The Real Cost of Associate Turnover: Why Dentistry Has a Behavior Problem | Dr. Eric Roman

One associate leaving can quietly cost a practice $100,000 or more, and most owners never see the bill. Dr. Eric Roman built and sold his own dental group, retired from clinical practice at 39, and now coaches dental groups and their associates. He explains why groups fail at the associate level, why the gap between generations keeps costing dentists, and why he thinks dentistry has a behavior problem, not a clinical one. He's recorded over 50,000 dentist-patient conversations, and the scores might surprise you.

In this episode:
- Why associate turnover is "the biggest hidden profit leak" in dentistry
- What one associate leaving really costs: recruiting, training, credentialing and lost patients
- Grinders vs. the next generation: work-life balance with $600,000 in student debt
- Why doing great dentistry and developing great dentists are two different skills
- Are you getting what you expected out of dentistry? Jennifer, Eric and Chad answer
- The 20-60-20 rule: which associates solve their own problems
- Dentistry is leadership: why "that's not my problem" sinks associates
- Case acceptance is behavioral: what 50,000 recorded patient visits show

📰 Plus dental news from May 2026: the new digital accessibility rule for dental offices, federal student loan changes, and antibiotic premedication for joint replacement patients. And big news: Dentists in the Know is now on Glidewell TV!

Dr. Eric Roman is a dentist, coach and former dental group owner. He built multiple practices and a dental group before exiting ownership in 2019, and he now trains clinical leadership teams and associate dentists on how to find, develop and keep great dentists. He and Dr. Jennifer Bell started dental school together in 2003 and did their residency together.

🙌 Special shout out to Curve Dental for making this episode possible!
Learn more about Curve: https://fanflet.com/dinks/curvedinks

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
2:15 "Dentists don't love doing fillings"
8:43 Big news: DINKs is now on Glidewell TV
11:07 Glidewell CEO Stephanie Goddard steps down
12:51 News: the digital accessibility rule for dental offices
14:17 News: federal student loan changes
16:26 News: antibiotic premedication and joint replacements
18:57 News: trouble at an Oregon ortho office
22:34 Meet Dr. Eric Roman
27:28 From group owner to coach
28:53 Why groups fail with associates
30:02 DSOs chase same-store sales, not dentists
32:00 Chad's associate story
34:28 What one associate leaving really costs
35:03 Recruiting and generational differences
36:58 $600,000 of debt and one day a week
37:45 Chad's student loan surprise
41:37 Doing great dentistry vs. developing great dentists
44:18 Are you getting what you expected out of dentistry?
52:46 Trading known problems for unknown ones
54:05 The 20-60-20 rule
55:28 Why public trust in dentists is dropping
57:41 "Not my problem": dentistry is leadership
59:04 Case acceptance is behavioral, not clinical
1:00:42 What 50,000 recorded patient visits show
1:03:23 Why Eric works with Curve
1:06:06 Thank you, Dr. Roman

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