procrastination and ensures that when you set out to do something, it actually gets done.

I hope that 2013 is the best year yet for you and for your practice. If you’d like to learn more, get in touch with me today!