Your team isn't trying to ruin your day. So why does it feel that way?

In this episode, Dr. Kyle Stanley and Dr. Martin Mendelson dig into the frustration that comes with leading a dental practice — and why most of it has more to do with how we're wired than how bad our team is. Martin took a Wharton course on the neuroscience of leadership to answer one central question: why does the team think the sky's green when you think it's blue?

The answer isn't that your team is incompetent. It's that you're operating with far more blue circles around your red circle — more responsibilities, more stakes, more context — and what feels obvious to you genuinely isn't to them. That gap isn't fixed by frustration. It's fixed by documentation, workflows, and communication that actually closes it.

Kyle gets personal: his daughter was mid-tantrum, hitting and trying to get past him, and he had one clear thought — my job right now is to stay calm. The same skill that makes you a better parent makes you a better leader. You can choose your response in the gap between stimulus and reaction. That's not soft psychology — it's a trainable skill with neuroscience behind it.

The shift isn't from judgment to tolerance. It's from judgment to curiosity. I wonder why this is happening opens a door that damn it, here we go again slams shut.

For more info or to join their live CE course, go to www.wellnessindentistry.com

Join Carabelli Club here and save $600 on your yearly membership: https://hubs.la/Q03QQGmD0

If you'd like to chat with Martin about disability insurance, you can click here to find a time on his calendar. He's a licensed agent and happy to connect with you.

Get Kyle's founder's discount for Pearl AI by scheduling a demo here: https://discover.hellopearl.com/referral/kyle-stanley/

The Atlantic just ran a headline calling children's orthodontic expansion "wrenching bones apart." Kyle and Martin have some thoughts.

In this episode, Dr. Kyle Stanley and Dr. Martin Mendelson dig into one of dentistry's most polarizing debates: is early palatal expansion in children actually justified? The American Academy of Orthodontics says the research isn't there. Kyle says the absence of a 40-year longitudinal study doesn't mean the treatment doesn't make sense — and he's done the treatment himself, on his own kids.

Here's Kyle's framing: even if expansion does nothing beyond preventing crowding and creating a broad, functional smile, you haven't hurt anyone. The worst-case scenario is a better-looking bite. That's a very different calculus than the Atlantic's headline implies.

Martin draws the comparison to oral-systemic health — a field that spent years being dismissed for lacking definitive research before becoming a standard of care. Paradigm shifts in dentistry move slowly. That doesn't mean early movers are wrong.

Both hosts agree on one thing: informed consent is everything. The research is still developing, the conversation is evolving, and patients deserve to know that — not a polished sales pitch. Kyle also makes a case for something often overlooked: getting kids into the dental chair early builds the kind of familiarity that prevents dental phobia for a lifetime.

This isn't a simple debate. But "no research yet" has never meant "no."

For more info or to join their live CE course, go to www.wellnessindentistry.com

Join Carabelli Club here and save $600 on your yearly membership: https://hubs.la/Q03QQGmD0

If you'd like to chat with Martin about disability insurance, you can click here to find a time on his calendar. He's a licensed agent and happy to connect with you.

Get Kyle's founder's discount for Pearl AI by scheduling a demo here: https://discover.hellopearl.com/referral/kyle-stanley/

If a friend built a million-dollar business, you'd say "good for them." If a dentist does it, suddenly someone's getting ripped off.

In this episode, Dr. Kyle Stanley and Dr. Martin Mendelson take on money shame in dentistry the guilt, discomfort, and defensiveness that shows up when dentists have to talk about fees, accept high incomes, or watch patients push back on treatment costs. It comes from everywhere: patients, family, team members, other dentists, and often from inside the dentist's own head.

Kyle didn't feel money shame early in his career he had no money. He was $2 million in debt between his house, his practice, and his school loans. But he was deeply uncomfortable talking about fees, especially with friends and family. It took him 8 or 9 years to get there.

The fix, as Martin frames it, isn't toughening up it's communication. A doctor at an urgent care laid out the fees and the alternatives matter-of-factly before treating Martin for an allergic reaction. No guilt, no apology. Just clarity. That's the model. You're not withholding care when you present the cost. You're actually doing the patient a disservice when you don't.

Selling isn't sleazy when it's about helping someone get what they actually need. Set the expectation. Own your fees. Be ready for a no and be okay with it.

For more info or to join their live CE course, go to www.wellnessindentistry.com

Join Carabelli Club here and save $600 on your yearly membership: https://hubs.la/Q03QQGmD0

If you'd like to chat with Martin about disability insurance, you can click here to find a time on his calendar. He's a licensed agent and happy to connect with you.

Get Kyle's founder's discount for Pearl AI by scheduling a demo here: https://discover.hellopearl.com/referral/kyle-stanley/