Most practices hire to fill a gap. The ones that grow hire to build a future.

This episode is about why the right "who" matters more than any system you'll ever install.

Greg sits down with Brian Passell, PhD, an industrial-organizational psychologist with DDS Recruit and the son of a Phoenix periodontist. They dig into why recruiting should start with the owner's goals instead of a job description, what fear-based hiring really costs a practice, and why leadership at the top decides whether a great hire stays.

They discuss:

- Why Brian treats recruiting as a byproduct of strategy, starting every conversation with the owner's business and career goals, not the open role

- Tossing out the "booked five weeks out" rule for adding an associate, and the many real reasons to bring on another provider

- Creating optionality for doctor owners so they can think like a CEO, whether they're early career or planning an exit

- Culture defined simply: what we value around here and how we do what we do

- Why systems break, and how the right people carry a team through the internet going down, a missing case, or a full shutdown

- The most common hiring mistake: grabbing the first warm body out of fear, and the damage it leaves behind

- The hard truth that sometimes the problem is the boss, and why leadership starts at the top

- What the Sleuth is Going On: a Tex-Mex barber, experience lines, and the plaque disclosing tablets Brian wishes he'd invented

A clear look at why the people you choose, and the leader you become, shape the practice you end up with.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Brian Passell, PhD is an industrial-organizational psychologist with DDS Recruit, where he helps dental practice owners reach their business goals by finding associates, specialists, and team members who fit their vision and culture. Before focusing on dentistry, he spent 10 years in Big Four consulting and management in the energy sector.

Brian grew up in the industry as the son of a periodontist who practiced in Phoenix for decades. He brings a psychologist's lens to hiring, culture, and leadership, and a straight answer on why the owner's goals should drive every hire.

LINKS & NEXT STEPS

- Learn more: https://www.dentalconsult4u.com

- Book a call: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/booking/du9K0a2re1K4eBBk8fI7

- Connect with Brian: https://ddsrecruit.net | brian@ddsrecruit.net

He renamed his own academy mid-conversation and it says everything about how he picks partners, trains surgeons, and decides who gets access to his cell phone number.

Real partnership isn't about filling a room, it's about matching philosophy before you match calendars.

Greg sits down with Dr. Rick Kapitan, oral maxillofacial surgeon and founder of the Clinicians Implant Academy (CIA), to unpack what separates a real educational partnership from a transactional one. Rick shares his "risk before reward" filter for choosing collaborators, his approach to building an academy around ongoing mentorship instead of one-off lectures, and the personal journey that reshaped why he gives back both in his Charlotte practice and on mission trips abroad.

They discuss:

- Why Greg suggested Rick rename his program from Clinicians Implant Academy to Connections Implant Academy

- The "risk first vs. reward first" filter Rick uses to decide which companies and platforms are worth partnering with

- Why one-off lectures create "data transmission" but not real education and how a curriculum-based academy changes that

- How consistency across a whole team (not just the founder) signals a partnership is built to last

- Rick's shift from viewing mission work as a "penance" to doing it from a place of joy

- What his cadaver lab partnership with Endurance Experience Anatomy looks like behind the scenes

- CIA's 2027 roadmap: more course offerings, live patient participation, and regional roadshows

- Why Rick puts his personal cell phone and email on every slide he presents

Bottom line: the practices and partners who last are the ones who choose relationship over transaction, every time.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Dr. Rick Kapitan is an oral maxillofacial surgeon based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the founder of the Clinicians Implant Academy (CIA), a hands-on training program for oral surgeons and clinicians. He also serves as director of the Carolinas Center for Cleft Lip and Palate Surgery and is a new partner of GnA Consulting.

Rick is known for building education around long-term mentorship rather than one-off lectures, and for a partner-selection philosophy rooted in shared values over shared logos. Outside the OR, he's spent years doing cleft-palate surgical mission work internationally, including recent trips to Guatemala.

LINKS & NEXT STEPS

- Learn more: https://www.dentalconsult4u.com

- Book a call: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/booking/du9K0a2re1K4eBBk8fI7

Patients don't choose org names. They choose people.

And yet most dental groups are building brand equity at the organization level while leaving their individual doctors invisible online.

In this episode of Tooth Sleuth, Greg sits down with Sam Gaynes, Enterprise Account Executive at rater8, for a sharp conversation on online reputation, AI search, and why the way DSOs think about doctor visibility is costing them new patients and full arch cases they don't even know they're losing.

They discuss:

- Why DSOs under-invest in individual doctor profiles and why that's a strategic mistake

- The 10-20% of patients who search specifically for a provider -- not a location -- and what happens when that doctor is invisible online

- How rater8's algorithm automatically distributes patient reviews across multiple platforms to match where they're most needed

- Why AI is now reading Healthgrades, WebMD, Vitals, and verified listings -- not just Google -- and what that means for practices

- The shift from Google as a search engine to Google as an answer engine, and how AI overviews are changing where patients land

- How sentiment signals across the web -- not just star ratings -- determine what AI recommends to prospective patients

- Why 95% of patients rate five stars but only the unhappy 1-2% are motivated enough to leave a review without being asked

- The order of operations in healthcare marketing: reviews are not a final step, they are the foundation everything else builds on

This episode is a clear-eyed look at what dental groups are missing in their online strategy -- and the practical framework to fix it.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Sam Gaynes is an Enterprise Account Executive at rater8, a healthcare reputation platform that helps dental practices and DSOs build provider visibility, generate consistent patient reviews, and increase discoverability across both traditional and AI-driven searches. Based in Venice, CA, Sam has spent over a decade in healthcare technology, holding roles from sales to VP of Partnerships at rater8, giving him a ground-level view of how online reputation is built, lost, and recovered at scale across multi-location dental groups.

Sam is also a videographer, which shapes how he thinks about storytelling and how providers present themselves to the world. He brings a rare combination of operational understanding and marketing insight to a topic most dental groups underestimate until it starts costing them cases.

LINKS & NEXT STEPS

Learn more: https://www.dentalconsult4u.com

Book a call: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/booking/du9K0a2re1K4eBBk8fI7

Learn more about rater8: https://www.rater8.com