Mike runs a group practice with four full-time associates. All great people, good core value fits, doing fillings, crowns, basic anterior endo—but not much beyond that. No implants, no wisdom teeth, no aligners. For years, he was okay with it, but now he sees the opportunity cost. Revenue is walking out the door. Patients are being referred elsewhere. The team is comfortable, but the practice is stuck.
I know this pain point well because I lived it. My original mindset was the same: if my associates didn’t hurt people, produced competent dentistry, and were good culture fits, then we were winning. But I eventually realized the cost of that status quo. Every molar endo, every implant, every surgical extraction that leaves the building isn’t just lost revenue—it’s a lost opportunity to serve our patients more fully.
Let’s unpack a challenge that so many practice owners face: how to get your associates to expand beyond bread-and-butter dentistry.
Five Tips for Helping Associates Develop New Skills
1. Change your mindset.
Before anything changes, you, as the owner, have to stop accepting “good enough.” If you decide you’re no longer okay with the missed opportunities, then you can lead differently.
2. Frame it around lifestyle.
Not every associate is motivated by money—especially younger doctors. But many of them are motivated by time. If they can learn skills that allow them to make the same income in fewer days, that’s attractive. A $600/hour doctor working three days a week feels a lot better than a $300/hour doctor working four or five.
3. Use continuing education strategically.
We require more continuing education than the state mandates. Not hundreds of hours, but enough for doctors to be consistently exposed to new ways of thinking. And sometimes the message lands better when it comes from someone else. It’s like parenting—you can tell your kids something for years, and they ignore you, but when a coach or teacher says it, suddenly it clicks.
4. Hands-on mentoring works.
I don’t just have associates watch me do cases. I go into their rooms, assist them with an implant or a simple wisdom tooth, and let them feel what it’s like with a safety net. Do that five or six times, and suddenly the lightbulb goes on. Now they’re motivated to get further continuing education and own that skill.
5. Reconsider your recruiting.
If your team is all bread-and-butter docs, that’s the avatar you recruited. At some point, you may need to bring in a different profile—what I call a unicorn general dentist. Still a great culture fit, but with an expanded skill set that complements your existing team. Sometimes the right move isn’t forcing development on the wrong people, but recruiting the right people from the start.
This isn’t about shoving advanced procedures down associates’ throats. It’s about awareness, exposure, mentoring, and sometimes shifting the mix of people on the team. And when you get it right, everything changes—more in-house services, happier patients, more profitability, and more fulfillment for the doctors.
The Challenge for You
Take a look at your associate team. Are you letting opportunity costs pile up by accepting the status quo? Or are you ready to redefine your recruiting avatar, light some fires through mentoring and continuing education, and build a team that serves patients at the highest level? That’s where the growth is.
Learn more about dental associate growth on this episode of the Dental Lighthouse Podcast.
