Dental A Team W/ Kiera Dent And Dr Mark Costes

So many practice leaders and owners feel it, but so few say it — the weight of ownership can sometimes be too much. Kiera talks about how common stress among dentists is, what those stressors can look like, and how to start lessening that weight today. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera and I hope you're having a great day. I hope that you are excited about life. I hope that you just remember like, we are so lucky. We get to be in dentistry. We get to hang out on the podcast together. I get to go with you on whatever road you're going on today, whatever life you're doing, whatever you're doing. I am so grateful that you're choosing to take me along with you. And today I just wanted to talk about something that I feel is really near and dear to me. It's near and dear to a lot of our dentists.   We ran a really fun webinar last year and I'm excite

Summit 2026 was all about scaling leadership and growing profit in your dental practice, and Kiera and Tiff are here to revisit the highlights. They discuss understanding where your time goes, what it looks like when you need a priority realignment, controlling reasons versus the results, implementing the yes model, and more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today is a really exciting day. I got the one and only Spiffy Tiffy on the podcast with me and we're here to do a really exciting podcast. Tiff, how you doing over there today? Excited?   Tiff (00:12) Hi, I'm so excited. We have not podcasted in far too long. Like our schedule's just, it's hard. It's weird because we never see each other. So it's super weird. I know.   Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:19) I know, but we did just see each other in person, was   honestly the reason we're po

Re-releasing a DAT listener favorite! Spiffy Tiffy and Dynamite Dana wax poetic about a topic coming up quite a bit in offices these days: teamwork and morale, and how to make it the best possible. Together, they touch on the following:   Who's responsible How to own your morale Suggestions for jumpstarting positivity   Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review   Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today we are bringing you something so special. I am so excited because this is one of our most popular episodes from the archives. Whether you're hearing this for the first time or catching it again, I am so excited because it's jam packed with a ton of takeaways that you can start using right now in your practice. We have released thousands, literally thousands of episodes. And I wanted to start bringing a few of these amazing episodes back for you. So I hope you enjoy. And as always, thanks for lis

Do you often feel like your homebase emotionally is a little … chaotic? Kiera reminds listeners that having a "calm" practice doesn't necessarily mean having a slow practice; rather, it's an intentional place, and it's worth existing in. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today is such a great day. It's podcast day and I'm so excited to be here with all of you. I hope that you're excited for today. And again, I hope that you just remember that we are truly so blessed and so lucky to be living in the world of dentistry. I love being in dentistry. I love helping people have smiles. I love that like smiles are contagious, that good dentistry is contagious, that great teams are contagious. And today, today's podcast is   ⁓ calm is contagious and so is chaos. And, I think a calm practice model is really something that's going to help high performing offi

Ever feel like money is disappearing from your practice? Tiff and Dana share where practices tend to find that missing money, as well as how to trim down those expenses. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. I always want to say on that opening, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and I have to really think about it. Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are back here. Dana and I have been on a podcasting frenzy we love these days and then we're like out of breath and I also love that because it feels like productive and anaerobic. So I'll take it. I've got Dana here with us today. Dana, thank you so much for riffing with me today, for being here, for blocking out your morning, for podcasting and just   All awesome, awesome. Thank you for being an awesome part of this team. We were literally just talking about how my brain just is like ping pong, ping pong, and then I won't finish a

Consulting across hundreds of offices means the Dental A-Team has seen a thing or two when it comes to scaling strategies, and in this episode, Kiera shares the secret to what type of quantity works best for you. Specifically, she connects why practice success should start with what you want as an individual. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today's topic is a freaking fun topic. ⁓ I think it's something people ask all the time, should I have like one mega practice or like three littles? And so today the topic is going to be, should I run a $3 million office or three $1 million offices? So it's kind of this like different ways to scale and to grow and in Dental A Team, if you've been a listener, welcome. I'm so happy to hang out with you. If you're new, welcome. I'm Kiera Dent.   And our job is to positively impact the world of dentistry i

Kiera walks listeners through a list of questions that should be answered before officially stepping away from your job. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:01) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today is gonna be a fun day. Like, are you ready about it? Let's talk about when you wanna quit. All team members, all bosses, every single one of us has that. And yet we're so freaking scared to say that out loud. And I just want you to know that like, it's okay to say you wanna quit. It's okay to say you don't wanna do it. And I want to just give you some tactical pieces to navigate through these tricky times. And also like, what do we do when we wanna quit? And to know, are we really ready to be done?   or is it a season that we can change? So you guys at the Dental A Team, I'm obsessed. Our job is to love on you to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. I love

Did you know there's actually a right and wrong time to implement key practice indicators (or KPIs) in your office? Tiff and Dana reveal what should be firmly in place in a practice before you start assigning metrics for success. They touch on KPIs position by position, staying human amid the numbers, and more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello Dental A Team listeners. I am so excited to be here with you today. You guys know that I love podcasting. You guys know that I love spending this time with you. And I love getting to spend the time with my consultant team as well. So I have Dana here with us today. Dana, how are you?   DAT-Dana (00:16) doing pretty good. I'm excited to be here. It's not that often that I get get dedicated podcast time with Tiff, so super excited.   The Dental A Team (00:22) I know,   I know it's because I schedule us long and we bust out a ton and then we don't see ea

Did you know: Positive employees are 31% more productive and show higher sales and creativity? That's why Kiera is talking all about positivity! She shares tips for how to encourage those higher cortisol levels among team members and patients. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and welcome. Welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I hope you're having a great day. I hope that you realize that we are so lucky to live in the profession that we do that honestly dentistry is just this life-changing profession and I'm really grateful to be here. I'm grateful you're a part of our podcast family. As you guys know, the Dental A Team podcast was created to positively impact and inspire you in the greatest way possible. Our mission is to be in the hands of every single dental practice owner and office manager out there. So please do us a favor.   leave us a review, s

This one is for the billion-dollar assets of each practice: the doctor! Kiera is a pragmatic cheerleader, encouraging doctors to realize the asset they are. She touches on self evaluation, burnout, and building a practice that doesn't require constant sacrifice. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. today I just want to give you a perspective shift that I hope you take, that I hope you run with. And I hope that you see the beauty in just thinking about it differently. I'm Kiera Dent. I'm the host of the Dental Dental A Team podcast. I love all things dentistry and I love positively influencing and infusing and impacting your life for the better. ⁓ We fly physically to your practices or we coach your team, you and your team virtually.   We also have in-person doctor masterminds where our entire community gets together. We share, we laugh, we have a good ti

What are the most common reasons a dental practice reaches out to the Dental A-Team? In this episode, Tiff and Kristy discuss those woes of an office (systems, lack of team alignment, metrics, etc.) that lead doctors to ask for help, and how consultants can turn the sometimes-dreaded details and numbers into a story that everyone in the practice can rally behind. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello Dental A Team listeners. We are back here today with, we used to have this consultant takeover and I kinda like that. We are taking over the podcast, but we take over the podcast often, so I think we did away with that title. But I'm bringing it back today. Kristy, I like consultant takeover. How are you over there and how do you feel about consultant takeover?   The Dental A Team (00:19) Absolutely. I'm doing good today. It's a Tuesday, so it's a weird day for us to be podcasting, but I'm just grat

Re-releasing a DAT listener favorite! Kiera is joined by Brad from Kleer to talk about the perks of membership plans over dental insurance, why a membership plan can create consistent revenue for your practice during uncertain times, and how to even start putting together such a plan. Kleer, by the way, helps roll out membership plans effectively and successfully to uninsured patients Kiera and Brad also touch on why patients may be hesitant to sign up for a membership plan and dental practice resistance, and how to overcome each. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today we are bringing you something so special. I am so excited because this is one of our most popular episodes from the archives. Whether you're hearing this for the first time or catching it again, I am so excited because it's jam packed with a ton of takeaways that you can start using right

Do you ever feel like you have a laundry list of reasons why you can't ever take a break from your practice? Kiera is here to say, if that's how you're feeling, it's time to step away. In this episode, listeners get to take a breather. Kiera talks about the two parts of success (the "suck" part and the success part), and what you can do to hit a mental restart. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera and I hope today is such a great day for you. I hope that you're loving your life. I hope that you are enjoying it. And if you're not, today's podcast might be for you. Today is about when leadership gets heavy, how CEOs navigate the seasons you can't step away from. And this actually was a little bit of a self-medication for myself because when I ⁓ was actually getting ready to podcast the last time, I had a little bit of a breakdown.   And I just realized I wa

There are roles in a practice people are meant to have, and there are those that'll suck the soul right out of someone. Tiff and Kristy go into how to match team members to where they'll operate best (and where they want to be), what to do when there aren't any "right" seats available for your right person, how to know the right seat from the get-go, and more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:01) Hello Dental A Team listeners. I am here with you today. My name is Tiffanie. For those of you who don't know me, I never introduce myself. That's kind of weird. I maybe should. I introduce you guys, I never introduce myself. So I know we have some new listeners here, because I know we've some new subscribers. If you are new here with us, thank you so much. We love the support, and we really truly are here to give the world of dentistry as much as we possibly can. So keep listening. Go back through the archi

Dear listener, it is possible to scale your practice and keep your sanity! Kiera discusses three overall pieces of advice for those who have expanded/want to expand to multi-practice ownership, including centralizing atmosphere and tactics, establishing leadership infrastructure, and keeping your communication fluid. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today I wanted to dig into multi-practice management and how this can be something so fun. I know several of you have multiple practices. I had multiple offices and I just think that this is a space of like, all right, here we go. How can we make this amazing? And how can we lead, scale and stay sane? I think is a big spot because I think that when we go from one practice to two practices, I know I went.   insane and it was not fun. And so for you, I just wanted to break this down because I re

Dental A-Team is all about case acceptance. In this episode, Kiera shares how a practice can double its case acceptance in one month (or even one day! She has receipts!). She gives five tactical tips practices can apply today to refine that acceptance and start upping that percentage of "yes." Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: Kiera Dent- Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today is a great day. I hope that you're loving it and I hope that you remember just as a quick little motivational thought for you that what's right is just as available as what's wrong. And I think so often we're looking at what's wrong in my life and why isn't this working versus thinking what's going well, what's right in the world, what's what's and I'm not saying to   belittle, miss sunshine and not see all the things that are really going on. But I do think that what we focus on, we attract and we achieve more

This episode is all about the stress of people — managing them, working with them, attending to them, etc. Tiff and Kristy discuss what it means to manage results and lead people, and how sticking to systems of accountability in your practice can take a lot of that stress off your shoulders. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are back here today with another amazing podcast. I say that because I just know this is gonna be incredible content. I'll introduce myself again. I realized a podcast ago that I never introduced myself. I'm Tiffanie I am a consultant, a dental consultant here with the Dental A Team. I've been here for a really long time, so I guess I just assume everybody has also been here for a really long time. I think everybody's like my best friend and I sit here.   on this podcast, Kristy with you and with all of the listeners, just talking to my best

It's time to perform a special audit in your practice! This one is called the Invisible Friction Audit. Kiera guides listeners through how to catch problems that might not be very obvious, but are total gamechangers in terms of practice operations. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and today is going to be a great topic. I hope you guys are excited about it because it's going to be an audit of your practice. I think that there's oftentimes invisible friction that's happening inside practices and offices oftentimes don't catch it. They don't understand what's going on and they're like, something's happening and it's just this invisible friction. And so how can we actually catch this sooner in your practice? If you guys are new to our podcast, welcome. I'm Kiera Dent, host and founder of the Dental A Team and the Dental A Team Podcast.   I'm obsessed wit

Re-releasing a DAT listener favorite! Morgan Hamon, president of HDA Accounting Group, is on the pod! HDA is a dental-specific accounting group, and knows dentistry inside and out. Kiera and Morgan discuss profit margins, benchmarks, and AR aging, plus why having good financials will help you make smarter decisions. A profitable practice is more helpful for patients, more secure for team members, and less stressed out in times of uncertainty. Don't run your practice blind; get a good CPA. About Morgan:  Morgan is a graduate of the University of Arizona school of business. Following graduation, he was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy and served for over ten years as a Naval Aviator flying carrier-based F/A-18 Hornets. During that time, he deployed to Persian Gulf and flew combat missions over Iraq in support of Operation Southern Watch. He also served as a flight instructor and landing signal officer for newly winged Naval Aviators transitioning to the Hornet, training pilots in air-to-air

Tiff and Kristy shine a light on key performance indicators that won't just propel a dental practice to success, but any business. This includes knowing your numbers (stop treating them like the bogeyman!), locking in production, case acceptance, and diagnosis. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello Dental A Team listeners. I am so excited to be here with you today. You guys know that we love podcasting. I hope we have a ton of newbies here who don't even know who we are. I say that because our reach at Dental A Team is something that we are intentional about and intentful on expanding further than you guys can even imagine. So something that we are very intentional about at Dental A Team is looking at how many lives have we impacted.   and how many lives can we impact. And we know that dentistry is vast, business is vast, so we also know we have some listeners here who aren't even in the dental