Do your patients feel cared for — or are you just taking care of them? In this episode, Kirk Behrendt interviews Dr. Bryan Laskin, dental author, tech entrepreneur, and patient-advocacy leader, about why dentistry is losing patient trust and what to do about it. You’ll learn how private equity and spreadsheet-driven decisions can quietly degrade the patient experience, why “clarity” is the biggest lever for rebuilding trust, and how simple systems and technology can help patients feel listened to, informed, and confident.

Listen to Episode 1022 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

1. Taking care of people is different than making people feel cared for, and patients primarily feel listened to, communicated with, and given clarity.
2. Private equity has accelerated aggregation in dentistry, and tighter margins can increase the risk of decisions that ignore how patients experience care.
3. Patients may still trust their own dentist, but broader trust in dentists is eroding, making transparency and clarity more important than ever.
4. Building “care more, make more” requires systems that create connection, reinforce clarity, and build confidence to improve recall and referrals.
5. Treatment plans are often accepted at the kitchen table, so practices need to share information that patients can review after leaving the office.
6. Removing human variability by automating “robotic” tasks frees the team to do what humans do best: welcome, connect, and care.
7. When evaluating technology, the first question should be how it makes people feel, because patient experience drives growth.

Snippets:

00:00 Huge difference between taking care of people and making people feel cared for.

00:03 Bryan’s background: practice ownership, CAD/CAM training, scaling a patient engagement solution, and standards work.

00:05 “Care more, make more” and the clarity, confidence, connection framework.

00:06 Why dentistry’s recurring hygiene model attracted private equity and accelerated DSO growth.

00:09 What spreadsheets miss: the patient experience and the “silent killer” of lost confidence.

00:10 “Patients still trust their dentist, but patients don’t trust dentists.”

00:14 The biggest problem: patients are confused, and confusion destroys confidence.

00:16 Transparency as the flip side of trust and why everyone “Googles” their care.

00:22 New patient intake as a systems problem and how automation improves the human welcome.

00:25 The pathway to trust: connection, clarity, then confidence.

00:31 The technology question: “How does it make people feel?”

00:32 Where to learn more: cair.net, toothapps.com, and Bryan’s books.

Guest Bio/Guest Resources:

Dr. Bryan Laskin has spent over two decades at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and patient advocacy. As a practicing dentist, he witnessed firsthand the artificial barriers separating dental and medical care despite their profound connections. As a healthcare technology entrepreneur, he's developed innovative solutions to improve care coordination, enhance patient communication, and increase healthcare transparency.

Resources mentioned:

1. Cair (patient-facing): https://cair.net/
2. ToothApps (practice side): https://www.toothapps.com/
3. Brian’s website: https://bryanlaskin.com/
4. Books: The Patient First Manifesto https://bryanlaskin.com/patient-first-manifesto

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