Over the past five years, the cost of running a dental practice — equipment, supplies, staff wages — has climbed 23%. Reimbursement has barely moved. That gap isn't a bad quarter. It's a structural squeeze, and it's quietly reshaping who owns dental practices in America.

In this episode of CEO Chairside, Dr. Greg Grillo breaks down the real numbers behind the fiscal squeeze hitting independent practices right now; tariff-driven supply costs, a hygienist shortage 91% of practices are fighting, and why dental spending is falling behind the rest of healthcare.

Then he tackles the question most owners aren't asking: why there are now more private-equity-backed DSOs in dentistry than in any other healthcare vertical, and what that means for the future of independent ownership.

But this isn't a call to panic-cut your budget. Dr. Grillo makes the case for the distinction that matters most in a year like this one — knowing the difference between an expense that just drains your margin and a lever that pays you back. Cut both with the same knife, and you don't protect your practice. You shrink its ability to ever recover.

Drawing on 30+ years of practice ownership, his time as a Navy Dental Officer, and his work inside practices nationwide through Method Pro, Dr. Grillo gives you a clear-eyed read on where the money is actually going and what to do about it before the market decides for you.

In this episode:

• The real five-year cost data behind why margins are shrinking
• Why private equity is consolidating dentistry faster than any other healthcare field
• How to tell an expense from a growth lever, and why cutting both the same way backfires
• Four moves to make this month, before the squeeze makes the decision for you

If you've felt the pressure but couldn't put numbers to it, this episode does that for you.

This week, the CEO of a major AI company did something almost unheard of: he asked the industry to slow down. Dario Amodei's warning was backed publicly by Sam Altman and Elon Musk — and it's a different kind of alarm than the "AI will take your job" headlines that dominated 2026. This one is about control, not just jobs.

In this episode of CEO Chairside, Dr. Greg Grillo breaks down what's actually happening , separating the job-loss narrative (which has been walked back more than once this year) from the safety-and-control warning that's now coming directly from the people building frontier AI. You'll hear why one of these fears deserves far more weight than the other, who financially benefits from you being scared, and exactly what this news should change about how you evaluate AI tools in your own practice.

Drawing on 30+ years of practice ownership, his time as a Navy Dental Officer, and his work inside dental practices nationwide through Method Pro, Dr. Grillo makes the case that the right response isn't panic and it isn't blind optimism; it's asking sharper questions before you buy anything.

In this episode:

• What changed this week, and why it's more serious than the job-loss warnings
• Who profits from AI fear, backed by real data on CEO incentives and sales economics
• The difference between frontier-AI risk and the narrow tools already in your practice
• The vendor due-diligence questions every practice owner should be asking now

If the headlines about AI have you unsure what's real and what's marketing, this episode gives you a clear way to think it through.

Roughly seventy percent of dentists are either using AI or seriously considering it. Only two percent say they trust it more than their own clinical judgment. That gap isn't a footnote; it's the reason so many practices buy AI tools and quietly abandon them a few months later.

In this episode of CEO Chairside, Dr. Greg Grillo breaks down what's actually happening with AI adoption in dentistry right now, not the vendor pitch version, the real data. You'll hear where AI is genuinely validated (and where it isn't), why nearly a third of dentists who try an AI tool eventually walk away, and the three questions every practice owner should ask before signing a contract, not after the invoice shows up.

Drawing on 30+ years of practice ownership, his time as a Navy Dental Officer, and his work inside practices nationwide through Method Pro, Dr. Grillo makes the case that the dentists winning with AI aren't the ones with the most tools. They're the ones who defined what "good" looks like before they bought anything.

In this episode:

• The real adoption numbers and why trust hasn't caught up
• What AI is actually validated for in dentistry (and what's still just marketing)
• Why most AI tool abandonment happens fast, and what's really driving it
• Three questions to ask any AI vendor before you sign

If you've bought an AI tool and aren't sure it's paying off, or you're about to, this episode is for you.

Your schedule is full, your team is working harder than ever, and yet profitability continues to shrink. The problem may not be your production. It may be the insurance contracts attached to it.

In this episode, Dr. Greg Grillo examines dentistry’s growing “fiscal squeeze,” including rising wages, stagnant reimbursement, hidden write-offs, leased networks, claim friction, and the wave of dental insurance reform now sweeping the country. He explains why a busy practice is not necessarily a healthy practice, how low-margin appointments can quietly consume your most valuable capacity, and why more dentists are reconsidering their network participation.

This isn’t an argument to abandon insurance or patients. It’s a framework for evaluating each contract objectively. And building a practice where excellent care, a supported team, fair compensation, and financial sustainability can coexist.

Every month, dental practices diagnose thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of dollars in treatment that never gets scheduled.

Not because patients don't need it.

Not because they don't trust the doctor.

Often because life gets in the way... and the follow-up simply isn't there.

In this follow-up episode of CEO Chairside, Dr. Greg Grillo welcomes entrepreneur and dental technology innovator Devyn Grillo back to continue one of the podcast's most talked-about conversations. After building and selling a seven-figure dental marketing company, Devyn discovered an uncomfortable truth: generating more leads isn't the biggest challenge for most practices. Converting the opportunities they already have is.

Together, Greg and Devyn explore why treatment acceptance has become one of the most overlooked drivers of practice growth, why most offices unintentionally allow patients to fall through the cracks, and how AI can strengthen—not replace—the human relationships that build trust.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why treatment acceptance may be a more important KPI than new patient numbers

• The hidden revenue sitting in unscheduled treatment reports

• Why patients who say, "I need to think about it," are rarely saying "no"

• The surprising data behind why major purchasing decisions require multiple follow-up touchpoints

• How personalized, AI-assisted communication can help practices stay connected without adding more work for the team

• Why the future of dentistry belongs to practices that master both technology and human connection

If you've ever wondered whether your practice is investing too much in attracting new patients—and not enough in helping existing patients move forward with care—this conversation will change how you think about growth.

Sometimes the biggest opportunity isn't finding another patient.

It's helping the patients you've already diagnosed say "yes."

Learn more at www.caselift.io

Not every season of life or practice is meant for growth.

Some seasons are for building. Others are for pruning, recovery, harvest, or finally confronting what has been quietly ignored. The challenge is recognizing what season you are actually in—and having the courage to do the work that season requires.

In this midyear episode, Dr. Greg Grillo reflects on leadership, change, time, and the danger of carrying old strategies into a new season. Drawing from dentistry, Stoic wisdom, and the ancient stories of Heraclitus, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Cincinnatus, he explores why success is not always about doing more and why some of the most important progress remains invisible for a long time.

This is a thoughtful summer reset for practice owners who want to lead with greater clarity, protect what matters, and enter the second half of the year with intention rather than momentum alone.

Neck pain, shoulder tension, headaches, and lower back discomfort have become so common in dentistry that many providers accept them as part of the profession.

But what if the conventional advice is incomplete?

In this episode of CEO Chairside, Dr. Greg Grillo talks with Dr. John Besharse, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and founder of The Dental Physical Therapist.

Dr. Besharse challenges some of dentistry’s most common assumptions about posture, stretching, massage, and ergonomic equipment. He explains why static positioning is so physically demanding, why a “tight” muscle may actually need activation rather than more stretching, and why even the best loupes or saddle stool cannot compensate for a body that has not been prepared for the demands of the operatory.

The conversation also explores simple movements dental professionals can perform between patients, the areas of the body most commonly neglected, and why dentists, hygienists, and assistants should begin viewing themselves as occupational athletes.

You’ll learn:

• Why perfect posture may not be the answer
• How static positioning contributes to pain and fatigue
• Why temporary relief does not always address the root problem
• The difference between stretching a muscle and activating it
• A simple exercise that can be performed inside the dental office
• Why physical resilience affects focus, productivity, team reliability, and career longevity
• What practice owners can do to help protect their entire clinical team

Dental professionals invest heavily in technology, equipment, education, and their practices. This episode is an important reminder to invest in the one piece of equipment every procedure depends on: your body.

Most conversations about work-life balance assume that life can be divided into neat, equal portions. But dentistry, business ownership, leadership, marriage, and parenting rarely work that way.

In this reflective monologue, Dr. Greg Grillo explores a different way to think about a sustainable and fulfilling life: not as a perfectly balanced scale, but as a wave with natural periods of effort, momentum, resistance, and recovery.

Greg examines why so many driven professionals find themselves living from vacation to vacation, physically leaving work while remaining mentally trapped there, and confusing collapse with genuine rest. Drawing from his own experience as a dentist and practice owner, workplace research, and the wisdom of the Stoics, he explains how ambition and delayed gratification can quietly become the habit of delaying life.

This episode offers practical ways to create a healthier rhythm, including measuring the real sources of energy loss, establishing a recovery floor, building intentional transitions out of work, and separating personal responsibility from outcomes that cannot be controlled.

The goal is not to eliminate life’s peaks and valleys. It's to make the movement between them less destructive, while building ordinary days that feel meaningful enough that we no longer need to escape our lives in order to feel alive.