A homeless veteran drove from Fort Collins to Denver for one reason: to tell his dentist he had a girlfriend and a job. That dentist is Dr. James Parfitt, and this is his story.

Dr. Parfitt grew up in Edmonton, Alberta. Before college he worked in a car dealership garage. A friend from the neighborhood started dental school the same year he started undergrad, and for four years they rode the bus to campus together, one studying dental anatomy and the other studying biology. It was his sister who finally said it out loud: maybe you should be a dentist. Nobody in his family was one. He applied anyway, landed at Temple University in Philadelphia, and finished a general practice residency at Denver Health.

He needed a little money to take his wife on a Saturday date. A Comfort Dental dentist offered him $100 a day to come in on weekends and learn how the office ran. That was 24 years ago.

In 2013 he opened Comfort Dental Mile High at 8th and Federal, close to the Broncos stadium, in a part of Denver where, in his words, no one was practicing. Some colleagues thought he was crazy to leave a busy office for it. He has been there ever since.

His patients come from group homes, from off the street, and from hard times they did not see coming. Dr. Parfitt does charity dentistry as part of a normal week and works with a veterans organization to treat veterans for free. He says the patients in 80204 remind him of the communities he serves on mission trips, and that is why he feels most at home there.

He also explains something every patient wonders about. His office does not need to pad a treatment plan to cover the bills. If you need a filling or a cleaning and nothing else, that is all you get.

Shawn and Dr. Parfitt also talk about a recent mission trip to Guatemala, where a mobile clinic saw close to 100 kids and moms a day and his son came along as a pre-dental student. They talk about what a new dentist should expect in year one, and the advice he would give his younger self: don't be afraid, and say yes.

What you'll hear in this episode:

- Why a Canadian mechanic ended up a Denver dentist

- The $100 Saturday job that started a 24-year career

- Why he opened Comfort Dental Mile High in the 80204 zip code

- How his office does charity dentistry every week

- The veteran from Fort Collins who came back to say thank you

- Why his office never invents treatment to pay the bills

- A dental mission trip to Guatemala with his son

- His advice for dentists thinking about a change

Chapters

00:00 Coming up

00:32 Meet Dr. James Parfitt

01:06 From Edmonton to dental school

03:23 The $100 Saturday job

06:22 Why he chose the Comfort Dental model

09:02 The hardest part of the first five years

10:51 The first paycheck that confirmed the decision

15:20 Choosing a different path

16:38 Paying off dental school debt

20:16 When dentistry doesn't match the dream

24:38 Treating the patient, not the overhead

26:47 A mission trip to Guatemala

31:19 Generosity nobody talks about

32:43 Autonomy inside Comfort Dental

37:07 What great partners look like

40:08 What a new Comfort Dental dentist should expect

42:25 Who is a good fit

44:53 Opening Comfort Dental Mile High in 80204

46:33 Charity dentistry and Medicaid patients

49:38 The veteran from Fort Collins

51:10 How his team would describe him

51:42 Life outside the practice

53:07 Advice for dentists who feel trapped

53:48 Don't be afraid. Say yes.

Comfort Dental Mile High, 8th and Federal, Denver, CO 80204

Dr. Rick Kushner founded Comfort Dental in 1977. Fifty years later, the franchise has around 500 partner dentists across 10 states and is approaching half a billion in annual collections. In this conversation with Shawn Zajas, Dr. Kushner tells the full origin story for the first time on the show.

He walks through the years he practiced solo, the three associates who left him holding the bag, and the moment he decided to sell a half partnership to the dentist who stayed. He explains why he lowered his fees when every other dentist was raising theirs. He describes the lecture circuit where he watched the profession refuse Medicaid, refuse middle income families, and refuse the patients he was building his practice around. He talks about the personal background that shaped all of it, including the family dentist who saw him for free when his parents could not pay.

Dr. Kushner also addresses the misconceptions. Comfort Dental looks like a corporate chain from the outside. From the inside, every doctor owns their practice. He explains why the DSO model does not apply, why he predicted the rise of private equity dentistry 40 years ago, and why he still believes the partnership model is the only sustainable answer to the debt crisis facing new dentists today.

This is the foundational episode of the series. If you want to understand Comfort Dental, start here.

Chapters 00:00 Why Shawn wanted this conversation 00:45 The recruitment challenge and why partners outperform associates 06:14 The original solo practice and the watershed moment 09:34 Selling the first partnership to Dr. Eirik 14:26 The decision to franchise and the birth of the Comfort Dental name 17:33 Lecturing the profession and being told no 19:07 Why most dentistry leaves middle and lower income patients behind 20:03 Where it came from, the family story 27:04 Dental school as a means to an end 28:49 Building the Fantastic Five 30:53 Predicting the rise of DSOs 33:20 Doing the opposite of every other dentist 35:46 What Comfort Dental does for dentist income 38:30 Why most dentists will not work the hours 40:52 Hard work as the real catch 44:39 Why dentists burn out and why patients pay the price 48:42 What makes a successful Comfort Dental dentist 53:50 Why Comfort Dental is not a DSO 55:02 No community left behind 57:44 What is most misunderstood about Dr. Kushner 58:45 Advice to dentists who feel trapped 01:02:45 Doctor autonomy inside the franchise 01:04:16 Closing thoughts

Dr. Alex Kaiser of Comfort Dental in Montrose, Colorado joins Shawn Zajas for a conversation that gets at what it actually looks like to practice dentistry with honesty, compassion, and zero judgment.

Dr. Kaiser shares his unusual path to dentistry. A great family dentist. Five years in braces as a kid. Two years of missionary service. A master’s program at LECOM in Bradenton, Florida that gave him a second shot at dental school after he was waitlisted elsewhere. He talks openly about being more of an artist than a scientist, why he paints watercolors in his spare time, and how that creative instinct shows up in the way he restores teeth.

You will hear why denture cases are some of his favorite work, why his wife calls him the most honest person she has ever met, and how he learned to communicate as someone who grew up introverted and uncomfortable with public speaking. He also gets candid about the moments that test you as a young dentist, how he separates his professional and personal sides when a patient is unhappy, and why he chose Comfort Dental straight out of dental school.

There is a clear thread running through this conversation. Dr. Kaiser treats the person, not the tooth. He talks about patients who feel ashamed about their oral health, about being honest without being harsh, and about why no one should feel afraid to walk into his office.

If you have been putting off the dentist, or if you are looking for a doctor in Montrose who will treat you like a human being first, this episode will give you a real feel for who Dr. Kaiser is.

• 00:00 Introduction
• 00:22 Why dentistry: family dentist, five years in braces
• 04:09 Honest with patients about his own flossing
• 04:51 The path to dental school and LECOM’s master’s program
• 07:43 Artist or scientist: Dr. Kaiser on being a craftsperson
• 09:38 The shadowing moment that sealed his decision
• 10:47 Watercolor painting and Bob Ross
• 12:03 The gap between expectation and reality as a new dentist
• 15:32 Why honesty with patients matters when things go wrong
• 16:41 What he thinks about on the drive home
• 17:36 Why he loves denture cases
• 19:00 The denture story you have to hear from Dr. Colledge
• 20:35 Separating the professional from the personal
• 23:11 Why he picked Comfort Dental straight out of school
• 25:24 Betting on yourself with the ownership model
• 27:10 Caring for Medicaid and uninsured patients in Montrose
• 32:20 Finding the right practice fit on the first try
• 33:49 What patients can expect when they walk in
• 36:10 The high-leverage skill of building trust
• 37:53 Learning to communicate as an introvert
• 40:59 Treating the person, not the tooth
• 42:58 What he wishes every patient knew about oral health
• 45:37 A message for the patient who has been putting it off