(by Marni Blythe) A few months ago, I sat across from a dentist who looked successful on paper… and exhausted in person. Full schedule. Solid revenue. Good team. But he said this: “I’m constantly solving problems I thought we already fixed. I feel like I’m always managing people – and no one really owns anything.” As a Fractional COO, I …
The Hidden Cost of Toxic Culture in Healthcare Practices
(by Marni Blythe) In healthcare, outcomes are everything. But what if I told you that the biggest threat to your clinical outcomes and financial performance isn’t your competitors – it’s your culture? The very fabric of your practice’s environment can make or break your success. A thriving culture fosters teamwork, enhances patient care, and ultimately contributes to the bottom line. …
Finding Purpose In the Changing Dental Hygiene Profession
(by Kathryn Gilliam, BA, BSDH, MAAOSH, HIAOMT) This has been a challenging and transformative year for dental hygienists. With new legislation in several states that expand the duties of dental assistants to include supragingival scaling, many dental hygienists are experiencing uncertainty, frustration, and concern about the future of our profession. These changes may feel like a threat, an encroachment on …
Women’s Health
(by Ann-Marie, DePalma, CDA, RDH, MEd) There are approximately 172 million women in the United States, representing half of the total population. Although awareness of women’s health has increased in recent years, numerous issues unique to women remain underrecognized. Dental healthcare providers frequently conduct only brief reviews of medical histories due to time constraints, therefore may not be familiar with …
Cure Your Scheduling Headaches
(by Sandy Baird, MBA) Is your schedule driving you crazy? Scheduling is one of the most important elements of your practice. It is intimately tied to your profits, stress level, and patient satisfaction. Yet, I see practice after practice allowing their schedule to reduce their income, create work chaos, and drive patients away. Is this what is happening in your …
The Burnout Monster Is Lurking. I See It!
(by Sandy Baird, MBA) Professional burnout is an epidemic! According to a recent Forbes article, research shows that job burnout affects around 66% of the American workforce. This is an all-time high! Companies across all industries are recognizing the impact on their business, including higher absenteeism, weaker performance, poorer customer service, and reduced efficiency. It is one of the most …
Why Dental Practices Plateau and the Leadership Framework that Breaks the Ceiling
(by Marni Blythe) Most dental practices don’t stall because of clinical skill, technology, or patient demand. They stall because leadership hasn’t evolved alongside the practice itself. In fast-moving clinical environments, how leaders think, communicate, and make decisions directly shapes team performance and operational stability. When leadership development keeps pace with growth, practices gain clarity, alignment, and resilience. When it doesn’t, …
Focused Remote Work
(by Michael G. Neece) Have you ever started your day with optimism and a long to-do list only to finish with a deflated or perplexed feeling and most of the list undone? This is a common story, especially now that most of us are working remotely and are suffering from meeting fatigue and email overload. The good news is that …
2026 Strategic & Budget Plan for Dental Offices
(by Valerie Woo, DMD) Build a 2026-ready strategy & budget for your dental practice with VTO, Rocks, code-level analysis, and a practical pre-2026 checklist. From “Someday” to Done If planning your year always seems to be the thing that “never gets done,” you’re not alone. Most dental owners can see the profit leaking – vendor creep, inefficient scheduling, supplies overages, …
Grief in the Season of Light
A Healthcare Provider’s Journey Through Holiday Loss (by Dr. Parul Dua Makkar) Grief changes everything. It alters how we move, how we breathe, how we belong to the world. When I lost my younger and only sibling, Manu, and then later my father, the ground beneath me shifted in ways I could never have prepared for. Their deaths did not …