Profit-First Dentistry: Escaping the Production Hamster Wheel
Release Date: 04/01/2025
Is Your Dental Practice Quietly Falling Apart? Here’s Why
Next Level Practice
Struggling to hire and keep great dental team members? You're not alone. Discover why 62% of dentists call staffing their #1 issue. In this eye-opening episode, Kelly Dahmer, CEO of Next Level Practice, dives into the dental hiring crisis affecting practices nationwide. With staffing shortages, rising payroll costs, and high turnover disrupting patient care and profitability, it's more critical than ever to rethink your approach. Learn why hiring feels like filling a leaky bucket—and what you can do to stop the leaks. In this episode, you’ll learn: • Why the “Great Resignation” and...
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How to Drop PPOs Without Losing Patients or Profit
Next Level Practice
Ready to escape the insurance trap? Learn how to drop PPOs with strategy—not chaos. Subscribe now for real-world solutions! Is your biggest PPO silently draining your profits, your peace of mind, and even your patient relationships? In this powerful episode of the Next Level Practice Podcast, host Kelly Dahmer, CEO of Next Level Practice, reveals a clear, actionable plan to drop PPOs strategically—without losing your patients or your income. Learn how to conduct a PPO profitability audit, communicate changes with confidence, and implement in-house membership plans to retain patients. Plus,...
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The Hidden Cost of New Patients: Is Your Practice Stuck on the Treadmill?
Next Level Practice
Dentists are constantly told to chase new patients to grow their practice. But what if we told you that not all new patients are an asset—in fact, some might hurt your profitability, team morale, and patient experience? In this eye-opening episode of the Next Level Practice Podcast, host Kelly Dahmer, CEO of Next Level Practice, breaks down the myth that “more new patients = growth.” You’ll learn how blindly pursuing new patient growth can create a new patient treadmill, leading to high expenses, low case acceptance, and burnout across your entire team. In this episode, you’ll...
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Why Patients Don’t Accept Dental Treatment (And What To Do About It)
Next Level Practice
If your treatment plans are being ignored, delayed, or outright rejected, this episode is for you. In this episode, Kelly Dahmer, CEO of Next Level Practice, reveals exactly why patients ghost after hearing their treatment plan—and how to turn that around with a proven, step-by-step system that dramatically increases case acceptance. Are your patients leaning in… or leaning out? Too many practices do all the work to diagnose and educate, but fail at the most critical step: helping the patient truly understand why the treatment matters to them. Without this connection, even the best...
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Turn Every Dental Salary Into a Profit Machine (Without Micromanaging)
Next Level Practice
Are you treating your team's salaries like an expense — or like the investment they truly are? In this episode of the Next Level Practice Podcast, CEO Kelly Dahmer shares why every salary in your dental practice needs a scorecard — and how shifting your mindset can transform your payroll from a cash drain into a profit-producing machine. If you've ever wondered why you're writing payroll checks without seeing results — or felt resentment every time you hit "submit" on payday — this episode is for you. 💥 What You’ll Learn in This Episode Why salaries aren't your real...
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You Don’t Need More Patients—You Need THIS Hygiene System
Next Level Practice
What if the key to transforming your dental practice’s profitability isn’t more new patients—but optimizing the team you already have? In this game-changing episode of the Next Level Practice Podcast, host and dental business strategist Kelly Dahmer reveals why most practices are overlooking their most powerful revenue generator: the hygiene department. While many dentists think hygiene is just “maintenance” or a break-even part of the schedule, the truth is it should be the engine that drives production, case acceptance, and long-term patient retention. If your hygiene department...
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Your Dental Team Should Run Without You—Here’s How to Make It Happen
Next Level Practice
Is your dental practice dependent on YOU to function? If taking a vacation feels impossible because your team can’t run the show without you, this episode is your wake-up call. In this high-impact episode of the Next Level Practice Podcast, host Kelly Dahmer shares the exact framework for transforming your dental team from a reactive, chaotic group into a high-performing, self-managing team that drives growth—even when you're not around. Whether you're a practice owner, office manager, or team leader, you'll discover how to break free from the bottlenecks and create a scalable, structured,...
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From ‘Maybe’ to ‘Yes’: Mastering Case Acceptance Without Selling
Next Level Practice
Ever feel like you nailed the diagnosis, explained the treatment, and offered every payment option… only for the patient to say, “I’ll think about it”? In this episode of the NextLevel Practice Podcast, host Kelly Dahmer breaks down one of the most misunderstood aspects of running a successful practice: why patients say no—even when they need the care. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: How to tap into emotional motivators that drive decision-making Why clinical explanations don’t move the needle (and what does) 3 simple takeaways you can apply with your team today to...
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Doing It All Is Killing Your Practice: How Smart Dentists Scale with Less Stress
Next Level Practice
💡 You're not just a dentist—you’re also the office manager, HR, scheduler, and problem solver. ❌ You’re staying late, skipping lunch, and drowning in admin work. ❌ You can’t grow if you’re doing everything yourself. In this game-changing episode of the Next Level Practice Podcast, CEO Kelly Dahmer reveals: ✅ Why delegation is the secret weapon of thriving dental practices ✅ How to build a team that handles business—so you can focus on dentistry ✅ The simple mindset shift that helped “Dr. Miller” and “Dr. Sarah” reclaim their time This episode breaks down why...
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Profit-First Dentistry: Escaping the Production Hamster Wheel
Next Level Practice
Are you producing more than ever but still feeling stuck financially? You're not alone—over 60% of dentists say they feel like they’re living paycheck to paycheck… despite owning their own practice. In this powerful episode of the Next Level Practice Podcast, CEO Kelly Dahmer dives deep into one of the biggest blind spots in dentistry: the toxic cycle of production addiction. You’ll discover why working harder doesn’t equal earning more—and what to do instead to finally get your time, profit, and peace of mind back. It’s time to move from survival mode to scalable success. What...
info_outlineAre you producing more than ever but still feeling stuck financially? You're not alone—over 60% of dentists say they feel like they’re living paycheck to paycheck… despite owning their own practice. In this powerful episode of the Next Level Practice Podcast, CEO Kelly Dahmer dives deep into one of the biggest blind spots in dentistry: the toxic cycle of production addiction.
You’ll discover why working harder doesn’t equal earning more—and what to do instead to finally get your time, profit, and peace of mind back. It’s time to move from survival mode to scalable success.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
✅ Why dentists are trained to produce, not to profit—and how to change that
✅ How your relationship with money is sabotaging your take-home pay
✅ The mindset shift that took Dr. Susan from burnout to doubling her income
✅ How to calculate your true hourly worth—and why it may shock you
✅ 3 money beliefs keeping practices stuck in low-profit, high-effort mode
✅ What it means to run a collection- and utilization-focused practice, not just a production-focused one
✅ Real tools like the “profit-first mindset” and team financial alignment that transform cash flow fast
🎯 Want to benchmark your numbers against top 10% dental practices?
📊 Download our Practice Expense Benchmark Worksheet FREE
It will help you understand where your money should go and where it's leaking.
📤 Share this with a dental colleague who’s stuck on the hamster wheel of more, more, more