NEWS
Scaling Dental Practices: Insights from Dr. Scott Leune

Welcome to another special episode of The Dental CEO Podcast. I’m Dr. Scott Leune, and today, I’d like to share some profound insights into the journey of growing and scaling dental practices. Throughout my career, I’ve encountered numerous challenges and milestones, which have profoundly shaped my approach towards running a scalable, efficient business in the dental industry.

Early in my career, after completing my studies and initially getting involved in the dental field, I quickly recognized the steep learning curve involved. My first significant move was deciding to dive headfirst into practice ownership. I started with a practice that was practically de novo, facing the common hurdles of managing cash flow, staff turnover, and establishing a reputable presence in the community. These experiences were daunting but invaluable, teaching me the essence of resilience and adaptability.

Fast forward a few months into running the practice, I encountered a critical realization. The culture and the operational efficiency weren’t just about maintaining equipment or ensuring financial stability but deeply involved our staff and the systems we had in place. Initially, undertaking the task of revamping an old practice, I noticed major lapses in how things were done. Our equipment setups were outdated, sterilization processes were poorly managed, and patient scheduling was a mess. This situation pushed me to institute immediate changes, significantly impacting our service delivery and patient satisfaction rates.

At this point, my goals began to align more with the strategic aspects of the business rather than just the clinical side. Realizing this, I decided to delve into understanding the intricacies of business management within a dental practice. This understanding wasn’t limited to just operational procedures but extended to staff management and customer experience, which are pivotal to any successful practice.

The journey of scaling isn’t isolated to expanding to more locations but deeply involves optimizing existing operations. It dawned upon me that managing a growing number of staff, and aligning them with the practice’s vision, was as crucial as any financial investment. My philosophy evolved from just being a great dentist to becoming a great leader.

Through my experience, the change from operating one practice to managing multiple locations wasn’t just a quantitative increase but a qualitative one as well. Each new location brought with it its set of challenges, from integrating new staff to aligning the operations with the centralized management systems we had gradually been establishing. During this phase, I learned the importance of having a robust backend operation that could seamlessly integrate new practices into our fold without disrupting the existing ones.

From a technology standpoint, incorporating AI into our operations has been groundbreaking. We began with introducing AI for basic tasks like answering phone calls, drastically reducing wait times and missed appointments. Observing the positive impacts, we ventured further into utilizing AI for diagnostic purposes, using tools like Pearl and Overjet to assist in identifying dental issues, thereby speeding up our diagnostics and treatment planning processes.

The culmination of these experiences has led me to firmly believe in the concept of holistic growth, focusing not just on business expansion but on enhancing every facet of the practice, from patient care to staff welfare and technological integration. It’s about setting realistic long-term goals and making concerted efforts to achieve them.

Scaling dental practices is an intricate, continuous process that requires an unwavering commitment to improvement and innovation. As I continue on this journey, the insights I’ve gained are not just about overcoming challenges but about understanding the core values that drive sustainable growth in the dental industry.