This week, the Dental Amigos welcome Dr. Bob “Dee” Dokhanchi, seasoned private practice dentist, tech advisor, and founder of the Facebook group Dentistry in General. A passionate advocate for transparency and grassroots reform, Bob brings energy and insight to the future of dentistry.

In this episode, Bob shares his journey from clinical honors at Loyola to leading advocacy efforts within the ADA. He discusses DIG-A-PALOOZA , food insecurity among dental students, the licensing compact debate, and the challenges of selling to DSOs—all with his signature “fuzzy math” clarity and entrepreneurial fire.

To learn more about Bob and Dentistry in General, visit https://dentistryingeneral.com or join the Facebook Group:  https://www.facebook.com/share/g/16J7DacEYY/

Listeners who want to reach Paul can do so at Paul@DentalNachos.com and those who want to reach Rob can do so at Rob@RMontgomery-law.com.

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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

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Bumper  

Welcome to the Dental Amigos podcast with Dr Paul Goodman and attorney Rob Montgomery, taking you behind the scenes of the dental business world, all the things you didn't learn in dental school, but wish you had Rob is not a dentist, and Paul is not a lawyer, but since Rob is a lawyer, we need to tell you that this podcast is for informational purposes only and shouldn't be considered legal advice. Listening to this podcast does not and will not create an attorney client relationship, as is always the case. You should formally consult with legal counsel before proceeding with any legal matter. Learn more about the Dental Amigos at www.thedentalamigos.com. And now here are the Dental Amigos.

Rob Montgomery  

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Dental Amigos Podcast. I'm Rob Montgomery, and I'm joined, as always, by the Head Nacho himself, Dr. Paul Goodman. Great to be talking, Rob. It's good to be talking to you, Paul. And today we've got a great guest—part of the die-hard member of the Nacho Network, right? Dr. Robert De Conchi, better known as Bob D. Yes, thank you. He's a seasoned private practice dentist with a passion for technology, innovation, and profession-focused advocacy. Since earning his DDS with clinical honors from Loyola University in 1992, he's become a recognized expert in cloud platforms and serves as an advisor to several dental tech companies. He's the founder of the highly respected Facebook group Dentistry in General, a vetted community for dentists and dental students. Over the past four years, he's played a key role in advancing grassroots advocacy with the ADA, submitting and supporting resolutions that champion private practice, transparency, and member accountability. He also organizes Digapalooza, a unique continuing education event that brings together top speakers and independent-minded dentists for learning, networking, and inspiration. Now, without further ado, welcome amigo, and thanks for being on the show.

Bob Dee  

Thank you for having me.

Paul Goodman  

So Bob, you're one of my best friends in the dentisting world. But I don't know if I've ever asked you this question. If we were in Chicago and we were going for nachos, where would you take us and what is your favorite nacho topping?

Bob Dee  

Paul, you're gonna hate me. I'm glad you had never asked me this, but I'm not a nacho guy.

Rob Montgomery  

Oh no! I don't know if we can—once, yes, we have one person that said that.

Paul Goodman  

But you have—your Chicago has a poor excuse for pizza. It's sponge. But I know you agree with that, because you're a New York guy at heart, right? For pizza?

Bob Dee  

Yeah, actually, if I were to take you for nachos—Uncle Julio. I don't know, that's the only place I go.

Paul Goodman  

When I come to Digapalooza, I'm going to test it out this year.

Bob Dee  

Okay, but I'm going to cheat and ask my family. They're a little more in tune with restaurants.

Paul Goodman  

Well, your son has been in Philadelphia, so he knows the wonderful restaurant scene. And you know, we're going to get into your questions in a second.

Rob Montgomery  

I have a question first here. I may, Bob—what is Digapalooza?

Bob Dee  

So you know, DIG is obviously the letters for my platform, Dentistry in General, and I'm a big music fan. And what is Digapalooza? What is Lollapalooza? Which is—they bring a lot of stars together in an outdoor concert once a year in Chicago in the summertime. And Perry Farrell was nice enough not to sue people to use that name, so we can use it now. And I combine DIG and Lollapalooza—Palooza—as a sign that I'm bringing in not just any speaker—major speakers, people that are accomplished, people that are popular in the lecture circuit. As Paul knows, you know, it's very difficult to get dentists out of their houses now. Everybody wants to watch a Zoom seminar while they're watching TV. So I'm trying to go out there and bring people that are not usually online lecturers. They are in-person lecturers. So that's what Digapalooza is. It's an online event—an online event—it's an in-person event every November in Chicago with four to five major speakers over a two-day period.

Paul Goodman  

We might need to bring Rob, because Bob, you've gotten some of your inspiration for the things at the event from where?

Bob Dee  

Oh yeah, you know, I actually am guilty of saying I wasn't very much into in-person events, but I attended Paul's event a couple of times, and I told my wife, if I ever have an event, I want to have it like Paul. And I always tell Paul that he is the reason for me taking such a huge risk—going bankrupt.

Rob Montgomery  

start as a compliment.

Paul Goodman  

Well, Bob bakes in the fun. He has great food. It's an amazing venue. The speakers are ones that I know well. It's, um—you know, where the Dental Nachos event, Rob, is kind of about the stuff you need to learn outside the operatory with some things inside, Bob's is truly a dentist-dentist event with speakers like Dr. Arty Volker, who's my friend, about clinical dentistry—how to be a better dentist. I'll be there. People should check it out. Not only will you leave with knowledge, you'll leave with a new friend. And dentists need to spend more time together. So kudos to you, Bob, for doing DIG—doing Digapalooza.

Rob Montgomery  

Dig it. And so Bob, too—your Facebook group, Dentistry in General—is that the similar theme as the Digapalooza? That's more clinical-oriented? Or do you get into business stuff there too?

Bob Dee  

No. So basically, when I started this Facebook group, it was eight days after the pandemic shutdown. It was supposed to be a support group for dentists only. We added dental students, and to this day, I'm very strict about who I let in. Right now, we have 260 people waiting to get in to be confirmed. Some answer questions, some don't. So some of them may wait up to two or three months before we can get a hold of them if they haven't answered questions. So it is Dentistry in General—anything dental-related. Paul's group is awesome because it's the Nachos of Dentistry—it has everything. Mine is just about dentistry and the issues that we have—clinical, business, advocacy, support—things like that.

Rob Montgomery  

Cool. That's great. Kudos. Good work. So let's talk about your advocacy work. You know, I know that I've actually seen some posts of some stuff that you were talking about, especially recently with the ADA. But what is—what's the mission, and what are you trying to accomplish with the advocacy work that you do?

Bob Dee  

You know, there are some misconceptions about the work I do. I want to first start this conversation by saying that I love the ADA. The American Dental Association is our only organization. When third-party companies such as insurance companies or private equity-backed companies go to D.C. to push legislation or agenda or to support something that is going to be against private practices—where do you think these politicians go to? They don't come to Bob D on Facebook or Paul Goodman the Nacho Man to ask, "What is our opinion?" They go to the ADA. So our voice is the ADA. I know a lot of people want to drop out—things like that—but we cannot afford losing the ADA. Once the ADA is gone, there goes the profession. We are the pharmacists of the world. We are the AMAs of the world that has 11% membership, and they're completely irrelevant these days. So I want to start by that, but I also want to say that we have problems. We have financial problems. We have advocacy problems. We have focus problems. We have, you know, management of funds problems. So what we are trying to do—there are three of us that we consider ourselves Dentistry in General Advocacy Coalition, plus 22–23 past and present leaders who give us advice, plus a number of—and they hate it when I say this—a number of sources that I have that we call them the secret advisors. These are the people who are in positions of leadership, but they don't want to be known, so they give me information that we can keep people accountable and we can create transparency. I truly believe that our biggest problem is membership. The drop of membership from 80% to 50% has caused a lot of problems.

Rob Montgomery  

What is the period of time that that drop occurs? So it used to be 80% of dentists were members of the ADA. Now it's 50%. What period of time did that happen?

Bob Dee  

Don't quote me on this, but if I were to guess—back in the '70s and '80s, we had 80%, and now we are hovering around the 50% line.

Rob Montgomery  

Why do you think that is, Bob?

Bob Dee  

That is asking my opinion—because of lack of focus by the American Dental Association. They don't know the pain points. They talk about the new generation doesn't want to join. We're going to show them this House of Delegates. We're going to introduce a couple of resolutions that are going to be directed at the young people and see how they react. If you represent the young people, they will join.

Paul Goodman  

I also chime in. I do, Bob. Let me chime in for a second. Just for our listeners—I'm Rob. You know, Rob and I spend a lot of time together. You know, maybe you—I talk to you almost daily, Bob. So I am an unbroken streak of 23 years in the ADA. My dad was in the ADA. My brother. We pay our dues every year. But I'll say for this podcast, like—I don't think about the ADA much. I just think it's probably good to do this instead of not do it, right? But my friend Bob, you know, I sort of say, why should I care what the ADA does, right? Like, there's this message, Rob, where it's like—you become a member, you pay, and then you have to get even more involved to make progress. But I kind of say, as a member, aren't I paying for other people to make progress? And kind of Bob, what do you think of that? Because younger dentists don't want to pay $1,500 a month for an organization they don't think is that important. I'm sorry—a year. It's not expensive, but you follow—$1,500, that's not cheap, right? For the young? I mean, I'm a medium-age dentist, right? So it's like—I have a dental practice. I've just been doing it for years. But I understand why the younger dentist—when I went to speak at one of the ADA meetings as the keynote speaker, I said to a close friend who's a young dentist, "Aren't you going to come see me speak?" And his words were, "Bob, I'm not going to support the ADA. All they care about is DSOs. They don't care about me." That was their feeling, right? So what would you say to that young dentist, Bob?

Bob Dee  

That young dentist is wrong. And it's so weird—me defending the ADA here—because right now I'm too busy taking those knives out of my back. But that young dentist is speaking from the optics. Yes, the ADA does really silly things for people to think they are advocating for insurance companies or DSOs. They are not. They have this inclusive concept that they want to represent everybody. But when they say "everybody," people realize that the DSOs have a say, right? Our mission is—with ADA—to represent dentists. And the sentence ends there. It doesn't follow with "in every modality" or anything like that. No—we represent dentists. Once they do that, the young people come in. Now Paul, addressing you—writing a check and thinking everything is done—I used to think the same way. It's not like that, Paul. You have to care what happens to that money. You have to hold people accountable. I'm not saying stop paying it, but when you write that check, you need to get involved and ask, "Where did that money go? What are you doing with it?" And this is what we want you to do with it. That's where I come in. And my coalition—we are writing resolutions to direct those funds to where dentists want them to go, basically.

Paul Goodman  

And what I'll ask next is—I want Rob's take too—but you're very passionate about this compact, right? Is that related to the ADA or not related to the ADA?

Bob Dee  

You know, the compact issue right now—

Paul Goodman  

What is that? Explain to Rob what the compact is. You'll find it interesting because it affects his world.

Bob Dee  

Rob is an attorney, so he should know that a compact—and I didn't know what a compact was before this conversation—it's basically an agreement between states to reduce bureaucracy and red tape. It could be based on waterways. It could be based on land. And there is a compact in medicine that a physician who is licensed in the state of New York can apply—without taking any other tests—in the state of Illinois and get a license. So since graduation, every single dentist that I know of says, "Oh, I can't be like physicians." First of all, nobody moves anyway.

Paul Goodman  

But I want to share, Bob—I think it's a great idea. So you have to tell me why it's not a great idea. Up until meeting you, I always thought, "Oh, why—if I'm a dentist in New Jersey—why are they making it so hard for me to become a dentist in Arizona or a dentist in Texas?" So you're going to have to explain to me why I don't want this, because I think it sounds pretty good.

Bob Dee  

Oh no, that's another misconception about our coalition. We want a compact. We love a compact. There is a need for a compact—but the right compact. Not one that favors private equity-backed offices. Okay, so we want the same exact thing as the physicians have. That's our position. What is that? What they're giving—which is, when you're licensed in Pennsylvania and you pass the test—all you have to do is fill out some paperwork and apply for a license. We—I don't know. That's the problem. The problem is that people say, "We don't want to wait six to eight weeks." Okay? And I say—solve that problem. Not the fact that you want to reduce the qualifications so much that it hurts patients and the profession. We will lose the trust of the public if we utilize a compact that is used or being proposed for the barbers.

Paul Goodman  

So tell Rob though—I want to know—how would we hurt patients though? Because don't the dentists have to pass one licensing exam to get their license, and then this would just carry into the other 50 states? It sounds like—

Bob Dee  

There are loopholes. There are loopholes that people whose licenses have been suspended can now move from state to state, and the other state—unless they go and research it out—will not find out.

Paul Goodman  

And then also, what about—

Bob Dee  

If they don't have a license, they cannot be disciplined in that state. They can only be disciplined in the state that the license was issued, but they're practicing somewhere else. So again, it's all a matter of—and there are two sides to every story. And I'm here to tell you that as well—that the other side has different ideas. All I want is—come together and give us what the physicians have. That should be the basics of the basics. The physicians have had it for 50 years, and there's no problems with it.

Paul Goodman  

I mean, so this is a good example—you know, Bob and I talk almost daily, you know? And this is a good example of how much energy and time he puts into researching these things, sharing them with his audience. And I mean, I'm highlighting stuff that we never know about. Yeah, it takes a tremendous amount of behind-the-scenes work. But kind of before the next question, Bob—before we go back—is, if this was your time to inspire a younger dentist to join the ADA, even though you say it has a lot of problems, why should they write that check for $1,500 if they're two years out of dental school and they just took $100,000 in loans, and the dental insurance companies are paying them less, and that's a big problem? We think the ADA should help with dental insurance. Tell our audience why—hey, even with these problems, you should still support this group.

Bob Dee  

Because they're our only voice. Who is going to represent us? Rob is an attorney. He knows we need representation. Okay? If you don't have representation, what is going to happen when a DSO is not paying your last check? Wasn't that something that was just posted in the groups, right? I mean, we need representation to go to. Now—does the ADA help them with that? Not yet. But that's what we're introducing—the resolution to make sure we have a quasi-union for the employee dentist that is voluntary. We are not going to force—or we're not going to ask for—enforcement by dental practice owners to hire a union worker. But we want to make sure these young dentists are represented. You need a voice. That should be your—I mean, $1,500, Paul—I always say it's too cheap. Literally, it's too cheap. People are spending $500, $600, $700 on these analytic companies, and they'll only use 10% of the things. This is what—$100 a month, $150 a month. It's just crazy.

Paul Goodman  

Despite all this though, Bob—like Rob's question was—it's going from 80 to 50%. How positive are you it's going to go back up to 60%? Or would you bet that it's going to go down to 40?

Bob Dee  

Rob, can I take the fifth on that?

Rob Montgomery  

Yes, you can, and you can start. Let me ask you this, because that answers the question. You mentioned that you're advancing some resolutions that are going to hopefully be attractive to younger dentists—that they will hopefully be interested in joining. What specifically are those resolutions? Sounds like the one you're talking about is like some sort of a quasi-union, or sort of like a subdivision of young dentist group. But tell us a little bit about what those resolutions seek to accomplish.

Bob Dee  

So right now we have 17 resolutions in, and we're working on the last five. I wanted a soccer team, so 22 are going to be put in. First of all, this is unprecedented, because we didn't go through associations. We have two delegates submitting it. Delegates are allowed to do that, but not a lot of people do. And actually, I don't think anyone has ever done it. We are doing 22—every single one of them is going to help them gain membership. Why? Because the theme is transparency. Because my motto is: transparency builds trust. Trust brings non-members in. They're constantly concentrating on members. I mean, I love the members—I'm a member—but we want the non-members to feel comfortable. I don't want to post something negative, but I put the negative post up there so it gives them an opportunity to learn. It gives them an opportunity to correct things, to gain the trust. When they do something good, I post it. And I have to tell you—a bunch of people, one of our friends in New Jersey messaged me, "I'm joining again this year because of the stuff that you posted." So it does have an effect. So transparency—specifically for dental students—we're doing what the President of the Massachusetts Dental Society introduced in Boston dental schools, and that's to help with the food insecurities that some dental students are experiencing. This is something that people don't talk about. It's shameful that they're taking $600,000 out, but they run out of money for food because dental school is so expensive. The second one was the union of employed dentists to protect them against abusive DSO and private practice owners. I don't want to sit here and just bash the DSOs. There are DSOs out there that treat their employees quite well, and there are private practices that treat their employees horribly. So those are the two examples that I can come up with right now, but every one of them—the theme is transparency—and should help all members, including young people.

Rob Montgomery  

Yeah, that's some powerful stuff. I have to say that. I mean, it makes sense. But you know, this is the first time I've heard about the food insecurity issue with dental students. Can you elaborate on that a little bit for our audience? Like, what does that look like? How widespread is it? And what are you asking the ADA to do to help address that?

Bob Dee  

So all of my information comes from Dr. Abe Abdul, the President of the Massachusetts Dental Society, so he has to be given a lot of credit. But I also want you guys to know that this is not isolated to dentistry. Medical schools have the same issues. My son is a third-year medical student at Jefferson in Philadelphia. And I have to tell you—I never asked him—but I'm reading reports that there are medical students and dental students that exhaust their... You know, everybody thinks we can get as much money as we want, but we can't, right? So if they run out of food due to chances or stress testing, they have food insecurity. So they're not well-nourished. So what can be done right now? What's being done are areas in the three dental schools in Boston—Harvard, Tufts, and what's the other one, Paul? Harvard... BU, I think—yeah. Areas where food is being provided. They can just go—there's a locker—and you open it up, you take food that you need, and you leave. And I told Dr. Abdul, "What if somebody takes three and goes?" When they take three, what does that mean? They needed it. So it's based on the honor system, and it's working quite well.

Paul Goodman  

And do Nachos—anecdotally, I've had students reach out about how they just had run out of money by the end of dental school, and they were struggling to get through the last few months. Because if they don't have parental help, you know, it's a problem. So it's an important topic that is talked about. You know, Dr. Abdul is doing amazing work throughout, Bob. So I think that's awesome work you guys are doing to bring light to this.

Bob Dee  

I don't do anything. I'm just a loudmouth. I'm just trying to help people who have good causes come up. And we can hear about these things—like you did a great job yourself for Dr. Morris Kala and Question Two in Massachusetts. You were non-stop basically talking about it. You did it in my group, but you know, you have a very large audience. That audience was basically responsible for influencing the ADA to come in with five and a half million dollars for advertising, and that legislation passed. You're aware of it. You're doing a two-part...

Paul Goodman  

Question Two was the—I think Rob's familiar—but that was where the insurance companies had to be accountable for spending more of the money they took in on actual dental claims, right? And I don't know if that's going to now sweep the nation, but because of the work Bob and I did, he feels that we kind of inspired—or guilt-tripped—the ADA to jump in with some funding for it. You know, because this—with the dentists...

Paul Goodman  

Before we wrap up, Bob, I just want you to talk to us about—I don't want to call it your stance—but you talk about transparency. And you and I have had many a debate about the role of DSOs and private equity, and I know Rob would like to hear some of your thoughts. Because you know, you did just interview one of the founders of the largest DPOs out there. So it's not like you close yourself off to learning about it. But tell us sort of your passion for preserving private practice and some of the challenges about what Bob D calls, Rob, "fuzzy math."

Bob Dee  

My fuzzy math articles—there are three of them now—are in Nachos and in my own group. Anybody who wants to read them, go ahead. You know, it's basically—I don't want dentists to look at an offer sheet and lose consciousness. "Oh my God, my practice is worth a million dollars. They're going to give me 1.5—that's $500,000 more!" No—they're paying you for future work, buddy. These financial geniuses that are called private equity are not overpaying for anything. So hire people like Rob. Hire good accountants to give you advice. That's my first thing about the DSOs. But my biggest thing about DSOs, Paul, is that I never judge anyone selling to DSOs, anyone owning DSOs, or being partners with them. That's not my business. That's a financial decision they make for themselves and their families. My stance is that private equity in healthcare is bad for humanity. Now, if the private equity is making decisions that have to be made between doctor and patient, we have a problem. If the regional manager calls the local manager and tells them, "Dr. XYZ doesn't have enough crowns this month," and now the young dentist is told, "Hey, you don't have enough crowns." What now? What is he supposed to do—get the crowns from the MOD that turns into a crown? Now, those are my objections. Number one. Okay—number two—listen, I'm a true believer that private practice of dentistry will not only survive, it will thrive if it's left alone in the competition between private practice and DSOs. Meaning what? DSOs are continuously looking for patients and doctors, because young doctors last 18 months on average—12 to 18 months—they leave. And patients don't like to see these doctors leaving, so they will leave. That's why you see a lot of advertising by DSOs—because they constantly need a fresh flow of patients. The problem we're having—and that's where my advocacy comes in—is that regulations are being passed to offset this competition. My advantage as a private practice is that I am constant in my practice. If I wasn't constant, I wouldn't have that advantage anymore, correct? But when you do not have dentists producing, now you're going to have to look at a compact that makes it easy for a dentist to work in, for example, Indiana and Illinois. "Hey, if you go work two days over here, we'll give you two extra percent on your commission." And now—listen to this one—let's get these doctors $600,000 worth of debt so they don't have any other choice but to accept it. So these are the things that I advocate for and against—that the American Dental Association should not be pushing a compact that disturbs that competition. That's what they're doing. Then a loss ratio—that was an NCOL model that the ADA pushed. That was a terrible idea that disturbed that competition.

Paul Goodman  

I'm going to jump in to interrupt, but if it's required that Rob and I mention this in each podcast—on February of 2026—if a private practice wants to be a champion like the Philadelphia Eagles of the Super Bowl, as opposed to your favorite team who has not won the Super Bowl since before Facebook was invented—the 49ers. Rob, 4940 Niners—what would you tell a private practice dentist listening, as we wrap up, about how they can create a champion practice where, hey, they can run it, they don't have to sell it, they don't have to work back for this? If you want to preserve private practice, talk to that exhausted 50-year-old who says, "I just want to sell to a DSO. I'm too tired to do this. I'll get some money." What would you tell him?

Bob Dee  

The 50-year-old, if he wants to sell and leave—the DSOs are not going to do that. Okay? The 50-year-old has to keep staying at that same practice and produce as much or more than what he showed the DSOs. You know it. I know it. Rob knows it. I mean, there is no "sell and go." "Sell and go" is a private practice. To that 50-year-old, I'm telling him—just do your research. If you want to work for a DSO, you've been an entrepreneur all your life—now you want to have a boss? God bless you. I can't do it. I'll be fired by the DSO in the second week. So that 50-year-old should basically look at selling his practice privately and working for someone. He has lost the enthusiasm for being an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship. Paul, do you have any stress in your life?

Paul Goodman  

It's entrepreneur exhaustion.

Rob Montgomery  

Wouldn't you agree though, Bob—I mean, practices of a certain size just realistically can't transact with a private owner?

Bob Dee  

Okay, now my answer to that is—what percentage is that? Okay? Sell those to DSOs. I don't want them to sell it. You can sell it to your associates. You get two associates buying it—to be associated. But even that—what percentage is that?

Rob Montgomery  

Well, I mean, it's a smaller percentage. I mean, but that's—I mean, look, I'm philosophically—you or I are somewhat aligned. I mean, I feel like the only people that should sell to DSOs are people that have to sell to DSOs. And for those people, it's good that they're out there. But if there are people out there that have the ability to sell to a private dentist or to a DSO—more than likely that private dentist deal is going to look better. The transaction costs are going to be less. The post-closing risk is going to be less. There's a lot of advantages. But if somebody has a practice that's grossing $5 million—wow—finding a dentist that can buy that, or getting financing—a dentist getting financing to buy that—is a bit of a unicorn. But I mean, I agree with you, Bob. And I think—I do have to say that, you know, the fuzzy math—I laughed when you said that—because we see that. I mean, it comes in with unsolicited offers that somebody sees the valuation at the top of the letter of intent that they got from the DSO: "Your practice is worth $9 million." And that's it. Like, they don't want to read the rest of it, because it sounds so great. Because how could $9 million not be a good deal? Well, I mean, when it's an offer from a DSO—commonly—and, you know, as you said, private equity people—their job is making money. They know how to make money. Every day they wake up—their mission. My mission is practicing the law. You and Paul's mission is practicing dentistry. Their mission is making money. Period. This begins and ends with that. We have jobs in our profession, but their only job is making money. And so they're wired differently. And I have to say to our listeners—yes, I think there should be education and understanding as to what these deals look like and what people should do. But I have to say—folks, listeners—you have to get help when it comes to these things. You have to get advice. You have to get consulting. This is not the time to not hire a broker, a consultant, a good lawyer, a good CPA. Because the people that end up with these bad deals are the people that just allowed themselves to be run over by these groups. And if you allow yourself to be run over by them—they'll run you over every time. That's what they are. It's like the classic parable—it's like, the snake is on one side of the river, and he says to the turtle, "Can you help me cross the river?" And the turtle says, "No, you're gonna bite me." He's like, "Yeah, but why would I do that? Then we're both going to drown." And they get halfway across the water, and the snake bites the turtle. And the turtle says, "Why did you do that?" He says, "Because I'm a snake." And when you're dealing with these buyers and these groups—whether it's an associate that's buying in as a minority partner in a larger group practice, or if it's an associate with a contract, or somebody—an owner selling to a DSO—you've got to realize that this is what you're dealing with. And anybody that's naive enough to think otherwise—you're going to kind of get what's coming.

Paul Goodman  

Well, you guys, this has been great. Bob, I liked Rob's parable at the end, and you guys can continue this conversation at Boost Camp over a glass of wine this summer. I look forward to it. Thanks so much for sharing with us, Bob. Before we wrap up—if people want to find out about you, Digapalooza, the Facebook group—we'll put all the links in the show notes so no one has to stop their car and write them down. But if you just want to verbally say how people can follow you or find out about Dentistry in General—where's the best place for them to go?

Bob Dee  

You know, everything is on https://dentistryingeneral.com. From there, you can join the Facebook group. We have a radio network that has podcasts on it—different podcasts. We have Digapalooza tickets available there. And it's going to be done June 1. Early Bird is done June 1. So if you want to save $400, this is the time to check it out and come and support the advocacy. I always say this—I'm not asking for your money. I'm giving a CE, but it also supports what we are doing. So that's basically where we are.

Paul Goodman  

Well, thanks for sharing with us. Really appreciate it. Thanks.

Rob Montgomery  

Thanks for all your good work, too, Bob. Keep it up.

Bob Dee  

Thank you guys. Thanks for having me.

Paul Goodman  

Really cool. Yeah, I mean—passionate guy, right? Bob is one of my closest friends, and I admire all the work he puts into it. It's tireless. It's like he figures out how to explain these things that in 23 years of being an ADA member I never knew existed—which is probably on both sides of the fence: me not caring enough, but also the ADA not doing a good job of explaining.

Rob Montgomery  

I mean, just a lot of organizations like that just don't change with the times. You have to realize that if what you are selling is the same thing you were selling 50 years ago—there's probably not a buyer audience for you anymore.

Paul Goodman  

It's true. So it's important that we know about these things—just like we talked about the conference—about how it's important to know your options for selling your practice. Kind of important to know what's happening behind the scenes to our profession.

Rob Montgomery  

Yeah, absolutely. Cool. Thanks everybody for listening.

Rob Montgomery  

Thanks, Paul.

Paul Goodman  

Thanks, Rob.

Bumper  

Thanks for listening to another great podcast with the Dental Amigos. And don't forget to tune in next time to have the dental business demystified. If you're looking for more information about today's podcast, you can find it on the dental amigos.com if you're looking for Paul, you can find Paul at drpaulgoodman.com and if you're looking for Rob, you can find him at yourdentallawyer.com This podcast has been sponsored by Orange Line Media Group, helping dentists and other professionals create content people love. Find out how we can help you take your business to the next level at www.orangelinemg.com. Till next time.

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