Is your dental practice struggling with efficiency because your doctors are wearing long hours as a "badge of honor"?

In this episode of Toolbox Tuesday, Sten Ericson and Jennifer Paxton conclude their series on Sten's recent return to clinical dentistry. They tackle the common challenge of coaching highly educated doctors—who are often "rugged individualists"—to shift from an employee's mindset (working hard) to an owner's mindset (being efficient and impactful).

Key Takeaways from This Episode:

✅ Doctors confusing long hours (like spending an hour on notes after hours) with dedication.

✅ Why taking longer on a case does not equate to a better clinical result—it's just a worse patient experience.

✅ How the belief that "the longer you take, the better it is" impacts appointment times and productivity.

✅ A powerful lesson on why the best dentists are often the most efficient.

✅ Implementing hard stops to ensure your doctors wrap up their work and leave the office early.

Are you ready to coach your associate dentists to be highly efficient, productive leaders? The doctor mentorship component discussed here is a huge part of our Doctor Success Program.

➡️ Connect with us to learn about our Private Client Program: connect@pathwaydentalsolutions.com

Find us on social media!

Welcome back to Toolbox Tuesday! We continue our candid series where Dr. Sten Ericson shares his unexpected findings after returning to full-time clinical practice this past summer.

Last week, we discussed doctor complaints about assistants. This week, we tackle the flip side: How doctors are actively enabling their teams to underperform and sabotaging their own efficiency.

Dr. Ericson and Jennifer Paxton dive deep into the specific non-doctor tasks (like Slacking X-rays or emailing patients) that are stealing critical production time from associate doctors and why they hold onto this unnecessary control. The issue isn't a lack of team ability; it's a lack of doctor delegation.

What We Discuss in This Episode:

• Why you should only be doing the tasks that require your license—and nothing else.
• How constantly taking over tasks (like sending lab cases or Slacking records) prevents your team from ever learning to do it properly.
• Why a doctor running late often correlates directly with the 20 minutes they spent doing non-clinical, administrative work.
• How rushing to do a non-doctor task at the end of the day (like post-processing a scan) actually lowers quality compared to a properly delegated task done by the team immediately.
• The "painful" reality of hearing doctors give excuses instead of simply letting go of control.
• Why the dental assistant should be the true "owner" of their op, and how doctors are just "invited guests" who need to be supported by their zone owner.

Key Takeaway: When you expect more from your team and yourself, they rise up. When you enable the team, you hurt your production, your schedule, and their career growth.

This is Part 2 of a 3-part conversation! Join us next week for the final part as we discuss the pitfalls of the "rugged individualist" doctor mentality.

Need Help Calibrating Your Team? If you're ready to stop making excuses and start building highly efficient systems, Pathway Dental Solutions can help you with leadership coaching, operational cheat sheets, and on-target tracking.

Connect with Us: Reach out to us at: connected@pathwaydentalsolutions.com Find us on all social media platforms!

Don't forget to like this video, subscribe to our channel, and hit the notification bell so you don't miss Part 3!

Welcome back to Toolbox Tuesday!

After a short hiatus, Jennifer and Sten are back to tackle a recurring pain point in dental practices: the relationship and perceived issues between doctors and their dental assistants.

Sten recently spent time back in the clinical chair—something he hasn't done extensively in years—and gained a fresh perspective on the day-to-day operations and team performance that associate doctors have been complaining about. The recurring theme? "The assistants are always messing things up!"

In this candid discussion, Sten shares his surprising observations and reveals where the real "slop and holes" in the system might actually lie.

What We Discuss:

1. The Intentional Hiatus: Why we took a break from Toolbox Tuesday.
2. Red Teaming Your Practice: Proactively finding holes and inefficiencies before they become major problems.
3. Doctor's Perception vs. Reality: Sten's on-the-ground experience working with the same team that our associate doctors have expressed frustration with.
4. The Leadership Look in the Mirror: Why doctors—whether an owner or an associate—are the leaders in the operatory and need to set the standard.
5. Unreasonable Expectations: When doctors expect the most from their assistants but not from themselves.
6. The Supportable Model: Our non-dedicated assistant model and how it forces better training, standardized protocols, and prevents the "keys to the kingdom" problem.
7. Owner vs. Associate Mindset: How the pressure of business ownership changes a doctor's approach to team accountability and efficiency.

This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation! Join us next week as we continue the discussion on coaching doctors, team victim mentality, and building a high-performing dental team.

Want to tackle your own operational challenges, improve leadership, and set up effective on-target tracking for your doctors? Pathway Dental Solutions is accepting private clients!

Connect with Us: Find out how we can help your team and practice at: PathwayDentalSolutions.com We're on all social media platforms!